AdobePinon

zzrmark

As someone who is in the building trade and occasionally fits the odd high end kitchen (in second homes over seven figures so probably not what the OP will be looking at!) I could give all kinds of observations on shoddy builder workmanship compared to UK builders but will instead say that I will take shoddy materials/standards all day long over HOA's.
Our second place was a rented property in a Stepford style sub division, with an HOA controlled by wannabe Hitler's, just as we left the place they were requiring every property to pay for a new standardized $100 mailbox and $70 installation fee, non negotiable. I felt quite sorry for a lot of the people who had bought there over the two years that we were in there, many of them had only just replaced their old scabby mailboxes with the requisite Stepford white boxes - not a single one was the newly required nasty mock bronze monstrosity that the HOA had decided they now all needed.

Tarkak9

Mwahahaha ... I'm in! Every HOA is different and laws etc depend on your state. It is common, that in the early stages of the development, the HOA is managed by the builder until a ratio is obtained whereupon it is turned over to the residents to run and maintain; at the end of the day, I would want to know the financial health, eg reserves, working capital etc. Common too, is bylaws prohibit non-occupant owners be on the board/management etc. Sometimes there may be restricted deeds and there are times where either limited amounts are sold to investors, or, not at all sold to them. Due to construction loans and costs of which, builders try to sell quickly (within reason) in the early days and then too, upon close-out phase. Bottom line - if you don't ask, you don't get. Its all negotiable and subject to local market conditions - around here, forget it ... years ago I could get properties under base price.

Remember, builder contracts are written in their favor ... so what are the legal outages w/o compromising earnest money (and what happens if they accidentally deposit it per se ( ) - can you review, object and resolve things? what are remedies if either party defaults? What title insurance is there (who is paying it), Is there a survey, or equivalent, being done? What will property taxes be? What is the HOA transfer fee and who pays it? - you don't want sudden surprises at the closing table. ..... and so on and so on ....... and I could go on like the Energizer Bunny.

OP, If you are headed out there over the weekend - try to talk to the neighbors/residents already there. If at all possible, see if you can go to the design center before engaging in contract discussions - get a feel of the product beforehand etc and puffed costs. Options and upgrades are profit margin items .. there are things which are not worth builder install vs you doing it yourself.

jeepster

Buy existing, new or used. Than condition the purchase on a building inspection. Want something tweaked? Remodel after purchase. Go through a realtor. A lot of wolves out there and you're a lamb.

Steerpike

Keep in mind that the HOA is made up of ordinary residents and you can quite easily have influence over their actions by joining in. I bought my first Condo back in 1985 in San Francisco, and ended up being the president of the HOA within a year because no one wanted the responsibility. It was very easy to do things the way I wanted because almost no one attended any meetings.