Yes, it matters.
Developers have learned over the years that the vast majority of people want to have their property values protected. Developers also want to insure that their neighborhoods continue to look as they originally intended and designed even many years after the final home has been constructed.
The Home Owner Association (sometimes referred to as a Property Owners Association or HOA/POA) was created to insure both would happen.
The HOA is an entity, legally recorded and placed in the deed, with rights to enforce the rules, regulations and guidelines of the neighborhood (usually relating to architectural looks and common area maintenance) laid out in its incorporation. The HOA, as part of the deed, has the right to collect dues (and raise them, obviously) as well as levy fines against homeowners that are not in compliance.
Since the HOA/POA is mandatory and has the right to collect dues, it has certain guidelines that it must adhere to and those guidelines are written as part of Virginia law. Additionally, the mandatory nature of the HOA also necessitates that anyone buying a home in a neighborhood governed by an HOA means that all of the rules and regulations (The Declaration, Bylaws and Budget) must be given to the prospective buyer with a 3 day right to review and rescind the contract without penalty (this also is mandated by the HOA laws of the state.)
A Civic Association is set up with many of the same goals as the HOA/POA with primary difference being that the Civic Association is voluntary and it is not part of the recorded deed. By not being a part of the deed, it has no real enforcement power and thus no real way of controlling the look of homes over time. Additions to homes tend to vary greatly in how the look, fence heights and materials vary, siding and roof colors can be vastly different and any common thread of architectural design will fade as the neighborhood ages. If the owners of homes within the neighborhood respect their neighbors, then the CA works fine. If not, well….
Both the HOA and the CA have positives and negatives associated with them but overall, when reasonable people manage well defined HOAs, the result is a better protection of values over time.
