Reply to I need to raise Common Charges Again

Forum Index » Real Estate

Reply to "I need to raise Common Charges Again - When do I tell People?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You can run the meeting by Zoom.

People get mad about spending money.  But in a condo a lot of planning work is done by others for free.

As long as you're being ethical, let people rage.  The money has to be paid.  You have to plan ahead for the increased costs.

I view this the same as if I bought a single family house and had an unexpected expense like the furnace quitting.

I also think it's better to put the charges on longer-term residents who have benefitted from artificially low dues.  If they know people with single family homes they know those people have faced a lot of inflation.[/quote]

The longer term people did not benefit from lower common charges as the hike is for the Insurance Bills mainly that is only for owners now. If insurance did not rise so much we would be fine. And the fact my renewing Landscaping, Snow renewal type cotracts will all renew higher. So the sudden hike in costs is issue. [/quote]

OP, you seem like a very conscientious person.  I think you just need to share the bad news.  I wouldn't phase in the increase super gently.  Make them a bit mad.  If you raise it gently, some may sell out to avoid what is coming. And the new people will feel tricked if there are steep hikes within two years of buying. And then you'll have new angry owners with less appreciation cushion.  In fact, I wouldn't have bought into a condo with zero reserves.  It's always best to socialize bad news quickly.

Also, my point about past costs is they should have been higher because now you have $0.  Like the person said who is paying $450/mo for their sfh services.  All of my condo's costs are way up post-Covid.[/quote]

NY is totally different than DMV. After Sandy in 2013 we had a net worth of negative $120,000 as had a loan outstanding for roofs from 2008 that was a ten year loan. I joined board and I fought with Fema and insurance and reopened flood claims spending maybe 800-900 hours of my own time  on my own and we got and extra $250,000 in late 2014. Our loan was to be fully paid off in 2018 so in good shape.

Some owners started in they want that “windfall divided up” and I send checks out. So we repaved parking lots, painted rails, did cement work, updated signage, new LED lights and power washed building, updated Landscaping to catch up all over due maint and then lowered common charges to $350 in 2018 from $500. I tried to not hand out checks. But with lower common charges coming in and insurance creeping up then rapidly rising the roosters have come home to roost.

No good deed goes unpunished. Hence reserves got low. But building was all caught up. Then insurance rate hike storm hit.

We have a decent amount of new owners since 2018. Once buildings looking great wirg low common charges then with housing bubble since 2020 the new owners are much richer. Most of retired people from 2012 sadly are dead now. They could afford the rate hike more easily than the residents on 10 years ago, so don’t think anyone will be distressed just mad.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics