Channelside Condos and Lofts

This is a guest post by Rizzetta & Company in Tampa, Fl

For Tampa Bay area home and condo buyers, it’s important to know that many homeowners associations (called HOAs) are in trouble financially, which might affect your purchase.

Due to the real estate downturn, many HOAs are short on funds, often because a significant number of their homeowner’s aren’t paying their fees. To deal with this, HOAs are doing everything from reworking vendor contracts to working out payment plans for delinquent members, says Heather Russel, who heads Rizzetta & Company’s HOA management operations. (An interesting story on this ran in the St. Petersburg Times and Big Builder Online last month, at http://tinyurl.com/4o55mp3.)

Rizzetta & Company estimates that about 30 percent of the state’s HOAs are “underwater” financially, meaning they don’t have enough funds to pay all of their bills. Usually, these are HOAs that were established in the past five years.

So what does this mean if you are buying a home or condo? In some cases, buyers are getting to the closing table, only to find out that the seller wants to have them pick up the cost of catching up on delinquent HOA fees.

This may be something you are willing to do, especially if you’re getting a great deal. But if you haven’t had advance notice, you have to make a quick decision.

What Are Your Options?

To avoid this scenario if the property you’re buying is part of an HOA, work with a Realtor to get information on the HOA early in the process. Find out if the seller is current on the fees owed on the property for sale, and find out if the HOA is in trouble.  Many experienced agents are already aware of issues because lenders don’t want to finance properties with an unstable association, and are considered non-warrantable.

If it is, it’s possible there will be a need for increased fees or special assessments for the HOA to get back on track. Again, this may be fine if you are comfortable with how that would fit into your budget.

Obvious Signs To Look Out For:

Often, when you are touring a subdivision or condo, it’s obvious the HOA is in trouble. If the pool or landscaping isn’t kept up, or the roof is in disrepair, odds are the HOA is hurting financially.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t buy there, though. Many of the HOAs that use Rizzetta & Company for their management, for instance, are dramatically improving their situations. But you won’t know until you get the facts. So do your homework!

Tampa-based Rizzetta & Company (www.rizzetta.com) is one of the largest HOA managers in Florida, working with 120 around the state.

If you are looking to buy a home or condo in the Tampa Bay area and need advice, contact a Realtor at Prudential Tropical Realty.

The decision to purchase a condo in the Tampa area has many buyers concerned as Condo Associations have been taking a hit with unpaid fees, due to homeowner’s walking away from their properties.

The following is great news for anyone looking to buy in The Towers.

Towers of Channelside: As of February, 2010, 120 of the residential units have been sold, leaving 137 available residential units. Only 1 of the retail units remains available for sale. There are two separate condominium associations: one for the retail condominium, and one for the residential condominium; also, the two associations then share the costs for certain shared facilities that serve both portions of the project.

The remaining, unsold developer units are subject to a state-court foreclosure by the project lenders; however, a court-appointed Receiver is managing, operating and marketing the project during the pending case, and has court authority and lender approval to continue the sale of units on behalf of the developer, The Towers of Channelside, LLC. With the consent of the project lenders, the Receiver has entered into a new marketing arrangement with JMC Realty, an experienced and reputable luxury high-rise condominium development, management and marketing team. The new sales program is market-driven, and offers very competitive pricing at a superior real estate and entertainment location that is unique to Tampa Bay.

Here’s a link to a previous article, which outlines pricing of units and what the HOA fees include: The Towers of Channelside.

The condominium associations are professionally managed by Condominium Associates, one of the industry leaders in association management on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Condominium Associates provides an on-site property manager and promotes a concierge-style atmosphere for residents, in addition to providing the professional accounting, financial and management expertise for the Association.

Presently, the Receiver has voting control on the Association Board pursuant to the Court Order, and the residents have a Board member representative, as well as a financial advisory board, which resident members have taken an active role in the

Association since the Receiver’s appointment. Recently, the Association has assumed in-house control over its maintenance and janitorial personnel, to better insure quality control over the property and the quality of life for the residents.

Since his appointment, the Receiver has addressed numerous, substantial building construction matters by negotiating and implementing with the project’s general contractor a remedial work plan, seeking to address known issues with the project’s original construction. This agreement also has extended the general contractor’s warranty commitment for certain matters through December 31, 2010, when such warranty obligations previously had expired. This remedial work agreement, which identifies the known historical building issues  and describes the corrective work, is available for review at the Association’s on-site office, in Tower 1. The initial round of corrective work, culminating in the complete reconstruction of the drainage system for the Level 5 Amenities Deck, is reaching completion this month, at which time the recreational amenities of the clubhouse, pool and cabana deck area will be fully restored for use by residents and guests. The corrective work negotiated by the Receiver is at no cost to the Associations or the residents. In addition, the lenders have provided additional funding to the Receiver for the installation of certain garage security improvements at the ground level of the project, at no cost to the existing or future residents.

The Receiver also has had the full support of the project’s lenders to fund monthly the full Association assessments for all remaining developer units, as well as the additional Receivership expenses. This funding has enabled the Associations to operate as if the project were completely sold out, since the Associations’ budgets are fully funded as a result. Beginning with 2010, the approved Association budget also includes the establishment of reserves, which was voted for approval by both the residents and the Receiver, with the approval of the lenders.

Collectively, the Receiver, JMC Realty, Condominium Associates, and the project’s lenders are working aggressively to maintain the project in first-class condition, and to complete the sales program efficiently despite the current economic climate, so that the project and its residents can achieve full project sellout and a viable, sustainable luxury lifestyle at the earliest practical date.

If you would like to schedule an appointment to see this luxury hi-rise, please contact me. Also provide the best number to reach you.

813-784-7744

Rae Catanese, PA-Real Estate Agent

One problem we are experiencing in the Tampa Real Estate Market is a very large quantity of short sales and foreclosures. This leads to not only abandoned homes, but an even larger problem with HOA fees not being paid by the homeowners.

A good buyer’s agent can tell you which neighborhoods are in trouble. Imagine buying a home and then being assesed a huge amount to make up for the back HOA fees! Call the Home Owners Association president and get the current financials.  Finding out this information should be a contingency of the contract in today’s real estate market.

HGTV’s frontdoor.com posted a great article on How To Find The Best Neighborhoods.  It’s guide for those just starting out in the home search process. If you are looking to relocate to the Tampa Bay area,  I’ve posted articles specific to our area that will help you find the BEST neighborhoods in Tampa!

Need a buyer’s agent? Call 813 784 7744 or email me!  Rae Catanese, PA-Licensed Real Estate Agent covering all of Tampa Bay