Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: What is your community's current reserve funding level?

[Sylvie at Hotmail (s_kashdan]

Clarification

Thanks to everyone who responded to my initial question. However I think 
I was not specific enough about what information residents at Jackson 
Place Cohousing are seeking.

We have been using a highly competent professional company, Association 
Reserves, for more than a decade. In the beginning some of us hoped to 
schedule amounts of payment into the reserve fund so that it would be 
100 percent funded in thirty years. But some of us wanted to fund a 
significantly lower percentage for the end of the thirty years to keep 
our dues more affordable. We agreed to the choice of paying dues that 
enable the funding of the reserves to be seventy percent in thirty years.

But now as a twenty-three-year-old community we have been having some 
significant repair and replacement costs, including some unexpected 
ones.  In this context, we are debating whether to primarily focus on 
maintaining relatively affordable monthly dues or primarily focus on 
saving enough to cover maintenance and replacement of our facilities.

As part of our discussions, some people are wondering whether or not 
other communities that have reserve funds are currently funding them at 
levels lower than seventy percent for the end of the thirty year period. 
Have any communities had positive or negative experiences related to the 
level of percentage funding of the reserve funds.

Thank you for whatever you can tell us.

Best,
Sylvie

Sylvie Kashdan

Community Outreach Liaison
Jackson Place Cohousing
800 Hiawatha Place South
Seattle, WA 98144

https://jacksonplacecohousing.org

info [at] jacksonplacecohousing.org