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birb_cromble  11d ago (text post)   855 thread views

Weekly Finance Thread - 2026-08-01

A weekly thread to discuss financial matters - from personal all the way up to global.

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With condos specifically, look at HOA dues, reserves, info about special assessments (last time one was done, any plans to have one in the near future), and if HOA outsources management. I cannot stress this enough - HOA makes or breaks value of any condo. There's so many ways HOA could be mismanaged, from a few motivated boomers on the board strongarming to suppress monthly dues, which causes reserves to be insufficient a decade later, to hiring a 3rd party management company that charges you $80/hr any time you email HOA with a question or hires the most expensive person (because they get kickback) every time ANYTHING needs to be done. Once I've seen an owner have a huge legal battle with HOA - guess where the money comes from to pay those legal fees? Also look at renting rules, a lot of HOAs, especially the ones with a lot of boomers on the board, have rental caps (certain % of all units can be rented out at any time) - that affects the value significantly since a lot of people buy condos as an investment and it's a trash investment when you're beholden to HOA on whether you can rent out your own property.

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