By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
debgoonan@icloud.com
Over the past 50 years, the real estate industry built and sold most new construction homes in HOA-governed or private communities.
Development plans implemented pages of environmental regulations.
Typically, these regulations mandate clusters of homes to be built around “open spaces” and conservation areas.
And, of course, local governments have been eager to shift responsibility for construction and maintenance of roads and storm water management, including retention ponds, to real estate developers and volunteer homeowner boards.
The shift from public to private management means a lot less work for your city and county. Although, local governments have continues to collect high taxes from property owners.
Unfortunately, quite a few developers didn’t build infrastructure for the long term.
Even worse, homeowner-controlled HOA boards didn’t, and still don’t, have a clue how to manage wetlands, ponds, forests, and private roads.
The end result of unsupervised privatization: headaches and additional costs for homeowners.
Check out these three most-read IAC posts on the hidden costs of owning property in a private, HOA-governed community.
