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HOA fees explained: Are they worth it? (what home buyers need to know) - YouTube
Channel: Homebuyer's School
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In this video we talk about homeowner
association fees, who pays them, how
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often, and if you actually have to pay if
you don't use any of the facilities.
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That's coming right up.
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Welcome to Homebuyer's School, brought
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to you by Brookfield Residential.
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Hi everyone, Karl here and welcome to
another Homebuyer's School video, a
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channel where you get the latest
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strategies tactics and tips from
home buying experts.
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And remember this is your first
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little notification bell so you don't
miss anything. So today i'm joined by
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Heather Cockerline, community
experienced lead with Brookfield
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Residential, and today we're talking
about homeowner association fees. So
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I'm sure it's your favorite topic—
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—Yeah.
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So can you can you let me know what exactly
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is included in a homeowner's association
fee? So like what does it cover?
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So the fees that you would pay would
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cover things such as taking care of the
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facility if there is one within the
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community the staff that take care of
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the facility, upkeep, maintenance,
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including in and around the entire
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community so whether that's mowing or
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snow removal—
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—That's not mowing your
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—Not your yard, that's extra but seasonal
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lighting, all of those types of things would
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be included in your fee. Also different
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events, some programs would be included
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in that, and then if there's not a
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facility then it would just strictly
include enhanced maintenance, all the
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other things that I just mentioned.
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- So like when you say programs or—
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things like festival light—
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- Or Stampede breakfast. So for instance
right now we're in the Cranston
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homeowners association, they have an
amazing breakfast that they do every
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year for Stampede and that would be
included. So you would come with your—
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with your family to that event.
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- Do all residents pay a homeowner
association fee?
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- Yes they do.
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And when you say residents,
obviously people who would live
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in the community and people who—
how about tenants?
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Same thing?
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- Well tenants, it depends on what their
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arrangements are with the people that
they're renting from but it is on the
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responsibility of the condo owner to
make sure that their account is in good
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standing so that their tenants would be
able to utilize any facilities that we have.
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- You mentioned not just condo owner
or like any resident?
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- Any resident, that's right.
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- And do you know how are they collected,
and how often?
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- So once a year you'll get an
invoice in the mail that can be paid for
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by going to the HOA facility if there is
one. If not, there's an online payment
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arrangement that you can make but again
that's something that you would want to
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speak to your individual HOA association
to find out what the best way to do that is.
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- And remember if you want to know more
about homeowners associations, watch
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out video above and in the description
below. Is there a difference between a
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homeowner association for condos or
single-family homeowner associations?
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Or kind of all the same?
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- No it's the same. So
anybody living in the community would
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benefit from the perks of living in a
community that has a homeowner's
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association so whether you're in
single-family or a condo and all things
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are open for the entire community.
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- Great. And are homeowner
association fees negotiable?
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- No they are not. So there's an encumbrance set on
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your individual title and that's
done through the planning process of
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creating that community.
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- And in your opinion, what's the average
homeowner association?
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- So they do vary depending on
what the size of the community is and
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what's involved. Whether it's just—if
it's a small community or if it's a very
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large community with something like a
lake. The rates do vary so I would say on
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average they run from one hundred to
five hundred dollars a year.
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Not per month, a year.
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- Let's say I don't use
anything, I don't—either I don't like it
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or it's just like, it's just not in my
lifestyle, what happens if I don't use
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any of the facilities, any of the amenities,
do I still have to pay the HOA fee and
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why would I have to pay that?
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So yes, you
do still have to pay the HOA fee but you
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need to think of it as not just the
events that maybe are happening in a
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community or going to use a tennis court,
but we get back to being pride of
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ownership. So your fees go towards
everything that's happening within the
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community and so for a lot of us maybe
that's only say thirty bucks a month. If
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we you know, if you really break it down
and so to me that's three coffees really
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right, to make sure that you have pride
of ownership when your friends and your
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family come to visit you and your
community but what we would encourage is
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that if there's something that isn't
happening through your HOA,
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bring that up you know. Go to the AGM
or just go to the facility and ask for
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the events that you want or ask for the
games or whatever it is that you're
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looking for that would help create that
sense of community or sense of belonging
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for you. Let us know and we will try and
implement it as much as we can.
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- One thing
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I wanted to ask in terms of maybe maybe
not related to fees, but let's say you
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wanted a new activity in the community
and let's say—let's just say for example
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the community doesn't offer hockey right
and you want to put together like a
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drop-in hockey activity Monday nights,
how do you—how would you go about
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doing that in a homeowner's association?
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- So it's really easy you would just talk to
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the facilitator,
find out is the ice rented on that day
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is it not, and try and work it out that way.
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- Okay cool.
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In terms of fees, so what happens if you
don't pay?
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- If you don't pay, then your
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account does go into delinquency and
then we would hope that you would pay
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within within the next 30 to 60 days. If
that doesn't happen there is the risk
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that you can be sent to collections to
collect the funds.
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- Got it. But the fees usually
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it's pretty reasonable, it's not—
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- So minimal, yeah exactly. So as we were just
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saying it's we're ranging from $100 to
$500 a year and so when you look at it
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that way, it should be pretty manageable
for almost every person in the community.
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- Perfect. Do you have anything
to add in terms of
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homeowner association fees?
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- Nothing on the fees. I just—I think
that if you want to find out ways for
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you to enjoy your community or your HOA
a little bit more then feel free to
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bring your ideas for it, everybody's
always excited to find new and exciting
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things to do.
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- Great. So the question of
the day I have for you is, do you pay a
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homeowner association fee and what
benefits have you gathered from it? Let
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us know in the comment section below.
And remember, if you enjoyed this video
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or found it helpful,
hit the thumbs up button, remember to
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comment and remember to subscribe.
Thank you and we'll catch you next time.
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That's another edition of
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Homebuyer's School. Tune in next time
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