Maria Tkachun and her husband shelled out $490,000 for a seventh-floor apartment with a terrace and balcony boasting incredible views of South Florida’s Biscayne Bay in 2022.
The couple coughed up an additional $100,000 to renovate their unit in the Cricket Club condominium tower, installing extra-large format Italian porcelain tiles and adding a marble countertop and island to the kitchen.
Two years later, the pair got hit with a six-figure special assessment — a charge that condo owners and homeowners in HOA communities must pay to either finance a renovation on the property or to replenish an underfunded reserve.
“This is just outrageous,” Tkachun told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Following the 2021 Surfside condo collapse — which killed 98 people due to construction flaws — Florida is requiring stricter safety standards and more frequent inspections, while many condo associations are raising fees to build a larger reserve for repairs.
The Cricket Club’s condo board recently proposed a nearly $30 million special assessment for repairs, like roof replacement and facade waterproofing — coming to more than $134,000 per unit owner.
Some owners, like Ivan Rodriguez, who liquidated his 401(k) retirement account to buy a unit for $190,000 in 2019, can’t afford the extra fees, so they’re putting up their condos for sale instead.
finance.yahoo.com/news/south-florida-condo-owners-dumping-101000141.html