What’s covered by condo HOA fees?

[Anonymous]

Good Condos with low amenities could have high monthly fees and Condos with low amenities and low monthly fees could be bad.

My building for instance took a ten year loan to do a lot of needed work, roofs, driveways, cement, fences. So our common charges were higher for ten years.

A building nearby had lower common charges at that time but little reserves and tons of upcoming work that they had no way to pay for.

Oddly people paid more the other building in years 5-10 of our loan. But eventually they had to jack common charges which doubled overnight eventually to do the work.

so it not just the cost per month it is where it is going. I bought in my building in year 4 of that loan and ok with it. I was getting benefit of new roof, siding, fences and only paying 6/10s of cost and got it cheaper due to the higher common charges. .

[Anonymous]

Long time condo/ coop owner . Check if the building has an elevator. Those suckers are expensive to maintain, highly regulated, etc. In this area, that'll be several hundred dollars of that HOA fee. (But also super convenient as you age)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should do the math. Buying versus renting the same condo and you overall NW and needs.
In my building, if I were to buy a 2- bedroom condo now versus renting the same or similar one, I'd be out ca 4 million after 30 years. I can even do it tax free or very low tax.
The condos have been the same price the last 20 year, which is $480k-$510k. Even if they go to a million, I'd be out 3 million. I didn't even add any upkeep costs or being able to move to a 1-bedroom if times get tough.
I'm so glad there are owners who rent to me and don't know or care that the money stuck in a condo would do better in the market.
I'm about to move to top floor as I want nobody walking above me. I asked them to change out several appliances and they are working on it.
Right now, renting is absolutely the way to go. The rentals have been sitting 120+ days as few people have $5k cash for first months rent plus security deposit.
Don't kill your cash in the condo. Learn to invest and your returns will be much higher than 10%.

OP here, thanks for that POV. Right now, the PITI on out home is $2450 + $100 HOA. If we purchase a condo, outright, our HOA + Prop. tax + insurance would be around $2400, with $1300 of that being HOA. That number is hard to fathom, so I was wondering what typically is covered by that, not having lived in a condo before.

We own a condo as a property for one of our kids to live in while in school. She has a roommate so that provides a bit of rental income.. The condo fees are a killer and not worth it in the DC area. I would not buy a condo here if you have other options. We knew going in we weren't going to make any money on it but we were ok with that since our kid needed a place to live. We will sell when kid graduates and we will hopefully break even but it's iffy. The place may have appreciated slightly but not much ($650K purchase price) Our condo fees are $650/mo for a fairly old building but it does have a pool and small gym. Some places we looked at were $800-1000 condo fees. The HOA's in condo's can also be a bit much or maybe it's just ours which has a lot of older people with nothing to do but complain.

[Anonymous]

It varies widely. One ought to look into the specifics for each place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Long time condo/ coop owner . Check if the building has an elevator. Those suckers are expensive to maintain, highly regulated, etc. In this area, that'll be several hundred dollars of that HOA fee. (But also super convenient as you age)

Was coming to say this too. High rise buildings have higher common area costs because of the elevators. Also pools, restricted parking garages and some fitness facilities or business office amenities can increase costs. Typical common area insurance (not contents insurance) and trash is included. Possibly water/sewer, gas if used, and WiFi but it’s often all individual.