So how much is your Condo/Townhome monthly fee? Is this normal?

[palswim]

Enjoy your state!


I live in Socal (Orange County)


$1450 for 1200sq 2 bedroom 1 bath.

and thats a good deal, in a good area.


you can get a 2 bed 1 bath for like $900, but you are liable to hear gunshots from time to time.

Yeah, I'm in So Cal, too, but this thread is talking just about HOA/maintenance fees. For me, most of these monthly maintenance fees are ridiculous!

 

[Felisity]

Wow....reading this thread makes it seem that Boston undercharges the HOA fee.

I was thinking the same thing...

My town home was built in 2007 and is an end unit of a 3 unit building - 2 floors plus basement with deck and yard. There are 4 buildings with 12 total units in the complex. HOA fee is $160 a month and includes; exterior maintenance, master insurance, landscaping, snow and garbage removal.

Mortgage is $1525 / month which includes taxes, etc.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I pay a hundred bucks a year HOA fees. 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, my own yard where I BBQ. Damn I love owning a house.

 

[L1FE]

On the upper end of COA fees, but not entirely out of line with what's in the area. You can definitely find some places with ~$300-400 fees, though.

 

[MrChad]

that's normal for a high CoL area like NYC but pretty high for a cheap crummy region like NoVA.

lol

 

[JS80]

My buddy lives in Wilshire Corridor and pays $1200/mo HOA.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

lol

what's so funny?

 

[thegimp03]

My fiancee pays about $360 a month I think in the Bay Area. I thought it was high, but now that I see people paying almost 2x that much I don't. I think it includes gas and garbage.

 

[geecee]

$405 for a 2BR/2.5 bath townhouse in central NJ (~1500 sq ft.). It includes access to pool & tennis courts, landscaping, winter snow removal (i.e. plowing and shoveling), any exterminator costs, exterior maintenance and repairs, water, and garbage. No gas or electricity though.

 

[MrChad]

what's so funny?

How do you define NoVA as a "cheap crummy region"? It has the highest median income in the country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest-income_counties_in_the_United_States

 

[Crusty]

How do you define NoVA as a "crummy region"?

Don't feed the troll.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

How do you define NoVA as a "cheap crummy region"? It has the highest median income in the country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest-income_counties_in_the_United_States

no doubt due it's proximity to DC which means overpaid govt employees.

OP likes to pretend that NoVA is a high CoL area and now when he sees a high monthly fee, he bitches about it. well, no shit sherlock. why so shocked if you claim NoVA is expensive?

$600 is cheap in a REAL high CoL like NYC.

 

[Russwinters]

Yeah, I'm in So Cal, too, but this thread is talking just about HOA/maintenance fees. For me, most of these monthly maintenance fees are ridiculous!

Yeah, I realized this shortly after posting, ha-ha.

Still, that is the price of rent here, and that doesn't include any utilities.

The maintenance fees are another $100 or so, for maintenance and utils (minus electric)

it's absurd.

I'm not sure of HOA fees down here. I can only imagine it must be downright robbery.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Enjoy your state!


I live in Socal (Orange County)


$1450 for 1200sq 2 bedroom 1 bath.

and thats a good deal, in a good area.


you can get a 2 bed 1 bath for like $900, but you are liable to hear gunshots from time to time.

Sign me the fuck up for this, where is it? Some of my friends pay 2500/mo for a 2bdr/2 bath 1000 sq ft with like a 250 assn fee. But you can see the beach out of their living room window, so I guess thats a bit different.

 

[Russwinters]

I live in Cypress, it's not TOO far from the beach, maybe 15 - 20 minutes.

Good area; it really is a good deal for socal, it's just insane that socal is so damn expensive.


If I didn't have so many friends and family here I would gladly leave.

 

[ultimatebob]

I pay $245 a month, and I only get the following for that:

Garbage
Landscaping
Water
Snow Removal (a LOT of it goes here)
Outside Repairs of property and parking lot (a LOT of it goes here as well)
Some form of condo insurance for the exterior of the building

That's it.

