Any new communities near Sanford with sane HOA fees?

The HOA fee is not the cost

Two communities with the same monthly fee can be completely different purchases. What matters is what the fee covers, what the association has in reserve, and whether there is a Community Development District assessment on the property tax bill on top of it.

A CDD funds the infrastructure of the community and is collected with your taxes for a long period. It is not hidden, but it is easy to miss when you are comparing brochures.

Ask for the budget and the reserve study

The brochure tells you what the community wants to be. The budget and the reserve study tell you whether the fee is realistic. An association with thin reserves and ageing shared assets is a special assessment waiting to happen, and new communities are not exempt — the developer sets the early budget.

1. 1Ask for the current operating budget and the reserve study.
2. 2Ask what the CDD assessment is, per year, on the specific lot.
3. 3Ask when control of the association transfers from the developer to the owners.
4. 4Ask what the fee covers: is it the gate and the lawn, or the roof over your head in a townhome.

Around Sanford specifically

Look at what is going in around the historic downtown side and out towards the airport. There are smaller block-construction communities there with low HOA fees and no CDD, which is unusual in this market and worth knowing about before you assume everything new carries both.

I am involved in one of those near Sanford, so take my enthusiasm with that in mind — but the budget and reserve question is the right one to ask of any of them, including mine. Ask me directly and I will tell you which ones are worth your Saturday, or read the Sanford guide for the wider market.

The related purchase decisions

If you are buying new anywhere, bring your own agent to the first visit, and understand how much of the plan you can actually change before you fall for a model home.

What a low fee usually means

• Fewer shared amenities, which is often exactly what people want.
• Owners maintaining more themselves, which is cheaper and less uniform.
• A young association with thin reserves, which is the one to check rather than assume.

None of those is a problem on its own. They become a problem when the fee is low because the budget is optimistic, which is what a reserve study tells you and a brochure does not.