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SELLING YOUR HOME?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published August 30, 2024
Considering the fact that
many older hi-rise condominium buildings are badly maintenance
and in need of very costly structural repairs, owners of units
in these buildings may consider selling their homes to
developers who are looking to buy the valuable property.
No matter how you feel
about it, but the fact that many condo owners voted down fully
funded reserves in these associations is now coming back to
haunt the owners. With no – or very little – money in reserves,
the only way to pay for the required repairs are special
assessments. And we have already heard very scary numbers from
associations who received their certification reports with
estimates of necessary repairs.
And we hear the outcry
from many condo owners trying to blame everybody but themselves
for their financial misery. Even Miami Mayor Daniella Cava is
asking the Florida Legislature to make again changes to the new
Condo Safety laws. But all these folks complaining about the
financial problems caused by HB 1021 offer no real solution for
changes that would actually help other than kicking the can
further down the road – same way it was done for many years.
In an article in the Miami
Herald Mayor Cava praises the Miami program of lending money to
condo owners to pay for special assessments. In my opinion a
very slippery slope because it’s not only the special assessment
that has to be taken care of. In these condominiums the monthly
maintenance fees will seriously increase caused by many factors,
like insurance, mandatory fully funded reserves and not to
forget inflation.
After all the emotional
outcry condo owners should come back down to earth and face
reality: Selling your home might be the best option you have as
long as the decision is yours, before financial chaos or even
foreclosure is on your door step.
From what I have seen and
heard, many developers are making pretty reasonable offers when
trying to buy whole buildings. Get out as long as the going is
still good – before getting involved in litigation and/or facing
methods that could be considered blackmail.
For many condo owners life
was great for many years, living in associations where boards
and owners kept maintenance fees artificially low and voted down
reserves year for year. Now it’s time to pay the piper – and
it’s high time to make serious decisions.
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community associations.
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He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website:
http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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