patrick.net

BayArea says

Stay away from HOA!

I find HOA's to be convenient with rental properties. You don't have to worry about the exterior upkeep, and the HOA ends up keeping an eye on your property, by sending you notices if rules are broken.
Virtually all new developments have HOA's now.

Strategist says

I find HOA's to be convenient with rental properties. You don't have to worry about the exterior upkeep, and the HOA ends up keeping an eye on your property, by sending you notices if rules are broken.
Virtually all new developments have HOA's now.

Have fun with it. You're likely just lucky so far. HOA's are basically a miniaturized government with your old high school student council in charge. Most of them don't know the difference between their ass and a 2x4. Let alone how to manage a lick of anything. On the surface they make sense. In practice they generally fail at what their main objective is.

A good, LEGITIMATE management company can help. But most of them are looking to just skim off a percentage of the dues and don't care about the owners. It ultimately is a bad setup. I'm actually surprised you haven't been burned yet with a special assessment yet or some silly ass violation of the rules. I wish you continued luck.

WookieMan says

Strategist says

I find HOA's to be convenient with rental properties. You don't have to worry about the exterior upkeep, and the HOA ends up keeping an eye on your property, by sending you notices if rules are broken.
Virtually all new developments have HOA's now.

Have fun with it. You're likely just lucky so far. HOA's are basically a miniaturized government with your old high school student council in charge. Most of them don't know the difference between their ass and a 2x4. Let alone how to manage a lick of anything. On the surface they make sense. In practice they generally fail at what their main objective is.

A good, LEGITIMATE management company can help. But most of them are looking to just skim off a percentage of the dues and don't care about the owners. It ultimately is a bad setup. I'm actually surprised you haven't been burned yet with a special assessment yet ...

The first home I purchased 31 years ago while i was almost finished with my education has an HOA. It's now a rental and never had problems. Most of my rental condos are in Ladera Ranch, Ca. They have 2 associations, where the total dues are well over $400.00 per month. Excellent management and never had a serious problem. They had a lot of problems with the water pipes that leaked. They sued the builders and professionally fixed everything. There was no special assessment. Most of the homes there are around 12 years old.

Strategist says

The first home I purchased 31 years ago while i was almost finished with my education has an HOA. It's now a rental and never had problems. Most of my rental condos are in Ladera Ranch, Ca. They have 2 associations, where the total dues are well over $400.00 per month. Excellent management and never had a serious problem. They had a lot of problems with the water pipes that leaked. They sued the builders and professionally fixed everything. There was no special assessment. Most of the homes there are around 12 years old.

I'll say it again, you're lucky. Seriously enjoy it. HOA's are no different then your local government. Some neighborhoods/towns/cities are phenomenal and others are a shit show. Most of the time when there's a 3rd party managing something and then a group of know nothings running a community, it goes south quickly. Can it work? Absolutely. I personally wouldn't invest in a condo/property with an HOA. Am I probably missing out on some lucrative investments? Sure. Unless you're actively involved, how do you know things haven't been mismanaged and you're about to get hit with a $10k special assessment?

A lot of people are doing their own calculations / spreadsheets in this thread. Why? Do you feel your own calcs are better than the popular established ones like Patrick linked?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html

goat says

A lot of people are doing their own calculations / spreadsheets in this thread. Why? Do you feel your own calcs are better than the popular established ones like Patrick linked?

The NY Times calculator is pretty good. Like all such calculators they are only as good as the assumptions you put in. The results can easily lead you astray for one of the most important financial decisions you will be making.

goat says

A lot of people are doing their own calculations / spreadsheets in this thread. Why?

the NYT calculator and my spreadsheet return similar results -- for my situation it's saying if rent is more than $650/mo I should buy, while my model says ~$800.

I just like being able to twiddle the variables directly, the NYT's GUI doesn't do much for me.

Bellingham Bill says

I just like being able to twiddle the variables directly,

Well, I can definitely understand that. I cant count the number of calculators I've coded over the years.

With that said, I do think the NYT calc is superb, for what it does do.

Throw the calculators out the trash can. It's called the ghetto calculator because the results are obvious.

Buy buy buy, - in the ghetto.

Avoid, no buy - in prime areas.

Which is the opposite of reality. Price appreciates the most in places people covet.

I don't even need a calculator to know someone like Patrick made multi-million dollar mistake.

Based on his discipline. He would have the home and even more stocks. You know, when you have a fixed mortgage which depreciate over the year. Savings rate. go through the roof eventually. Patrick would have had a peanut size mortgage had he bought the Berkeley place and saving like a mxfx all the same.

You know what's it like to have no mortgage and own a home in the sfba prime. Rich ass mxfx.

SFace says

Price appreciates the most in places people covet.

And where they covet now, is where they will always covet. It's as simple as that.

I said this since 2009.

Location location location will be location location location location location.