Condo Special Assessments

[lorenavedon]

Originally Posted by Drummer

Bump. One of my wife's co-workers has a condo in one of the old brick "loft" buildings around 12 Ave in the beltline. No special assessment but his condo fees just jumped to around $750/month for a 1 bedroom loft.. A pretty large increase.

personally I think I'd rather have a special assessment than a jacked condo fee that rarely ever gets lowered and potentially stigmatizes the property long term making it very difficult to sell. At least with a special assessment you pay and it's done.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Drummer

Bump. One of my wife's co-workers has a condo in one of the old brick "loft" buildings around 12 Ave in the beltline. No special assessment but his condo fees just jumped to around $750/month for a 1 bedroom loft.. A pretty large increase.

What's that work out to for square footage pricing?

[Drummer]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

What's that work out to for square footage pricing?

I don't know the square footage of his place, I'm guessing 700-750SF. His condo fees used to be about $475 a month.

[mustache ride]

Originally Posted by Drummer

Bump. One of my wife's co-workers has a condo in one of the old brick "loft" buildings around 12 Ave in the beltline. No special assessment but his condo fees just jumped to around $750/month for a 1 bedroom loft.. A pretty large increase.

Which building is he in?

[Drummer]

Originally Posted by mustache ride

Which building is he in?

I don't know, the Hudson, or was it the Manhattan, or maybe the Lewis, LOL

[EverfresH15]

Originally Posted by photon

I'm scared to know what mine will do, they're finally in the home stretch for flood repairs (elevators are STILL not fixed, but finally they are working rather than the elevator company and insurance company arguing).

Millions in repairs, covered by insurance, but sounds like the insurance company opted not to renew flood coverage (surprise!), and getting coverage has almost doubled insurance costs. I could go look at the budgets from the last GM to figure out what portion of my condo fee is insurance, but I don't WANT to know.

Are you in Union Square?

[photon]

Originally Posted by EverfresH15

Are you in Union Square?

Nope, this is River Grande Estates. (It's a rental too, I don't live there, though I used to and still wish I did sometimes).

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by Drummer

Bump. One of my wife's co-workers has a condo in one of the old brick "loft" buildings around 12 Ave in the beltline. No special assessment but his condo fees just jumped to around $750/month for a 1 bedroom loft.. A pretty large increase.

From how much $700/mth or $350/mth?

[albertGQ]

^^^

He said from $475/M

[nik-]

I guess that's one way for a Condo Board to kill resale value. Well done.

[Drummer]

Pretty much. $750 a month in condo fees are high unless you have a huge square footage.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by nik-

I guess that's one way for a Condo Board to kill resale value. Well done.

Yeah, that's a tough one. Personally I'd rather the Board Special Assess a reasonable lump sum amount to keep fees at a reasonable amount. The reality is that there will be a lot of people that either 1) Can't afford it 2) Don't want to as they plan on selling in the next year.

Is also kind of moot as anyone doing their homework reads the minutes and sees a history of special assessment.

Finally - it's not like Boards jack fees for fun. Clearly something expensive has occurred. Could be an underfunded reserve report (elevators usually clobber Boards) - that'd be my guess.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Yeah, that's a tough one. Personally I'd rather the Board Special Assess a reasonable lump sum amount to keep fees at a reasonable amount. The reality is that there will be a lot of people that either 1) Can't afford it 2) Don't want to as they plan on selling in the next year.

Is also kind of moot as anyone doing their homework reads the minutes and sees a history of special assessment.

Finally - it's not like Boards jack fees for fun. Clearly something expensive has occurred. Could be an underfunded reserve report (elevators usually clobber Boards) - that'd be my guess.

This isnt always legal. The condo fee has to be set based on the reserve fund study plus operating expenses. I also think that by the second year of regular special assessments you would kill resale more than high fees. The only way you can really do it is to find a way to sandbag the reserve fund study when it is done. This is done by doing resolutions to say that windows and doors are owner responsibility. Or just by pushing the company doing the study to use he lower end of the range for inflation.

[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by photon

Nope, this is River Grande Estates. (It's a rental too, I don't live there, though I used to and still wish I did sometimes).

At least the fees are deductible then. It would be frustrating if someone lived there as a principal residence because they'd be stuck with the full amount. What is the average selling price in this building?

[photon]

Not sure actually, haven't checked sales there for a long time.

[maverickstruth]

Unfortunately have to bump this... just got a $40k special assessment in the mail today (that's the lump sum value; they say that up to 24 month payment plans may be available) for our townhouse complex. We first got wind that this would probably be coming about 2 months ago... certainly didn't expect it to be this much or this soon.

Apparently they're replacing all the windows (again), doors, siding, removing some landscaping, and assorted other bits and pieces all at once over the next 3-4 years.

What I don't understand is how one is supposed to be able to prepare for something like this. Even paying our share over 24 months would essentially our cost of living for housing. An emergency fund is great, but ultimately a drop in the bucket. When we moved in (~5 years ago), we - I thought - did all the right things. The home inspection came back relatively clean, just needed a new furnace and hot water heater eventually which we took care of. The windows had just been done and nothing else was flagged. Condo docs showed the reserve fund was great and there were no red flags.

It's honestly frustrating and I'm at a bit of a loss. We keep a maintenance fund, but it doesn't even come close to touching this. I'm extremely debt-averse and we were on track to pay off our mortgage in the next 3 years... but all our plans and best intentions seems for naught, now.

Advice?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by maverickstruth

Advice?

Seems to me you are stuck, unless you can prove negligence by the Condo Board or Property Manager (and they have insurance).

[maverickstruth]

Thanks Troutman, that's what I was afraid of. The complex was owner managed until about 1-2 years ago, and we've had 2 property management companies since then. I don't know given all that how negligence could really be proven... just sucks overall :P

[troutman]

Originally Posted by maverickstruth

Thanks Troutman, that's what I was afraid of. The complex was owner managed until about 1-2 years ago, and we've had 2 property management companies since then. I don't know given all that how negligence could really be proven... just sucks overall :P

Others might think of some solutions

Hopefully your contributions add to the value of the property, and you get it back in the future when you sell.

[calgarywinning]

I agree with Troutman, as disturbing as the assessment is, hopefully the net result is it will positively impact the sale value of the property. Also, prevent the sale value from diminishing for any serious defects.