It is important to understand that the vast majority of the public and government officials are under the mistaken impression of a homogenous, one-size fits all view of HOAs as presented in CAI’s voluminous descriptions and promotions of what are HOAs. Only in its Statistical Reviews are Large-scale associations (LSA) presented in passing with an estimated 6,000 – 9,000 associations over 1,000 units.
However, in June 2016 LSA survey CAI did go into some detail to categorize associations by primary theme or function: Residential, Resort/Residential, Age Restricted, Private and Mixed Use. (I had introduced these categories in my 2005 analysis of CAI’s survey). The survey found that 44.3% were Residential, 26.8% Resort, and 14.1% Age restricted, with Age restricted not further refined. There are very important distinctions between these categories among which the Resort and Age restricted associations had 6 times the number of part-time/seasonal owners than Residential.
This huge disparity in part-timers and primary theme make it quite evident that Resorts/Age Restricted associations can be viewed as 365-day timeshare resorts. The owners’ expectancy of, and agreement to, HOA regulation is significantly more pronounced than those of Residential owners who believe that they were just buying a nice home.
There’s “no one-size fits all” when it comes to HOAs!
I cannot discover the distribution of HOAs by units/lots anywhere including the CAI websites and pages. However, I did uncover a glimpse of this breakdown in the 2011 CAI Nevada LAC’s “Why Legislative Advocacy Matters” where it showed only 1.8 % of Nevada’s associations had over 1,000 units. Units less than 200 amounted to a massive 74.8% and the combined 500 or less amounted to 90.5%.
The bottom line
It is my view that the CAI Central pronouncements and propaganda addressed to the policymakers speak to this pitiful minority of Resort/Age Restricted associations and not to the massive 90% of associations where the members believed that they were buying a home protected by their HOA. The vast majority of HOA abuse and rogue boards, but not all complaints, stem from this 90% ignored by state legislatures.
HOA Constitutional Government 