Hoa fees in Jax/St. Augustine area (Tampa, Orlando: real estate, refinancing)

[avdp]

[SIZE=3]My family is considering relocating from Wilmington, N. Carolina to Jax/St. Augustine area.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I’d appreciate if anybody could share with me how much are the Hoa fees for the communities are around this area.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Is there a better one for kids?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Thank you in advance.[/SIZE]

[mawipafl]

HOA fees vary greatly, so it's hard to give even a ballpark figure. Another fee in some communities are the CDD fees (that's Community Development District). These fees can also vary.

The First Coast is a huge area and includes tons of great neighborhoods for families and kids. The choices are many, from the newer master-planned communities to older established neighborhoods.

What you'll read throughout the Jax forum is to first established your job, and then determine a decent commute time -- then you can start looking for a place to live within that circle. If a job location isn't a factor, then you should probably make a detailed wish list of the things you'd like in a neighborhood and house, and from there you can start a search to weed out areas/houses that don't fit the wish list.

[lokahi]

Well, during the 2005-2006 housing boom, they were low b/c builders were trying to entice everyone into their communities with low HOAs. New construction may still be doing this, but I know that Pulte properties have seen their HOAs go up considerably in the past few years - for example, from 180$ to $250.

Also, it really depends on the HOA Board of Directors - they're the ones that pass the budgets, etc. Typically, the more amenities you have, the more HOA fees you'll have to pay. But, Jax is better than other areas like Orlando or Tampa. My friend in Orlando pays almost $500 in HOAs.

[crash330]

My HOA fee in northern St. Johns County was $195/mo when we first bought our new construction. After the HOA was turned over to the residents, ours dropped to $165/mo. We pay a yearly master assoc. fee of $600. I'm a bit partial, but I love St. Johns County. Just do your homework and make sure you don't end up in a CDD. Your fees can go up and down with the county tax roles.

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by crash330

Just do your homework and make sure you don't end up in a CDD. Your fees can go up and down with the county tax roles.

Not always true actually. Our CDD fee hasn't changed. It all depends on the CDD board and its budget. Usually they try to refinance the bonds (the purpose of the fee - to sort of pay back the developer) to try and keep the budget within current levels. A downside is that refinancing does mean that the original length of time for the fee to exist (say 30 years) gets extended. Residents of a CDD have somewhat of a say in the matter since the board meetings are open and fall under the Sunshine laws.

CDD fees are collected annually along with real estate taxes, but they're completely separate. If county tax rates go up, it doesn't mean the CDD goes up. There's debate whether the CDD fees are tax deductible along the lines of the other real estate taxes.

Eagle Harbor is a CDD, and currently we have no HOA fee - all HOA matters are funded through our CDD fee. That may change in the near future. The developer more or less funded some line items on the budget and had oversight of our HOA, and since they've finished Eagle Harbor and are moving on to new projects, we may get a $25 or $50/year HOA fee to fund the gap.

When we were househunting we weighed the two: CDD or nonCDD. In the end we chose the CDD because of all our community offers. For us, the money (about $2300/year) is well-spent for what we enjoy here (tennis, golf, pools, parades, events, clubs, landscaping, etc.)