Your Monthly dues..... how much do you pay??

$52.50 a month is amazing. I'm curious....How many units pay that amount? Are there rentals there as well?

I'm an HOA president in Indiana. Our fee covers all exterior surfaces of 14 units, i.e. siding, roofing, gutters as well as driveways, landscaping, lawn, trees. We have a little over 3 1/2 acres to maintain. Very small.

We do not have any recreational type facilities such as swimming pools or clubhouse. Just the basic home units to maintain.

I have to warn you, you will find each and every HOA is unique depending on the services provided. Not one fee amount fits every situation. Having said that,I will share with you the amount that we pay. Our fee currently is $170 per month per unit. 76% for operating expense and the remaining 24% for reserves.

Also I want to emphasize it barely provides enough funds to perform maintenance and no funds for improvements. We are forced to go with the cheapest bids whether or not they are quality services.

I, too, am interested in seeing how many respond with their fees and what their fees cover....as well as whether they feel their fee is sufficient.

I live in Gilbert, AZ. The community includes 74 single-family homes. We are a small community that maintains two small common areas, one community pool, surrounding common walls, we pay electricity for our streets, street sweeper and mail box lights and we have to re-do our surface streets approximately every 14 years (the community owns the streets, not the city). Our monthly dues are $44. However, with all listed, we do not have much in reserves and are restricted to projects. Hope that helps.

please specify how many units and single family residence or condo

167 single family homes, we maintain one retention pond and two entrances. $10/month

Hi! I am also amazed at the low (as compared to IN and IL) monthly assessments, but this is probably an apples to oranges comparison! My HOA is located in IL, ~45 miles NW of Chicago. We are comprised of 12-13 year old town home-style condominiums – 110 units in 20 buildings. I think we might have a couple of acres of property – no pool, etc. – just landscaped areas and grass. Our monthly assessment is based on unit size and ranges from $126 – 186/month. It covers: landscaping, snow removal, building exteriors (roofs, siding, trim, gutters, downspouts), driveways and visitor parking areas, entryway sidewalk, MC, insurance. For 2007, ~22% of our assessment income goes to the reserve fund – which is lower than recommended in our reserve study (recommends ~26%). Before anyone asks, 3 of our 5 BOD members voted for less spending in 2007. In the past we had been doing more regular maintenance – for the past couple of years we are just barely covering the minimum needed.

We have done some capital improvements over past 2 years: replaced driveways and visitor parking areas, restored wood decks, will be removing/replacing all caulking.

Is our assessment sufficient? I think not - I think we need to increase the assessments for: increased amount to reserve fund, landscaping replacements, mulching, roof inspection (which has been recommended for 2 years now).

Also, we are part of a larger Master HOA, which also includes single-family homes (~400 homes) and another condo group (~100 units) similar to ours. Property includes the required open space needed for managing our storm water (retention and detention ponds), 6 aerator fountains, fencing of the perimeter, entry monuments. There is a $165 annual assessment from each HO to maintain these common areas.

I would be especially interested in hearing from HOAs who are in or near larger metropolitan areas and who have a higher cost of living. Some of our BOD members are convinced that everyone else pays much less than we do!

North metro Atlanta: 137 homes, swim/tennis community...We pay $450/year (started at $350 in 1998). I think the more homes you have the more people to support amenities. A subdivision nearby has 650 homes, two pools, tennis court and clubhouse. They have 325 homes to support each pool. Another subdivision has 1,200 homes, two pools, clubhouse, playground, nature trails and tennis courts. Same thing, 600 homes per pool. They started with a $600 annual assessment and initiation fee but are now up to $750 for both after two years and they are not completed in build-out yet. As we all know, each neighborhood is totally different from all others and you cannot really compare.

Hey Joyce,

You seem to be president of a "Condo Association", not an "HOA" in it's truest form. Home Owners Associations are separate homes with the owners responsible for paying for siding and roofing, etc.; with the association responsible only for the costs of roads, and pools, tennis courts, club houses, etc. They vary as to items listed but you get the jist of what I'm saying.

Your costs will be much higher.

