Where Does the Money Go in Our HOA?

The subject of this post is a popular one in our HOA. It is prompted by the comments of owners who fail to do the arithmetic.

Here is the content of an email to the Architectural Director of this HOA on February 10, 2010. The information was public information and was not only posted on this blog but also openly discussed in HOA meetings. The information remains on this blog and the links were in that email and are also contained here:

"Hi [Mr. Architectural Director]:

Here are links which provide some information on the accumulation of reserves here at BLMH or at one time, the lack of reserves. This is provided as we discussed this morning. I think a historical perspective may assist you when discussing this with your fellow unit owners.

I think it is useful to have this number handy: In September of 1998 the total reserves for BLMH was $86,321. That’s about $257 per unit. I realize that there has been inflation in the intervening years so here is the same value in 2010 dollars: $343.26!  Obviously, this association had a financial problem, and it has been resolved to the extent that it has by gradually and continuously raising the fees. However, it appears that there are people who are very unhappy with this increase in fees.

So here is my first link which provides a summary of our fees and how, over a period of years we got where we were in 1998 and were we [presently] are. It also provides an alternative method for roughly determining fee increases based on readily available COLA index. That index is not perfect, but it does provide a compass to compare where we are and where government economists expect we will be in one year:

New Window> http://tinyurl.com/yb5re8f 

This link provides a history of our fees:

New Window> http://tinyurl.com/yb8rqbt 

This is an update October 2009:

New Window> http://tinyurl.com/ykbn9wh 


This link provided a comparison of a unit owner personal budget to the association budget:


New Window> http://tinyurl.com/yd7osjl 

Finally, here is a link which provides insights into our fees in the fall of 2008:

New Window> http://tinyurl.com/ye32xq3 

If you have any questions or comments, please advise me."