re: One Florida Town Just Tripled Its HOA Fees To Over $3,300 A Month

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Probably hoping folks will leave so they can then tear the shite down and redevelope.

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That's what I was getting at when I asked what happens if people don't pay. There has to be a pretty obvious reason for that jump.

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Imagine owning your house outright and having it forclosed on over hoa fees.

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When I was practicing law, I represented a COA that foreclosed on a $400K unit that was purchased for cash by a pro athlete. Guy bought it for his mom and never paid a cent of dues for like 5 years (at about $350 per month), plus fines for dangerous dogs, attorney fees for various enforcement actions, and some large emergency assessments after major flooding. He owed over $35K. State supreme court ended up voiding the foreclosure and wiping out his debt because the property manager screwed up his account ledger and it was off by like $200.

Typically when we would foreclose on a home/condo for an HOA, it was after years of legal wrangling with problem owners. And usually it meant they weren't paying their mortgage either, but the bank refused to foreclose because they didn't want to own it and pay for upkeep and HOA dues and have to try to resell it for far less than what they were owed. I think the story above was the only one we ever did that was owned outright and otherwise unencumbered. Won't lie, though--the COA board in that case was definitely seeing dollar signs and what they would have made on the resale.

ETA: It is not a good feeling trying to convince a bankruptcy judge to lift the stay so you can foreclose on an HOA debt.

If the HOA violated code, why do the residents have to foot the bill?

Don't condos also add notorious assessments, like when a new roof is needed?

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if your HOA does anything more than cut the grass in common spaces and keep people from parking trailers in their front yard, then its a money laundering scam.

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In lower-end HOA areas, this is true, but in higher-end neighborhoods, you have gates, guard shacks, guards, surveillance infrastructure, roads, electricity, water, athletic fields, meeting areas, pools, walking/running trails, insurance, et cetera.

HOAs can be very inexpensive or very expensive, depending on what amenities are provided. It is like everything in life; there are Kias, and there are Roll Royces.

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There are no HOA fees in my neighborhood. What if you buy a house and fail to pay the HOA fees?

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Can result in foreclosure if one does not or cannot make HOA payments.

It seems HOAs are getting out of control.
Our little neighborhood elected new officers last year and now the president is using HOA money to make repairs to his driveway.
He is in for a very rude awakening.

Those old condos are a death trap. 3gs a month for upkeep is probably cheap. 36k a year is nothing. Go look at some of those Miami listing's. There is 100k in back paid maintenance fees due if you buy one. This all stems from that collapse a few years ago.

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Uh, if a repair like that is needed and there aren’t sufficient funds in the association’s account, then yes there will be an assessment. Many condo owners don’t understand what they own. The overall structure is jointly owned by the unit owners. They are responsible for maintaining it.

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And that's what's turning those older high rise condos in florida upside down.

That one building that collapsed got everyone's attention, and folks are finding out their building needs major repairs.

Hence, major assessments and HOA fees.