Condo Amenities

[dubone]

the new uptown condos towers are in the luxury segment of the market and include many expensive shared amenities.

Obviously, most of the amenities like pools and workout rooms will be permanent by simply being built into the building. Others, however, require employment of individuals, like a concierge/door man, that might end up being very expensive over time. Once the buildings are sold out and built, what are the chances that all the advertised amenities remain? Are they contractually obligated to keep them? Are there rules around how quickly homeowners dues can rise?

My concern is that these luxury condos have high operating and maintenance costs in addition to high construction costs. The construction costs are reflected in the selling price for the units, but if operating and maintenance costs grow, it could cause major increases in homeowners dues, which might lead to reduction in the amenities of a building.

Are these projects required to have a sound financial plan for having stable homeowner management to avoid problems like that?

as an example, my own homeowners dues went from ~140 to 175 after the first year, and we don't have any amenities (pure maintenance and utilities). Luckily, they remained stable after that as maintenance costs were fairly predictable.

i wonder how predictable the maintenance is in a 50 story building...yikes.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

I always thought the dues were for maintaince and keeping the amenties running. As for the predicatablity of the maintenance, most of the time much of the money collected goes into a reserve (at least it does where my parents live).

[monsoon]

We have them in my neighborhood which pays for the pool, lifeguards, landscaping and other odds and ends. We built a new club house a few years ago and the dues also covers the mortgage on that.

I would assume the arrangement we have is common for condos as well in regards to the homeowner's dues.

Its in the deed that you will support and pay the HOW. If you don't they can ultimately foreclose on your property to pay off deliquent dues. There should be a document that describes the terms for how the HOW operates, how its officers are elected, how changes are made to the rules, and how the money works. This is essentially a deed restriction that goes with the property and you agree to the terms when you close on the property.

So to answer your question. If costs go up, they raise your dues and you don't have any option but to pay them. "Thank you sir, may I have another" When they decided we needed a new club house, they just raised everyone's dues to cover the new cost. There was a lot of grumbling, but since no one showed up to vote against it, then that is what they got.

If it is a 60 story building and someone falls off it and dies and which causes the insurance to go up, everyone pays for it. I don't think they will take away amenities unless there is a vote to do so and generally no one will do this.