I have just bought my first condo and people always think I am dumb for
paying a 100 dollar/month condo fee. This fee covers all exterior
maintenance and insurance. I figure this is a good deal since a condo
has purchasing power and can negotiate cheaper deals than an
individual. For the same size lot, does not one end up paying the same
(if not more) to mantain and insure the exterior of a home? I know
there are many other differences between condo and home, but I just
want to know if it a lot cheaper to mantain/insure exterior oneself
instead of paying a flat fee?

$100/month is very cheap. What I dislike about condos is that the maintenance
is on someone else's schedule. You might suddenly have to cough up money in
addition to the monthly fee if there's not enough money to cover costs. Along
with that, your fees can rise at any time. I have seen condos with $500
monthly fees and at that point I'm not sure it's worth it. With a house you
can always defer less critical maintenance and address it on your terms.


Dimitri

writes:

I have just bought my first condo and people always think I am dumb for
paying a 100 dollar/month condo fee. This fee covers all exterior
maintenance and insurance.

If you believe that, you'll probably be surprized when a special
assessment for $500 or $1,000 comes along.

It is extremely unlikely that $100/month condo fee will cover *all*
exterior maintenance in the long run.

I figure this is a good deal since a condo
has purchasing power and can negotiate cheaper deals than an
individual.

Possibly. Or they could negociate a worse deal. It all depends on who
is on the board, how much time/effort they are willing to spend, etc.

For the same size lot, does not one end up paying the same
(if not more) to mantain and insure the exterior of a home?

Since you didn't say how big your lot is, or where it is located,
it's hard to say :-)

I just
want to know if it a lot cheaper to mantain/insure exterior oneself
instead of paying a flat fee?

When you maintain the house yourself, you could do the work yourself;
saving some money, and you could take care of the problems sooner.

The fact that the fee is "flat" has nothing to do with this; it's
the amount that matters. A homeowner could easily put aside a "flat"
fee or $100/month as a repairs reserve fund. I doubt it will cover
major expenses, such as roof, though.

Cheers,
--
In order to understand recursion you must first understand recursion.
Remove /-nsp/ for email.

wrote:

I have just bought my first condo and people always think I am dumb for
paying a 100 dollar/month condo fee. This fee covers all exterior
maintenance and insurance. I figure this is a good deal since a condo
has purchasing power and can negotiate cheaper deals than an
individual. For the same size lot, does not one end up paying the same
(if not more) to maintain and insure the exterior of a home? I know
there are many other differences between condo and home, but I just
want to know if it a lot cheaper to maintain/insure exterior oneself
instead of paying a flat fee?

No question, in my case anyway: I'm also
buying a new condominium not far from here, and the monthly charge
will be 200 dollars.
But - I've worked out what this place (about 20 years old, much the
same square footage) costs me annually in garden maintenance by a
local firm and various things having to be repaired or replaced,
from a complete shower , 2 complete toilets, a/c exterior unit and
electric motor inside, trench and pump to carry away underground
buildup of water on south side, fans in shower, etc, etc, you name
it! I reckon I'll save a packet annually.
--
Ian

(Ian) writes:

But - I've worked out what this place (about 20 years old, much the
same square footage) costs me annually in garden maintenance by a
local firm and various things having to be repaired or replaced,
from a complete shower , 2 complete toilets, a/c exterior unit and
electric motor inside, trench and pump to carry away underground
buildup of water on south side, fans in shower, etc, etc, you name
it! I reckon I'll save a packet annually.

I wonder how you figure that out: none of the things you listed
above, except for possibly the underground water, would *normally*
be the association responsibility. *You* still would have to spend
your money fixing things *inside* your condo.

Cheers,
--
In order to understand recursion you must first understand recursion.
Remove /-nsp/ for email.

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 14:54:33 -0700, Paul Pluzhnikov
wrote:

(Ian) writes:

But - I've worked out what this place (about 20 years old, much the
same square footage) costs me annually in garden maintenance by a
local firm and various things having to be repaired or replaced,
from a complete shower , 2 complete toilets, a/c exterior unit and
electric motor inside, trench and pump to carry away underground
buildup of water on south side, fans in shower, etc, etc, you name
it! I reckon I'll save a packet annually.

I wonder how you figure that out: none of the things you listed
above, except for possibly the underground water, would *normally*
be the association responsibility. *You* still would have to spend
your money fixing things *inside* your condo.

So true. I'm not in an HOA or a condo, but I recently had a plumbing
situation that I ended up doing myself. The shutoff valve in one of
my bathrooms refused to shut off, and the leak just got so much worse
that on Friday last week I decided to call around to plumbers to see
who could come out and what the job would cost. Bear in mind, I'm
reasonably handy and am not afraid to take on home repairs and
maintenance (I'm still not decided on whether to paint my house
exterior myself (the house goes up three storeys) or hire out the job,
for example). What I learned from the plumbers I called were these
things: 1) no one will give a ballpark estimate over the phone, 2)
most will charge a call-out fee (one was $32), and 3) none were
available before the following Friday.

