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GM_Pax t1_jdweyuw wrote

It sounds to me like there was/is a huge conflict of interest here - the owner, who redeveloped the property, appointed themselves head of the HOA (which should be an elected position), then gave themselves the job of Property Manager ...?

...

Also, if I were the person who had bought that last unit? Suddenly tripling his fee for managing the property would be a gigantic red flag, and I would be very inclined to cancel the sale on the spot.

Certainly by what you describe, managing that property is NOT a $1500/month job. $500/month was probably being overly generous, in fact. I mean, what exactly are the fees covering? Lights in common spaces, maybe heat in those spaces, water and sewer bills if not somehow separately metered, snow removal from the front steps/walk, basic liability insurance, and money put into savings against future repair or renovation needs (e.g. repairing a roof leak, etc).

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therealcmj t1_jdxytxo wrote

Normally the developer runs the HOA until they sell the last unit. An election before they sell at least half the units would be pointless - they own the majority beneficial interest. But usually they hold control until the last unit sells in case they need to do something like fix an error in the condo docs.

Now that he is no longer a majority owner the other owners can and should call for an election and oust him. And they can self manage or put the contract out to bid and hire a management company.

OP: read your condo docs. They’re usually quite readable. If you arent sure about anything you can check with your closing attorney about what you can or should do - you paid them to review all this before closing.

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GM_Pax t1_je24iq8 wrote

>Normally the developer runs the HOA until they sell the last unit. An election before they sell at least half the units would be pointless - they own the majority beneficial interest. But usually they hold control until the last unit sells in case they need to do something like fix an error in the condo docs.

TIL. :)

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Caraless_While22 OP t1_jdwhzc2 wrote

So I asked before buying what the $500/month included and was given this response:
Complete coordination for all services related to ( securing insurance on the building, hiring contractors for any maintenance issues, hiring contractors for cleaning sidewalk snow plowing, manage billing for water and sewer and bill each unit owners depending on their use, maintaining the book keeping of all cost

We each pay our own water and sewer which is an additional expense. I was the only one to shovel this winter (we barely got any snow and only have to worry about the sidewalk). There have been a few maintenance issues--mostly due to the crappy work done by the builders, plumbers etc..

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CitationNeededBadly t1_jdwzzc0 wrote

Did you get that in writing or did someone tell you that verbally?

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Caraless_While22 OP t1_jdx7wu4 wrote

that was in writing -- my real estate attorney forwarded my list of questions to their attorney and that was their written response. (I added in my input in the 2nd paragraph).

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bbqturtle t1_jdzj66q wrote

Usually the hoa covers insurance policy for exterior. You should be able to see that master insurance policy and costs.

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Caraless_While22 OP t1_jdzl86w wrote

Yes, I have a copy of that and see it being deducted from the HOA account. It’s around $3,300 annually and he financed it at 12% because there wasn’t enough in reserves to pay for it up front and cover his property management fee.

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bbqturtle t1_je05clj wrote

So that is about the minimum that your expenses should be. When you meet as a hoa and remove him, you can reset dues to be 1100 each if you'd like. I'd recommend targeting a balance of about 1% of property value raised in excess to the hoa to help manage external repairs. From the history you could see your annual maintenance and calculate who owes what to hit that.

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Caraless_While22 OP t1_je07xcy wrote

Yes the property manager suggested getting to $10k in reserves which seemed reasonable. He wanted us all to pay additional 2 months of fees to pad the reserves (after we already did that at closing). I am soo glad we declined that suggestion because it would have been more money for him to take!!!

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