HOA emergency special assessment in the amount $4000.00 dollars!!

[bearishgurl]

I’ve seen special assessments of up to $7K per unit imposed by condo assns and I don’t recall that any owners were legally able to get out of them.

Shoveler, your HOA dues at $400 month seem high to me as well. Over a year ago, when I was investigating purchasing a condo for my youngest kid (+ 2 roommates) to live in while attending university in LA County, I did find that two of the complexes I was considering had monthly dues of over $400 month but they had a LOT of amenities for the residents and their landscaping was pretty elaborate. I came to the conclusion that this amount was too much cuz the kids were too busy to care about “amenities” or landscaping. Hopefully, you also have a lot of amenities for your $400 month dues and are not paying MR on top of that.

When you factor in the HOA dues, possible MR, certain special assessments at a future date, and the fact that you don’t own any actual land when you buy a condo (or own a substd 1800-3800 sf “lot” with a PUD), they just don’t seem like much of a good deal. This is because a buyer can often get a SFR in the same area with an attached 2-car garage and with the same or greater sf as a condo for just $50K-$150K more than the condo and own the (often generous) lot it sits on! A SFR owner (w/no HOA) can also make improvements as they see fit and at a price they negotiate themselves.

This thread illustrates one of the biggest reasons why I don’t like condos. I like to “control” my own property myself :=0

[FlyerInHi]

Dukehorn, could you please post the process of replacing the board? I would like to do that.

[The-Shoveler]

There was a meeting where the board voted on it but there was no notice sent to vote on the issue, something of this magnitude should have been voted by Mail by all members IMO.

But I need to think this through as well as it maybe bread on the water.

[no_such_reality]

Is the roof repair project already under way?

I lived in a complex of duplex town homes. Typical wood frame 70s construction with shake roofing. This is back in 2000, his was mid-200s, reserve was in excess of $10k per unit in reserve up to date and it wasn’t enough after the grand gaming was done. We forked out an additional $4k plus special assessment for unanticipated “u foreseeable” damage beyond sample home test Bs

Final roofing bill to replace shake with asphalt shingles totaled about $30-35k per duplex which amounted to a roof on a two story 3000 sf house

Really seemed excessive. And IMHO standard HOA market seems to be 100% over private owner price

[The-Shoveler]

NSR yea, I think it is the same sort of C$#P that happens quite a bit with property managers (got to be some kick back going somewhere). Really tough to find an honest one.

With Condo’s I think it is quite common unfortunately.

To be honest after cooling down I am thinking it is not really such bad deal this time, should end up being a positive.

But that said I think it was very shady how it got done.
(kind of like congress LOL).

[no_such_reality]

Yea, it’s really doesn’t seem very up and up. Basically, the board has some rules. To be advised on the rules they hire a prop mgmt firm that usually collects the fees, and advises while referring everything to lawyers. When it comes time to go out to bid for repairs of maintenance, they advise the board needs multiple bids. Note, multiple, not necessarily competitive. Of course, the prop mgmt firm act manager has a collection of firms they can refer. Not much governance on that relationship.

[bobby]

I almost bought into an HOA/Condo 2 years prior. the story of that place was 3 months prior, there was EXTENSIVE work being done to beautify the place. the cost was some $15,000 to each owner. the plus side was the work was very good. Never bought the place though.

[njtosd]

[quote=no_such_reality]Is the roof repair project already under way?

I lived in a complex of duplex town homes. Typical wood frame 70s construction with shake roofing. This is back in 2000, his was mid-200s, reserve was in excess of $10k per unit in reserve up to date and it wasn’t enough after the grand gaming was done. We forked out an additional $4k plus special assessment for unanticipated “u foreseeable” damage beyond sample home test Bs

Final roofing bill to replace shake with asphalt shingles totaled about $30-35k per duplex which amounted to a roof on a two story 3000 sf house

Really seemed excessive. And IMHO standard HOA market seems to be 100% over private owner price[/quote]

I know this sounds cynical, but I truly believed the HOA officers for our first house in SD were in it just to send work to their friends and my guess is they were reimbursed in kind. The worst is if there is litigation involved and fees start spiraling out of control. No HOAs for us anymore ….

