Anonymous wrote:When you look at the condo docs, one of the main things that you should look at is the reserves: how much is there, how much is being funded for future projects, whether there has been a recent reserve study, and whether the reserves are being funded as indicated in the survey. Money for projects like new windows should come out of reserves, not from assessments. Of course not everything is predictable, but the board should be prepared.

This. We live in a neighborhood of big single-family homes (yes, those cookie-cutter McMansions) and we have a hefty HOA fee because the reserves are big. All neighborhood amenities including care of the public spaces, playground, pool, club room, neighborhood lighting, etc are all covered. When there is some big expense for the neighborhood, it comes out of reserves. We recently needed major work on the pool ($20K) and had a new play area built ($35K) and both were covered by reserves. If you are getting assessed for individual big projects, then your condo association is not well managed. The condo association should be raising fees to include payments into the reserves. People usually prefer to pay $50 more per month rather than several thousand dollars for some big project. Also, I make sure to attend at least the annual meeting (although I do try to make one or two board meetings during the year to just listen). I look over the treasurer's report and make sure to note the amount in the reserves and the amount of reserves that was spent in the previous year. Those things tell me how well the board is managing the community. Every owner in a association like an HOA or condo association should pay attention to this.

I would pay the fees and sell the condo as soon as possible. It may be hard to sell the condo if the fees are too high, in which case you might have to sell for less than you may have. Perhaps the condo is not run well and it now has to pay for capital expenses they should have been collecting from for years, but didn't so they raise the fee on current residents. Get out while you still can.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a condo - and this pisses me off. You know what you are getting into buying a condo. Fees go up. Period.

If you don't pay your fees, you screw your fellow owners who DO pay. I hope they fine you. And I really hope you don't live in my building.

Another poster who owns a condo here. I understand the point you're trying to make, but you have to admit that there is a tremendous range between condo fees. There are well-managed associations and then there are less so. There are comparable buildings across DC with an identical range of services that charge different fees, so obviously it is possible to do the same thing for less money. In a big building with established boards, you have to be cynical enough to suspect kickbacks to service companies as a possibility. It is also possible that associations decide to purchase services that not all residents find acceptable or even desirable.

I am not arguing the point that fees need to be paid. I am trying to point out for you some of the legitimate reasons why this may be a point of resentment.

Yes, which is why when I bought my condo, I did research, I estimated a 3% adjustment in fees a year. I spoke to a real estate lawyer. I did checks on my HOA and their backgrounds.

My condo does stuff I don't love, all of them do, but then don't live in a condo building with $1000 in fees you can't afford.

PP here. I understand your point about fees that were high to begin with. There are, however, less obvious examples. Like this friend I have who lives around Dupont Circle. Her association fees are like $500 per month, which sounds reasonable. But then once a year they will do a special assessment for windows or some other new projects, which is around 5K per unit, and there is no way around it. I don't have to explain to you that these things cannot be adequately predicted nor universally welcome.

That IMO is an extremely poorly run condo based on 30 yrs. of living in an couple and representing them ... they should be doing a reserve study at least every 5 yrs. (required by law in VA) and building in depreciation and replacement schedules for every aspect of the building to avoid the special assessments. A special assessment is usually the result of bad planning and it lets previous owners who have underpaid in annual dues/assessments and already sold, get away cheap. One condo I know of was so focused on not raising assessments for 10+ yrs. that it ended up with a $1M+ special assessment ($7k-13k per unit) because they failed to follow the law and collect adequate reserves each year. Now, with a proper reserve study in place, dues have actually gone down from the several yrs. of special assessments and there is a long-term plan in place for gradual rises with adequate reserves on hand for major capital projects.

Too many people think condo = not my problem, I can ignore it and just live there. You are -- as the term means literally in Latin -- co-owners and you all must share in the costs and burdens of management, etc. I have no sympathy for condo owners who don't do their homework, including not reading the Declarations, relying on the word of real estate agents who may say anything for a sale, etc.

My friend paid $450K for her condo. Her monthly fee is over $700. I don't know how in the hell she manages.

My condo fee surpassed my mortgage at one point. It was so ridiculous that I sold it and purchased a townhouse. I paid more, but it was within my budget. And I got more space for a bit more, too.

This is the reason why I refused to buy in a big building - I only want to pay for the services I choose. I don't need a pool. I already have a gym membership. A concierge is nice but too expensive for me. Everyone can host their own parties, no need for a party room. No elevator. I bought in a 4-unit building. My fee is $180, which pays for water, lighting in the hallway and master insurance, and a healthy reserve. We've since repaired the roof, beautified the front and back garden, cleaned the crawlspace, all without special assessments. It helps that I'm president of board a very small one.

