What's the difference between HOA fees and Condo fees (Ocean View: 2014, condos)

[JERSEY MAN]

Hello all me again, I was going to go down to look at a home in Bay Forest Club in Ocean View. The realtor told us about the HOA fee of 2,500 a year. After further checking, on our own, we found out there is also a condo fee of about 2,300. Is this common in Delaware. In NJ you pay a HOA fee, one fee, nothing hidden at the bottom to fool you. Just doing a ton of research before we make a decision. Thanks again.

[doctorjef]

Rdlr, a frequent contributor here, gave a good answer to your question on another thread: https://www.city-data.com/forum/delaw...-vs-condo.html Just scroll down to where her response appears on the page. It's the fifth post on the page, I believe.

[JERSEY MAN]

Thanks doc.

[doctorjef]

You're welcome. I was surprised, too. I've lived in homes in Texas that had HOA fees, one being a single family dwelling and another being a condo. In the case of condos there, you only pay one fee -- there isn't both an HOA fee and a separate condo fee. It seems a pointless and tricky distinction to me. If you live in a condo that has both fees and they're both mandatory, it would seem less confusing to just have a single fee and disclosure of what that fee covers (in our case in Texas it covered both exterior maintenance of the townhouse-style buildings and all care for the common areas and pool).

[Mary2014]

doctorjef,

I think the condo fees being broken out is because of the various sizes of the units and communities often being a mix of condos and detached homes. For example, at The Plantations all home owners pay an HOA fee and it is the same for all owners. However, the condo fee is based upon the size of the unit. Three bedroom condos pay a higher condo fee than the two bedroom units. It appears the condo fee is based upon the square footage of each unit.

What I don't care for is that many times an HOA fee is specified in the MLS listings, but, often the condo fee is left blank. You can't tell if there is no condo fee or if the listing simply left the information blank intentionally.

Mary2014

[doctorjef]

Thanks, Mary. That makes sense, I guess, if the community includes both single family and condo units. I've had the thankless job of serving as HOA president at a condo complex where we lived for a few years while in Austin. We had just a couple of significantly smaller, one-story units that payed a lower fee than the rest, though the irony is that although they had less interior square footage, their exterior roofing and fencing were extensive as the two-story units that had greater interior square footage, their exterior walls not that much smaller, and they got benefit of all the outdoor amenities that everyone else had, so the break we gave them on their fee never made much sense to me.

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by Mary2014

What I don't care for is that many times an HOA fee is specified in the MLS listings, but, often the condo fee is left blank. You can't tell if there is no condo fee or if the listing simply left the information blank intentionally.Mary2014

If you're speaking of Innovia MLS, the paid subscription service, it's all there in black and white and in detail.

If you're speaking of the public freebee on-line access, of course, not all information is there. It's set up so you'll have to call a Realtor for that information. It's called "business".

[Mary2014]

rdlr,
Yes I was referring to the public site. Some listings break out the hoa and condo fees in a particular development and some don't. It is not consistant one way or the other. If you look at enough listings in a particular development you can usually piece together the information.

I never take the information on these public listings as absolute because I have often seen conflicting information. For example on one listing in a development it will specify public water and sewer, yet a condo in the same development will say private water and sewer. Yet another condo in the same development will say public water/private sewer. It kind of makes you wonder who is providing the information and filling out the form.

Mary2014