Where do Association Dues Go?

Today we’re going to talk about where do the association dues go.

Alright, it’s a common misconception of that when you buy a condo or when you buy a property, it’s the start of never ending fees.

I know, it can be true at some point – you’re gonna pay real estate property taxes, association dues, proper maintenance of the home, etc.

But today, I wanna talk to you specifically about association dues.

What are association dues?

Well, association dues is the fee that you pay the association or condominium corporation (if it were a condo) to maintain the property.

Now, I know some of you what might be thinking, “where does this really go to?” “What is it for?” “ Why do you have to pay this?” and “Why does it sometimes increase or decrease?” and “What’s really the purpose?”

Well, today we are here to clarify all of these.

So, first up, it doesn’t really go nowhere. The first thing where it goes to is cleaning.

Nothing ever cleans itself, we know that already for a fact. So, the association usually uses this to make sure that the streets are swept clean, the garbage are taken cared of, take care of the leaves, they make sure that there are no dead, roadkill, probably on the street. It’s important to make sure that the development is kept clean.

Or sometimes, after a big storm, you have all of these trees falling into the road, it could also be a safety concern. So, if you’re thinking of your association dues, this is one of those things where it goes to. Cleaning doesn’t happen automatically.

So, we do have some people who are kind enough to help us clean our surroundings and this is where the big, usually part of the association dues go to.

And over the long term, this also adds value to the property because if the property is very well kept, well-maintained, the residents are happy, it’s a great location, and then people have… there’s more demand for the area. It’s viewed as a highly valued property over the years, of course, that accumulates in time but it’s part of the reason why a property becomes highly valued because it’s well-kept, well-maintained, well-cleaned through the years. Even if it’s a 50 year old property, 10 year old, 30, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s well-kept and clean, that’s one of the things that actually people look at. I mean, who would want to live in a dirty place, right?

Second is garbage collection. Garbage doesn’t collect itself. As always, nothing really is ever automatic.

Normally, if it were a subdivision, this is the garbage truck that comes and collects garbage every so often. I think that some subdivisions, it’s like everyday, every other day for some.

And in the case of condominium, this is the part where the guy gets rubbish from the garbage bin and then, they throw it out and they dispose of it properly. If this is not well-maintained, you know what’s gonna happen to your surroundings, right?

So, garbage collection is quite important. This is part of where the association dues go to.

Number three is road maintenance. Road maintenance will always be concerned. Through the years, through the constant use of the roads, if you have heavy vehicles – let’s say, trucks, that use the property then go through the roads, the weight of these vehicles usually beats the road down. So, however good you design it, over time, there will be some potholes, some areas that will crack, and it’s quite important to make our roads nice and smooth for everyone. So that everybody could have a nice, decent living experience in the property.

Maintaining the roads is also one of the reasons why the homeowners association collect the dues.

Number four is landscaping. Who doesn’t like a nice surrounding? You can’t just have like all cement and then roads and then a house and expect a beautiful environment.

Normally, most of these nice properties that you see have a line of trees on either side of the road. And if these are not well-kept and if the trees grow into such a point that it’s already obstructing the view, it’s already obstructing the house or it’s unkempt – it’s not anymore very nice looking /attractive.

It’s not gonna be totally good for the village and it will look like that it’s not being maintained very well – dead leaves, untrimmed grass, etc.

So, part of that is trimming it regularly which keeps the village looking nice and clean.

Fifth is repairs and maintenance. We talk about the roads as with the case of a community or  subdivision with regards to a condominium, this usually refers to replacing common area stuff like tiles, or door knobs or broken faucets or shower areas or the pool tiles or probably the landscape around the pool.

This mostly involves making the property look the same as if it were brand new.

So maintenance also are really really big part of why a property becomes highly valued – most especially if it’s a very high  / in-demand property.

And last but not the least, one of the most important things why we buy these kinds of properties is security.

THIS really is one of the most important factors to consider when you’re buying a property.

If it were condos, this goes to the ff: CCTV, security guards, access card, Rfid magnetic locks,  maintenance, etc..

For subdivisions, this usually comes in the form of electric fence, we have station guards, roving guards, etc.

Living in a secure environment contributes to a healthy nice living experience.

So, what did we learn today? Today we learned that the association dues go somewhere and what it actually really does is to make sure the property stays in tip top shape even after a few years.