The Regime Meeting Survival Guide
Writing Down
Set Next Year's Budget
Read It Now
It doesn't. Most of it, anyway.
Landscaping bids. Mailbox kiosk paint colors. Someone's cousin making the pool hours point for the third time. Zone out. You've earned it.
But two pages in that handout aren't noise. They're about your money. And most people miss them because they already checked out.
The reserve study. The budget. That's it.
One shows if the regime's savings are actually healthy, not just assumed healthy. The other shows what your dues are about to do.
Read those two pages before the meeting starts. You'll know more than half the room in the first five minutes.
Find the One Number
The reserve study's funding percentage. Under 70 percent? A special assessment just got more likely. Not guaranteed. Worth watching.
Keep the Handout
Save the budget and reserve study somewhere you'll find them again. Future you will want them. So will a future buyer.
What does the reserve study assume for the next five years? Roof. Paint. Paving.
One answer. More insight than everything said from the podium combined.
Phones come out. Conversations stop. Nobody wants to hear it.
Here's what it means. Reserves came up short of a real cost. A roof. A repaving job. Something dues alone couldn't cover.
Not automatically bad news. Buildings age. Costs rise.
What matters is whether your regime saw it coming. Healthy reserves mean smaller, planned increases. Weak reserves mean one very unplanned letter. Now you know which page tells you which one you're getting.
You don't need to be on the island for any of this.
Two villas. Same photos. Same view. Same price.
One has healthy reserves. The other is one bad roof away from a bill in your mailbox, sometimes several thousand dollars, right after closing, exactly when you're least ready for it.
Here's the catch. Regimes here are nonprofits. They don't have to show you anything.
The seller does, though. They already have it. Have your agent ask the seller for the reserve study and budget as part of your offer, not the regime directly.
Healthy reserves? Buy with confidence. Weak reserves? That's leverage. Either way, you're negotiating from information most buyers never bother to get.
One page. That's really all this takes.
Owners: read the reserve study and the budget before the meeting starts. Everything else is optional.
Buyers: have your agent request those same two documents from the seller before you write an offer. Costs you nothing. Tells you everything.
* All information on this website regarding a property for sale, rental, taxes or financing is from sources deemed reliable. However, since they have been provided by third parties, no representation is made as to the accuracy or completeness thereof, and such information is subject to errors, omission, and/or change of fees. Each customer should consult with his/her own professional adviser or expert to make a determination of the validity of the information contained herein.
