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Casitas Montana HOA Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the "HOA" and how does it work? The HOA is Casitas Montana Condominium Association and is run by an elected board of directors made up of owners of Casitas Montana homes. The board of directors hires a manger (currently Snow Property) to pay bills and actually run the daily operations per the CC&R's.
What is included with my HOA fees? The simple answer is what ever you want to be included. Currently, the fees include: Maintenance and upkeep of all of the common areas, including the parking lot, grass area, swimming pool, and the spa. It also includes trash service, a blanket insurance policy, plus the maintenance of the exterior of your building, including the roof and stucco. If the HOA board wants to add extras like pest control, trash removal from the grounds, what ever they wish. You need to get involved with the HOA and vote on it
How much will the HOA dues go down since I will be paying for my own water?
The HOA fees will go down the same amount as the costs
savings of NOT paying the owner’s part of the water bill?
The HOA will still be paying the water bill for
landscaping and pool usage. The role of the HOA is to
collect an amount equal to all the shared expenses that it
has to pay, so the less it pays the less it’s fee will be.
If you are asking me to guess? I am guessing the HOA fees
will decrease about $40 to maybe $50? (based other
expenses do not go up?)
When does the
HOA dues decrease and the new water bill take place?
Mary might have an exact date of the date of your first
water bill, but the install date is last week of October.
Again if you are asking for my guess? I guess about another
30 days after the install date you might expect to get a
water bill? But HOA coupons are printed 12
months at a time, so right now we are working on (trying to guess)
what we should make them? Bottom line: It is better to
pay a little too much, so we can build up our reserves and
then adjust them down more the next year? Caution: we
do NOT want to over adjust and then run out of money!
What are the hours the pool area is open? Currently it has been voted on to allow swimmers from 6 AM till 11 PM all week
When is the spa heated? The current schedule is October to April. M-F it is on 5pm-11pm. Saturdays and Sundays 6am-11pm. May to September we do not heat the spa.
I was there at 6 am on a weekend and it was not hot? The above mentioned spa hours are when the heater is set to turn "on" to run. It takes about 3 hours from the time it is set to turn on to when it gets to "spa type" temperatures.
Why don't we heat the spa 24/7? "To save money" is the short/simply answer. 90 percent of the time people use the spa after work and before 10 PM, so we see little sense in heating it 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Do I need to buy property insurance? Yes! We highly recommend all owners purchase their own insurance. The HOA has a master insurance policy with a $2500 deductible. See complete details of policy. This will not cover you 100% in rebuilding the inside of your home, nor does it cover your possessions. You also need to cover your liability in case something happens in your unit that causes damage to other units. Example: water overflowing into the unit below, or you have a fire and it spreads and damages other units... You are liable for this. Here are the words from our insurance agent that handles our master policy: The reason I proposed the option of a $2,500 deducible was in an effort to encourage the unit owners to avoid making frivolous claims and to have their own HO-6 condo owners policies. Every owner should maintain their own condo unit owners (HO-6) policy. If they make sure to include "Loss Assessment coverage" in the amount of $2,500, their individual policy would cover the master policy deductible if the owner were held responsible for it.
Matt Nicholas,
CLCS, CISR Do I need flood insurance? The answer is maybe. We are not in a flood area according to the city of Phoenix and our civil engineer. The problem is FEMA's flood maps do show that we are in a flood area. Because of this some mortgage companies are requiring flood insurance in the amount of your loan. Please check with your mortgage company and ask if they require flood insurance. Also see Casitas Flood Insurance Facts Flood Insurance FAQ Flood info More Flood Info Civil Letter stating we are not in 100 year flood area Civil Engineer's Water Flow Calculations City of Phoenix Letter
I checked with my lender and they do require flood insurance, now what do I do? If you do not have a concern about your home flooding, but just need to appease your mortgage company, I suggest you get a high ($50,000) deductible policy. Also get a policy in the minimum amount allowed. Most of the time the amount of coverage will be the same amount as your loan, but check, they might accept less? All flood rates are set by the government, so it does not matter who you buy the insurance from, it will be the same rate. The premium charged is based on the total amount and type of coverage, the amount of deductible and also the elevation. You will be required to provide an elevation certificate. I can help you with this, just let me know. If you are concerned about being flooded, you can purchase content insurance in what ever amount you wish. This will cover all of your possessions along with any damage to your home. For more flood information try the links above including Flood Insurance Facts
I thought this was an "Owner's Only" complex, and I know there are some people living here that are not owners, but are renting. How can that be? The simple answer is Yes, the CC&R's restrict rentals, but it DOES allow limited rentals under a "hardship" case. There are some additional rentals under a long standing agreement. Normally the developer does not pay HOA dues on unsold vacant units they are trying to sell. But since the economy is so bad, it is uncertain how long it may be before they get sold and before the HOA starts collecting HOA fees on those units. So, to keep everyone's HOA fees low, it has been agreed that the developer will rent his units and he has volunteered to pay HOA dues on the units he rents. Right now it is a good "Win - Win" short term solution.
My outside patio/balcony needs to be repainted. Who does this? The owners are responsible to keep this area painted with the original HOA approved paint color. The HOA will paint the rest of the buildings and common areas when it is required.
Where do I get the outside paint? The paint supplier was ICI paints at 16681 N 84th Ave suite 150 Peoria, AZ. Phone 623-334-0344. They have since merged with Glidden paints so you should be able to take this paint code label to any Home Depot store and get paint, if not you may have to go the the original store on 84th Ave? The outside paint code is Paint Code Label
I do not use the pool, can I pay less in HOA fees? The simple answer is no. When someone chooses to live in a community there are aspects of the community that appeals to that person and makes them want to live there. For some it may be the amenities and for others it may be the look and feel of the community. When we purchase a home in a community with an association we are signing a contract with that association to help pay for all amenities and abide by all of the requirements of the association... not just the ones you use, or the ones we feel make the most sense to an individual. Remember... what may not be important to you may be one of the aspects of the community that made your neighbor choose to live here.
If your question is not answered here, or if you have any comments, or suggestions, please contact one of your board members. The current board members are: William Jugenheimer Jamie Patterson 206 -4C Monica Foster 106 - 4A
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