Some people shudder at the idea of an HOA. Home Owners Association rules, regulations and dues can be frustrating at times but, your greater Raleigh area home value has more protection in neighborhoods with an active Home Owners Association and a professional Property Management Company.
1. No Home Owners Association : Risky Business
If you buy in a neighborhood without any formal HOA there is no one policing the neighborhood so you may end up with a neighbor who paints their house bright yellow or who has an artistic flair displayed in their front yard like this North Raleigh home.
Barking dog kennels, cars parked in yards, and houses painted colors that are not in keeping with the neighborhood are often found in the Capitol city, Raleigh, and surrounding Triangle area without an active HOA to approve paint colors. This pink house may look perfect at a North Carolina beach but, in a Cary neighborhood it is not in keeping. Shocking a buyer with color is not the way to sell a Wake County home for top dollar.
If you choose to buy a home in a neighborhood with no HOA dues, you may get lucky and have neighbors who maintain their homes exceptionally well. However, eventually Triangle homeowners sell and move and all it takes is one bad house in a neighborhood to bring the rest of the property values down. This Wake County resident parked a car in the yard next to a house for sale. The seller had to reduce the price $10,000 to overcome the unsightly neighbor next door.
The average yearly home owner dues for Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Wake Forest and Wake County are $350 per year. It would take over 28 years of paying home owner dues to break even on the real estate loss caused by this one Raleigh neighbor . No rules, regulations and enforcement could result in a hard time in selling your Triangle home. Not having an HOA can be a risky investment and frustrating to your quality of life if you end up living next door to a florescent house.
2. Self Managed Neighborhood : Touchy Subject
This type of neighborhood decides to save money by not hiring a professional Property Management Company and the home owners take on the total responsibility. The savings is approximately 10% of the total budget. This can also be very risky if the neighborhood needs large reserves for future expenses. Most homeowners do not have the knowledge necessary to set a budget for expenses that will occur in the future. Large expenses such as roof replacement in a town home community or repaving private streets 15 or 20 years down the road requires knowledge your average home owner does not have.
When a neighborhood is self managed it is really hard for one neighbor to correct another without relationships being damaged. To avoid conflicts with your neighbors most self managed neighborhoods procrastinate too long or do not manage at all which will show when things are not being maintained.
3. Home Owners Association : Police, Correct and Protect!
The price a buyer is willing to pay for your greater Raleigh home is in direct correlation to the first impression of the neighborhood. That is why property Management Company’s budget a lot of money for maintaining the front entrance and common areas throughout the neighborhood. Curb appeal is 85% of a sale and the first impression of a neighborhood is formed by the front entrance and the first few houses they see as they enter the neighborhood. Therefore, the homeowners that buy the house next to the front entrance have a huge responsibility to the rest of the neighborhood to keep their lawns and house well manicured. How a neighborhood is maintained always has equal correlation to the re-sale value of that neighborhood.
Property Management Company’s job is to protect the neighborhood values and they do this by regularly inspecting neighborhoods and sending violation letters to homeowner’s to correct anything that they know may affect neighborhood value. They do not worry about hurting someone’s feelings or damaging relationships. They police, correct and protect your home value and your quality of life too.
As you can see, having knowledgeable and experienced neighborhood management is important for not only the duration of your stay but for the future of your home and neighborhood. It could be the difference between selling your home or not selling your home! When looking for a new home/neighborhood, talk to one of our experienced relocation specialist for which Wake County neighborhoods have made the top 20 list year after year.
For other great real estate tips and expert knowledge, please visit www.lindacraft.com.