A lot of people are curious about what an HOA payment is. Simply put, a homeowner association or HOA fee (aka HOA dues or HOA levies) is a monthly or quarterly sum paid by owners. These funds help maintain common property and amenities within the association.

There are a variety of different services and costs that can make up your HOA fees. The services that a homeowner association offers will vary depending on the community’s needs; here’s a list of what may be covered. Some fees are only a couple hundred dollars a month, indicating low amenities and minimal common property. In other cases fees can be in the thousands of dollars, typically because there are many amenities and high standards of maintenance.

If you happen to be looking at a variety of homes in different HOA communities, you should compare what each costs & offers for its HOA payment. You can likely find one that has the right mix of amenities, services and cost for you. If not, you can always look for a home that you get to maintain on your own!

If this is all new to you, here’s a post where you can discover more about why HOAs exist.

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