What does the Homeowners Association Fee include when buying a townhouse? Does this work the same for an adult community, single family homes? How much can this fee cost?
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Taurus430
ANSWERS: 2
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Your question is complicated. All home owners associations carry different fee structures, but are usually based on a budget that is voted on by the membership, annually or on a fixed schedule. The fees include, but are not limited to building maintenance (roofing, grounds keeping, etc.) upkeep of community areas, improvements, insurance, utilities and the like. I own property in a housing development with an HOA, and ours carries road maintenance fees and water system maintenance fees, and runs roughly $1200 per year. You can find a copy of the CCR's (Covenants, conditions and restrictions) from a realtor or perhaps from your county assessor or treasurer. Make sure to check how and when the dues are determined, and of the owners have a vote.
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HOA fees will vary from one community to another, and for a variety of reasons. More recently, even neighborhoods of single family residences (SFRs)may have a modest annual or quarterly fee. Townhouse and condo association fees generally cover lawn care, snow removal, exterior building maintenance, roadway maintenance, a master insurance policy, and little else. They will not include personal CONTENT insurance, utilities, interior painting and maintenance ... anything that is not associated with common areas. You must abide by a common set of By-laws which are strictly enforced to maintain uniformity. In the case of SFRs, the HOA is little more than a regulatory body that imposes a common set of By-laws on all residents in the neighborhood. Townhome and condo fees in the Minneapolis ares run from a low of ~$100 per month to several hundreds of dollars. SFR HOAs run from $50 per year on up into the thousands for "gated communities".
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