The Abridged version:
- About 1,500 homeowners associations covering 135,000 housing units are active in Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, and Yolo counties.
- Some people appreciate the predictability and uniformity that HOAs provide. Others don’t like the rules or the increasing expense.
- Abridged has tips for vetting an HOA if you are thinking of owning a home with one.
When Holly and Bill Macriss bought their townhouse in Sacramento’s Campus Commons in 2015, monthly homeowners’ association fees were $275. They’re now $562 a month, and Holly Macriss said the HOA has mostly attributed the increases to landscaping costs.
“Would you pay that much on your own?” Macriss asked.
Maintenance on the community pool and clubhouse also accounts for some of the fee increases, in addition to a $2,500 special assessment for the same items a few years ago, she said. Most of the problems stem from deferred maintenance.
“We are paying for the sins of those before us.” Macriss said.
If you don’t already live in a community with a homeowners association you probably know someone who does. They’re in decades-old communities like Campus Commons, Woodside and Gold River, as well as newer developments like The Mill on Broadway and luxury condominiums in the Sawyer Hotel.
About 1,500 HOAs covering 135,000 housing units are active in Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, and Yolo counties, with 755 of those HOAs in Sacramento County, according to the Community Associations Institute. New and recent construction often comes with an HOA.
The associations require monthly fees to provide services from landscaping to roof repairs and maintenance of community spaces like pools, clubhouses, and gyms.
They also set rules meant to keep order and cohesion like limiting street parking and holiday decorations, and specifying what colors you can paint your house
That’s when HOA-resident friction can ramp up.
It’s a personal decision whether to live in an HOA community, said Jasmine F. Hale, an attorney and board member with the Northern California chapter of the Community Associations Institute.
Some people appreciate the predictability and uniformity. Others don’t like the rules or the expense.
HOA fees can vary dramatically
The roles and responsibilities of HOAs vary, along with their monthly fees, which can go from less than $100 to several thousand dollars a month. A current listing for a $1.5 million condo in the Sawyer comes with $2,696 in monthly fees. A one-bedroom condo listed for $319,999 in Natomas has $364 monthly fees–only $4 less than the fee for a four-bedroom house on the market in Gold River for $899,000.
In the Sacramento market, high fees have made condos a “tough sell” in the past few years, said Ryan Lundquist, a residential appraiser and market analyst. Condo sellers are cutting prices faster than non-HOA sellers in response, he said. Coldwell Banker Realty Broker Associate Erin Stumpf agreed, saying many of her clients in the past year or two have decided the fees are too expensive.
“HOA fees have basically been standing out like a sore thumb,” Lundquist said.
From January through September this year, 807 condo units sold in Sacramento County, compared to 792 in the same period last year. Slightly higher sales this year could be due to more aggressive price drops, he said.
In California, 23.7% of homeowners paid condo or homeowners association fees in 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in September. That’s lower than the national rate of 25%. But California owners paid an average of $278 a month in fees, which is twice the national median of $135.
Similar data for the Sacramento region isn’t readily available, said Stumpf, who wrote a thesis on Sacramento HOAs in 2018 for her master’s degree from Sacramento State. She did find that HOAs are spread throughout Sacramento County and throughout the price range–not just in affluent areas.
Lundquist, who did a deep dive into HOA fees in a 2024 blog post, said fees in single-family home communities are often less onerous than those in condo communities.
Potential buyers should thoroughly research HOA
It’s crucial for home buyers and owners to know the financial health of their HOAs, how their fees are being spent, and what services they do and don’t provide, Hale and Stumpf said.
Prospective buyers should request an HOA’s last three years of board meeting minutes, most recent annual budget, and most recent reserves study, said Hale.
Does the organization have enough money in reserves to cover major expenses or repairs? Is the board considering levying special assessments for specific expenses like roof replacements or other repairs?
We’ve all heard stories about out-of-control HOAs fining residents for minor violations, Stumpf said. Reading the minutes from past board meetings will show if a particular HOA is one of them.
“If they are issuing citations for garbage cans staying out all night, that’s a rigid HOA,” she said.
Current and prospective buyers also should find out who is managing the HOA. Some are run by volunteer homeowners. Others hire professional management companies, but no licensing or standardized training is required to manage HOAs.
Legislature limited fines HOAs can impose
The California Association of Realtors would like to change that, and backed a bill this year that would have required HOA managers to hold real estate licenses as a way to professionalize the role. The bill didn’t advance.
Other changes have come for HOAs. A new law took effect in July limiting HOA fines to $100 per rule violation unless health and safety is at risk, which is intended to make the communities more affordable. Hale said the fine cap is upending self-governance for HOAs.
“Now it’s cheaper to pay the fine and park your RV on the street than it is to pay $500 to rent off-site parking,” she said.
Some communities with exterior balconies, stairways, and platforms are starting to levy special assessments to pay for upgrades required under a law that took effect in January in response to a 2015 apartment balcony collapse in Berkeley that killed six students and injured seven others.
Most HOA dwellers happy with their choice
Despite the costs and stories of HOAs gone wild, most residents are happy with their decision to live in a HOA community, Hale said. They foster involvement among residents and often result in higher property values because the surroundings are well maintained.
“For every one rogue association with a board acting in a derelict manner there are 1,000 acting ethically and responsibly,” she said.
Macriss said her HOA generally does a decent job, but lacks forward thinking. She’d like to put a solar-powered pergola on her deck, but it wouldn’t comply with rules that pergolas must be made of wood and look uniform. She knows she’d have to fight the association if she wants to make it happen.
“We’re not going to paint our houses purple, we just want to do something that makes sense,” she said.
Do your homework before buying into an HOA
- Research the financial health of your HOA by reviewing meeting minutes, budgets, and other financial information.
- Meet with HOA board members or managers and ask if any special assessments or major expenses are on the horizon. Note whether the association is run by volunteers or professional managers.
- Review meeting minutes and drive through HOA communities to gauge how rigid they are about aesthetic issues like holiday decorations, garage doors left open, flags flying, or bikes parked on the porch and decide if you’re comfortable with whatever level of uniformity the community has.
- Factor HOA fees into your mortgage payments and be prepared for them to increase over time.
- Get involved by attending HOA board meetings and volunteering your time.
Laura Mahoney is a regular contributor, writing Dollars and Sense for Abridged.