Buyers BEWARE When Buying a Condo in the Portland Metro Market
OMIGOSH -- it's called a RESERVE STUDY! And you don't get one done when you KNOW that you have latent defects in the condo building complex. You get a "RESERVE STUDY" done when you DO NOT HAVE PROBLEMS . . . and you plan -- AHEAD -- for them.
A 1981 building . . . is over 35-years old. Things wear out . . . you plan for that, no?!?
Since my last post "You Can't Spell Assessments Without The . . . ASS" -- this is my follow-up because my real estate spidey senses are becoming very heightened.
The culprit are the HOA's that are, in my opinion, breaching their fidicuariy duties to the members.
How so . . .
Well, here's one from the RMLS listing: Special Assessment effective May 1st 16. Additional $335.68 per mo-240 months
Does anyone know what 240 months is equal to? That's 20 years . . . YEARS . . . T-W-E-N-T-Y Y-E-A-R-S
And that's "additional" to the $405/month that are the current HOA dues.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is so EXPENSIVE in these 2 bedroom / 2 bath, 1,200 sq. ft. 1981 condo units -- that no one bothered to ASSESS them years ago? That's over $80K in assessments, if my math is correct. What Buyer in their right mind wants to pay $741/month in HOA dues?
HOA: | Y | Dues: | $405 | / MO | Other Dues: | $336 | / MO |
I suppose $80K in 20-years is a lot less in comparison to this condo complex located in of Portland (see chart below). This is for exterior renovation, new siding, roof and windows. Here's a screen cap of their "ass"essments for the unit owners . . . also on a 20-year spread. But, wait . . . you can pay all at once and get a discount!
The "Serial Monthly Special Assessment" column is in ADDITION to the HOA monthly dues of @$600/month!
It's like the CONDO SHAKEDOW of a life time!
And where is the protection of the members of these HOA's?
There is NONE!
So, let's say you bought Unit 4A and closed August 2015. You paid $295K CASH for the unit (full list price) Your real estate agent was diligent and asked for all the HOA's minutes, reserve studies, etc. And they were all produced. You made your decision to buy Unit 4A knowing that you'd be hit up with $201,888 in assessment payments?!?!? I wonder if the buyer knew about this? I wonder if these assessments were included in the minutes
Here's a wonderfully brilliant HOA edict which proves an HOA KNEW about a problem, and solved it by using "aggressive caulking" to mitigate WATER INSTRUSION . . . OMIGOSH, why didn't they just use DUCT TAPE?!?
Now, when the "aggressive caulking" for several years didn't work . . . they "deemed" replacing the windows as the "clearly superior path."
Yes, welcome to the world of Queen of Hearts in charge of HOA's . . . and the breach of their fiduciary duties is met with "Oh, let's just toss out a $20K assessment on everyone"
Notice how they did a reserve study in 2015 . . . but KNEW about the issue for several years.
It's March 2016 . . . 2015 was NOT several years ago. And, apparently, by the HOA's fuzzy logic, and fuzzy calendars . . . the time to perform a reserve study is when the "aggressive caulking" isn't working?!?!?
How about doing the reserve study SEVERAL YEARS AGO when you knew there was water intrusion.
I've never heard of "aggressive" caulking before. Have you?
It's that the opposite of "passive" caulking?
How does one caulk aggressively?
Isn't the act of caulking . . . well . . . the act of caulking?!?
I did't know there was variations of caulking one can do, but it's nice the HOA board members decided to go with the "aggressive" caulking recommendations, that seemed to help. {rolling eyes}
Pity.
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