Kentucky 75-year-old's house seized, sold over $288 unpaid HOA dues

[SomeGuyInEagan]

36. Went house-hunting a few years ago - every development w/i 20 years has an HOA.

That is the de-facto standard in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul and burbs) for "newer" developments. That was for developments with townhouses starting in the low 100s and homes in the low 200s and up. In the Twin Cities, those price points won't work for "snoots" - they would consider that slumming.

Builders put HOAs in place before they begin the development for the simple reason that they can impose rules to keep the neighborhoods to *their* standards while they continue to build and sell. At some point, typically when the development hits 70 or 80% buildout, the builders lose their seats on the board (until that point, from my experience and reading, the builders hold a majority of the board seats and therefore control the association).

That is just a reality of the times if you want to move into a newer development in many parts of the country.