Broad Question about HOA Fees (Miami: real estate, homeowners insurance, condos)

[jeffpv]

Disclaimer: I know this is a very broad question, but I'm just trying to get a feeling the range of prices!


For those of you who live in a townhome/condo/gated community in JAX:
What are your monthly HOA fees like? (Or fees of people you know?)

I'm just curious how much on can expect to pay, as I've never lived with such fees.

Thank you in advance.

[Robyn55]

Kind of a silly question. Because the numbers vary a lot. We pay about $2500/year in HOA fees in a higher end community (Marsh Landing in PVB). Condo fees will usually be a lot higher than HOA fees because condos pay for most of your homeowners' insurance (and a few other things you might pay personally if you lived in a house). We were paying about $8k/year annually in condo fees when we moved here from a higher end condo in Miami. If you're moving into an established development - the fees will be listed on the real estate listing (although they're subject to change). Robyn

[jeffpv]

Thank you for your answer, but did you read the very first sentence I wrote (in italics)? I KNEW the answers would vary a lot depending on whether people live in a condo/townhome, etc. I was looking for a RANGE.
Judging by your answer, those fees could be anywhere from $200-ish to $650-ish. THAT was what I was looking for.

[mawipafl]

Our HOA fee is $50 per year. BUT we live in a CDD (Community Development District) and we pay a non ad valorem tax of about $3000 annually. About $550 of that goes to operations & maintenance which could sort of be comparable to an HOA fee. Adding together the HOA fee and O&M tax, that works out to be about $50 per month for us.

[mav286]

A very helpful real estate web site we used was kristafracke.com. Houses and condos are listed by community and show the yearly hoa and cdd fees for each listing. Good Luck with your search!

[Elena_FL]

Originally Posted by jeffpv

Thank you for your answer, but did you read the very first sentence I wrote (in italics)? I KNEW the answers would vary a lot depending on whether people live in a condo/townhome, etc. I was looking for a RANGE.
Judging by your answer, those fees could be anywhere from $200-ish to $650-ish. THAT was what I was looking for.

We 've recently bought house in Mandarin area,but while we were shopping around I became familar with HOA's in many communities besides Mandarin. I wouldn't say that it ranges from $250 and up. We came across many communities with HOA $250 annually which makes it just $21 a month. Such low fee range is usually ($20/month) for older communitties w/o any amenities. We were able to find great house in a nice area with HOA as low as $37 monthly.
I came across HOA's between $115 - $200 specifically for townhomes. However, in addition to HOA's a lot of newer communuties in developing areas have CDD fee which is usually around $40 a month(but not every single community has it).
We came across soeme HOA's as high as $300 and up,but there are plenty townhomes in any area withing $200/month range.

[Robyn55]

If you run across very low fees - especially in condo or townhouse or gated community developments - you have to investigate whether the association is keeping adequate reserves for major repair projects it's obligated to do. If the reserves aren't adequate - you might wind up "holding the bag" when the repair project is done and the association has to pay the bill. The flip side of this is that if the reserves aren't adequate - and the homeowners can't pay assessments - necessary repair projects may not be done. In this regard - it's always important to find out what repairs an association is required to do under applicable association documents and laws (e.g., you don't want to buy a townhouse or condo in a development where the HOA is obligated to maintain/repair your roof if the association doesn't have the reserves - or the homeowners can't pay an assessment).

It's also important to determine whether your association has bought the right kinds of and adequate insurance - and to buy loss assessment coverage in your homeowners insurance policy. This is true even if you live in a single family house in a HOA. For example - if a stop sign is missing or down - and the association gets sued because of an accident - and it doesn't have enough insurance coverage - or it has a deductible - you could be assessed - and only loss assessment coverage would pay for that. Robyn