How Do I Know If an HOA Is Right for Me?

Deciding whether an HOA is right for you comes down to three checks you can complete before your inspection period ends: what the monthly dues buy, what the recorded documents let you do with your own property, and how the board spends the money. Arizona gives you a real paper trail for all three, because the Arizona Planned Communities Act at A.R.S. Title 33, Chapter 16, sections 33-1801 through 33-1818 governs assessments, open meetings, board elections, record access, fines, and foreclosure authority. Roughly two-thirds of new homes in the Phoenix metro are built inside a planned community, so in Peoria and across the West Valley this is a question most buyers have to answer rather than avoid.

An HOA is the association that governs a planned community. Under Arizona law, the community documents are the declaration, commonly called the CC&Rs, plus the bylaws, the articles of incorporation, and any rules the board has adopted. The declaration creates the community, sets the use restrictions and maintenance obligations, and establishes the assessment structure. The bylaws cover how the board is elected, how meetings run, and what officers do. When you buy a home in a community governed by an HOA, you automatically become a member and pay ongoing quarterly or monthly fees for as long as you own the home.

HOA dues are a housing payment, not an optional extra

An HOA fee is a regular fee, usually monthly or quarterly, assessed by the association to pay for the services it provides. Those fees are paid on top of your mortgage, property tax and homeowners insurance payments, and they continue even after the mortgage is paid off. Nationally, the average monthly HOA fee was $170.

The fee matters at the loan application stage, not only at move-in. Lenders evaluating your debt ratio look at your expected housing payments including mortgage principal, interest, property taxes, property insurance and HOA fees. HOA dues are calculated into your debt-to-income ratio and can affect your eligibility for a loan. Bankrate's affordability calculator shows every $100 in monthly HOA dues erases around $16,000 in purchasing power.

That is the number first-time buyers in Peoria most often miss. Peoria's median sold price was $511,000 as of June 2026, and homes there sold at 98.3% of asking price, the share of asking price a home sells for. If you are pre-approved at a fixed payment and then shop two communities with different dues, the dues move your price ceiling before you have negotiated anything. Get your dues figure into your lender's worksheet before you write an offer, not after.

What the dues cover is written down, and you should read it

The HOA's governing documents should outline what fees cover specifically. Common examples include grounds maintenance and landscaping, trash removal, and electricity and pest control for common areas. It is also common for HOA dues to pay for liability and property insurance for common areas and shared amenities, and for reserve funds set aside for major or unexpected repairs of shared spaces.

Fees are calculated from the association's annual budget, which is determined by the board of directors. Board members, who are often homeowners in the community themselves, are obligated to pay the fees too.

The reserve fund is the part that decides whether today's dues are honest. Associations can also levy special assessments, in which each homeowner makes a one-time lump-sum payment toward a large-scale repair such as a fence or roof replacement. Arizona has no statute requiring a reserve study to be performed or kept on file. If an association has one, planned communities with fifty or more lots must provide a copy of the most recent study in the resale disclosure package. A low monthly due with no reserve study behind it is a number you cannot evaluate.

The Arizona resale disclosure package is your document review

Arizona hands you the file. Under A.R.S. § 33-1806, for planned communities with fewer than fifty units the selling member must deliver the disclosure to the purchaser within ten days after receiving written notice of a pending sale. For planned communities with fifty or more units, the association must deliver it. The ten-day clock starts only when the association receives written notice containing the buyer's name and address, so this request goes out early in escrow, not late.

The package must include the declaration, the bylaws and the association rules. It must include the current operating budget, the most recent annual financial report, and the most recent reserve study if one exists. It must include a dated statement with association contact information, the amount of regular and unpaid assessments owed by the seller, whether insurance covers the unit, total reserves held, any known alterations that violate the declaration, and any pending litigation involving the unit. The association is not obligated to provide information about alterations or improvements that occurred more than six years before the proposed sale. Under A.R.S. § 33-1806 the association may charge the member a fee of not more than an aggregate of four hundred dollars for the disclosure statement.

