Buying a Home Owners Association

[Jon Robinson]

I was recently going through a list of pre foreclosures and have found several that are in one particular HOA, after further research I found that this particular HOA's fees are pretty high ($500 a month) and I am guessing that if the homeowners are not paying their mortgage, there is a good chance that they are not paying the HOA fee as well. This is an older development (built in '75) and properties that have been updated are currently trading at around $171/Sf. For this area that is a pretty good price even with the high HOA fees. I think there is a good opportunity for value add to this property, so my question is since most HOA's, for the most part also NPO's is it possible to "buy" a HOA, or would the transaction have to be a land purchase and would I have to create a new HOA? How does one go about purchasing a property like this one? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks