Quote:
Originally Posted by LuvtheVillages
When buying a condo, due diligence includes looking at the condo association's financial reports to be certain that there is a large reserve for future big maintenance items.
Many condo owners prefer low maintenance fees instead of having a sufficient reserve. But the day always comes that something big needs attention.
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LUV-You nailed it. Many (Most?) HOA Board Member are solely interested in keeping MONTHLY fees low and have little regard for setting aside monies to pay for the annual wear-and-tear on the "big ticket" items.
Even in our private home we set aside a modest amount to escrow for painting the house every 7 years ($50), 20-year roof ($75), 10-year water heater ($7), etc. It adds up to about $110 per month. This is like our condo/house reserve. Sure we would love that extra $110 per month to spend on restaurants and the like but we know we need to budget for those items down the road.
It's like the game of Time Bomb (I assume everyone on here is old enough to remember that one!). Low fees are fun until the replacement costs for the roof, pool, stucco, rebar, etc come due. Unfortunately, the state law burdens the people owning the beach condos
today with the burden to payback the monthly reserve for all those people that lived in the condo (with unrealistically low monthly fees) for the past two decades.
It is sad, many Florida retirees are going to get financially crushed with these fees...