SIDE STREETS: Better investigate HOA dues before you buy

As if there isn’t enough stress when buying a house, you need to find out if there are covenants and an active homeowners association in the neighborhood.

Here’s one more question to ask early in the process:

How much are HOA dues and what do they include?

Recently, I was shocked to learn HOA dues had reached $6,000 a year in Colorado Springs for the Toscano at Flying Horse neighborhood near Black Forest.

It made me wonder just how much people are paying to the region’s 300-plus HOAs and community, neighborhood and condo/townhome associations.

So I asked Side Streets readers and heard from more than 80 folks, producing a list ranging from $10 a year to Toscano’s $6,000.

On my blog, I’ve posted the list. It is not complete. And it may not be totally accurate. Check it out and send me an e-mail if something is wrong. I plan to formalize the information with an online survey I’ll create and post soon.

But for now, the partial list offers some insights into the range of fees and services in neighborhoods and condo/townhome complexes.

Not surprisingly, the highest prices are in the neighborhood of The Broadmoor hotel and resort, Kissing Camels on the mesa across from Garden of the Gods, and within the swankier new subdivisions such as Flying Horse where residents can live amid private golf courses. spas and other recreational facilities.

Folks there willingly pay for 24-hour security in their gated communities. They don’t have to wait for city snow plows. And they don’t mind paying for staff to service the fountains, ponds and other neighborhood landscaping features.

Perhaps the biggest bargain among neighborhoods enjoying all those amenities is Woodmoor, where some 3,000 residents enjoy most of those amenities for just $209 a year — a fraction of the price at Toscano.

There are interesting contrasts on the list.

For example, a short distance from Kissing Camels with its golf course, manmade lakes, fountains and private club is the Friendship-Crescent-Mesa Neighborhood Association, where 70 homeowners live with no sidewalks, curbs and gutters.

But they enjoy panoramic mountain views amid natural scrub oak, cactus and wildlife. Dues in Friendship? Just $35 a year for newsletters, meetings and neighborhood parties.

“It’s a great place to live,” said Richard Serby, president of the neighborhood association. “Our covenants are not too restrictive. There is a special respect for the beauty we enjoy here. And a common feeling we want to protect the natural beauty.”

So before you buy a house, check out the covenants and dues, and know what you are getting.

You might be paying for Kissing Camels when all you really want is a little Friendship.

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