[ucodegen]

[quote=The-Shoveler]There was a meeting where the board voted on it but there was no notice sent to vote on the issue, something of this magnitude should have been voted by Mail by all members IMO.

But I need to think this through as well as it maybe bread on the water.[/quote]
Per Davis-Sterling, a quorum of the homeowners had to be present on such a vote. The board can not pass a special assessment that exceeds 5% of the yearly assessed fees without a homeowner vote with enough homeowners there to make a quorum (50% of homeowners).

[Dukehorn]

If the assessment was an “emergency” then the Davis-Sterling voting requirement does not apply (from my understanding).

Also, if it was an emergency, then the issue of taking multiple bids is questionable due to time issues.

If one unit has a leaky roof, you can do a short-term patch but if multiple units were having problems, that might be enough to push it into an emergency replacement. Should be in the minutes though.

We changed our board at a normal election for all the seats. Nothing special. One guy had been a dictator for awhile, was afraid to raise the HOA, so we were spending more than taking in. Reserves were pathetic so we had to blindside him to get some changes. If you have an elevator in your complex, then $500 dues are not unexpected. $400 seems to be market rate. In DC HOA’s were hitting that in the late 90s. Units with doormen, fancy gyms have HOAs in the $700-1000 range.

At least in my building, being on the board is a thankless job. Kind of odd to talk about Brazil money when the money is held in escrow by your management company. This isn’t the Wild West, CA has plenty of regulations re: HOA management.

[spdrun]

As far as the $700-1000 range of HOAs, are we talking about HOA only in DC, or HOA with taxes included i.e. a co-op? $1000/mo for just HOA seems high even with a gym. Keep in mind that a very good gym membership, in NYC costs about $80/mo. That’s with a pool, multiple gyms, etc.

Doorman adds maybe $100/mo (in NYC), but many doorman buildings are newer, so they have a parking garage downstairs that’s rented out to offset the HOA dues.

BTW – in San Diego, for a 1/1, no elev, no doorman, but with pool, paying under $250/mo, and reserves are actually increasing.

[Dukehorn]

For the HOA range, I think the DC and SF market are similar. DC was awhile ago for me but I have friends in SF highrises and I think their HOAs are ridiculous.

https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/333-Main-St-94105/unit-7G/home/17305933

$842/month for a 837 square foot condo. (doesn’t look like tax included in the HOA description).

https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/333-Beale-St-94105/unit-2B/home/103722208

$1,056/month in a brand new building 1b/2ba condo.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=njtosd]
I know this sounds cynical, but I truly believed the HOA officers for our first house in SD were in it just to send work to their friends and my guess is they were reimbursed in kind. The worst is if there is litigation involved and fees start spiraling out of control. No HOAs for us anymore ….[/quote]

I agree… it can be bad sometimes.
In Vegas, there was an FBI investigation and conviction of high profile figures and lawyers for gaining control of HOA boards and defrauding the associations.

http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/may/11/ex-nevada-gop-chairman-gets-year-prison-hoa-fraud/
https://storify.com/ReviewJournal/hoa-scam

[svelte]

I have dealt with and been in hoa boards for many moons. Some truth in what everyone on here says. It is a thankless job that can be very time consuming. For that reason, my experience is that folks on the board are there for one of the following reasons:
1. They are concerned about their neighborhood and want to help (yes there are some good ppl on boards)
2. They have a pet issue that they want to have a voice in addressing (this is quite common).
3. They are retired and want something to do.
4. They like being in control.
5. They want to award the contracts to friends/family (i had to call a board member out on this and was successful in getting the rest of the board to see what was happening)
With a good board i think hoas are a very positive thing for a neighborhood. The best maintained, best looking areas are almost always in hoas. The problem arises when you get a majority on the board with less than noble intent.

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