At our next Board meeting on August 29th, 2012 the Board will be voting on an increase in the monthly HOA dues.
The HOA dues for The Gardens have remained the same since the first units were constructed, $130.00 per month. When the Association took over from the developer we kept them the same for the past 3 years.
We can no longer pay the association bills at $130/month per unit.
All of our HOA expenses have increased and we now need to adjust the budget to reflect these increases as well. For instance, next year we will have a 28% increase in our water bill. And we will be adding termite coverage to each unit next year.
One of our biggest expenses is our monthly contribution to our reserve account. If we can't cash flow our bills, then we can't make this monthly contribution. The reserve covers future depreciating assets such as roofs, streets, and outside painting.
We have based the budget on 124 units paying instead of 129. Each month about 4-6 units fail to pay their HOA dues. While some eventually catch up, others have filed bankruptcy or not paid until they have sold their units. In some cases we have sued and attached leins on their units, but again we don't get our dues until the unit can be sold.
We have done some research of HOA dues on other condos and townhomes for the East Brainerd area. The results are as follows:
Villa's at Shallowford Trace, $169/month (pool)
Village of Ashwood, $225/month (pool)
Council Fire, $312/month (pool is extra) - the fees cover exterior maintenance, HOA Insurance, termite treatment, all yard work and water for lawns.
The following complexes charge from $50 to $106 a month which covers lawn maintenance only:
Savannah Place, The Trails, Channing Creek and Hickory Manor.
We are still the least expensive in our HOA dues for our area
