ALL ABOUT HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATIONS -

Introduction: These pages, links, and attachments provide essential information about the business of living in a community with governance by an Arizona Home Owners Association. HOAs are not social clubs or informal groups with a common interest. They are Arizona Nonprofit Corporations and Planned Communities. The are heavily regulated, run by volunteers who are often assisted by professional paid managers. Member dues are used to maintain common areas and facilities such as streets, landscaping, drainageways, club houses, and gated entries; and to pay for management services. HOAs have simple sounding responsibilities - maintain the common properties, establish rules, enforce rules, and comply with the law. HOA members have simple sounding responsibilities also - follow the rules, pay your dues on time, and support the HOA however you can. It all sounds easy, but of course the reality is much different.

Background : HOAs evolved rapidly after WWII when suburban expansion began to tax local government's ability to provided infrastructure and services for new communities. Rather than reject community growth and economic expansion, local governments offered the creation of HOAs as an option. The development community had little choice, so they created HOAs as they built new subdivisions. The HOAs continue to provide many of the services and infrastructure needed to serve new development, and the cost are borne by HOA members, directly and indirectly, rather than the by local government. Wikipedia has an excellent discussion about the history, purposes, and pros/cons of HOAs here.

Some Statistics: Today, there are about 371,000 (!) HOAs and condo associations (COAs) in the United States. Arizona alone has about 10,200. Here are a few facts…

The HOA membership rate in Arizona is up 5.10% year-over-year, with 46% of owned homes belonging to an HOA.
The HOAs in Arizona serve a total of 902,000 homes.
About 2.25 million people in Arizona live in HOA communities, or about 29.7% of the state's population.
The average Arizona HOA has 221 residents living in 88 homes, which is about 30% smaller than TMR.
Needless to say there is a huge industry of paid managers, lawyers, accounts, and contractors servicing all these nonprofit corporations.

Resources: For insights in the business of running an HOA, we've attached or linked several documents. The Arizona Senate fact sheet on HOAs is something every HOA member should read and understand. It has embedded links to state and federal laws that apply to the HOA nonprofit corporations and their boards of directors. And speaking of HOA Boards, it's a volunteer job that's critical to the success of the HOA, and it's always challenging to attract volunteers. A second attachment discusses these challenges and how to overcome them. If you think your HOA needs new, younger, or more informed directors, consider running for office. It's a challenging and rewarding opportunity. Unless you've been on an Arizona HOA board recently, you will need training and guidance. It's also important to understand what the HOA manager does and does not do. It's as tough a job as being a Board Director, but at least it's a paid position. For information about typical management roles, click here.