Letter to Senate Committe by Bob Adolph
Supporting Documents
Committee : Intergovernmental Relations
SUBCOMMITTEE: Property Owners' Associations
TIME & DATE:  9:30AM, Tuesday, May 28, 2002

 
Senators, 

I have a solution to propose, but first will show some supporting data.

Mandatory HOAs often assert that one very valuable and essential service they provide is that of maintaining and improving property values.  This argument has been used time and again without any supporting data.

We have collected and analyzed just such data for Harris County, and the picture is disturbing. From 1994 to 2000, mandatory HOAs that filed against homeowners had price growth of 32%.  Sounds good, except that all other neighborhoods had about double that price growth or 59%!  Which would you rather live in?

One public speaker mentioned how proud she was of the price appreciation her HOA had achieved for Kleinbrook.  Per our research, Kleinbrook files against homeowners fairly actively.  Kleinbrook home values have grown only 28% over six years, which is less than the average HOA that files, and far less than non-filing neighborhoods.

This display compares annual price growth for homes in modest to very expensive neighborhoods.  In red are mandatory HOAs that have filed against their homeowners - places many of the attorneys in this room very actively work.  In green are all other neighborhoods.  The data show consistently that HOAs that file against their neighbors have much poorer price appreciation.

Strikingly, the lower valued neighborhoods have a much larger gap!  These are neighborhoods such as Sterling Green where Mr Gammon actively practices. You can judge for yourself if his efforts are helpful.

Based on this and a wealth of other data, I am here to endorse the approach proposed by Ms Laubach - that is, to establish voluntary HOAs and to abolish HOA foreclosures.

Thank you for this opportunity to provide input.

Bob Adolph
Houston, Texas