# How much are your condo fees, and what do they cover **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 25, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519 "2011-09-25T01:59:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/21 "2011-09-26T23:48:27Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I actually knew of a situation in which someone was _renting_ a condo… the owner wasn’t paying the fees… and the association went after the TENANTS. As president of my association, I did this just a few months ago. However I went after the owners (filed a lien at the DC deeds office). If the owners hadn’t paid up, we would have been within our rights to auction off the property at best offer and collect the back dues from the proceeds. I wouldn’t have “gone after” the tenants, but I might have offered them the opportunity of paying up the back dues or facing eviction due to the property going to auction (and being bought by somebody else). > [@](#): > > So is it better to look at the larger complexes or better to look at the small ones? The larger ones seem like they’d have lower fees and more anemities due to economies of scale (a pool or workout room for 100 units is easier than 8 units). I recommend a small one. It’s easier to get elected to the board where you can have some say in the operation and budget. In fact, because most officers aren’t allowed to be paid for their positions, people often don’t want to serve. I’ve held the presidency for almost 14 years mainly because nobody else wants it. Smaller buildings will have lower fees because you won’t be maintaining things like pools, multiple elevators, a security desk, grounds keeping staff, etc. Also, reserve accounts don’t need to be as large. On the question of how large a reserve fund should be in the bank, the association should be doing a reserve study every 5 or 10 years to get a professional know-it-all to come in and analyze the health of the major building structures and other common elements. These studies will tell you things such as how many years the roof has before it needs to be replaced. Having high monthly condo fees “just in case” is almost as bad as having them be too low. That money should stay in the pockets of the owners unless it’s budgeted for a known thing (as opposed to an unknown thing). In my experience, the bigger a condo gets, the more it behaves like a run-away freight train with hundreds of bickering passengers inside asking for their money back. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/22 "2011-09-26T23:58:24Z")
> [@Joey\_Tightlips](#): > > Mine is a 200k townhouse with monthly fees currently $135 a month. Pays for landscaping, exterior maintenance (power washing, gutter cleaning, termite inspection), trash pickup, snow removal (even though they normally don’t get to us until it starts to melt anyway). Does not include utilities or pool. > > I was told the reason our monthly fee is so low is because our association is entirely made up of residents who volunteer to do it. They come around asking for new board members every so often and nicely remind us that if they had to pay someone to come in and run the association, the monthly fees would be in the hundreds per month. So I think it’s likely that’s the huge reason behind the disparity in fees. It’s also possible that was just a BS line to get new people to volunteer. Make sure these volunteers are figuring out a reasonable amount to be put aside in the reserves, and are budgeting part of the monthly fees for this purpose. (In other words, they are doing the proper reserve studies mentioned by\*\* Patty O’Furniture\*\*.) I mentioned above that our fees were low because we weren’t funding our reserve adequately. Part of the reason was that, like you, we used volunteers to run the association, and they didn’t have the financial background. Now we use a professional management company to make sure we don’t make that mistake again. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/23 "2011-09-27T00:06:18Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > Having high monthly condo fees “just in case” is almost as bad as having them be too low. That money should stay in the pockets of the owners unless it’s budgeted for a known thing (as opposed to an unknown thing). I didn’t mean to imply that there should be NO reserve, of course there should be some money in the bank. A reserve study can’t predict things like a drunk driver taking out your historic iron fence. I’m saying that it’s crazy to let the reserves climb up to more than about two or three thousand dollars per unit. Again, the reserve study should tell the association how much money it should have on hand. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/24 "2011-09-27T00:08:02Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > In my experience, the bigger a condo gets, the more it behaves like a run-away freight train with hundreds of bickering passengers inside asking for their money back. You mean like[this](http://www.aboardtheworld.com/)? Not a train but even more self contained. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/25 "2011-09-27T02:16:03Z")
Very slight hijack (since we have a thread full of condo owners): can a condo owner insure against a special assessment? I would imagine they can get fairly high (I think I read something about a $2 million or so place in Chicago having a special assessment of almost $300,000.) ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/26 "2011-09-27T02:20:44Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I can give you a personal example of this. For many years our fees were very low: Around $80 to $100 per month. Then we discovered the roof of our complex needed replacing, and there wasn’t enough money in the reserve. So we had a special assessment of about $17,000 per unit. > > That was about 5 years ago. Nowadays, the monthly fee is over $300, and much of it goes into the reserve to make sure that never happens again. It was stories like this that turned us away from buying a townhouse. But the reality is that every house will have unexpected costs, just like a condo unit. Furnaces break down, roofs leak, pipes collapse. My perception of condos has always been that the process tends to be out of your control, which bothers me. A friend recently had an issue with his townhouse where the front windows were leaking. That fell under the condo insurance, so the board planned to replace everyone’s windows. Sounds great in theory, except that it meant months went buy before it could get repaired. He could have had it down over the weekend, instead he had a leaking window that damaged the interior wall, which was then his responsibility to fix. > [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > Having high monthly condo fees “just in case” is almost as bad as having them be too low. That money should stay in the pockets of the owners unless it’s budgeted for a known thing (as opposed to an unknown thing). Right, and in theory it all balances out. Unfortunately it seems few residents are consciously putting away a few hundred a month for potential assessments. So when it happens they aren’t ready. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/27 "2011-09-27T02:46:55Z")
