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RESERVES ARE NECESSARY
By
Jan Bergemann
Published December 11, 2020
The Florida statutes regulating
community associations are very detailed how reserves have to be
handled. And there is absolutely no argument that reserves are
very much needed.
Owners often seem to forget that
well-funded reserve accounts actually increase their property
values, because potential buyers of condos take a look at the
reserve funds of the association they intend to buy into.
Many people, who initially strongly
objected to the creation of reserve accounts many years ago,
when town-hall meetings all over Florida dealt with this issue,
quickly changed their mind -- especially condo owners in South
Florida after Wilma hit with hurricane force and left “blue
roofs” in its path. The special assessments that had to be
levied in order to pay for the insurance deductibles for the
roof-replacements caused lots of foreclosures due the fact that
no roof reserves existed.
There are many good reasons why the
reserve funds of the association should be well funded – not
just because of the estimated life span of roofs, balconies,
club houses, roads and pools etc. Many unforeseeable problems
may occur, forcing the association to spent lots of money –
money that has to be paid by special assessment if the reserve
funds are non-existent or totally underfunded.
Don’t you think it’s easier to pay
something like $30 more monthly on a regular basis, instead of
receiving a letter that you have to pay $5,000.00 within 30
days?
Please think about it when the
discussion regarding funding the reserves comes up in your
community.
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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
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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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