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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAging Condos Are a 'Ticking Time Bomb' and Need More Oversight
Its not just condominium buildings that are showing their age, as was the case in the deadly collapse of a condo in Surfside, Fla. The condominium form of ownership itself is under strain. Some condo buildings are even being de-converted to rental propertiesincluding the 391-unit 1400 North Lake Shore Dr. in Chicago, which was bought by a New York developer in 2019 for about $107 million.
Some economists argue that the U.S. and other countries made a mistake by going too heavily into condos and related forms of ownership, including housing co-ops and homeowner associations, in the decades after World War II. Some 73.9 million Americans lived in condos, housing co-ops, and HOAs in 2019, according to the Foundation for Community Association Research. The shared form of ownership is also popular in Europe, Israel, Australia, China, and Russia, among other parts of the world, says Amnon Lehavi, dean of the Harry Radzyner Law School of IDC Herzliya in Israel.
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The rap on condos is that owners and the boards they elect are poorly equipped to make important decisions about maintenance. Association homeowners and boards often are focused on keeping regular assessments low and only investing in visible, immediate outcomes, says Breaking Point: Examining Aging Infrastructure in Community Associations, a 2020 report by the Foundation for Community Association Research.
This bit from the report will sound familiar to condo owners: While homeowners will tolerate a modest special assessment in an emergency, evidence in this study suggests that its often hard to convince them to contribute to long-term maintenance, i.e., higher regular assessments. Substantial special assessments are particularly unwelcome.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-06/aging-condos-are-a-ticking-time-bomb-and-need-more-oversight
Scrivener7
(50,949 posts)edhopper
(33,580 posts)With an owner that wanted it to stay intact.
These new condos are built to last as long as it takes for the owner to sell all the units and get out.
Scrivener7
(50,949 posts)the owners not wanting big assessments is very true. We need new windows, but getting agreement on that is like pulling teeth.
Our board has scheduled a detailed inspection in response to Florida. As I am sure a LOT of others have too.
hlthe2b
(102,278 posts)from building issues, degradation, and uninhabitable properties with climate change to our crumbling infrastructure and power grids.
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)The problem with democracy is that more than half the people aren't content unless they are living beyond their means and deep in debt.
That includes "maintenance debt" due to years of neglect and lack of respect for "a stitch in time saves nine".
Condos are a little version of the Federal government which has been spending money on vanity projects like Afghanistan and not spending money to maintain and improve American infrastructure.
hlthe2b
(102,278 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)reserve funds against emergencies. There are regulations in place that help those that do maintain reserves keep it up, building the funds over decades, in spite of the obvious incentives against requiring owners to pay in each month.
I don't know anything about the quality of such laws, but in this case we're talking is FL, and the situation changes with conditions, so I assume there's an important job for governnment to do in requiring better planning for obsolescence and creating/improving/upgrading regulations and enforcing them.
ZonkerHarris
(24,226 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,806 posts)Yes. Here is an article describing how condos were built deliberately short-changing long-term maintenance for quick profits.
https://democraticunderground.com/100215585760
How The Reagan Revolution Collapsed America & the Florida Condo
Condo fees
https://hartmannreport.com/p/how-the-reagan-revolution-collapsed
Sgent
(5,857 posts)between Regan policies and deferred maintenance in condos, and rather just tries to use them as a tortured metaphor. I'm not sure its useful because the modern Condo form happened in the 60's, and this particular condo opened just months after the start of his presidency.
Condo's developments had friends on both sides of the aisle because they also provided for low cost housing compared to single family homes.
betsuni
(25,531 posts)Then remembered the door buzzard thread. Oh wait, it'd condos. Never mind.