The board of the HOA would either make the contracting decisions directly or turn them over to a professional management company. Any financial shortfalls caused by defaults on HOA dues could only be passed on to other owners if the dues were changed or a special assessment passed. That would typically require a vote of the association to approve. So it would depend on the attitudes of the owners in that building. They might prefer pay more to keep all their amenities, or they might prefer to cut back to avoid an increase.

Last time I was part of a condo association, the defaulted dues were treated as a lien against the property which has to be resolved in the sale.

Our assoc took a pretty hard stand and sicced the collection agencies pretty quickly on deadbeat owners.

Screw the damn HOA. I am the freaking president of mine, and we are approaching 50% default. We have to raise the dues just so the defaulters get a free ride while the rest of us pay more and more and more …
I’d never buy anything that has any community amenities. Imagine if our dues were 5 times the measly 90 a quarter they are now. I know of communities where that is the case and it sucks. Ours is going down in flames. We have a play ground and a sign and a common area. All of which need to be maintained … yuck.
People need to stop letting builders put houses in HOA’s cos sometimes thay can save by not buying lights and what not, but the people living there pay for it forever.
Cool.
Cow_tipping.

Just to put things in perspective, if NODs jump SO HIGH to the point where HOA becomes a problem, well, my friend, HOA would be the last thing we worry about.

Asbury Place HOA, managed by Hawthorne management company. I’m in Charlotte NC.
We managed to get 50% defaults in under 4 years. That is the long standing tradition of alienation … where they’d raise the dues one month and throw a block party next month.
They’d also break every rule in the book first because the boards were a$$holes and now cos they are clue less and have never read the book.
My goal is to have this freaking thing bankrupt by the end of the year. BTW our brilliant Manager forgot to send out fee notices to people … running 2 weeks, damned if I remind her. There goes the next year … or this year. I am hell bent on taking it to pieces and tossing it into the street.
Watch this space … unlike president bush I am not clueless and I definetly am not going to be led by my nose by the rest of the corrupt idiots.
But all of this will do nothing for those of you who live in SD or elsewhere. Vote with your dollars … dont buy anything that has a HOA, and heck dont buy anything that has a community pool or whatever crap. Pitiful, our rinky dink play set area is so messed up … I dont even freaking know why developers put that sheite in there.
Cool.
Cow_tipping.

My friend lives in an old high-rise building in Chicago. His HOA are about $600/month. The HOA wants a special assessment of something like $5000 per window to replace the old windows. If I remember well he has 9 large windows = $45k!

My experience was with a condo association in Long Beach, CA. I lived in an 81 unit building for ten years starting in the mid-90’s. I’d bet that 75% of the units were foreclosed on at least once. Downsides to the association included extremely tight finances, lowered reserves, deferred maintenance, etc. Quality of life issues included some really scary tenants moving in, too many people in some units, increasing number of security issues and break-ins as the neighborhood and building suffered, cars broken into in the “secure” underground garage because scary tenants wouldn’t wait for the gate to close – which allowed undesirables to sneak in. Also we had additional maintenance to the pool and pool area restrooms because of misuse/abuse by low-rent tenants and their kids, additional maintenance to building exit doors and related hardware and more frequent maintenance on elevated walkways (replacing the carpeted runners) and elevators due to the increased frequency of move-ins and move-outs.

You may not be worried because you plan on staying there forever, but you’re going to hate it when it starts to resemble Baghdad outside your front door. The HOA needs to be firm in its resolve to keep the quality of life in the building up. If tenants are a problem, start pestering the landlord, fining him for multiple tenant violations until it’s easier for him to just evict the damn tenants and re-rent it. The minute anyone’s late with dues, hire an attorney and start liening, garnishing wages, etc. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and once they realize they’re paying your attorney’s fees on top of their dues and late fees, you’ll become a priority in their payment routine.

Pete