We are in an hoa of 12 homes and pay 50$ a month, to be raised to 55$ in January.?

That's dirt cheap, everyone is going to be jealous. You can't even find a trailer park that cheap.

HOA fees in our area average around $300-350/month. They've gone up a lot recently due to some people defaulting on their homes (foreclosures).

If you still have questions, you have a right to see the detailed list of expenses covered by your HOA fees, and could even participate on the board if you like. Some HOA fees do not include regular set-asides for long-term expenses like roof replacement, plumbing, or insect fumigation - things that are only needed once every 15-20 years. Your HOA SHOULD be setting money aside for these things, so you aren't hit with a $10,000 assessment unexpectedly.

It seems excessive if it is exactly what you say, a very small area to keep up. Our HOA fees are $110 per month but, they have a gigantic area to keep up including golf courses, and two clubhouses. Perhaps the cost is high for you because there are only 12 homeowners. So, what they did was figure their annual cost and divide it by 12. If the place is nice, I wouldn't complain. We also had almost $7,000 in clubhouse renovations assessed to each homeowner in the last couple of years. A $5 raise is really nothing to complain about.

$650 a year isn't bad... that paying landscaping and insurance. If it's only 12 houses, the HOA is only collecting about $7800 per year... thats an extremely small budget.

(I am the president of my HOA, most residents are members of 2 HOA's, with combined assessments of about $200 per month and a budget of about $500,000 per year)

Anyway, the HOA has at a minimum an annual budget meeting. Why don't you show up, look at the budget, and if you see things that should be cut make your voice heard! Or, run for the board yourself!

You chose to live in a HOA community, so you need to pay whatever the fee is. Next time don't live in a HOA community.

I pay $125.00 a month in a 12 home community. No, that's not excessive.

they have to pay the lawnmower guy to mow the lawn and tend to the landscape with pine straw and flowers