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Condominium developments can offer a surprising array of amenities, each of which becomes a question for a potential buyer and for current owners. In short, are they worth their cost? As we know from watching city hall, it can be difficult politics to discuss whether to keep or terminate a service or an amenity. Yet if you're a Director grappling with rising condo fees or a condo-home shopper considering which service you can justify buying into, the questions should be asked, and decisions should be made.
Let's review the range of services and amenities found in various high-rise condo towers and some townhouse developments in Calgary. These include:
* Daytime front-desk ("concierge") staff.
* 24-hour-per-day staff.
* Resident manager, sometimes to actually manage the property, otherwise to do handy-man work and cleaning.
* Indoor or outdoor swimming pool and/or hot tub.
* Tennis court(s).
* Billiard room.
* Sauna.
* Guest suite(s).
* Business centre with phones, faxes, TVs, computers.
* Movie screening room with large-screen TV and seating.
* Party room, library and/or lounge with seating, card tables, and sometimes with kitchens.
* Gymnasium ranging from modest to well-equipped.
* Golf putting green.
* Cable or satellite television service included in condo fees.
* Squash-ball court.
* Shared compact car for in-town use.
While I'm sure I've missed some, this is an impressive list of possible amenities… and every single one of them costs money. A rough rule of thumb is that each one of these will cost homeowners five cents per month per square foot of their suite property. If the service or amenity is clearly budgeted for, as opposed to being blended with other items (it shouldn't be), multiply the annual cost by your unit factor and divide by 12 to see what it costs you per month. Oh; your unit factor is your percentage share of the annual expense, expressed over 10,000, so just move the decimal over two spaces, and you'll have your percentage. For example: UF of 140 means you pay 1.40% of the annual cost.
If you're a condo home buyer, it's not yet your business whether this building should sponsor a given amenity. It's only your decision whether to buy in or not. As an owner, though, you have input through your Board into the debate about whether any one of these should be continued. One building I'm aware of backed up dump trucks and filled the indoor pool with gravel. Another closed down a spacious but rarely-used party room and amended the condo plan to create a new unit of private property, then sold it for cash to top up the building's reserve fund. Some will decide to continue cablevision services paid through condo fees, while others will opt out and leave it to each owner to subscribe or not.
Don't shy away from the questions and the debate. Some guest suites, party rooms and other amenities are rarely used and don't justify their costs, yet are popular with some owners. Whether to terminate one or another and save money, and maybe net some one-time cash selling off an asset, is a debate that is sometimes necessary.
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