Nice – type a long post, save it, confirm it’s there, and… deleted. I’ve lost count of the number of times that’s happened. Time to switch out the Flintstones forum software and/or get a real web host. Not that I’m complaining about a free service.
Anyway, JB and BG are anti-HOA, I get it, nothing wrong with that – but I think the bias is causing you to exaggerate. I can understand a financial catastrophe happening to one in 50 complexes, but with the size and frequency of the assessments you’re talking about, a majority of owners would be dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars routinely going missing, and just quietly keep paying it. In my experience (limited to a dozen condos owned by friends and colleagues) that just doesn’t happen. I remember one couple getting irritated at a couple hundred dollar assessment, after being in the unit for 14 years.
“Free and clear” is a fantasy because of the aforementioned property taxes. Besides, it’s not about pride of ownership, it’s about cash flow. There’s no way around the math – condos frequently give a better return (significantly cheaper to buy into for similar cash flow) than SFRs, even if we include a few outrageous assessments. The HOA fees/assessments are deductible, and the larger market makes condos easier to rent. The pros outweigh the cons, in my opinion. Given enormous funds, maybe I’d only own SFRs and would pay someone else to manage them, just so I would be able to more accurately predict long-term maintenance costs. I don’t have enormous funds, and I want the best return for my investment.
