We just got a bill from the HOA for over $2400 on top of the quarterly HOA fees- almost as much as our property taxes- for "Community Enhancements" . What is this for? We are confused, and wanted to get some info before we got to the HOA office ticked off. When we bought our house, we knew about HOA fees, but heard nothing about extra possible fees.

Any input or feedback would be appreciated!

Assuming that you bought from a previous owner, my guess is that neither the previous owner nor you paid the required "Community Enhancement Fee" to the HOA, at closing. The HOA is taking action (billing/legal) to collect those fees. One of you may have to pay depending on how good your legal advice is. A lien is possible. Contact Derek Tarries at 254-8062 and he will, well, "work with you" on payment. The title company failed to do their job, either intentionally or from lack of information. The HOA has bungled their efforts to ensure that title companies collect that fee, too. Legally, it may or may not stand up to challenge. Contact Bion Wimmer, if you'd like, to get some info on this issue. (realtor/lawyer/Daybreak resident) The fee is to fund over-priced community events and justify Tina Esparza's job. FYI - the fee is equal to 1/2 of 1% for owner-to-owner sales and 1/4 of 1% of builder-to-owner sales, if I'm still correct. Nice house!!!

Isn't the seller supposed to pay that? Better get on the horn to the title company and find out why it wasn't paid. I suspect sentinel is correct that CCMC failed yet again to convey all the necessary info to the title company.

Oh Great! So that is what that is????? Thanks for the advice and info thus far. Yes, our seller should have paid that, that was our understanding, and what we read in the guidelines. Unfortunately we had the sellers agent AND title company lie to us and was very unethical, which made buying our home less than a positive experience! I am sure they will be thrilled if we need to call them back and get on their case about this since we didn't let them get away with their bad behavior last time.

So to clarify, this fee is connected to the property and not the prior owners? I guess I don't understand why we are liable for a fee someone else chose not to pay.

Why does buying a home in Daybreak have to be so difficult and frustrating?????

littleash wrote:

QUOTE:
Oh Great! So that is what that is????? Thanks for the advice and info thus far. Yes, our seller should have paid that, that was our understanding, and what we read in the guidelines. Unfortunately we had the sellers agent AND title company lie to us and was very unethical, which made buying our home less than a positive experience! I am sure they will be thrilled if we need to call them back and get on their case about this since we didn't let them get away with their bad behavior last time.

So to clarify, this fee is connected to the property and not the prior owners? I guess I don't understand why we are liable for a fee someone else chose not to pay.

Why does buying a home in Daybreak have to be so difficult and frustrating?????

Check your clsing documents. They should spell out who paid which fees. I suspect the title company will be liable because it is their job to make sure commissions and fees get to the correct folks. You can bet the seller's agent got his commission! But I am certainly not an expert in real estate law so I suggest caling the title company and if that doesn't work out get with a real estate lawyer ASAP. If your closing documents show a 0.5% fee coming out of the seller's proceeds then the check to the Daybreak HOA must have gotten "lost". Again, the title company will need to follow up on it.

Just a little story about bungling title companies: When I closed on my Daybreak house, a year's worth of insurance premium was added so a check could be sent to my insurance company. Three months later I get a letter from the insurance company saying my insurance was cancelled for non-payment. Being Friday evening, I called and paid the premium with my Visa card so I would be insured that weekend. Monday I called the title company. Seems they had the wrong address for the insurance company and their check had been returned to them undeliverable. Did they call me? No. Did they call my mortgage broker? No. Did they Google "Metropolitan Life" for the right address? No. They let it sit until my insurance was cancelled.

Moral of the story: title companies screw up regularly and they won't take it upon themselves to fix anything untill you ride their a$$. My money is on the blame for the lost HOA fee is with the title company.

The HOA sometimes doesn't know when a house is sold. It is their fault because there is a mechanism for showing "an interest" in any home at the time of sale, if my information is correct and I'm not a real estate lawyer. The title company (and that's why one gets title insurance, isn't it?) may claim they didn't know about any Community Enhancement fee. Get advice and go after them. BTW, the community governing documents which deal with this fee do NOT stipulate whether the seller or buyer is obligated to pay the fee so it should have been addressed and stipulated prior to sale. Sorry, I tried to keep this short but it reads longer than it is. Best of luck.

I'm sure that Derek will be willing to charge you $10 more per month for the next 240 months but I'm not sure that the courts will back up their claim, at all. Fight 'em.