Rising HOA Fees
December 1, 2008
I was showing a few luxury condos here in Tucson the other day and got into an HOA fee discussion. After doing a little research, we discovered condo community where the fees have more than doubled over the past 3 years, from the low $100s to the high $300s. Which isn’t an insignificant increase over such a short duration on very new units.
There are many HOAs that are trying to raise fees right now. Those in foreclosure or otherwise tight budgets often let the HOA dues slide first. When you buy a home with a homeowner’s association, you’re usually supposed to receive copies of the most recent financial report and reserve studies and copies of the operating budget. Typically, you’ll get these on a disk in the mail, and you really need to check those things out. I don’t get copies, only you. So make sure you’re looking into the financial stability and dues history of homes in an HOA.
Other Information That Might Be Helpful
- Impact Fees on New Construction Homes in Tucson (April 16, 2009)
Interesting article about impact fees in the Tucson area this week on local Tucson architect’s blog, In Place Architecture.
Impact fees are what local municipalities charge in order to help offset the additional public services costs of new development. For example, anytime you build a new house and connect it to the City of Tucson’s sewer, [...] - Home Affordable Refinance Program Announcement (March 4, 2009)
The Treasury Department today released guidelines for loan modifications in an attempt to help homeowners at risk of losing their houses to foreclosure.
What does that all really mean? Reactions from people I trust (I’m sure there’ll be a few more here by the end of the day). Each has much more information on the [...] - Taking Your Home Off The Market (July 10, 2008)
Found in the recent search terms: Should I take my house off the market for a month?
I don’t know. But here’s the discussion that comes to mind: Do you think the market is going to change that much in a month? Real estate markets tend to move more like glaciers than like jets.
What will [...] - Reading Preliminary Title Reports (August 5, 2008)
I wrote earlier about why you review the preliminary title report, but let’s just review what a preliminary title report is. We call it “the prelim,” in agent-speak around Tucson.
If you’re buying a home in Tucson and using the standard resale contract, then you should receive a preliminary title report from the title company within [...] - Interest Rates are On The Move (June 2, 2009)
If you’ve been shopping for a home, you may want to call your lender and check on rates. They’ve been swinging all over the place recently.
Not only have they been moving often, they’ve been making large changes, up over half a point in a day.
In terms of real money, on a $200,000 mortgage, if [...]
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I’m walking with dinosaurs, here. I’m trying to get HOA and title companies to put their data on disc instead of me mailing condo docs as thick as the Miami phone book. They think I’m from Mars or something.
Chris - most of our HOAs send their info out on disks, but there’s a few yet that like to kill a ream of paper or two…
I don’t know if the HOA was recently turned over by the developer. A lot of times the developer will artificially subsidize the HOA fees making them artificially low. As you said, look at the financials, is there any reserve fund?
A lot of other HOAs play games with the reserve fund. Some don’t even maintain one dime in the fund, but the roof will eventually need to be replaced. They’ll assess for all capital projects, keeping the HOA fees low, which I believe is dishonest.
Keep in mind with so many folks behind on the mortgages, especially condos, the HOA fees get neglected. The HOA has the authority to place a lien on the condo, but the lien will get wiped out after the foreclosure - leaving the remaining condo owners stuck with a larger slice of the pie.
If you’re ever in Atlanta, check out my Atlanta homes website.