I thought I was looking at a typo the first time I saw that HOA fees for some condos were $800/month. Then i saw it again, and again.

Who the f is HOA, what do you get for paying those fees? If you rent a place at Panorama for $1500/month, and the owner is paying $800/month in HOA fees, some money in property taxes and insurance, it seems like they're making pretty close to $0, maybe even losing money.

wtf is going on?

well basically when you live somewhere such as a condo, there are services that everyone gets to share. things such as a swimming pool, upkeep of the grounds, etc, are taken care of by the homeowner's association. the homeowner's association gets its money from HOA fees.

when you live somewhere like panorama, there is a lot that needs to be paid for...security guards, pool, window washers, fitness center, etc, so HOA fees are higher. you are definitely right that someone who owns a unit and is renting it out right now is probably breaking even at best.

I understand the HOA fees and they seem reasonable to me, if you want a pool security etc they have to be payed for, what i dont understand is why there is a property tax.

There's a property tax because there's a government who likes collecting taxes.

As for the HOA, yes they are necessary but $800 a month for a condo's HOA is f'ing absurd. I pay less than half that where I live in LA and have utilities, pool, gym, spa, 24-hour security, etc.

You may want to check if there has been an assessment - which is an additional fee levied by the HOA for communual property damage, etc.

I have had these assessments in ACity and in LV as well.

But $800/month sounds wrong.

My HOA in washington state is like 240 and a pretty sick place with pool, fitness center, etc. $800 is insane.

You can't compare unless your place originally cost a half million dollars.

350k

the security at Panorama is pretty amazing and worth alot.

As beautiful as all of those massive high rise condos are in Vegas I can't help but think they're going to be turned into low income housing at some point. There are far far far too many residential units available for the Vegas economy to support.

Anyone thinking of investing in a high rise condo better do their homework and be ready to be in it for the long haul.

Also, $800 a month for association fees? Wow! Just wow!... That alone is such a huge deterrent for anyone to buy. Especially when there are so many houses available around Vegas at great prices.

For example:
http://patsold.com/4575%20Dean%20Mar...for%20SALE.htm
price: 425k.
MONTHLY HOA fees: $951/month. wtf? WTF?


another example:
http://patsold.com/4525%20Dean%20Martin%201212.htm
price: 380k
MONTLY HOA fees: $813/month. again, WTF?

a) not sure why you would expect to rent a recently purchased condo for more than it costs to own it (though this depends on city)
b) vacancy

A lot of these HOA are higher than a mortgage on a nice house in Vegas

it's probably impossible to have your apartment robbed at Panorama if you lock the door.

it is probable that your house in Vegas will be robbed.

Silly question but - how true is this?

(At Panorama) I've left my door unlocked for a week while friends were in town, and didn't worry one bit.


but $600+ hoa fees are still rediculous

As long as you don't live in the ghetto, being burglarized shouldn't be a top concern

and it's pretty much never a concern when you live in panorama. my old hs friend lives there. I visited him over the summer and it seem the security was tight enough that it would deter 99% from trying to break-in.

A friend of mine lives at Turnberry, his HOA fee is $1500 a month. At Turnberry the higher the floor you live on, the higher the fee.

How do Vegas high rise condo fees compare to similar condos in other cities? This can't be unique to LV. We have one example from Washington State at $240. But not enough detail to really compare the two to know if they are similar.

This is just silly.
I live in summerlin and they print the crime activity every week in the summerlin add-on to the LVRJ and there are like maybe 2 breakins a week in summerlin. I've lived in my neighborhood for 2.5 years and there has been one crime, an auto theft from a foreclosed house (and therefore may have been a scam by the car owner).

My condo (23rd floor/1 bedroom) on the Boardwalk in AC is $475/month.

This has risen in the 10 years that I have had the place from $369.

There have also been 3 separate assessments which were related to facade improvements, new lifts and new roof which was replaced after storm damage from high winds in the winter of 2006.

The biggest kill though of late which was due in the value of properties in the housing market boom (2004-2007) was the two fold increase in property taxes.

In terms of upkeep - I budget $10,000/year just to keep my butt in the door.

Also this summer was the first time since I had the property that I've been continuously from mid May to mid Oct (although this last month I'm on assignment in Delhi, India).

Having 1 high rise condo already was a reason why I didn't want to go in that direction when I bought my condo in Vegas. I wanted good amenities off the strip and much lower HOV fees.

So basically.... owing a high rise in Vegas is just ******ed, but renting is good

I'm not an expert, but I'd say there are probably some good stable high-rises that would be worth buying, but due diligence will be required to find the best spots.

If you can find a building with high occupancy, a stable HOA, and the numbers work for you, maybe buying is ok.

But many of the properties will have low occupancy, and the HOA is still mostly comprised of the developer (who may go bankrupt if the economy doesn't turn upward soon) and a few actual owners.

Would you really want to own in a building with 40-60% vacancy?

i would imagine that in most other cities, high-rises arent marketable as prestige properties, and the HOA's can't get away with charging exorbitant fees.