Well, the leak didn't get any better, so I decided to visit my
friendly neighborhood hardware guy, Ron, to ask him what he thought I
should do. He told me to do this myself, and he explained exactly how
(which matched what I had envisioned). He also gave me Plans B and C
for worst case scenarios, such as, what if I couldn't wrench off the
current shut-off valves and instead needed to go down in the basement
and hacksaw off the pipe there and sweat on a cap, etc., etc.

So I bought two new shut-off valves at the amazing price of $7.11
total, went home, shut off the house water, and sure enough, I was
able to wrench off the two old valves and thread on with teflon tape
the two new ones, stopping the leak in less than an hour. There is no
way an HOA fee would cover that kind of situation, nor would it cover
a new roof, as another poster mentioned. I think fees like those are
fine for people who aren't frugal or handy, but otherwise they're a
waste of money.

wrote:
I have just bought my first condo and people always think I am dumb for
paying a 100 dollar/month condo fee. This fee covers all exterior
maintenance and insurance.

When you bought your house, did you ask for a copy of the condo budget?
It should list a break-down of exactly what this $100 covers and does
not cover.

For example, I own a duplex condo. There's no HOA - each unit gets one
vote. Just me and the neighbors in the other half. Our original budget
was pretty bogus, drawn up by the builder and probably simply borrowed
from any old condo association. The monthly total was set at $135 and
only included common area lawn care, shoveling, water/sewer, terminex
and insurance. There was *no* reserve for future big-ticket items like
a new roof or repainting or other potential gotchas.

Well, our common area lawn is not that big, and neither is the area to
be shoveled. It's kinda ridiculous to imagine hiring someone to come
out and do it. And, turns out the insurance was not enough, either.

With the first neighbors, we went around and around on the budget. They
wanted to vote for upgrading the water system (a $6K expense); we
wanted to set in a reserve for the roof, which we'd been told may or
may not have 5 more years in it. We both agreed to forgo hiring a lawn
and/or snow removal service (then ahem they let us do all that work and
never lifted a finger... but that's another horror story).

Thank goodness they moved! Current neighbors are much easier to work
with. We decided to forgo any sort of monthly fee. We just split the
water, terminex and insurance bills when they come. And they didn't
balk about increasing the insurance. As for the roof, they're ready to
pay their half this fall, after we had a rough winter and both units
developed leaks. We're all sympatico about what needs to be done, by
when, and to what standards. Yeah!


I figure this is a good deal since a condo
has purchasing power and can negotiate cheaper deals than an
individual. For the same size lot, does not one end up paying the same
(if not more) to mantain and insure the exterior of a home? I know
there are many other differences between condo and home, but I just
want to know if it a lot cheaper to mantain/insure exterior oneself
instead of paying a flat fee?

As I mentioned above, read the budget carefully. Make sure there is a
"reserve" fund. For example, consider how old the roof is. Figure out
how much is in the reserve. Extrapolate your monthly reserve payment
x's the neighbors and calculate whether your association will have
enough to afford a new roof when the time comes. If it's not enough,
then don't be surprised if you end up with an assessment down the road.
Might be wise to start socking a way a little each month to cover your
share of that contingency, if the HOA is not asking it of you.

Also consider that everything goes to a vote, and majority rules. Do
you think your neighbors will be as picky as you when it comes time to
buy a new roof? Maybe they'll just keep patching instead of doing it
right and getting it all done at once. What if your unit springs a
leak, but the others do not? And you're the only one feeling the pain
of an old crappy roof?

Those are the issues I'd worry about.

jen

wrote:

(Ian) writes:

But - I've worked out what this place (about 20 years old, much the
same square footage) costs me annually in garden maintenance by a
local firm and various things having to be repaired or replaced,
......
I wonder how you figure that out: none of the things you listed
above, except for possibly the underground water, would *normally*
be the association responsibility. *You* still would have to spend
your money fixing things *inside* your condo.

Cheers,

True, but don't forget,the new house will be just that, new, and
some things guaranteed for a year by the seller, while this place
will continue to get older and more costly to run and maintain.
Also, as I have no eyesight left now, I'm not in a position to do
most things aroung the house like i used to do in my younger days,
so have to fork out to repairmen, like it or not.
Don't forget also, I will no longer be paying out insurance and
garden maintenance.
So, given my particular circumstances, I still think I'll be better off.
As the next article points out, if you *can* and are prepared to do
those jobs you can handle, an ordinary house owning situationis
probably the best bet.
--
Ian