Same here in San Francisco. I worked with some tenants who were in the process of buying their building, and they didn’t believe me when I told them it takes an average of 3 percent of the building’s value per year to maintain it, and do safety replacements and upgrades.
As the building’s value goes up, and so do the maintenance costs, because contractors gotta live somewhere.
So you really don’t save any money by putting off maintenance, and raising HOA fees to keep up with maintenance costs and insurance is a good and necessary thing.
And then there’s deferred maintenance: Old roofs, siding, plumbing, and electrical systems that are about to fail need to be replaced in their entirety just to keep the building standing.
This particular property also had a massive retaining wall that looked like it was in bad shape too.
Even with all that, home ownership is still better than throwing your money away on paying rent.
Same here in San Francisco. I worked with some tenants who were in the process of buying their building, and they didn’t believe me when I told them it takes an average of 3 percent of the building’s value per year to maintain it, and do safety replacements and upgrades.
As the building’s value goes up, and so do the maintenance costs, because contractors gotta live somewhere.
So you really don’t save any money by putting off maintenance, and raising HOA fees to keep up with maintenance costs and insurance is a good and necessary thing.
And then there’s deferred maintenance: Old roofs, siding, plumbing, and electrical systems that are about to fail need to be replaced in their entirety just to keep the building standing.
This particular property also had a massive retaining wall that looked like it was in bad shape too.
Even with all that, home ownership is still better than throwing your money away on paying rent.
But only if you can afford it.
Good luck, NYC Tenants!