fees in home/condo ownership (Miami, Miami Beach: real estate, oceanfront, rentals) - Florida (FL) -Miami-Dade County - City-Data Forum

ozcroboy · 04-30-2010, 05:54 AM

what fees are applicable to owner ship of each??

just deciding if i should purchase a unit or house?

taxes, insurances, maintainence fees etc??

spyderman33 · 04-30-2010, 06:51 AM

It varies a bit on what is included in the HOA of a condo but for both you know that you need to pay insurance and taxes at a minimum and that will be the bulk of what you pay above and beyond your mortgage.

Some condos include water and A/C some dont.. In a house, you are responsible for all of it... Maintenance of grounds, etc... Some neighborhoods have HOAs to cover the amenities like pools, tennis, etc...

You need to figure out what makes sense to you... HOA fees in Miami tend to be very high... I had a 1/1.5 condo right on the bay off of Biscayne Blvd and 69st and the maintenance started at $250 back in 1999 up to $750 in 6 years or so before I sold it... That was just the HOA which only included water as a utility... Ridiculous. I hate condos for that reason, it is so corrupt that they will raise your HOAs EVERY YEAR... If you start $500, guaranteed that it will go up at least $50-100 every year and you will have no say... The higher the HOA, the harder it is to sell..

heydade · 04-30-2010, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spyderman33

It varies a bit on what is included in the HOA of a condo but for both you know that you need to pay insurance and taxes at a minimum and that will be the bulk of what you pay above and beyond your mortgage.

Some condos include water and A/C some dont.. In a house, you are responsible for all of it... Maintenance of grounds, etc... Some neighborhoods have HOAs to cover the amenities like pools, tennis, etc...

You need to figure out what makes sense to you... HOA fees in Miami tend to be very high... I had a 1/1.5 condo right on the bay off of Biscayne Blvd and 69st and the maintenance started at $250 back in 1999 up to $750 in 6 years or so before I sold it... That was just the HOA which only included water as a utility... Ridiculous. I hate condos for that reason, it is so corrupt that they will raise your HOAs EVERY YEAR... If you start $500, guaranteed that it will go up at least $50-100 every year and you will have no say... The higher the HOA, the harder it is to sell..

spyderman is correct...HOA fees for condos are on the rise due to all the delinquencies.

ozcroboy · 04-30-2010, 03:03 PM

hoa i guess is aust equiv to body corporate for ground and building maintanence?? taxes on place ive been told are 2% ruffly? is that yearly or just on purchase? whats insurance worth on places. working off a budget of 350-400k house/condo. can anyone be nice enuff to list what the fees would be per year on a house/condo of that price? only diff is the hoa fees between the 2 correct?

r_k · 04-30-2010, 05:12 PM

Property taxes are due every year, and 2% of assesed value (each year) is a good rule of thumb. It's true you do't pay HOA fees on most houses, but keep in mind insurance (at least for the four walls) is included in the HOA, while you'd be paying it yourself for a house. Someone else will have to give you an estimate for a $400k house, but I'm sure it's not cheap in S. Florida. What is not included in HOA normally is insurance for contents (furniture etc.) or personal liability.

ozcroboy · 04-30-2010, 05:31 PM

what would a yearly hoa be with contents insurance compared to no hia with a house and full insurance. just tryin to work out if its cheaper to buy a house or unit and still get best growth.

ozcroboy · 04-30-2010, 05:33 PM

on another note damn thats expensice yearly. we pay rates in australia which is purely on your land value not building value. approx 2000 a yr inc water n garbage man. on a 400k house u guys pay 8k ouch!! ruffly by the time u pay your 2%, insurance etc it sounds like its almost cheaper to rent??? what would a 400k unit in miami beach roughly rent for a month? 1500?

r_k · 04-30-2010, 11:10 PM

Yes, right now it is cheaper to rent. The only reason buying makes sense is if you think prices will go up in the future, or if you must live in a certain location and lifestyle trumps finance. HOA fees are all over the place, so you may pay $300/mo at one place, and $1000/mo at another. You should probably browse some realtor site to get a feel for the range of prices, rents and hoa fees (e.g. www.realtor.com). In general buldings with more amenities (pool etc) and more delinquent or empty units will have higher hoa fees. Most times water/sewer/trash is included in hoa but sometimes also internet/cable/ac/electric.

House vs Condo: House usually cheaper to maintain because no hoa fee, but there are certain locations (e.g. oceanfront, or south beach) where there are very few houses, also if you plan to be absent a lot you have to worry about maintenance and security.

I can't give you a definite number on rental prices because there's a lot of variability, starting with location, location, location. Best to browse the rentals (e.g. realtor.com) to see what people are asking.

ozcroboy · 05-01-2010, 02:14 AM

yeah been on realtor heaps lately and they dont list the hoa fees unless u just havent noticed. when u crunch the numbers i dont kno how ppl on a mortage could make any coin from a rental property in the usa. tax offsets maybe on repayments?

r_k · 05-01-2010, 03:05 PM

Hmm.. you're right, realtor.com leaves out that important information about hoa fees. Here's a site that does include hoa fee info:

Miami Beach Real Estate, South Beach Real Estate, Miami Real Estate, Marc Manfredi

Note that about half the properties won't have hoa listed because listing agents are lazy or don't know, or are trying to hide that. Of the ones that are listed, about half are from a year or two ago, so upward adjustment is likely.