The building I live in has 90 units. The condo association has been in the hands of the owners for more than 20 years.

Your fees are up to YOU as a condo association. If you don't like what's going on, join the condo association board. Different management companies have different fee structures and the services provided are up to you guys as the owners. However, if your building is new, the HOA fees may be jacked up to start to build a reserve. This is important to cover large [recurring] projects, ie, new roof, elevator issues as well as unforeseen projects. We are managed by ARK Management in N. Bergen. We like them. In the past I lived in a building managed by RELB of Hoboken, also good.

Moxiebaby, just curious hOw many units in your building? We have 1 elevator, a porter, and a couple flower beds + hedges. No door service. I am paying $40 less than you. Perhaps our inexperienced board members are not accurately capturing our expenses. (fyi We have 40 units in our building and the property manager also services a sister building , so I guess it's 80 units). Is there a consultant that can advise what expenses we really need?

Here are some basic things to know before you consider short selling or foreclosing, non FHA in this example:
If you are underwater you are servicing debt not your actual home. I would first see what your property value is and how much of your loan your property is worth.
Always try to refi or remediate first since a short sale or foreclosure makes you lose not just you principal but also your down payment and closing costs. To short sell you may also have to pay the brokerage fee. On a credit basis or ability to buy a new home, no bank will even consider an application with a short sale for about 3 years post sale. Also your credit is tarnished, no other type of loans and your credit cards wil stop offering you credit, for a foreclosure the damage lasts 7 to 8 years. Hope this helps!

If your home is underwater why don't you do a loan re-modification? You qualify if your mortgage is prior to 2010.

It's a given that maintenance fees fluctuate, especially in new construction, and especially when the developer turns the property over to condo association. If you are living in a building with amenities (an elevator is considered an amenity) the fees will be high. I had complete sticker shock when moving from Hoboken to JC because the HOA fees here are so much higher (about double). I currently pay $465/month in fees and this includes maintenance for 4 elevators, backyard, 24-7 porter/door staff.

If you walk away from your property you are still responsible for all other payments. As to how large corporations recovered and individual property owners didn't.... they were bailed out, the little man got sold out. And banks have just received new TARP $$ so get a re-mod on your loan! It's your right as a taxpayer.

Neverleft i lived in JC for a longtime. Actually lived in country village prior to moving to city homes. Considered Society Hill but the convenience to the light rail and shavin 10 minutes off traffic on 440 because of all the traffic lights south of the Nissan Dealership seemed like a good deal at the time. Our association fee actually started in the mid 200's. After a year or so our board members realized Centex underestimated association costs. Our board members later unraveled unnecessary services being charged and certain things were not bein paid accordingly. As a result our financial status was dwindling and we needed to cover important costs that we fell behind on. Hence the increased association fee. It still doesn't make sense to me. With a housing market that left many new owners upside down how does this neighborhood expect to ever sell to break even let alone a profit. Its amazing how the mortgage companies/investment banks seemed to recover from the subprime market (AIG, Bofa, stocks are up)but the average person who was conned into these inflated prices will
Suffer financially for the rest of their lives. It makes me wonder if I can miraculously get approved for another mortgage and default on loft. Am I still responsible for any balances that were not covered under a shirts ale or foreclosure?

Jershar?when you were looking for places on the ?Westside? of JC did you consider Society Hill at the time?

I know a lot of people in Society Hill they love it. There are three phases each has its own association. The quarterly maintenance fees for SCI are $615. That?s about $150 a month for pool, tennis courts, play ground, club house, park, landscaping, snow removal, electronic gates, guards , trash/recycle center, parking spots.

$400 a month sounds high but I guess it is because of the number of units. SCI has many where as Westside Station has few??

Good luck.

I pass by the place daily to and from work, and I gotta say if you're paying
Quote:
You're getting bloody ripped off. Trimming of bushes and the other nonsense is nowhere near $400 per resident.

I am sorry to hear this but unfortunatley not all companies have great lending practices. Your bank is probably taking the fees to protect its self incase of a short sale or foreclosure on the taxes. If you stop paying, they still have to pay your taxes. Unless they have an official updated tax statement they can not increase this. Give them a call and let them know that you want to keep your payment the same, and will deal with the escrow issues at year end. Certain mortgages let you deal with taxes outside of your mortgage, since your taxes are in your mortgage, see if you can have them stick soley to the amounts published by city hall.

Thanks for the info. Fluctuation Definitely related to escrow and tax. Bofa insists because of new development can't pinpoint exact amount. Is this legit can they do that?

You need to call your bank or mortgage lender immediately. If you have a fixed mortgage why is there a $500 fluctuation each month. Find out what's going on! Also, some lenders try to jack up monthly payments to stick more $$ in the tax escrow regardless of the actual tax bill. I've had to call out my lender on that twice (BofA) and get them to bring the monthly payments back to the original amount.

Anyone live in this little community around city homes Westside station? Do you feel your association fee is overpriced considering there are no amenities? My understanding is there are 3 separate associations for a neighborhood that has a 5x2 block radius. I am paying over $400 dollars a month for snow removal, landscaping, and building maintenance(ie trash removal, common area upkeep). To make matters worse my building has a significant amount of short sales and foreclosures. Not to mention the taxes. I have a 30yr fixed loan but my mortgage fluctuates up to $500 dollars a month is this normal? SOS....SOS...anyone else having these same concerns? On the upside one of the incentives for purchasing in this area was the thought of the bayside redevelopment project. I think after 5 yrs the first sign of progress finally appeared. OAbbey's bar and grill..lol.

"hindsight is the best foresight"