 

[BurnItDwn]

When I lived in Streamwood IL, I had a 1000ish sq foot 2 bedroom, 1.5bath townhouse with assessment dues around $160 per month.
Assessment covered same as ultimatebob, except it did not include water.

The place was a total shithole in a bad neighborhood. I bought it for 115K in 2004, I sold it for 115K in 2008, and now it's worth closer to 95K.... (Of course the house I bought in late 2007 was 180K, and now is worth closer to 160K ... but meh, I like where I'm at now)

 

[richardycc]

I think that's how much my "uncle" pays for his condo in the heart of Boston, that includes electricity, heat, hot water, elevators, etc.

 

[dwell]

~$900 -- nyc 1br

 

[Caesar]

I pay $160 for a townhome. This includes the pool/basketball court/mowing out front/snow removal

 

[mattpegher]

Condo Assoc fee of 650/mo for my condo on Singer Island, Fl - External maintaince, gated covered parking, pool, tennis courts, beach access. Only utility in that is cable.

 

[Syringer]

This is what I've never really understood about buying a condo vs. leasing one.

To me the main attraction of buying property, like a house is that you can do whatever you want with it. Paint it, tear some walls down, put up a new fence etc..that's all in your control.

But with a condo when you consider your down payment, mortgage, HOA, insurance, unexpected repairs, maintenance, and especially the interest payments you're taking on the loan, etc..it hardly becomes a good investment at all. You're not even guaranteed that your property value will go up, as we've seen recently.

Take your down payment and whatever extra you're paying a month and put it in another safe investment.

 

[Gibson486]

This is what I've never really understood about buying a condo vs. leasing one.

To me the main attraction of buying property, like a house is that you can do whatever you want with it. Paint it, tear some walls down, put up a new fence etc..that's all in your control.

But with a condo when you consider your down payment, mortgage, HOA, insurance, unexpected repairs, maintenance, and especially the interest payments you're taking on the loan, etc..it hardly becomes a good investment at all. You're not even guaranteed that your property value will go up, as we've seen recently.

Take your down payment and whatever extra you're paying a month and put it in another safe investment.

You still need a down payment, mortgage, insurance, unexpected repairs, maintenance, and interest payments on a house. Lots of HOAs are not as prohibitive as people say they are.

FOr most cities like Boston or New York, you will rarely see a decrease. For burbs though.....

 

[halik]

I pay $800/mo rent for my condo; excludes utils.

 

[erub]

This is what I've never really understood about buying a condo vs. leasing one.

To me the main attraction of buying property, like a house is that you can do whatever you want with it. Paint it, tear some walls down, put up a new fence etc..that's all in your control.

But with a condo when you consider your down payment, mortgage, HOA, insurance, unexpected repairs, maintenance, and especially the interest payments you're taking on the loan, etc..it hardly becomes a good investment at all. You're not even guaranteed that your property value will go up, as we've seen recently.

Take your down payment and whatever extra you're paying a month and put it in another safe investment.

Only expense you have with a condo that you don't have in the house is the HOA fee, so this is kind of a dumb argument. Not everybody wants to tear down walls as a hobby. In fact, I like the fact that the common areas are cleaned and taken care of by someone else. And of course you can paint the inside of your own unit, who would even know?

I live in a mixed-use retail/residential area of Las Vegas, about 15 minutes from the Strip. The HOA is $705 a month, same for all units. Includes exterior maintenance and common area maintenance, water/gas (heat)/sewer/trash, very nice workout room, hot tubs/grill on the roof with great view of the city, underground parking, insurance. This HOA is a bit high, but worth it: for one it keeps the riff raff out of the building.

Some people are a bit shocked when I tell them as most are used to paying for a house HOA which is somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-100/month: however, in that instance you have the other bills to take care of. Besides, the houses in the area I liked were 100K+ more expensive then this unit, and then you are stuck paying increased taxes, interest and insurance, and still lack the amenities down the hall.