Condo living certainly has its upside . Unlike a individual home , when you live in a condominium you do n’t have to care about maintain a yard , repairing the cap when it leak , or handling other maintenance outside of your building block . or else , you ante up yourhome owner association ( HOA)fees , and the condo circuit card uses that money to keep the complex in good resort and look nice .
Part of your HOA fee bear for ongoing costs like landscape gardening and part go into condo reserves to yield for one - time expenses like paint exterior wall [ source : Tempe Condo Experts ] . But what happens if repairs pop up that the reserve store ca n’t cover ? How can you live that your condo is coiffe aside enough money ?
If your condo does end up with a with child disbursal and there is n’t enough money in the reserve fund to pay for the haunt , you ( and everyone else in your condo ) may have to pay aspecial assessment[source : McClellan ] . This happen to a friend of mine a few yr ago . Her parking deck needed morphological repairs , and each condo possessor had to kick in to cover the work – to the melody of thou of buck from each one .
The best way to obviate a special assessment is to make certain that there ’s enough money in your condo ’s second-stringer investment firm . Every few years , your condo should be doing a reserve study where experts follow in to attend at the property and determine how much your condo should have in reserve [ author : Rathbun ] . A reservation report projects criminal maintenance cost your condominium can expect to devote , and it take into account broker like the age of the building , what shape it ’s in , and what amenities you have [ root : Complex Solutions , Ltd. ] . That final figure is only a recommendation , and condo do n’t always to the full fund their reserves . If your reserve is 70 pct funded or more , you ’re probably in adept anatomy [ source : Tempe Condo Experts ] . That intend if your reserve study says you should have $ 20,000 in reserves , you ’re in sound anatomy as long as the account has $ 14,000 . Smart emptor will hold the pct of their condo ’s reserve before purchase .
The laws about condo taciturnity and how often your HOA should lead a second-stringer study variegate by Department of State . Some country - like Arkansas - have no laws about second-stringer studies , while Florida take a taciturnity field every three years [ origin : Facilities Advisors Inc. ,Tyndall ] . Not sure about your res publica ’s substitute study police force ? Facilities Advisors Inc. has alist of these laws by state .
In a typical condominium , 25 to 35 percent of your HOA fees should be going to reserve [ seed : Thompson ] . Frank Rathbun , vice president of communications at Community Associations Institute , an HOA protagonism group based in Falls Church , Va. , allege that getting involve in your condo is the best way to get laid where your money is going and whether the reserve are in good form . If you ca n’t volunteer to be on the panel , you could still attend your condominium ’s one-year and budget meetings .
you’re able to also bespeak a look at the most late reservation study and necessitate for point about the reserve fund . It may take a small time to get you what you ’re looking for , so be polite and patient . Remember that the hoi polloi on the condo board are your neighbour and that they ’re volunteer . As Rathbun point out , " You ’re all in it together . It should never be an ' us versus them . ' "
When my husband and I were house patronise back in belated 2005 and early 2006 , I was shocked to learn about how mellow householder ' association fee could be . explore this article helped put some of that into perspective . Sure , you ’re compose a check to the HOA each month , but it ’s really just forced saving for unremarkable and one - time maintenance .
After a tidy sum of firm hunting and looking at both house and condos , we opt for a sign , and fend off HOA fee was part of why we went that way . As a homeowner , though , you still end up spending that money . When we had to put back our roof last class , it would have been nice if we ’d been saving up for unexpected maintenance all along , like you ’re doing with a condo reserve fund .
