HOA resident becomes HOA president and disbands their association: ‘What a time to be alive’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Dec 27, 2025 5:00 AM EST

HOAs are, at best, schemes to keep homeowners dishing out their cash to look uniform in a cul-de-sac community. A lot of homeowners prefer to live in a cookie-cutter neighborhood with rules and regulations. HOAs provide residents with guidance, help them stay on their toes about general home upkeep, and most of all, allow them to call the shots at community board meetings.

Do these residents actually call the shots? It's challenging to know for sure. The allure of an HOA generally doesn't beat the downside of the association, mainly because you have horror stories left and right about residents not being allowed to have a basketball hoop in the driveway they own, or general power struggles where HOA entitlement ruins everything. You might think you want to live in an HOA, but it's crucial to understand what you're getting yourself into. Not all HOAs are bad, but not all of them are great either.

Success stories about evil HOAs are what keep us going, though. There's a way to combat power-hungry board members and money-hungry developers, and all it takes is a little grit and a whole lot of encouragement from other like-minded residents.

Smaller HOAs are easier to navigate, especially when there are certain checks and balances in place to possibly disband the entire association. That's what's going on in the story below, where a four-home HOA development elects a president who decides to upend everything. Scroll below to read the full story.

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  • man in suit with arms crossed outside a building
    via Vitaly Gariev for Unsplash

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Just wanted to boast in here a bit. I moved into a 4 house development in 2020 that was required to have an HOA.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • We have a small park at the back that needed to be maintained. This park was more or less the last house's backyard.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • They proposed taking over the property (it's a flood plain and has an estimated value of $3000 on the CAD), filling the remaining goal of emergency funds, and taking over the maintenance so they can change it to their desire.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • We will maintain access and had a lawyer draft up a deed which limits the use to personal and if they are to move, we can take it back.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • All the benefits, a giant decrease in monthly costs. We all got together and agreed this was the best option.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • Once that was done, we had to select a new president. None of us want the HOA, so it's always a teeth pulling exercise to get someone to do it.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • Well it was my turn. I found an opportunity to disband the HOA, and without the park, there was very little that needed to be done.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX

  • Sometimes, you need to take matters into your own hands if you want things to change. The resident who eventually decided to become HOA president saw an opportunity to make changes, the largest one being destroying the HOA altogether. It appears that all of the residents disliked the concept of an HOA, so this wasn't necessarily a difficult feat for the residents. Nonetheless, they saw the powerful potential of a position like HOA president, and refused to accept a fate they or any of the other residents didn't want.

  • The only community maintenance was a small strip of grass that's technically in my property. I have a riding mower, so when I became president I fired the maintenance company since they had a minimum to stop by and mow that small strip.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • a lawn mower sitting on top of a lush green field
    via A. C. For Unsplash+

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I just made it part of my mowing and it adds maybe 1 minute to my mow.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • We had to renew the HOA, and this was our opportunity. We decided to not renew and we officially have no
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • We still have a fund together that we hold in a 3rd party account. There is obviously a tiny bit of risk, but we went from $280 a month to $0.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • What a time to be alive.
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • Ok-Film-7939 Each of the four of you had to spend $280 a month to mow that tiny strip of grass? o_O I don't pay that to mow my whole yard.
    via Ok-Film-7939
  • GLASSHOUSELABSTX The $280 was to maintain a 1.2 acre park. Once that was transferred to the other homeowner, it was only $50
    via GLASSHOUSELABSTX
  • bmchan29 Good News! What was it that "required" the development to have an HOA? Why would a seller mandate this? I honestly believe someday these will be banned everywhere as they violate the free speech amendment.
    via bmchan29

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hoa stories neighborhood drama president justice served karma entitled people
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