Lynn Kandel-Bruck did not expect a dream of financial fever when he inherited Kondo into Lake Worth, Florida, from his late aunt.
The agents have suggested that the unit would bring between $ 175,000 and $ 220,000. But when she listed it last summer, the buyer’s interest was profitable and it turned out to compete with dozens of other units of sale in the same complex. As the Kondando rose for days on the market, it was at the banknote for monthly fees for the association, which swelled to $ 800 a month, plus a mortgage payment.
Seven months and one broker switch later, Condo finally sold in February for about $ 90,000. If the process was taken more, 65-year-old Knittel-BRUK said she was ready to return the unit to the bank.
“It was an absolute nightmare,” said Knittel-BRUK. “I had no idea that inheriting an apartment would actually cost me money.”
Throughout the country, the owners of Kondo, especially those in the older buildings, are increasingly in such situations. The inventory of the Condo and the Florida City House has grown 35% since March 2024, and few buyers have emerged even when sellers are reducing prices.
Average sales prices decreased by 4.5%to $ 315,000 since March 2024, according to Florida RealTors. The units also take longer for sale – an average of more than three months – and the total number of units sold has been reduced by over 9% compared to a year earlier.
The current market correction comes as migration in Florida slows down and potential buyers face high mortgage rates and growing insurance costs. But the essence of the magazine traces by 2021. The collapse of a 40-year-old Kondo building in the Miami suburbs in surfside, Florida, which died 98 people.
The federal investigation into the cause of the collapse is still ongoing, but preliminary reports suggest that the shortcomings of construction that have left the structure of compliance with construction standards play a role. Checking the building for 2018 found “significant” concrete cracks that require extensive repairs. No concrete restoration works began during the collapse.
In the years after the collapse, Florida’s legislation has adopted reforms designed to prevent another Surfside crash. The new laws require major checks for most Condo buildings over 30 years and require the repair of any structural problems that these inspections have revealed. The legislation also required Kondo’s associations to increase reserve funds that cover routine maintenance as roof repair and elevator maintenance.
Investigation continues: Rescue staff works in the remains of the Camplain Towers South Condo building, June 25, 2021, in Surfside, FLA. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File) ยทAssociated Press
The changes had almost immediate financial consequences for thousands of buildings throughout the country. Much of the Kondo stocks in Florida were built before the 1990s and many buildings have no adequate reserves. Historically, Kondo’s tips can easily vote for refusal or reduction of monthly fees intended to finance repairs. Many did this in an attempt to keep fees low for owners.
Now the days of cheap fees are over. Entering the new laws forced many tips for Kondo to raise fees and collect steep special estimates to pay for major repairs. In many parts of the country, HOA fees have increased by double -digit percentages between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2025, according to Redfin. In several coastal communities such as the Naples City City, the average taxi now exceeds $ 1,000 a month.
Faced with those higher costs, some owners decide to sell. But since few buyers are eager to make these payments, sales prices have dropped dramatically.
In Delray Beach, north of Fort Lodherdale, part of the state where more than 80% of the apartments are more than 30 years old, the real estate agent Paul Likins has witnessed the price for first -hand adjustment. He sold the Knittel-BRUK apartment and has other advertisements that are kept on the market. He and a future buyer recently toured a unit that was reduced to $ 230,000 after 46 days on the market. Its initial list price was $ 285,000.
“We just see a drop in prices after a price drop,” Likins said. “I think many people are nervous about buying apartments right now. They take care of one assessment, but then is there another rating around the corner?”
Read more: What is the HOA transfer fee and who pays for it?
Estimates and higher fees can be particularly untenable for the owners of the middle and working class and pensioners who rely on fixed income, and their stress has attracted the attention of government lawmakers Ron Zaths and Florida.
This week, Florida’s legislation unanimously adopted a bill designed to ease some of the pressure on owners. The legislation gives the apartment more time to complete reserve surveys and will allow the associations to remove credit lines and invest their reserves for funding. Reserve fund contributions can also be temporarily suspended after the buildings complete their main inspections that are required when the building is 30 years old.
Jose Pazos, the founder and CEO of A-Smart Cam, which provides administrative services to Condo Associations in South Florida, believes that the new law should provide some relief for dressed owners, but the effects can be limited. Credit lines should help the Condo tips quickly meet the legal requirements for higher reserves, but it is not clear how many banks will be ready to provide them, he said. And the reserve contribution pause applies to some, but not all expected repairs that appear on a major check.
In many of the apartments he helps to manage, most of which are older, the fees for the owners have doubled or tripled in recent years.
“It’s very nuanced,” Pazos said. “How much relief will give this doubling or triple? Repairs still have to be done.”
Florida legislators have admitted this a lot. Reporter Vicky Lopez, a Republican from Miami-Rai, who sponsors the new legislation and was called the “Queen of the Condo” by his colleagues about the focus on the issue, said on Wednesday during the bill on the bill that he plans to continue working on it.
“I think you all know how complicated this issue is,” Lopez told fellow legislators just before the bill. “We have sought to reach this delicate balance between the safety of our voters who live in the condominium, as well as to understand the incredible financial impact we sometimes have those specific accounts we pass.”
Jeff Liechtenstein, president and founder of the Echo Fine Properties at Palm Beach Gardens, believes that the market for older apartments will eventually find its foundation. He expects buyers to return after they have a clearer picture of the structural health and apartments of the building, have improved their reserves.
“People don’t buy when there is insecurity,” Liechtenstein said. “Sometimes uncertainty lowers the price more than it should.”
But there may be more pain in the coming years, as buildings continue the long process of repairing and reducing reserves.
“The day may be in two or three years or five years,” Liechtenstein said. “I don’t know.”
Claire Boston is a Yahoo Finance senior reporter covering housing, mortgages and housing insurance.
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