You do you, but I will burn in hell and live in a cardboard box before moving into a HOA. Read the fine print; HOA’s attract Karen driven governance.

You need to review the budget and the community needs. It might be high in the beginning to build up a reserve, and then it’ll Come down later. Or maybe $500 isn’t enough and it’ll go up later. We have no way to know.

$500 per ? Year, Month, Quarter?

Fuck HOAs. It is NEVER worth it to sign up under strangers that can fine and hassle you when THEY want.

Also new construction is garbage, between poor insulation in attics, windows, and crawlspaces and crap roofs , its shameful.

Seriously. We still laugh with a friend who’s HOA threatened to take her to court over a Christmas Wreath on her front door of which they hadn’t approved prior to her hanging. I’m sure there are good stories of HOAs but I haven’t heard them.

Which town is this in?

I would never move site unseen into new construction. They put them up as fast as possible with the cheapest materials and labor. Oh and forget about builder warranty work within the first year, they will drag their feet until the warranty term expires and you’re SOL.

Find yourself a 1960’s later home with good bones (no foundation, structural, or water damage) and remodel it as you live in the space. You’ll be in charge of what YOU want vs what builder grade material is put in.

$500 per year isn’t out of the norm. I live in an HOA. They enforce little things here and there. I take great pride in my house and yard so it never impacts me. I don’t mind that everyone in the community is held to the same standards. It can impact the value. Our houses are worth 100k+ more than the ones across the street without an HOA because half the houses look unkept. To each his own but I’m cool with HOAs.

Exactly the nightmare that is new construction Ryan homes....is a nightmare. Cheap new build garbage home with the cheapest materials and they bid out to the lowest bidder They don't care if they've only been in construction for 5 minutes. What we saw going on in a development being built by them not far from here I wish I could have put up a billboard to warn people

Just wait until they seen the plastic gnome next to the one single plant that you're allowed to have.

Like other reasonable comments are saying, you have to look at what you're paying for. If that $500 is just for landscaping & trash, then you may have issues.

I was in an HOA where our fee covered gates & guards, snow removal - right to our door & driveway, lawns, trees, gardens, cable & internet, alarm service, community pool w/ maintenance & lifeguards, community center, tennis courts, basketball courts, riverfront walkway, trash & recycling, repair/maintenance fund for community areas, and we had surpluses allowing us to buy and build things like guest parking and the walkway.

Nearly everyone in the community participated in the HOA, so there were no power mad Karens. People came to the meetings before there was a crisis. We asked about budget changes before the budget vote. When people wanted to install satellite dishes, we amended the bylaws to allow it within reason - but we did still fine the yahoos that insisted on mounting a dish on their handrail or on a pallet in their driveway.

Our HOA payments were something like $117 back in 1998, and went up to $390 by 2014.

It's usually per month

I've seen HOA's with $75 a month or less and what you were quoted. you have to look at the services they provide. $500 most likely means a pool and the insurance that comes with it along with landscaping and something else

For $500 a month (I’m assuming you meant monthly), that better include property taxes, otherwise before you even pay principal and interest, you’re probably going to be paying at least $1k a month. Most of the properties in our budget that I see on Zillow are HOA townhouses/condos, and the expenses the fees cover are never worth it. Unless you plan on staying for 15+ years, I’d think twice about buying into a community with HOA fees that high. I certainly wouldn’t want to buy it from you.

Sorry, $500+ per month, updated above

Berkeley Heights, NJ

That’s an interesting point. I always thought an HOA devalues a home. Could you share what your HOA includes?

$500 a month for a bunch of Karens to dictate what color my porch furniture can be (if I'm allowed furniture on my porch at all)?

No fucking thanks.

HOA = 100% dealbreaker for me, no matter the cost.

Poke around in r/fuckhoa for a few hours and you’ll be running in the opposite direction by tonight.

I will never live in an HOA again they are full of boomer Karens

The only people who have “good” stories are too old to use the Internet and it would go something like “they finally made my neighbors take down their damned rainbow flag so now the children are saved from these groomers!”

The materials are not cheap. It is called builder grade and even a cheap house is better than no house. The builder sells upgrades that you can buy. In 2023 wfg environment I'd get mlv between shared walls and floors, as well as insulation between interior walls and ceiling. Interior finishes can vary greatly in price.

Eh I’ve seen a lot of these new builds slap up home depot’s Everbilt house wrap which is super leaky compared to Tyvek (I get it, materials shortages): https://youtu.be/T55CEuKfdP8

I would only use advantech sheathing and their tape with less than 180 days exposed.

Yes, we are moving into a Toll Brothers property and we have a pool, snow removal up to the front door, gardening, a tennis court, club house and walking path, as well as tennis courts.

For me, it's worth it.

Which community?

I live in a 1987 condo townhouse and pay $330 a month for lawn care and snow removal — I have to haul my own trash to a dumpster. HOAs are theft.

That’s interesting, I didn’t think HOAs were common in this part of the state. $500/month seems like an awful lot. I feel like you could probably find something just as good in the area without having to pay that $500.

That fee is only ever going to go up

One of the perks of living in NJ is that there are very few HOAs. Your municipality hands out the code violations instead (and that rarely) and doesn’t care how high your grass is.

Be very careful about your resale value if you buy here. HOAs have a bad rap in NJ because of the “micromanagement” that can sometimes happen from bored boomers being elected to the HOA board.

$500 per month in HOA fees from your entire development is a huge chunk of change. Forget to pay or lose your job and they can put a lien on your house. I’m not sure if they could try to repossess it, NJ law probably wouldn’t let them do that, but you really don’t want to give someone that kind of power over you. I’d read the HOA bylaws and see what all of that entails.

The only reason to have an HOA is if you have a community pool, clubhouse or if your roof might be common (some townhouses) and need repairs eventually that should be accrued.

I find a $500 monthly HOA fee to be insane with the high property taxes that we already pay here. You should be looking at that number. For my detached, tiny, four bedroom two bath with minuscule kitchen in Morris County, I pay $8.5k in property taxes annually. I have like a .25 property. Half of Essex county and most of Montclair would consider that a good deal…

Also, since we no longer have the SALT deduction (thanks GOP), you can only deduct up to $10k annually. I’m still bitter about this.

In my municipality, trash and snow removal are included in the property taxes and my kid goes to a decent school system, which is why they’re high. I’m not sure about your resale value, honestly, I lack the skill set to make that determination. You’d need a real estate professional to make that determination, or an appraiser.

It depends on your town. You are probably in the more southern part of the state? Some retirement communities might have HOAs. Those usually have good resale value and you can apply for senior citizen rebates on your property taxes through the state, if your income is low enough.

Would rather not say...

Would you be willing to DM me on it? I’ve been looking at toll brothers properties. Just trying to research the area. I can’t send DMs being a new account /low karma.

Just messaged you :)