These days it has become quite common to see the members of a neighborhood banding together for the general well-being of the neighborhood and its residents. To help your understanding of what they are and how they work, take a look at our guide to covenant controlled communities for buyers and sellers in Atlanta.
What Are Covenant Controlled Communities?
Simply put, a covenant controlled community is a collection of homes within a given area that is governed by the same set of agreed-upon rules and guidelines outside of your local, state, and federal laws and ordinances.
These rulesets are commonly known as covenants or restrictive covenants, while we more regularly refer to the organization responsible for upholding these covenants by the term homeowner’s association, or HOA. There may be times that you see titles such as property owner’s association in a covenant controlled community, which can be used if the association oversees business properties as well as homes.
The Intended Function
An HOA can serve a wide range of purposes, but they are typically focused on creating a harmonious and visually appealing neighborhood that cultivates long-term trusting relationships between its residents and the HOA.
On the numbers side of things, an HOA is often concerned with increasing property values through neighborhood uniformity, proper upkeep, and maintaining a robust positive image that helps keep those property values high while fostering a sense of exclusivity.
By adopting and managing a set of regulations that are voted on and passed by its residents, the HOA works to develop and grow cohesion, trust, and reliability within its members over time.
How It Benefits Residents
Besides the concepts we discussed previously, an HOA has concrete functions that provide substantial value to its members.
Due to the ruleset in place, enforcement of those rules means fewer disagreements between residents. In the event of a dispute existing between two parties, there is an arbitration method in place to help resolve the situation and keep its members happy.
HOAs also deal with maintaining common areas of the community. Whether this means hiring a full-time property management company or individual contractors to keep things looking and operating in their best condition, the HOA takes care of these matters so individual residents don’t have to.
Finally, by assisting with bringing its members together, a greater atmosphere of neighborhood trust and pride means both sticking together and sticking up for one another. This results in a greater feeling of security within the neighborhood.
Getting All the Information
When you’re buying or selling a house in an HOA, it’s very important that you either receive or make sure the potential buyer receives all of the information regarding the HOA.
As a seller, you should have a packet of information that was provided to you. If you no longer have this information, contact your HOA to have it provided to you – otherwise, the HOA may provide it to the potential buyer themselves.
This information packet should include what the HOA does in the community, and a breakdown of the HOA budget, dues, and the dues payment schedule. One more incredibly crucial bit of information is understanding the meeting schedule of the HOA board as well as an HOA member’s expected or required involvement in these meetings and other community activities.
All of these pieces of information may be entirely unique to your HOA, and you want to know what’s going on before signing on the dotted line.
Help Understanding Covenant Controlled Communities in Atlanta
If you’re considering buying or selling a home in one of the covenant controlled communities in Atlanta and want some professional guidance, contact us today at (404) 977-5054!