Homeowner Association History

In the nineteenth century, the United States began to change itself from a primarily agricultural society to an industrial society. Homeowners association got started in the United States in the mid 19^th century. They took time to grow until the mid 1960s after a period of rapid national growth. This growth was triggered by cultural preference for similar architectural designs, lack of readily available land in United States, modification of federal mortgage insurance rules and rising of construction costs. Homeowner association is a corporation that has been formed by a real estate developer for the purpose of managing, marketing and selling of homes. It also deals a lot with residential subdivisions (Dunbar and Dunbar, 2004). For a residential buyer to be a member of homeowners association, he or she needs to buy one of their properties.

Homeowners’ associations have existed in Florida for many years. They began in Florida around the same time that they began in the United States. One of the main homeowners’ association corporations was founded in Florida. During the beginning of the 20^th century, there were exceeding restrictions of early covenants and other deeds, and majority of such restrictions were motivated by racial issues. The supreme courts ruled such covenants as unenforceable and Florida followed this by coming up with certain statutes to guide the services in the state of Florida. Around the 1970s, the rise in scarcity of land for suburban development in Florida led to a rise in land costs (Dudley and Dunbar, 2004). Developers increased the number of homes on a small piece of land. They succeeded to do this by, clustering many homes around green open areas that would be maintained by the association.

In 1995, the Florida legislature passed a law that required the homeowners’ associations to incorporate new services into their association. In 2009, the governor of Florida signed a bill, which allowed members of homeowners’ associations to plant native grasses without having to fear the homeowners’ association boards. These boards over the years restricted the homeowners in Florida on grass species. After these restrictions were removed, it became possible to provide everyone with a house near Greenland, which was what majority of the homeowners desired. This led to a growth of the homeowners’ associations in Florida, and new laws came into play to make their services better.

Homeowners association in Florida is made up of a board, which is elected by the members of the association. The board is the head of the association and members are elected by association members. The association acts as a representative of the residents of Florida. It represents the interests of the residents and helps them solve housing issues that they face and common problems like pet problems or parking problems. The board of the homeowners’ association amends and enacts governing documents that include rules, which are known as covenants and restrictions (Coleman and Huss, 2006).

The rules that the homeowners association in Florida have are  designed to provide maintain the neighbourhood with proper maintenance and protect the homeowners against estate value drop. They create a positive community atmosphere. The associations also collect fees from homeowners to pay for maintenance costs of certain areas such as golf courses, meeting halls, and gated neighbourhood entrance ways. They also assess these facilities. Homeowners in Florida have in time become known as corporations, which are responsible for the operation of a community (Dunbar and Dunbar, 2004). They decide upon architectural designs after looking at specific property owned by a community member. The members of the association have a right to attend board meetings of the homeowners’ association and participate. Notice of all meetings is posted in a public place in the community, so that anyone who wishes to attend can do so in due time. With the homeowners’ association already in place in Florida, the developers have expanded their horizons to provide other requirements and resources that will enable them to sell homes.