Re: HOA fee question | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Sharon Villines (sharon![]() |
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Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:20:37 -0800 (PST) |
On Feb 20, 2013, at 4:11 PM, Bea Sochor <beasochor [at] yahoo.com> wrote: > I am looking for information on how other cohousing calculate HOA fees? Split > evenly with all homes no matter the size? Based on home square footage? > garage? carport, etc Important to check the local laws on this. What is allowed in DC is not allowed in Florida. California has particularly clear and well-thought out regulations on condos. Even if you use a different legal structure, I think they would be helpful to you. We have 50% as an equal percentage and 50% variable based on percent interest. Percent interest is more or less related to size of unit. Basements were weighted at 20% of the square footage of the unit space -- ours are storage space, not really livable though some of the attached basements under condos are used for exercise equipment, etc. Our documents and the initial laying out of condo fees and percentage interest are in conflict and vague. Our limited common elements -- porches, storage units, decks, etc. -- were not well defined and changed during construction after the percent interest was set in stone. This has confused the picture greatly and I have been working to figure it out for about 6 years. Lesson: get it right the first time. One reason "normal" condos are so cookie cutter in design is that it makes it much easier to determine and defend the relative assessment of fees. I do not advise the 50/50 split or equally assessed fees. Per square footage is more fair down the line. The larger units cost more to maintain. They have more windows, more siding, more roof, more foundations. They have bigger roofs. The smaller units are stacked and have far less roof space per unit than even the square footage. It's square footage of one floor divided by 3 for the roof of the smaller units. The larger units are townhouses and most have their own roofs. While singles bought some of the larger units initially, at least twice as people now inhabit those units. The smaller units have about the same number. The only way to calculate use of the CH is by person and larger units have more people and more children. Children are wonderful but they take up a lot of space. One reason for the 50/50 split was that the founders were afraid that the larger units wouldn't sell if they paid more in condo fees. Another was that people felt the CH would be used more by smaller units than large. In my opinion, neither is or was true. We do have only one parking space per unit but parking is relatively inexpensive to maintain. By far the largest part of the condo fee is supporting maintenance, repair, and replacement of the buildings. We have a very healthy reserve fund. A fee based on per square footage with a lower weighting for (unlivable) basements, garages (possibly), porches, etc. is more equitable in the end. All of these things are also directly related to higher resale value. While the smaller units are in high demand, so are the larger units. You can buy a house in our neighborhood for what our 3-4 bedroom units now cost. Our 50/50 split means the smaller units are subsidizing the larger units. Mine is in the middle so I'm not saying this because I feel persecuted, but I personally would not move to one of the smaller units for this reason. Sharon ---- Sharon Villines Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC http://www.takomavillage.org
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Re: Designing common house Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah, February 13 2013
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Re: Designing common house Sharon Villines, February 19 2013
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HOA fee question Bea Sochor, February 20 2013
- Re: HOA fee question Sharon Villines, February 21 2013
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HOA fee question Bea Sochor, February 20 2013
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Re: Designing common house Sharon Villines, February 19 2013
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Re: Designing common house Bob Morrison, February 13 2013
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Re: Designing common house Muriel Kranowski, February 13 2013
- Re: Designing common house Robin Allison, February 13 2013
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Re: Designing common house Muriel Kranowski, February 13 2013
- Re: Designing common house Eris Weaver, February 13 2013
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