If you want new construction, I don't think it is reasonable to find a house not in an HOA unless you are going with a custom build. We shopped around for locations, builders and HOA rules. Made it a bit more difficult to find the right spot for us.
$96/month covers a pool, clubhouse, neighborhood parks, clearing snow from the streets, trash, recycling.
People not in HOAs will also get letters from the city about cutting their grass and painting the exterior of their homes with the main difference being that you have more flexibility in the colors. My brother-in-law just received a warning a couple months ago of fines from the city if they don't repaint the exterior of the house. Sister in-law often received warnings from the city for not-mowing the lawn often enough.
I guess I'm just trying to consider how much less of a mortgage I can afford based on an HOA. Right now my best friend is looking to buy a 130k 3/2 townhome in a decent but not the greatest (safest) side of town with an HOA of $250 a month (half the lot of the property/subdivision is undone as they never finished building when they started 10 years ago and is just lots of high grass).
A condo for $165k in the city I just saw online yesterday that's a 2/2 has a $400 HOA.
Whacking either $250 or $400 off my mortgage payment to allow for the HOA cost is a huge deal financially. That's a lot less mortgage. And that's assuming it doesn't go up 'much' during the duration of the time I'm still paying on the mortgage.
Yes, the ultimate question is whether you can afford it, assuming they will go up over time. But the good news is that you have a better sense going in what things cost. Much of what a
properly-run HOA covers is stuff that homeowners would otherwise have to pay for themselves -- exterior maintenance/replacement, landscaping, trash, sometimes water/sewer, etc. HOAs are required by law to maintain a sufficient kitty to properly maintain whatever it is responsible for; many people who buy homes, OTOH, don't necessarily budget/save up for things like replacing the roof or repainting the outside, and then end up either deferring necessary maintenance or taking out loans to cover the costs. The reality is that if you buy a home that isn't in an HOA, and the roof goes unexpectedly, that's on you, whereas if you're in a condo, your HOA fees should have already planned for that. So in that regard, HOA fees represent good planning and forced savings (again, assuming a well-run HOA). So basically, if the HOA fees are $400/mo, then a significant chunk of that figure should represent "what you should save anyway to cover long-term maintenance needs." HOAs also cover the cost of various amenities -- pools, gyms, building security, etc. That can be a pro or a con for you, depending on whether the amenities are things you would otherwise pay for (when I was in a condo with a gym, I
definitely used that gym and saved on the costs of a membership somewhere else).
The thing is, an HOA is made up of your neighbors, so its priorities reflect the priorities of your neighbors. If your neighbors are officious pricks, the HOA will be as well -- but then why would you want to live in that kind of neighborhood anyway? And if your neighbors are not officious pricks but the HOA Board is, then vote them out! Some HOAs are self-run, while others hire management companies; if you choose the former, your fees will be lower, but you are dependent on residents being willing to devote the time to manage the issues (and having the appropriate skill sets to do so -- sometimes you get what you pay for); if you choose the latter, your fees will be higher to cover those outsourced costs, but you can likely be more confident that it is professionally run. It's just like living in any community; you trade some ability to do whatever you want for the benefits of living with and cooperating with your neighbors (which can be anywhere from "I want every house to look the same!" to "hey, we can get cheaper trash service if we do it together").
The things that I would look out for: #1 is
read the condo documents. Know what you can/can't do, what the HOA can/can't do, and see if that fits with your priorities. Check out the funding and the current budgets -- if they don't have sufficient reserves, you will very likely see either rising fees or special assessments. Also watch out for HOAs that are still run by the developer -- the two HOAs that I have personal experience with ended up with special assessments and in litigation because of decisions the developer made while he still controlled the board. For example, it seems to be pretty common for the developer to want to keep HOA fees low to make the building more attractive to buyers, but then when the owners take over after a few years, they discover that they don't have enough reserves for the maintenance that needs to be done, so they need to increase dues or impose a special assessment or both. And never, ever buy into a condo that is in litigation -- that will suck fees for years (I am 2 for 3 in that regard).