What Are HOA Fees? A Comprehensive Overview

If you’ve moved into a new home of your own in an area managed by a homeowner’s association, then you’ll come across HOA fees sooner or later. As per the homeowner’s association rules or condo association rules, you may have to pay monthly HOA fees. These fees cover things like basic maintenance, shared utilities, insurance, and more. But what are HOA fees specifically, and why might you have to pay them? In this article, we’ll help you understand the purpose and meaning of HOA fees to ensure you walk into the whole thing fully informed. Whether you need any property-related information or professional assistance regarding any number of things, including but not limited to property HOA or tax certificates, CertSimple has your back.

For now, let’s keep our focus on HOA fees.

What Is Home Ownership Association Fee?

The HOA fees or homeownership association fees are monthly payments you need to make to the homeowners association to pay for necessities in the area. On top of this, HOA fees include additional financial concerns such as insurance, contingency funds, and so on.

The payments may be due yearly or monthly, depending on the specific rules of the association.

What Is Included in HOA Fees?

What is included in HOA fees, you may ask?

If you’re wondering “how does HOA work,” then the following sections will give you insight into how the funds benefit you:

Maintenance And Repair

The fees sometimes cover most regular maintenance and repair for HOA homes in some HOA communities. This includes plumbing issues, foundation repair, roofing, and other home maintenance problems. The extent of the coverage here varies from area to area, there are rules and regulations defining this extent though.

Insurance

This is another aspect sometimes covered by the homeowner association fee, which, even after a skeptical assessment, makes the whole notion sound very good. After all, you'll only be paying one fee that covers it all and has your back in terms of insurance as well.

However, this also increases the living cost in HOA areas.

Contingency

Also, these fees can include funds for emergencies which can be a great help in the face of disaster; the USD cost of such emergencies can be enormous, so any support should be appreciated.

Shared Utilities

The monthly or annual fees also cover utilities for shared areas such as community pools.

Do HOA fees include taxes? No, you need to pay those individually.

Reserves

Extra funds from neighborhood HOA community funds are set aside as reserve funds for when the need arises for them.

Community Association

Lastly, since the association is pretty much run by volunteers, the HOA may need to call in professionals now and then to manage things optimally.

If so, the HOA fees will cover that as well.

Hopefully, you now have a very clear idea of what are HOA fees used for; now on to some rules and regulations.

HOA Fees: What Are The Rules And Restrictions?

Even if you’re following the monthly HOA fee payment schedules, you’ll still have to follow certain HOA/condo association rules to make your stay in an HOA area smooth and worthwhile:

• There are usually strict guidelines about the appearance allowed for your home
• You can’t alter your yard in a manner that goes against the regulations
• The number of pets allowed in a home also varies (and whether or not pets are allowed)
• Noise reduction rules are also very serious
• HOAs usually have commonly shared areas
• Shared amenities are also well defined
• Regulation of such spaces is in hands of the community members

Also, depending on the specifics of your area, there will be well-defined rules about how are HOA fees determined. Depending on the general cost of living in the city, the demand might be higher in the capital or major cities.

Reach Out to Our Property Experts for Further Questions

This article provided a brief insight into HOA fees, their meaning, and explained the various associated perks of these fees. If you're moving to an area where HOA fees are a thing, you should walk in fully prepared. Make a plan to save enough to pay the fees on time every month.

And while you're at it, if you ever need property tax and/or HOA-related help, or anything else of the sort, CertSimple, a family-owned and run service is only a phone call away. We have offices in Dallas, TX and Austin, TX, but we serve all 254 counties in Texas, including:

Call us today or find us via the Contact Us Page!