PALM BEACH COUNTY — Stephanie Donner saw my report this
week on local leaders discussing HOA fees and assessments in Florida and
immediately contacted me.
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"It is a problem in
the state, to the point where they will put a sign on the
highway coming from the north (that says) 'Turnaround,'" she
told me outside her West Boca condo on Wednesday.
Where she lives, she says her total fees are around $900 a
month.
"We're going to have an assessment and, to be honest, a lot
of people have already moved," Donner said.
"This is really tough," state Sen. Mack Bernard said Tuesday
at the HOA Fee forum in West Palm Beach. "But we don’t want
another Surfside, but at the same time what we want to do is
create new affordable housing."
The discussion comes as Florida communities rank among those
with the nation's highest HOA burdens.
A Realtor.com analysis previously reported by WPTV found
seven of the nation's 10 metro areas with the highest HOA
fees relative to estimated mortgage payments were in
Florida. Port St. Lucie ranked fifth, while the
Sebastian-Vero Beach area ranked ninth. |
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Stephanie Donner, who lives near Boca Raton, speaks
to WPTV consumer reporter Matt Sczesny about the high cost of living
in a condo in Florida.
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Among the potential solutions raised Tuesday at the forum
were additional financial assistance for seniors and more state oversight of
HOAs.
As for Donner, who is semi-retired, she says that with HOA fees, insurance
and overall inflation, she's enduring the situation as long as she has her
stay-at-home remote job.
"If I lose that, I have to move," she said.
