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You're assuming that the Board will authorize the expenditure for the reserve study. The one I mentioned a bit ago is just now initiating their first one since the owners took over the Board, twenty three years ago. They had some really worthless officers for a long time. When I became the town liaison to them 12 years ago they had over $100K in outstanding dues on the books. That's now down to $12K.
A reserve study is imho not appropriate for a small condo. Which this is. Not to mention that I think it might be a flat out waste of money period. We know how much things cost and roughly when they will be required. 20 to 30 years for a roof / 10 - 15 for painting / carpentry. I would much prefer to guess myself than have some over paid home inspector come up with some -- very likely - overdone number.
We have about 5 capital expenditures that need to be done ever.
- roofs
- decks
- patios
- painting and carpentry.
- parking lot
That is pretty much it. There are no amenities. Most of these things have been done recently or, will be.
The fee is 350 per month. Other condos in the area are all under 299 but for ONE that is 450. We don't know why but my best guess is they pay for a common road.
I find my fellow board members to just be insane. We had the parking lot done 10 years ago and I can't see so much as a single crack but board members are already talking about doing it again. We are coming up on just 20 years for the roof and though there is not a single problem .. board members are talking about replacing roofs... again... we are just getting finished with the painting and carpentry which, I thought was somewhat unneeded.
There are condo's and there are condo agreements, not all are the same, While not knowing the particulars of what your operating and reserve funds are, in order to comment with any degree of relevancy, I would want to know exactly the age of the community, what amenities the community has, the age of same and repairs to those. Additionally what does your agreement cover? Master insurance, all exterior features, flood insurance, garbage, water, heat, common areas? These are just a few of the many possible things that an agreement might cover and if your's is very limited that would change a response.
Thee are two different mindsets. One, save for a rainy day, the other let me know when it rains. I would prefer to err on he side of caution and save for the rainy day. Why? because let's use the example of a master HVAC piece of equipment failing. Now you are short of reserve to pay for it and a special assessment then needs to be called for. Therefore there is an immediate need for those funds and maybe there are residents that are unable to cover that nut at that time. So where does that leave you in terms of having available funding to heat or a/c your community? I know the example is a bit far fetched but without going any further I think you can see my point. Once again, this is just my opinion.
Keep in mind that smaller condos often have higher fees because one catastrophe split among 200 homeowners is a lot cheaper than splitting it among 40.
It is not unreasonable to be considering a new roof at 20 years. Why wait until the roof is starting to fail and cause problems, particularly if it is a small community and there are fewer people to split the costs if there is an issue and there is a leak? It’s a good time to start pricing out the roof and budgeting for it because it’s probably going to have to be replaced soon. No one wants to have a special assessment because it has to be done NOW, when it could be priced out now and budgeted for 2022.
The fact that you repainted and did carpentry is a completely independent issue from the roof because it’s not going to solve a problem of a roof leak. The fact that you thought it was unneeded doesn’t mean it wasn’t needed. Again, it’s better to do something early before it’s completely falling apart.
Thee are two different mindsets. One, save for a rainy day, the other let me know when it rains.
I prefer the caution too but I feel like my group has lost their minds and is hoarding money. I also often suspect that they do this so they can use the money for unauthorized things. And that is one reason I don't like to have too much money hanging around.
For instance one of the loud *more money* people wants it because she wants all new lamps which, are not necessary. But she wants.
For instance, I learned that one of the non conforming structures was put back to conforming by the board, which It shouldn't have done.
Having a lot of money just means people can easily spend it.
I have never seen a board that wants to improve or replace things that don't need it. But what I HAVE seen is long-term owners who have grown accustomed to slow decay and just don't see it. I have seen the same owners resist simple new technologies like converting to LED lighting.
I have never lived in an HOA-controlled house or condo. One of my best friends has a condo and like others in her HOA was assessed $10,000 about a decade ago as her portion to do major repairs on the property, such as a badly worn roof, etc. She would have preferred that was spread out over time, i.e. in her HOA fees monthly, but she said at the time that everyone had to come up with a large sum to cover the work that was done.
Again, it’s better to do something early before it’s completely falling apart.
They want to do it now because we are on year 18 of the first unit that had a roof replaced. I would like to plan it for 2024 and give each roof a life of 22 to 24 years unless otherwise indicated. All the units have different dates of roof replacement. In addition to having no problems the property management company came out and said they didn't see any issues. But they "we should do it before we have problems" crowd is all a twitter.
Quote:
simple new technologies like converting to LED lighting.
That was me. I hate the blue hue and it didn't save that much money. But the older lighting fixtures had to be replaced so we decided to do it.
A reserve study is imho not appropriate for a small condo. Which this is. Not to mention that I think it might be a flat out waste of money period. We know how much things cost and roughly when they will be required. 20 to 30 years for a roof / 10 - 15 for painting / carpentry. I would much prefer to guess myself than have some over paid home inspector come up with some -- very likely - overdone number.
We have about 5 capital expenditures that need to be done ever.
- roofs
- decks
- patios
- painting and carpentry.
- parking lot
That is pretty much it. There are no amenities. Most of these things have been done recently or, will be.
The fee is 350 per month. Other condos in the area are all under 299 but for ONE that is 450. We don't know why but my best guess is they pay for a common road.
I find my fellow board members to just be insane. We had the parking lot done 10 years ago and I can't see so much as a single crack but board members are already talking about doing it again. We are coming up on just 20 years for the roof and though there is not a single problem .. board members are talking about replacing roofs... again... we are just getting finished with the painting and carpentry which, I thought was somewhat unneeded.
A reserve study is imho not appropriate for a small condo.
One of my best friends has a condo and like others in her HOA was assessed $10,000 about a decade ago as her portion to do major repairs on the property, such as a badly worn roof, etc. She would have preferred that was spread out over time, i.e. in her HOA fees monthly, but she said at the time that everyone had to come up with a large sum to cover the work that was done.
Maybe the roofer could replace a couple of shingles per year, and spread out the cost over time? Reality is.... roofer needs to be paid..... today and she was assessed her portion.
Some HOA's plan for this in advance, and have high HOA dues to cover such expenses when the need arises. Most dont.
A reserve study is imho not appropriate for a small condo.
And therein lies the problem
Umm..... no. Its basic math. And you can do it yourself.
Roof costs $XXXX and has XXXX years left and will need to be replaced on XXXX year. Take the number of units and divide it by that price and number of months until that year and add it to the dues.
I used to live in a small condo. I did a reserve study myself after looking at samples from Mgmt companies who specialized in doing them. Its very simple and much less work for a small condo.
Look at all the stuff you have and estimate what work needs to be done and when. Its not hard or complicated.
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