High Rise in South Florida - Assessments

[michaelman2]

Eddie,

Decided not to hijack John's Thanksgiving thread with this subject and start this thread to answer ya.

You deduced correctly. This demolition/removal of the balconies and replacement thereof will be around 120K. Yes, we attend the HOA meetings. The board president is sharp and has a good relationship with the Lauderdale by the Sea, City Council. We had two structural engineers on the board (one of which is a nuclear engineer, very familiar with concrete structures, whom thought this removal of balconies, was a complete non-necessity).

With the tragedy of Seaside, as mentioned in the previous thread, city governments, HOA's, owners, are jittery to say the least. One of the issues with the horrifying collapse of the mid rise building in Seaside/Miami, was the construction, and lack of maintenance. No-one wants a repeat so hyper vigilance abounds. Frankly, Joe and I sat with the engineers that were advising us to vote against the assessment. They both had no vested interest in either side of the decision. Their study concluded the building was extrodinarily well constructed and incredibly sound.

While in our "heart of hearts" we know this to be the case, we felt it better to be on the side of being "overly" cautious. We had a slight offset with a reserve fund but even with that it will end up at about 120K to do the remodel/repair.

Several residents wanted Joe to run for a position on the board and he considered it. When he asked me what I thought about his running, I reminded him that he is a retired physician and we still get calls in the middle of the night from people needing his help. A HOA board member or chairman, if I surmise correctly, receives calls, comments in elevators and cafe........Eddie, I bet you get calls? I think you and Joe have more patience than I....When I was asked to run, I gave a flat ass NO...I live here, I don't want to work here.

Two photos show the building and even looking at it, nice can deduce on a cursory level, it is well built.

 

[ea56]

Mike,
Trust me, you and Joe were very wise to be overly cautious! With inflation these days, everything ends up costing way more than many reserve studies allow for when the work/replacement of individual components actually needs to be done. If I’m reading your post correctly is the Special Assessment for the balconies $120K for each owner? I can’t possibly imagine that all those balconies can be replaced for only $120K.

You and Joe are smart to be attending the HOA meetings. Many condo owners are just disengaged and don’t go to HOA meetings. Our HOA is small, only 20 units and three board members. I’ve been the president now since about 2008, I lose count because I’ve been on the board continuously since 1995. I’ve been told that I’m probably the longest serving HOA board member in the state of California.

Since the pandemic we’ve been doing our quarterly HOA meetings on Zoom. We seldom have any owners attend the meetings, which is a good sign that we must be doing something right, because owners usually only attend the meetings when they are unhappy about something. I know all the owners and residents and in all these years I’ve only had a problem with a small handful for owners, and the issues are always resolved to the satisfaction of both parties, with the exception of one owner about 12 years ago that was several months behind in her dues and her lien holder foreclosed on her.

I personally believe that every condo owner should at the very least attend the HOA meetings. And if at all possible take a turn serving on the board. I keep saying that every year is going to be my last serving on the board, but I continue because no one else shows any interest in volunteering. I mainly keep doing it because I want to make sure that the reserve fund doesn’t get squandered. Its a big responsibility and I take it seriously. I’m old fashioned and believe that if you watch the pennies the dollars take care of themselves.

I’m glad for you and Joe that your building is well engineered. And from the photos it looks like a nice condo building. I wish you all the best!

Eddie[this post was last edited: 11/26/2022-17:38]

 

[petek]

have the guest room ready.. I'm packin for Lauderdale by the Sea as I type.

 

[michaelman2]

Thank you Eddie. you have definitely more patience than I could ever conjure. You are correct again, The entire project will be at the very least 120K per unit / resident. Some of us have converted two or more units into one unit. This of course will be in multiples of what ever the configuration happens to be. Most of the residents here also have homes in NY or NJ or Canada. They are accustomed to very high association fees. I am not. When I lived in Atlanta in a high rise, valet, cafe and other accoutrements, it was far less than our monthly. here (also less humidity..lol) Joe is an Upper East Sider and feels this is a bargain...I digress. Maybe I am cheap?

 

[michaelman2]

Pete and the great room….

Red rover, red rover, send Pete right over. Lol.

 

[vacerator]

Fortunate you have a well

managed condo association. Some are horrible. I'd avoid Miami beach for sure, and Daytona. Florida had awful building codes. In right to work states, you gets what you pay for too. Up here, the building trades are all union. Our current governor reinstated the prevailing wages, and with our new legislature in January, the right to work law passed in 2011 will be gone! That means not only higher pay and benefits, safer working conditions, and more closely monitored code enforcement and build quality.

 

[bradfordwhite]

$120K per unit, for a repair? OMG.

The crazy thing about FLA....., even if you have a building that is in perfectly good condition...

The sea level is rising and it's doing it faster than was predicted.
And taking away the beaches and pushing into buildings on the beach.

And that water is pushing into the aquafers and contaminating the drinking water.
And it's eating at and dissolving the karst that makes up the very foundation of the majority of FLA.
This causes sinkholes that can do tremendous damage.

Then there is the hurricanes that are becoming more intense.
And the suspicious amounts of people rushing to FLA. at this point, acting like it's desirable.

There's going to be a crash and it's not going to be pretty.

You can have a perfect building but if it's foundation is wiped out beneath it, there's nothing one can do about that.