The Foundation for Community Association Research commissions a periodic survey of Americans who live in common-interest communities. These nationally representative surveys are conducted to assess the perceptions of those who living in common-interest communities and to identify recent trends. Below are selected findings from our most recent survey, conducted in November 2007 by Zogby International. Zogby conducted telephone interviews with 709 randomly selected adults residing in homeowners associations, condominiums, cooperatives and other planned communities—collectively called “community associations” in this summary. The margin of error is +/- 3.8 percentage points.
Download the full Zogby report (PDF), which includes data from similar research conducted in 2005. Totals may not equal 100% due to rounding
Selected Findings
2007 Zogby International Survey of Community Association Residents
| On a scale of one to five, with one being very bad and five being very good, how would you rate your overall experience living in a community association?? | |
| Negative (1 & 2) | 9% |
| Neutral (3) | 19 |
| Positive (4 & 5) | 72 |
| Do the rules in your community protect and enhance property values, harm them or make no difference? | |
| Protect and enhance | 74% |
| Harm | 3 |
| No difference | 22 |
| Not sure | 2 |
| Do you think the members of your elected governing board strive to serve the best interests of the community as a whole? | |
| Absolutely | 47% |
| For the most part | 41 |
| Not at all | 10 |
| Not sure | 3 |
| Overall, would you say you are on friendly terms with your current community association board, or would you say you are on unfriendly terms with them? | |
| Friendly terms | 89% |
| Unfriendly terms | 5 |
| Not sure | 6 |
| Does the manager provide value and support to residents and the community as a whole? (1) | |
| Yes | 73% |
| No | 21 |
| Not sure | 6 |
| Asked of those who report having direct interaction with the community manager: Was your interaction with the manager generally a positive experience? | |
| Yes | 79% |
| No | 20 |
| Not sure | 2 |
| Considering your overall assessments and the services provided by your association, how would you describe the return for what you pay in assessments?* | ||||
| 1 Great | 24% | |||
| 2 Good | 53 | Positive | (1+ 2) | 77% |
| 3 Not so good | 15 | |||
| 4 Bad | 5 | Negative | (3 + 4) | 20% |
| 5 Not sure | 3 | |||
*Respondents were asked how much they pay in monthly assessments. 18% pay less than $25; 20% pay $25-50; 16% pay $51-100; 22% pay $101-300; 9% pay $301-500; 4% pay $501 or more; 12% don’t pay dues or could not say how much.
| What do you think your community should do when residents neglect to pay their assessments? | |
| Insist that every homeowner pay the assessments, involving attorneys only if delinquent accounts are not brought up to date after sufficient notification | 70% |
| Make up the loss by increasing assessments for paying homeowners | 3 |
| Curtail services and amenities such as reducing pool hours, delaying improvements and spending less on landscaping | 8 |
| Not sure | 20 |
| The governance of community associations is subject to differing state laws and regulations. Would you like to see more government control of these associations? | |
| Yes | 17% |
| No | 80 |
| Not sure | 4 |
| Did the fact that your current home is in a community association make you more likely to purchase or rent your home, make you hesitant about purchasing or renting your home, or have no impact?* | |
| More likely | 30% |
| Hesitant | 9 |
| No impact | 61 |
| Not sure | 1 |
*89% of respondents knew they were moving into a community association before they purchased or rented their homes
NOTE: The following 2007 questions pertaining to energy and environmental issues were not asked in the August 2005 survey conducted by Zogby International.
| Who should determine how community association prioritize and address environmental issues? | |
| Association Homeowners through their elected board | 66% |
| Local governments | 20 |
| State government | 5 |
| Federal government | 3 |
| Not sure | 6 |
| Should community associations, as private organizations, be forced by government to allow individual residents to hang their laundry on clotheslines that are visible to their neighbors? | |
| Yes | 18% |
| No | 74 |
| Not sure | 8 |
| Should community associations, as private organizations, have the right to control the scope and placement of solar panels on individual homes to maintain architectural standards? | |
| Yes | 59% |
| No | 35 |
| Not sure | 6 |
Founded in 1984, Zogby International is a respected, independent public opinion research firm based in Utica, NY, and Washington, DC.