The package also contains a buyer acknowledgment statement you must sign, confirming you have read and understand the association's governing documents and that unpaid assessments can lead to foreclosure. Treat that signature as the deadline for your reading, and read the budget and the reserve figure with the same attention you give the CC&Rs.

What to pull out of the file first:

• The assessment amount, the assessment schedule, and the unpaid balance owed by the seller.
• Total reserves held, and the most recent reserve study if the association has one.
• Any known alterations on the property that violate the declaration, since those become your problem at closing.
• Pending litigation involving the unit.
• The rules, which the board can adopt separately from the declaration.

Exterior changes, landscaping and solar are governed by architectural review

A.R.S. § 33-1817 lets an Arizona association require design and architectural review for changes to a lot, including requiring a landscaping plan be submitted and approved before planting. Arizona has no statute that protects native or desert-adapted landscaping from HOA rules. Living plants, including agave, cactus and drought-tolerant natives, still run through architectural review.

Two protections are narrower and specific. A planned community that allows natural grass cannot ban artificial turf on your lot under A.R.S. § 33-1819. Under A.R.S. § 33-1816 an association shall not prohibit a solar energy device, and reasonable placement rules are allowed only if they do not prevent installation, impair function, or adversely affect cost or efficiency.

Signs and flags are also protected by statute. Under A.R.S. § 33-1808 the U.S. flag, the Arizona state flag, the Gadsden flag, the POW/MIA flag and military service-branch flags may be displayed, and the association may regulate flagpole height and placement but cannot prohibit display. A.R.S. § 33-1808 also protects for-sale, for-rent and for-lease signs on a member's property, so an HOA cannot prohibit standard real estate marketing signs. That one matters on the day you sell.

Parking, pets and rentals are where the documents differ most

Parking rules sit partly in the documents and partly in statute. An Arizona HOA cannot control parking on public streets without specific member authorization under A.R.S. § 33-1803, and A.R.S. § 33-1809 contains a parking carve-out for service vehicles. Everything else about where you may park a truck, a trailer or an RV comes from the declaration and the rules, so read those sections for the specific vehicle you own.

Pet provisions in Arizona HOA documents commonly address species allowed, breed restrictions, weight limits, number of pets, and leash requirements. There is no state-level override here. Whatever your declaration says is the rule you live with.

Rentals deserve the closest reading if you ever intend to lease the home. A.R.S. § 33-1806.01 provides that a member may use the member's property as a rental property unless prohibited in the declaration, and shall use it in accordance with the declaration's rental time period restrictions. The Arizona Planned Community Act and the Arizona Condominium Act both allow associations to limit short-term rentals in their declaration, at A.R.S. §§ 33-1806.01(A) and 33-1260.01(A). Under Arizona law a short-term or vacation rental is a residential dwelling rented to occupants for less than 30 consecutive days.

City rules and HOA rules are separate layers. A.R.S. § 9-500.39 and A.R.S. § 11-269.17 limit how Arizona cities, towns and counties regulate vacation rentals, so local governments generally cannot ban short-term rentals outright but may adopt health, safety, nuisance and licensing rules. That preemption does not stop private community associations from enforcing short-term rental restrictions in their recorded documents. Short-term rentals are legal in Peoria in 2026, and every property needs a vacation rental permit under Ordinance 2022-20, along with liability insurance, a 24-hour emergency contact, neighbor notification, and an Arizona TPT license. A community declaration can still say no.

If you do rent the home out, the association has limits on what it can ask you for. Under A.R.S. § 33-1806.01 an HOA may ask an owner who rents out a property for tenant and agent information and may charge a disclosure fee, chargeable for each new tenancy but not for a lease renewal. A.R.S. § 33-1806.01 forbids associations from requiring members to submit a tenant's rental application, lease agreement, credit report, or other personal information.

