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HAVING TO SELL YOUR UNIT?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published December 6, 2024
It looks like more and more condo owners realize that their
budget can’t afford the “real cost of living” in a condo after
the recently enacted Condo Safety Laws (HB
1021) and the serious increase in insurance premiums
created maintenance fees and special assessments higher than
their monthly income.
For many years boards and owners kept maintenance fees
artificially low by voting down fully funded reserves and by
pushing necessary repairs down the road. Especially owners in
older hi-rise condo buildings are now paying the price. Many of
them are left with only two options: Selling their home or
facing foreclosure!
Some of them are trying to postpone what is in reality
unavoidable by asking the government to hand out low-interest or
no-interest loans. But will they be able to afford the much
higher monthly maintenance fees – with fully funded reserves –
and the monthly installments for repaying the loan?
But if you have decided to sell your condo unit – according to
the market lots of units are for sale – please do it the right
way, following the guidelines of the CONDO ACT (FS
718 -- Part V). In his blog published on Monday Eric
described in detail what steps are required when selling your
unit,
Please follow the law to the dot, avoiding legal problems that
could get pretty costly.
After your board has figured out the amount for the special
assessment for the necessary structural repairs and the real
cost of living in your association, owners have only three
options:
-
They are able to come up with the money for the special
assessments and future, much higher, monthly maintenance
fees.
-
They put their unit on the market, trying to sell it to the
highest bidder
-
Face Foreclosure
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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. |
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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