My HOA replaced all the balconies in our building, and each of us got an 11k bill. They’re offering us a choice to either pay it off fully now with a credit card (only available this month) or to go on a payment plan of $135 a month for the next 10 years, which will cost 16k with interest.
I could pay it off now, but I also have a 20k car loan I want to clear soon. I have 50k saved up, but if I paid both off, my savings would drop to 19k, which feels a bit too low for comfort. I’m not sure what to do here.
If you think you might sell in the next 10 years, don’t pay it off. You can pass the balance to the next owner. But otherwise, look at which interest rate is higher… your car loan or the HOA payment plan? Pay off the one with the higher rate first.
Seriously, who agrees to stuff like this? I’d rather live somewhere else than let an HOA tell me I need to pay 11k for a balcony. What’s next, a 9k bill for a new door?
Morgan said:
Seriously, who agrees to stuff like this? I’d rather live somewhere else than let an HOA tell me I need to pay 11k for a balcony. What’s next, a 9k bill for a new door?
Everyone was upset about it, but apparently one of the balconies actually fell, so they rushed to replace all of them, even if yours was fine. And yeah, the city inspector didn’t help either.
Morgan said:
Seriously, who agrees to stuff like this? I’d rather live somewhere else than let an HOA tell me I need to pay 11k for a balcony. What’s next, a 9k bill for a new door?
This is classic HOA mismanagement. They put off repairs for so long that something bad happened, and now they’re scrambling without the money they should’ve had saved. Sadly, many HOAs are run this way, which is why your share of the fix is 11k now. And this might not be the last time they ask for a big assessment.
Morgan said:
Seriously, who agrees to stuff like this? I’d rather live somewhere else than let an HOA tell me I need to pay 11k for a balcony. What’s next, a 9k bill for a new door?
That’s the ‘joy’ of living in an HOA property. You don’t get much of a choice.
Morgan said:
Seriously, who agrees to stuff like this? I’d rather live somewhere else than let an HOA tell me I need to pay 11k for a balcony. What’s next, a 9k bill for a new door?
I get that HOAs can be frustrating, but things do need maintenance eventually, right?
Are you renting this place? If so, expecting renters to pay for these kinds of repairs seems unfair, unless the tenant caused the problem. If you own it, that’s another story.