> [@emacknight](#): > > Unfortunately it seems few residents are consciously putting away a few hundred a month for potential assessments. So when it happens they aren’t ready. That’s not particular to condos. Whether you own a house or a condo, you need to be prepared for the unknown. > [@](#): > > can a condo owner insure against a special assessment? I would imagine they can get fairly high (I think I read something about a $2 million or so place in Chicago having a special assessment of almost $300,000.) I assume that was the size of the entire assessment, and not each owner’s share. I don’t know of any insurance company that will insure against a generic costly incident. Our policy is very specific in what it will and won’t cover. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/28 "2011-09-27T02:55:00Z")
Every once in a while (say, after a big snowfall, or when I think my lawn is looking kinda crappy compared to my neighbor’s) I’ll think of moving into a condo or co-op, but reading this thread reminds me why I’m not too excited about that prospect–condo fees and associations just make me nervous. I like being the master of my domain, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/29 "2011-09-27T18:29:38Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Very slight hijack (since we have a thread full of condo owners): can a condo owner insure against a special assessment? I would imagine they can get fairly high (I think I read something about a $2 million or so place in Chicago having a special assessment of almost $300,000.) Yes, if the assessement is for something that the homeowners insurance covers normally. My own condo insurance covers me for up to $10,000 in special assessments in these circumstances. Since my insurance covers me for fire, it also covers me for a special assessement if there was a fire. (For those who are unfamiliar with it, condo insurance covers your belongings plus the interior structure of the condo. The exterior structure is normally covered by insurance purchased by the HOA as a whole.) ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/30 "2011-09-27T18:32:51Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > I didn’t mean to imply that there should be NO reserve, of course there should be some money in the bank. A reserve study can’t predict things like a drunk driver taking out your historic iron fence. I’m saying that it’s crazy to let the reserves climb up to more than about two or three thousand dollars per unit. Again, the reserve study should tell the association how much money it should have on hand. It depends what kind of work might need to be done in the near future. As I mentioned, when we had our roof replaced a few years ago, it cost almost $20,000 per unit. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/31 "2011-09-27T18:35:16Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Every once in a while (say, after a big snowfall, or when I think my lawn is looking kinda crappy compared to my neighbor’s) I’ll think of moving into a condo or co-op, but reading this thread reminds me why I’m not too excited about that prospect–condo fees and associations just make me nervous. I like being the master of my domain, so to speak. Different strokes and all. I’ve lived in condos/townhouses practically my whole life, so I’m used to it. The last time I lived in a single family house I was ten years old. I like not having to do exterior maintainance. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/32 "2011-09-27T18:41:11Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Yes, if the assessement is for something that the homeowners insurance covers normally. I’m having a hard time thinking of something that your condo insurance would cover that the association would also be handing out assessments for. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/33 "2011-09-27T19:01:01Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > I’m having a hard time thinking of something that your condo insurance would cover that the association would also be handing out assessments for. Here’s one example: My condo insurance covers me for water damage in case a pipe bursts. If the damage extends to the exterior, or to another unit, I would be assessed by the association, and that would be covered. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/34 "2011-09-27T19:10:30Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Here’s one example: My condo insurance covers me for water damage in case a pipe bursts. If the damage extends to the exterior, or to another unit, I would be assessed by the association, and that would be covered. This actually happened to me five years ago. My upstairs neighbor’s water heater burst and I had ceiling damage and a ruined carpet. But in my condo the second owner would simply file a claim against the first owner’s insurance company. The association wouldn’t get involved unless there was damage to the common elements. Our bylaws don’t give us the authority over individual unit issues. If some condos are really micro-managing to that extreme, it’s no wonder some fees are so high. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/35 "2011-09-27T19:17:18Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > I didn’t mean to imply that there should be NO reserve, of course there should be some money in the bank. A reserve study can’t predict things like a drunk driver taking out your historic iron fence. I’m saying that it’s crazy to let the reserves climb up to more than about two or three thousand dollars per unit. Again, the reserve study should tell the association how much money it should have on hand. Our roof assessment cost $2400 per unit, I think, which was even more fun when one owner refused to pay up - because the roof still needed to be repaired. And an extra $2400 spread over the remaining 3 units is a chunk of change. The rest of us basically handled it by padding the special assessment and using what little reserves we had to cover the delinquent owner’s share, which meant we basically had about enough to cover regular monthly expenses (water, insurance, etc.) until he finally paid up. Personally, I’d rather not cut things quite that close. I mean I can plan to have cash in the bank for a special assessment, but I’d rather not have to plan for the circumstance that nobody else does. Better to have more in reserves. ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/36 "2011-09-27T19:35:58Z")
I live in a condo townhouse complex. Our fees are about 250 a month. It covers everything from the walls out (to include doors, windows, roof, siding, lawn maintenance, snow removal, gutter cleaning, leaf removal, pool). We have a professional management team and a great set of directors. The thing that I love most is that the reserve fund is almost enough to rebuild every building. Is it too high? Probably but since we are only (at this point) paying about 2% of our fees into it, it seems reasonable to keep it there. It’s just been slowly building up over 40 years. And really, 250 a month to not have to deal with any of that sounds great to me! ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519/37 "2011-09-28T00:12:59Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > This actually happened to me five years ago. My upstairs neighbor’s water heater burst and I had ceiling damage and a ruined carpet. But in my condo the second owner would simply file a claim against the first owner’s insurance company. The association wouldn’t get involved unless there was damage to the common elements. Our bylaws don’t give us the authority over individual unit issues. > > If some condos are really micro-managing to that extreme, it’s no wonder some fees are so high. You’re right: The association would probably only get involved if there is damage to the common property. But that can happen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-your-condo-fees-and-what-do-they-cover/597519.md?page=1)