Do you live in Fairlington? They have been raising condo fees left and right!!!!

OP, why should you not have to pay fees to maintain the property but your neighbors should?

Owning the common areas of a condo building is expensive, folks. In many ways it can be a shittier deal than owning a SFH, because you are forced to pay for things when you would prefer to defer maintenance. A lot of things in a SFH can be deferred. But if you are outvoted in a condo association.....too bad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a condo - and this pisses me off. You know what you are getting into buying a condo. Fees go up. Period.

If you don't pay your fees, you screw your fellow owners who DO pay. I hope they fine you. And I really hope you don't live in my building.

Another poster who owns a condo here. I understand the point you're trying to make, but you have to admit that there is a tremendous range between condo fees. There are well-managed associations and then there are less so. There are comparable buildings across DC with an identical range of services that charge different fees, so obviously it is possible to do the same thing for less money. In a big building with established boards, you have to be cynical enough to suspect kickbacks to service companies as a possibility. It is also possible that associations decide to purchase services that not all residents find acceptable or even desirable.

I am not arguing the point that fees need to be paid. I am trying to point out for you some of the legitimate reasons why this may be a point of resentment.

Yes, which is why when I bought my condo, I did research, I estimated a 3% adjustment in fees a year. I spoke to a real estate lawyer. I did checks on my HOA and their backgrounds.

My condo does stuff I don't love, all of them do, but then don't live in a condo building with $1000 in fees you can't afford.

PP here. I understand your point about fees that were high to begin with. There are, however, less obvious examples. Like this friend I have who lives around Dupont Circle. Her association fees are like $500 per month, which sounds reasonable. But then once a year they will do a special assessment for windows or some other new projects, which is around 5K per unit, and there is no way around it. I don't have to explain to you that these things cannot be adequately predicted nor universally welcome.

And it's completely typical of condo living. In the condo documents I'm sure they reviewed to see if these types of assemesments needed to be done. I've lived in my building now for 4 years and we've paid for 1 assessment (because my building does 1 every 5 years). People really underestimate reading their condo documents before their buy their unit.

You also have to imagine if your condo fees are unreasonably low...you'll have to do lots of "special assessments" because your building can't afford to pay for upkeep. I don't know if $500 if reasonable, because I don't know how many units, how old the building is, if she has a 1B or 2B if there is a pool, etc. etc.

(S)he could be completely UNDER paying her condo fees which is why they have all these special assesments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a condo - and this pisses me off. You know what you are getting into buying a condo. Fees go up. Period.

If you don't pay your fees, you screw your fellow owners who DO pay. I hope they fine you. And I really hope you don't live in my building.

Another poster who owns a condo here. I understand the point you're trying to make, but you have to admit that there is a tremendous range between condo fees. There are well-managed associations and then there are less so. There are comparable buildings across DC with an identical range of services that charge different fees, so obviously it is possible to do the same thing for less money. In a big building with established boards, you have to be cynical enough to suspect kickbacks to service companies as a possibility. It is also possible that associations decide to purchase services that not all residents find acceptable or even desirable.

I am not arguing the point that fees need to be paid. I am trying to point out for you some of the legitimate reasons why this may be a point of resentment.

Yes, which is why when I bought my condo, I did research, I estimated a 3% adjustment in fees a year. I spoke to a real estate lawyer. I did checks on my HOA and their backgrounds.

My condo does stuff I don't love, all of them do, but then don't live in a condo building with $1000 in fees you can't afford.

PP here. I understand your point about fees that were high to begin with. There are, however, less obvious examples. Like this friend I have who lives around Dupont Circle. Her association fees are like $500 per month, which sounds reasonable. But then once a year they will do a special assessment for windows or some other new projects, which is around 5K per unit, and there is no way around it. I don't have to explain to you that these things cannot be adequately predicted nor universally welcome.

When you look at the condo docs, one of the main things that you should look at is the reserves: how much is there, how much is being funded for future projects, whether there has been a recent reserve study, and whether the reserves are being funded as indicated in the survey. Money for projects like new windows should come out of reserves, not from assessments. Of course not everything is predictable, but the board should be prepared.

This also happens with townhouse or single family homes who have HOA's. Our monthly fee was $58 ten years ago and now it's $100/month.