I live in CT. in a 56 unit condo assc. housed in 13 buildings. We have no amenities. Our complex is underfunded and has been for it's 22 year history. We had to have a $5,0000 special assessment in 1995 to replace roofing. It was never put on correctly anyway but we did not have the money to replace it.

Our fees are now $290 with $50 of that earmarked for the improvement project, ie siding and paving. We will be hitting owners with an assessment to fund this project with the common fee ending up at $340/unit.

We are putting more money in reserves now but by the time we finish the loan in ten years. We still won't have enough to cover the roofs we'll need.

I just got back on the board recently. They had they're heads in the sand, so far it has taken them 2 years to just get bids for the upcoming projects. Ouch.

So if any of you think that your underfunded? You probably are.

And it doesn't make much difference what anybody else pays. This is an area where purchasers get screwed, they are, many times first time buyers and they go with the price of the unit and common fee. They don't really know to look at the condition of the entire complex along with costs and reserve funds, and record of special assessments levied.

I'm done preaching, sorry. lol

Dana

Our "55 or better" community of 650 single family homes in Virginia has a 21,000 sq. ft. clubhouse with indoor and outdoor pools, fitness center, ballroom, etc. We also have tennis courts, putting green, golf driving cage, walking trails and extensive landscaped common areas. Our current dues are $215 per month. This also covers snow removal and trash collection. The developer still subsidizes expenses until all 800 homes are occupied. We assume dues will increase once the developer is gone.

We live in a 503 home "55 and better" community on the Maryland Eastern Shore. About 80% of the units are detached single family dwellings while the others are attached villas. The only community buildings are a clubhouse (with indoor pool, fitness center, billiards room, card room, library, crafts room and a large all-purpose room) and a small mail pavillion. However, there is extensive landscaping over a large common area, multiple entrance and interior monuments, a lake and over 20 retention ponds to be maintained. Residential services include lawn care, pruning and weed removal, gutter cleaning, snow removal and leaf removal, and account for a little over 40% of our budget. Our monthly assessment this year is $172.

Reading the responses to this questioned reinforced in my mind the futility of comparing one fee to another. Each communnity is unique and even if you could find two communities with identical amenities, infrastructure and services, their locations would very likely create a difference in costs. Another factor, for newer communities (ours is about 6 years old)is how the developer/builder chose to finance the early operations.

In our case the builder/developer team chose to keep the early assessments artificially low to better attract buyers. With less than full buildout and a low assessment the operating budget naturally ran a substantional deficit. This was financed by a no-interest operating loan from the builder to the HOA (which was builder/developer controlled at that point), that reached about $113,000 at it highest point. The builder/developer accepted unrealistic low bids for service contracts (our first lawn service went belly up in mid-summer) and budgeted about one tenth of what it would cost to maintain the level of attractiveness of the ponds that was there when we moved in.

After the first resident was elected to the five person board residents started to take control of the budget. A budget and finance committee was created and town meetings were held to explain the situation. The universal resident response was to stop sliding further into debt, find out what the true costs are and set the assessments accordingly. The builder/developer, to their credit, went along with this and over the last three years the situation has stabilized.

We started to repay the loan last year and will complete payments in mid-2008. We commissioned a replacement reserve study and budget the recommended contributions. We now have over $130,000 and will continue to update the model annually. This year's assessment was a $10 increase over last year but there was literally no objections from the residents. This is partly because this increase was exactly as predicted in the 5-year plan they received last year and partly because they recognize the need to protect a major investment.

I guess the bottom line of this message is that we no longer care what other communities are paying. We know what our costs are and how to control them and that is all that really matters.

DavidS3

I am so envious of your situation. You certainly were able to turn things around.

Getting the homeowners to recognize the situation was a major accomplishment as well.

Count me green with envy!

