Dixon’s Village Green Homeowners’ Association President Barbara Brady and board member David Dingman talk with electricians at a homeowners’ association vendor conference. Photo by Debra Dingman

DIXON, CA (MPG) – If you’re considering a purchase in a Dixon development, you might want to check and see how it is “governed,” especially if it has a homeowners’ association (HOA). 

Formerly called Common Interest Developments, a version of today’s homeowners’ associations was basically created in the latter part of the 1800s for “homesteaders” in the United States who shared roads, fences and utilities. 

For California, homeowners’ associations originally started in Pasadena in 1905 and Los Angeles in 1916 where legal restrictions were focused on upscale, single-family residences. Homeowners’ associations were first regulated in 1963 when the Federal Housing Administration approved home mortgage insurance exclusively for condominiums, which created an explosion of construction and subdivisions. That created an exodus of city dwellers moving to the suburbs and into common-interest housing, according to Revelation Community Management.

Now there are more than 50,000 homeowner associations governing more than five-million homes. There are several in Dixon, including Dixon Estates, Village Green and the newest, Four Seasons at Homestead.

“Ninety percent are nonprofits and are governed by volunteers with no or little expertise. But they are responsible for hundreds of dollars of investments,” said Bay Area Property Services President Lisa Triplett, who recently spoke at a California Association of Community Managers conference.

There have been “nightmare stories of neighbors feuding because they didn’t agree on a fence style, color of house paint or pool hours,” according to Triplette.

“Having good management is essential and a good way to offset liabilities where good people share amenities,” she said.

Managers can help build stronger communities and give boards the tools to preserve, protect and enhance property values, according to Triplette, and a good management company can also prevent lawsuits.

“It is the ultimate partnership,” said John Gill, Esquire, of Hughes, Gill, Cochrane, and Tinetti who has exclusively represented homeowners’ associations in all aspects of CID operations for more than 25 years.

“How all this started was for the local government to not have to pay for streets and infrastructure,” Gill said. “It’s a way to get things done.”

The management team is not just another vendor but a relationship, according to Gill.

“The nature of the relationship is critical to taking care of property investment (your home),” Gill said.

Although homeowners’ association board members are volunteers, conference attendees were told, the associations are fiduciaries and a neighborhood is difficult to operate without a good property management company.

“Every year, there are new changes and additional legal requirements and mandates,” Triplett said. “With a manager, they have access to professional resources, insurance protection attorneys, CPAs, Reserve Study preparers, insurance brokers and specialty vendors. Plus, they learn the new laws and know legal obligations. 

Attending these types of annual conferences help inform homeowners’ association board members of upcoming legislation that will affect their properties. 

At this same conference, there was an explanation of a new state law, Assembly Bill 1572, which bans the use of drinking water to irrigate non-functional turf. It was in response to an executive order that Governor Gavin Newsom issued during the most recent drought in June 2022. This law affects lawns used on commercial, industrial and institutional properties, including common areas of homeowners’ associations, effectively prohibiting the watering of decorative grass that serves no recreational purpose. The law phases in over several years, starting with state and local government buildings in 2027 and reaching homeowners’ association common areas by 2029. 

“Communication is key to young, middle-aged, and older homeowners,” Gill said. Speakers ended their presentations encouraging homeowner association board members to create social events to foster a sense of community and encourage board participation.