Why the monthly dues seem so high. Wouldn’t the carrying costs be less if they simply bought a luxury home at Kohala By the Sea, or Bayview Estates in Kona?
What’s Included in Resort Condo Monthly Dues
When you buy a resort condo in Hawai’i, there are costs paid collectively by the homeowners through your monthly dues that your condo association back home on the Mainland doesn’t need to address:
Insurance might include hurricane, earthquake, and even flood/tsunami
That lush tropical landscaping: the Kohala Coast gets 10 inches of annual rainfall, so you water like crazy to get it to grow, then pay an army of landscape workers to maintain it when it does
Of course, your monthly dues cover water, sewer, trash, security, property taxes on the common areas, exterior maintenance, and the condo pool and amenities.
Associations are also putting away substantial sums every year towards future capital expenditures to maintain your condo’s exterior and amenities in the condition they were in when you purchased. With annual reserve studies, the hope is that special assessments will be a thing of the past.
Your out-of-pocket costs for a condo will include:
Property taxes on your unit. The website HawaiiPropertyTax.com shows current tax rates in different categories. (Will this be a second home, or are you going to be a full-time Big Island resident?) Second home owners in the resort should figure 1% of their purchase price in annual taxes.
Electricity. Don’t forget, we pay some of the highest rates in the nation. Luckily, many resort owners find they are perfectly comfortable with ocean breezes and ceiling fans instead of air conditioning. $200-$500/month should do it depending on the size of condo you buy.
Cable TV and Broadband Internet are essentials of modern life, even on vacation. Some condo communities include basic cable in the dues. Figure about $100/month for your package.
Contents insurance depends on how valuable furnishings and art might be, and whether you rent when you aren’t using it yourself. Could be as little as $300 per year!
You might need to pay a housekeeper or property manager to check on the condo when you aren’t using it, and clean before and after your visits.