Joyce

Hi all – I found this discussion thread to be quite interesting! I wasn’t looking to compare what we pay with everyone else, but it was interesting to see the wide array of types of managed communities out there – and also found that a number of HOAs face similar issues as we face – BOD members who do not want to raise assessments for required maintenance nor maintain adequate reserve funds, HOs who are uninterested in participating, etc. DanaB1 –right on – except in our situation, some of our BOD members claim they do not want to raise the assessments not only due to those HOs who cannot afford the increase, but claim they, too, cannot afford the increase –- And, yes, we do need to raise our assessments! -- And, I also empathize with you with what you have had to go through with your BOD! I “feel” for you having had that special assessment for the roofs, and now have the high assessments. “They had they're heads in the sand” - yep – seems to describe a few (majority) of our BOD members, too! I am working on getting our inadequate Reserve Study update revised and hopefully that will be a start to getting those heads out of the sand!

JohnR4, our dues are $81 per month, just increased from $79 last year and we are one of the highest in our area.

I think we have too much landscaping and it is our biggest budget item, $53,103 per year. Of course we have to have the "weeds" called mesquite and palo verde that requires thinning annually or lose them in the monsoon winds. We just combined the tree thinning contract with the landscape contact and saved about $5K. We are on a corner so we get landscaping costs for two streets outside the development plus what is inside. One count was about 400 trees ("weeds') I think.

We are a gated community so we pay electric for street lights, maintain our private streets, have a pool and spa. The pool is heated by propane so we turn off the heaters from Dec thru Feb. We do not have recycled water for landscape so that is expensive and just got a bill of $2K for cleaning dry wells. If water much higher, it would be cheaper to put in artificial turf and save water and mowing costs.

We have spent quite a bit getting the development in better condition than the developer left it. Coded locks on the pool so we know who was in then vandalism happens, re doing landscaping to prevent damage to fences from water, and water into the propane fill station, etc.

Our reserves are a bit over $100K

During a recent budget review, we had to raise the HOA fees significantly, since the previous board didn't raise the fees at all for several years. This increase was prompted primarily because of the Reserve Study. Properly explained in great detail, the members understood the reason for the increase and the HOA met virtually no resistance. Now during all the discussions, we polled neighboring communities about their fees. It really doesn't matter what other communities are charging. Fees will vary with services, amenities and also larger communities may have lower fees, since there are certain fixed expenses that every HOA must incur regardless of whether there are 50 homes or 500 homes. It comparing apples and oranges. Just do what's right for your community and I wouldn't try to make the comparisons. Good luck.

I've been preaching the applies to oranges comparison to homeowners in my community for the past four years.

However, since this thread was started, I found it fascinating nonetheless to learn about other communities' operations, locations and amenities.

JoyceS1

We would hope that HOA's used a little common sense when it comes to this issue (yes, it's a little off the subject); but there really doesn't seem to be very precedents on the web with the exception of the June 2004 case in Tampa. I'm sure that you can find this Tampa case on the web and I'm sure that an attorney could shed light on this. The 2004 Tampa case is a heart warming story involving a 42-year-old Riverview man who almost lost his home because he forgot to pay his $200 annual homeowner association fee while deployed in Georgia for the Air Force Reserve. In June, the HOA filed a lien against the reservist's home and the association leaders were considering foreclosure. After it hit the papers, the offers started rolling in. The next thing you know, a pro bono attorney is dropping off a check for 1,148.50 to the association attorney courtesy of a local Tampa Consultant/Contractor. Nice work, Tampa!

Randal:

Did your board actually approve a budget with that big of a deficit? Or were there projections a little more on the rosy side?

Apologies for calling you by the wrong name Brad.

Most reservists and many new enlistees who go to Iraq face a financial hardship, in addition to the other problems they are up against.

I think it is wonderful that a Board has the heart to reach out to help these people.

I don't believe it is illegal, as you'll see later, and I know it is morally right.

We don't have any homeowners in the military in this community. But if we did, I would ask the rest of the board to form a committee to talk to the military families to determine if they were doing ok financially, or if they could use some temporary relief from the dues, and to begin to build a support system for them.

If they need financial assistance, then the committee would determine a total amount needed in dues releif to spread among the military families in the community.

