Associations Suffer as Homeowners Do

Many HOA fees are paid quarterly, which means homeowners occasionally are gone before an association realizes dues are delinquent. But association boards have become more aggressive about turning over unpaid debts to their lawyers for collection.

In most cases, banks aren't paying homeowners association fees when they foreclose on a property. In the rare instances in which they do, associations say, it's only once a home is sold.

Back in Barksdale, a community of 185 townhouses, cutting the security contract saved $30,000 a year. Five years ago, when residents felt flush with cash, they spent $25,000 on playground equipment. Now that it needs repairs -- only one of the four swings is fully functional, and the picnic table is missing a bench on one side -- they have to hold off.

This is the first time the association has had to scale back.

Some residents of the modest townhouses -- built in the early 1970s with brick facades, shutters and a patch of grass that counts as a yard -- are on fixed incomes. Every fourth house or so has a for sale or foreclosure sign.

Shauntay D. Haskins said she is embarrassed by Barksdale. She's seen a "dramatic decrease" in the neighborhood since she bought her home in 1993.

At the entrance she is greeted by teenagers hanging out on the corner, who she fears are selling drugs. She refers to the other end as "the bottoms." Trash piles up in common areas, and one abandoned home has a dangling gutter and moldy phone books on the porch. But she diligently pays her dues to maintain the upkeep of the subdivision.

"Why should we have to give up anything?" she asked. "I pay my homeowners fees every three months. I shouldn't have to lose out."