Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: How to assess HOA fees?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

At Takoma Village our dues are based 50% equally and 50% variable based roughly 
on square footage and number of Limited Common Elements.

The rationale for HOA dues is so rife with assumptions that it is very hard to 
accurately determine what is equitable—I’ll use “fair” to mean equitable 
because it is easier to type and pronounce. We discovered years after move-in 
that the original spreadsheet used to calculate prices and dues was wrong for 
more than half our units. The more we looked at the figures and what was 
supposed to be included that was not the more things we found out of line. The 
amounts are not huge but are still not fair. It has been impossible so far to 
correct them because we haven’t found a formula to which everyone consents. 

All the rationales for making dues equal for all units have not borne out. 
There are not more people living in large units than in small. We have 3 people 
in 2 bedrooms and 1 in 4 bedrooms with a full basement. Those living in small 
units do not use the common facilities more than those in large units. Large 
unit use the guestrooms as often as small units.

The only stable variable is that large units cost more to maintain. We recently 
had to replace sprinkler heads. The smaller units had 7 sprinkler heads and the 
largest had 21 — the cost was 3x greater for large units. We replaced the roof. 
Large units have the same SF cost as 3 of the smaller units because they are 
stacked. The smaller units are thus subsidizing the larger units in several 
ways. 

When the fees were being calculated the members were afraid that if they placed 
the costs and dues equally based on interior SF, which in terms of maintenance 
and replacement still wouldn’t be fair, no one would buy the large units. But I 
don’t think any of us realized how much greater the large units cost to 
maintain at market value. 

The vast portion of our dues are spent or reserved for maintenance, repair, and 
replacement of the innards and outers of the buildings. For materials, 
utilities, labor, taxes, services, etc. There is only about $5,000 in a 
~$300,000 operating budget that could fairly be attributed to unique cohousing 
costs. (Most non-cohousing condos now have many common facilities and budgets 
for community events.)

Somewhere in the literature there has to be a "theory of condo fees” that 
analyzes the costs and how to apportion them fairly but it must be in 
publications directed at professional managers because I haven’t been able to 
find it. Actual practices vary widely and make no sense the closer you look. 
The value of an ocean view may be added.

What I’ve learned in studying this topic is that the best reason for condos 
being cookie cutter shaped with identical porches and balconies and grouped 
with all the two bedrooms in one building and the one bedrooms in one building 
is that it avoids the debate about fairness when the roof is replaced. And it 
helps if all units face the same direction to account for desirability.

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