Condo Chatter

 Over the past four months, I've probably spent 40 hours reviewing the condo crisis in Florida.

To put this in prospective....ever since the collapse of that one condo....Florida politicians have been on some crusade to ensure nothing else occurs.

Well...this led to mandates where inspections are noted officially, and repairs are now mandated.

So the associations (HOAs) are in some proactive situation.

Basically, you may have bought the condo for $250,000 in 2018, with a $600 monthly fee, and insurance was 'reasonable'.

Now?  The monthly fee might be getting close to $1,200, and your insurance is probably double to triple (yearly).  Then the other issue....if their bucket of funds isn't adequate for the repairs....they will send you a notice that you have four months to come up with $40,000 (maybe even $80,000)....to pay for the 'fix'.

In simple terms....you can't afford the place, and the value is sinking.  Adding to this....your monthly fee might be near $1,200 shortly....with your pension budget is a spiral.

So you want to escape.

The monthly fee? Well....it's scaring off potential buyers.  The $40,000 check to cover repairs?  That will scare off more people.  The doubling/tripling of the insurance cost?  That will scare more folks off.  The fact that there are double to triple the units on the market?  Yeah.

I would imagine 10 to 20 percent of folks don't have the extra money laying around for the fix, and they are asking the banks to help out, but loaning money to a 70-year old guy makes little sense.  Even I wouldn't be that stupid to loan money in that situation.  

So I will make this prediction....the HOA folks are going to court to 'grab' properties who don't pay the fix-costs.  

Then the HOA will discover from the dozen condos on the property.....that they can't market/sell them.  So they will go to the remaining owners, and let them know.....another check for an extra $20,000 or more....has to be procured from the remaining folks.  Then a second wave of unhappy folks arrives to make a bigger mess.

It wouldn't shock me by the end of 2025....if 100,000 Florida residents have to escape....leaving the state because of bankruptcy, and unable to find new housing other than moving in with the kids or some relative.