Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Altair's HOA Dues

[John Pustell (jpustell]

Joel -

Our community when forming had advice from a consultant to use 30 cents per 
square foot for estimated HOA dues for our Apartment style, 30 unit condo 
building.  Being conservative folks we increased it to 35 cents per square 
foot.  Now that we are getting close to moving in (several years later) I wish 
we had used 40 cents.

John Pustell
Bay State Commons (soon to be Bay State Cohousing) in Malden Ma. (Near Boston)



-----Original Message-----
From: Cohousing-L [mailto:cohousing-l-bounces+jpustell=verizon.net [at] 
cohousing.org] On Behalf Of Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L
Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2022 5:29 PM
To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Cc: Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Altair's HOA Dues

> On Jun 14, 2022, at 4:18 PM, Joel Bartlett <altairecovillage [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:

> Our community has not developed our HOA dues - many factors, of 
> course, and it is too early to tell prospective members what the dues 
> might be.  We would very much like to have input from various 
> Cohousing communities on what the HOA due are.

Your best bet would be to talk to condo managers or management companies in 
your area. Tell them the number of units and the size of the common house and 
common areas, and what other items are included   internet access, cable tv, 
water, gas, etc.

They will have a round number for you. 

We began with condo fees that people had estimated   I don t know who   but the 
management company that we hired told us at our first board meeting that they 
would have to triple to pay for the facilities we had.

Cohousing is not so different than other condominium-like communities. We spend 
money differently but in the end if you have so many square feet of occupied 
residential real estate, it requires a predictable amount to maintain it.

Best to err on the high side. If you have money left over after the first year, 
you can lower them. Better put the excess in the Capital Reserve Fund. And don 
t forget to collect for the Reserves   Capital, Maintenance, and Emergency.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org




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