How the board is structured and how decisions actually get made

Most Arizona HOAs incorporate as nonprofit corporations under the Arizona Nonprofit Corporations Act, A.R.S. §§ 10-3101 et seq. The bylaws govern how the board is elected, how meetings run, and what officers do. An Arizona HOA board can only exercise authority explicitly granted by the Arizona Planned Community Act or by the association's governing documents. The statute sets a floor: governing documents can give homeowners more rights than the statute requires, but not fewer.

Meetings are open by law. Under A.R.S. § 33-1804, notwithstanding anything in the declaration or bylaws, all meetings of the members' association and the board of directors and any regularly scheduled committee meetings are open to all members, who may attend and speak at an appropriate time during deliberations. Not fewer than ten nor more than fifty days before any meeting of the members, the secretary must cause notice stating the date, time and place to be hand delivered or mailed to the mailing address for each lot, parcel or unit owner. For board meetings, as opposed to membership meetings, § 33-1804(C) requires only 48 hours of posted notice in a conspicuous location.

Meetings may be closed only for narrow reasons such as legal advice, pending litigation, personnel matters, or a member's personal, health or financial information, and the board must identify the authorizing paragraph. Members may audiotape or videotape open portions. If a board records an open meeting, it must keep the recording for at least six months and make the unedited recording available to any member on request. A.R.S. § 33-1804(D) allows boards to meet in emergency circumstances without notice if action cannot be delayed 48 hours, the minutes must state the reason for the emergency, and only emergency matters can be acted on.

Voting rules changed the balance of power in these communities. Under A.R.S. § 33-1812, after termination of the period of declarant control, votes allocated to a unit may not be cast by proxy, and the association must provide for votes to be cast in person and by absentee ballot. Association records are open to members for inspection under A.R.S. § 33-1805, with copy charges capped at 15 cents per page and 10 business days to respond. The Arizona Department of Real Estate states that it does not regulate HOAs, though state law allows certain owner-association disputes to be filed with ADRE for possible referral to the Office of Administrative Hearings.

What to ask the board and the neighbors before you remove your inspection contingency

Ask the association, in writing, through your agent:

• What is the current assessment, how often is it billed, and when was it last raised?
• What are total reserves held, and is there a reserve study? Arizona has no statute requiring one, so the answer tells you something either way.
• Has the association levied a special assessment, and is one under discussion at the board level?
• Are there any known alterations on this specific lot that violate the declaration?
• Is there pending litigation involving this unit?
• Does the declaration restrict rentals, and does it restrict rentals of less than 30 consecutive days?
• What does architectural review require for landscaping, paint, and exterior changes, and how long does approval take?

Ask current residents what they have seen for themselves:

• Where do board meetings get posted, and how much notice goes up?
• Has the board closed portions of meetings, and did it identify the authorizing reason?
• How did the last election run, in person and by absentee ballot?
• What did the last architectural review request look like from the homeowner's side?

Then read the minutes. Meetings are open, recordings of open meetings are kept for at least six months and available on request, and records are open to members under A.R.S. § 33-1805. A board that has already answered these questions in public is the strongest evidence you will get.

The Bottom Line

An HOA is right for you when the dues buy services you would otherwise pay for yourself, the reserves are funded well enough that a special assessment is not sitting in your future, and the restrictions on parking, pets, rentals and exterior changes match how you actually plan to live in the home. The Arizona resale disclosure package under A.R.S. § 33-1806 gives you the budget, the reserves figure, the unpaid assessments and the governing documents, and the ten-day clock starts only when the association receives written notice with the buyer's name and address.

If you are weighing an HOA community in Peoria, Surprise, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Avondale, Buckeye, Sun City or Phoenix, send me the address and I will walk the disclosure package with you before your contingency expires.

Written by Archie Dean, part of the Kristan Cole Network team.

Sources

Pages read on October 5, 2026.

• Bankrate: How rising HOA fees can act like shadow mortgages
• 33-1804 (azleg.gov)