Looking for some advice. I put an offer on a condo in a VHCOL area (1-bedroom, 575k). The condo docs show that many of the building systems are reaching end of life, and there will likely need to a special assessment of $250,000 (the building is completing an updated reserve study). Over the next 10 years, the bldg needs $1.3 million and will take out a loan. This would mean at least $5000 for the special assessment, and potentially more. Would you move forward with this? Is this abnormal?

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How many units in the building?

No, I would not move into this building.

The assessment can be any amount, and is more of an indicator that the HOA board isn’t on top of maintenance or building up reserves than it is the age of the system. I’ve had multiple properties in HOA’s, and there’s a big difference between those who manage money and maintenance well, and those who don’t.

A special assessment of $100 to $300 for 1 to 3 years can be overcome. But an assessment of more or longer will make your condo basically unsalable, and you will be stuck paying whatever the HOA tells you to pay.

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I had to split a block wall replacement with my HOA at one of my properties. The replacement was $15k, so I owed $7,500. They gave me a 3 month notice prior to the work being done, and 12 months to pay my portion (with no interest or fees charged).

Luckily, I knew the wall needed replacement before I bought the property, I just didn’t know when or how much it would cost. I had reserves, so it wasn’t terrible. The 12 month time to pay it off was appreciated (but not needed).

$5k per unit isn’t terrible as a special assessment, especially if you have a 6 to 12 month notice with a 6 to 12 month period to pay. Additionally, $5k is less than 1% of the value of your condo. I generally feel like you should always be able to afford a repair that costs 1% of the value of your house. This would qualify as that type of one-time repair / cost.

A 5k increase over 10 yrs is roughly 40 a month extra in HOA fees, if I’m understanding that correctly, I don’t see a problem at all.

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It would be $5000 immediately (for the 250k assessment). Separately, the condo also has to make $1.3 million in improvements over the next ten years. I don’t know whether those improvements will result in any special assessments. The minutes say that the HOA will try to take out a loan and have owners make monthly payments (basically, incorporate the costs of the loan into the monthly assessments).

What are other condos in the area going for?

No. Its always worse than the disclosure

I would not. I’ve read several horror stories out of Florida recently with these special assessments pricing people out of their homes. It’s awful. These associations have been under funding for decades and now all these people are getting enormous surprise bills they have no control over.

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