Next I would send a notice to the community explaining in detail the boards' plans to help, and notifying them that the motion will be made at the next regular board meeting. Anyone wishing to make comment on this motion is requested to attend the meeting so they can offer their input and ask questions. They would be asked to bring in other suggestions as to how the community could build a suport system for these families.

We would also ask people to individually provide whatever support they can to their military family neighbor.

The board would rely on the section in the CC&R's that say the dues assesment funds are to be used for the maintenance, "safety and welfare" of the community.

I believe that "welfare" of the community can be loosely interpreted as being able to help a community member in need. Certainly every board uses it to mean they can spend money for community social events. Those social events are held to help bring people together in the community to build a better community spirit.

So why can't it also be used to help bring the community together to help a couple of their community members who are sacrificing their financial situation and risking their lives to help make their country, which includes their neighbors in the community, a lot safer?

A social event could be held to honor the loved one(s) of the family(s)who are serving, and people could be asked to bring certain items the family may need, and or cash donations to help. This support system would go a long way toward bringing that community together, and would provide much needed support for the family if the loved one were killed or paralyzed in the war.

Just think of how proud this young soldier in Iraq would feel, to hear about and see photos of his family being supported by his or her neighbors, and showing their support for the dangerous job the soldier is doing.

And think about how proud the community would be in what they are doing to help.

JohnR4,

I’m not providing you the information you are seeking, although you have received some very good posts and suggestions I personally thank you for posting the topic. It seems to have been steered toward, should the board or shouldn’t the board?

I, like previously posted, think it would be extremely generous
to take up a collect. I feel this would be best, before discounting the assessment. Now that I’m a board member, I have much better understanding and a tremendous amount of compassion for anyone who is faced with any sort of financial hardship.

I completely agree that an HOA is a business and should be run as such, but being a board member myself (which most of the replies
you have received so far are as well) There comes a time where being known as a loving, caring, and compassionate human goes much farther than, the aspect of “running a business” Come on! That has to the one of the most disturbing posts I have read (in a couple of years)

I now know that I would feel much much better about accepting money from my neighbors appose to the BOD just reducing the annual assessment. I don’t feel it would be fair to those who are experiencing something in a much lesser scale, to you and me, but to them it’s pretty dramatic. Who are you to make that decision? Not you literally,
As posted earlier, where do you draw the line? HMMMM

A board member is to make decisions for what is best for the entire community, not just one family. The money you would be discounting is also the money of the community. I feel it should be the decision of the entire community, not at the soul discretion of the board (in this particular case)

I also as previously mentioned, encourage any member(s) confronted with any financial hardships, to contact the BOD or MC for help with their particular situation. They (the board, community your neighbors) may not be aware of what the situation is about nor should that person feel obligated to share their financial troubles with the neighborhood at such a difficult time. It’s embarrassing to say the least! But if could be worst.

I would suggest taking up a fund within the community and presenting that if anything at all. But I do agree with the majority of the responses you have received that the board needs to do what is in the best interest of the community, morally as well as ethically!

I hope all reading this post will question their decision, about whether to or not too give some sort of financial relief to those who need it the most.

God Bless,
Chuck W.

Glen, what I've offered regarding the Iraq soldiers is only my opinion, and an example of how I would proceed with our board and community. I hope it's not construed that I'm advising others to do the same. Each board and board member must make their own decisions in these cases, whether it is for a community member who has a spouse soldier in Iraq, or a widow who is having a difficult time financially.

You mentioned charity, and I'm a believer in suporting charities, and I'm also a believer in helping those who are closest to us who are in need.

Businesses do support charities, and some businesses do help their employees financially, (above and beyond their normal paychecks) when they are in need.

Our HOA Bylaws do not permit charitable contributions, but, helping out community members in need doesn't fall into that charity category.

Our CC&R's have this statement:

"...The assessments levied by the Association shall be used exclusively for the upkeep, maintenance and improvements of the Common Area..." "...and for promoting the recreation, health, safety and welfare of the Owners and residents of Lots within the Property..."

"Welfare" is not defined in our documents, so I look to the dictionary. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary it is defined as:



Definition 2a, is a definition that I feel can be legally applied to the covenant statement. However, it is limited to the Owners and residents of the community lots.

