Utah residents are exasperated after HOA plans to more than double monthly fees to $800: ‘There’s no way we’re ever going to be able to ever move out of here’
Homeowners associations are sometimes evil in the housing world, especially when they ask people for more money when they are already paying too much. In Bountiful, Utah, residents of a certain apartment complex were told that their monthly fees could soon rise to more than $800, local media reported. KSL I mentioned. This happens to be more than double what some are currently paying.
The notice issued by the homeowners association blamed high labor, supply and insurance costs, among other issues, the newspaper reported. The apartment’s property insurance apparently rose from $17,000 to $108,000 after her previous policy was canceled following a fire. “I think it’s ridiculous that we’re all paying for that one incident,” said one resident who has lived there for nearly five years. She called it terrible timing, too, because she had to pay a hefty vet bill for her cat.
“I don’t have much in my savings right now,” she told the local reporter. “It’s too harsh.”
“It’s good to have it. I want to have it,” said Douglas Horn, another resident, referring to the insurance. “But $800 a month? That’s more than two-thirds of my mortgage payments. Horn and his wife have a two-bedroom apartment they bought about four years ago, and they want to have more children, but they said that seems difficult now, especially if they need extra space and want to move.
“It’s going to be really hard for us to move when the list says we have $800 HOA,” said Emily Horne, Douglas’s wife. “If that doubles, we’ll never get out of here.”
“I feel stuck,” Douglas added.
Homeowners were given an alternative: a 17% increase in monthly fees, plus a lump sum payment of $3,000. One resident said his family saved about that amount, but it wasn’t intended to cover the more expensive HOA fees. “We are having a baby girl in January, and this was supposed to be her due date,” one resident said. “Now that probably won’t happen.”
The average home value in Bountiful is about $550,000. per Zillow; The city, like many places, saw home prices soar during the pandemic housing boom, driven by historic declines Mortgage rates The ability to work and live from anywhere. But not long after, inflation rose. Prices have risen, from labor to the actual materials needed to build a house. Not to mention, mortgage rates have risen as the Federal Reserve aggressively raises interest rates to tame inflation. Then came the insurance problems.
There is an insurance crisis unraveling across the country. It’s mostly talked about in the context of California, Florida and sometimes Texas, where property insurance companies are fleecing or capping new policies due to the increased severity and frequency of weather-related events and natural disasters. But this condo situation in Utah highlights the expanding crisis. Homeowners insurance rates rose 20% in Utah last year, according to Standard & Poor’s Global. It’s not clear what caused the fire, but the dropped policy — and the need for another, more expensive policy — shows how difficult it is to find or afford property insurance.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.