Now if the CC&R's provide that the assessment funds may be used for the "welfare" of the Owners and residents of Lots within the community, then I interpret that as the Board being able to grant some type of relief to the Iraqi soldier family who may be in need, and to a widow who may need some assistance to keep from losing her home.

In my post I didn't say that the Board would arbitrarily determine to help a family. I said that I would move to appoint a committee to determine their needs, and recommend what could be done for them. Then I would send a letter of notice to the community stating the recommendation, and that this matter would be coming up to a vote, and request their attendance and input.

At the meeting the community would have their input and the board would vote on the issue. The result would be a decision that is made (whatever that decision turns out to be) by an informed Board after input from the Community.

The letter would have also asked the community to see what they could do for the family(s).

The end result could be that the community would want to take on the project of offering moral, physical, and/or financial support on their own, and request the Board to not use the assessments, and the Board may vote that way.

No matter how that or other similar issues may turn out, I see it as a legal option in our CC&R's, and an excellent way to bring a community together for the good cause of helping a community member in need.

The thought of foreclosing on a good community members home because they are currently having financial problems just does not set right with me.

And while the Board has the duty to collect assessments, it also has the duty to use the assessment funds in all of the ways described in the covenant such as the one in our documents.

JanM,

I apologize to you and anyone else I may have offended. I wasn’t saying you should or shouldn’t be grateful for what your HOA has done for you or anyone else in your community.

I think that is the way HOA should be but it is difficult for the board to know of these situations to become proactive about them, unless the HO should happen to mention their financial hardship to the board. This doesn’t happen all too often. I would like to convey this type of gesture myself to deployed residents in my community. It’s obvious you didn’t need the help considering you paid in advance. How did they know? Was that information provided to the board or did they just hear from you or neighbors within the community, that your husband was being deployed?

Do you have any idea of how I could find out if they are deployed or not?

I’m have made this suggestion to my HOA board and I’m hoping we can get something together as well.

The JAG program you mentioned is that a program to help with financial hardships. I would like to print this in our newsletter for the month of March. That way if they were in need of some help they would have somewhere to turn.

Thank you for the idea. I appreciate it very much.
It is a nice gesture by your HOA as well as anyone else’s.

Chuck W.

I wasn't offended Chuck, like I said, I just wanted to share. My husband is well known in our community for both good and not so good, shall we say, way of thinking?? Some people like him, some hate him, sometimes both at the same time. Thats beside the point. Your office may know who is serving and you could contact that family yourself I suppose. But like the lady said, they may not want anyone knowing of their situation if they are in need. The military has financial services for those needing help paying bills and most military families help each other out. Your local newspaper may also have a list of names of families or soldiers to "adopt" while they are deployed and you could compare names to your member list. The JAG office is the legal dept.

Goodness, you guys quite talking about dues.......
So...I am starting an association Thursday. I am wondering how much to charge, to vote on I mean, and our neighborhood guidelines in place from teh developer says that you will pay $5 a month.....can we have this changed? $5 A MONTH WONT PAY FOR JACK. There is 200 occupied lots with 25% of our neighborhood RENTERS. What do you suggest? Can we go up from the restrictions we all signed when we got the homes, and if so what should we charge? We have three detention ponds...a huge section of power lines that has to be mowed, several street (about 5) with ditches that need to be mowed, front that needs to be mowed, landscaping that needs to go up, we need lawyers, insurance, and I think we will not get a management firm, and we want common areas and at least one park, maybe a basketball/volleyball court. What do you suggest?

Robins1 - It sounds like you need to establish a budget and Reserve Study first. You can't make comparisions between disimilar communities.

No you do not have to stay with $5/month. It is probably that the amount can be changed and if a small amount it could be paid yearly, quarterly, etc. to reduce bookkeeping. Read your By-laws and Declaration to determine what is allowed. If a controlling document restricts you, then that document can be amended.

If no one on the Board knows how to create a budget you need outside help. And I wonder how each of you manage your own personal budget