Best Way to find out HOA Fees in Naples Florida 

If you have spent any time looking for a home or condo in Naples, FL you quickly realized getting accurate HOA fees is as hard to find as a black panther in Southwest Florida (they say black panthers are out here, but only a lucky few have seen them with their own eyes).

You go to one of the “BIG” real estate websites to search for a home (don’t feel bad, that is what everybody does; they have spent millions of dollars to program consumers to think that is the best way to find a home), you find a condo for $173k less than what you wanted to spend, you scroll to the HOA section of the page, and it says $279/month. You finally feel accomplished because after months and months of searching, you found the perfect home you can see yourself living in for years to come, and all within your budget.

You show the listing to your spouse and they can’t believe their eyes when they see it! They tell you to hurry up and click the ‘Contact a Realtor’ button to the right of the listing. You type in your name, email and phone number and within 6 seconds you have a real estate agent calling you. You think to yourself, “I just clicked submit, how in the world can they dial my number so quickly?” While you’re on the phone with the first agent you hear the beep that tells you have an incoming call and see on your caller ID that there are 3 other agents that tried to call you (I’ll explain this process later).

Real estate agent Bob introduces himself and informs you that you registered on the website XYZ that he partners with and he asks if he can answer any questions. You and your spouse have Bob the Realtor on speaker phone, and tell him, “We found this beautiful condo in Naples that is priced within our budget and we love everything about it. Can you tell us what you know about this condo development?”

Realtor Bob pulls it up in the MLS on his laptop and says, “Yes, it’s a nice condo in a great location. There is a one time fee of $65,000 to join the club and the annual recurring fees are $37,450 a year”.

At this point you feel like the wind was pulled out of your sails. You look at your spouse and you say, “Did I hear you correctly? $65,000 one time fee and $37,450 every year after that?” Realtor Bob confirms your question and now you feel disappointed, embarrassed and strung along. You would not have contacted a realtor if you knew those numbers up front.

The “Big” Real Estate Websites Want you to Click ‘Contact Agent’

This is complete shocking news to 99.5% of the population (and it was to me until I became a realtor and started getting calls from these real estate website companies trying to sell me on their services). 

When you click ‘Contact Agent’ these companies sell your information to real estate agents who choose to pay to get you as a lead. Remember when I said earlier 3 other agents tried to call you? Well, that is because most of these “Big” real estate websites sell your information to 3-5 different agents at a cost of $50-$200 per lead depending on the plan that they purchase. 

You’re probably thinking, “I just wanted to ask a few questions about the condo in Naples and not get bombarded with half a dozen agents contacting me to sell a condo”.

Now you know. Their websites are aesthetically pleasing, they are free to browse, and they constantly are marketing to you. The strategy behind that is for you to click ‘Contact Agent about this listing’ because that is how they make their money. 

They don’t care that the HOA or COA fees are not accurate, they just want you to click ‘Contact Agent about this listing’. This strategy makes them millions of dollars every month. 

What is the Best, Fastest and Most Accurate Way to Find out HOA Fees?

The best, fastest and most accurate way to find out HOA fees every single time is by contacting a realtor who is a member of the board that you are trying to buy a home or condo in. If you are looking anywhere in Southwest Florida (the areas include Naples, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral), I am a licensed Realtor in the area and I can guide you through the confusing maze. 

One of the best tools a local licensed Realtor has is the MLS Portal. The software allows us to customize your search criteria as micro or macro as you would like. 

The 7 Types of HOA Fees in Naples Florida

1. HOA Fee. This is the most common in an HOA. If there is only one Home Owner Association in a community, this typically is where you will find the HOA fees under. In here they should break down the amount and the frequency of payment. An example would be $358 Quarterly. This means you either have to log into the HOA website and pay your HOA dues in the amount of $358 once a quarter, write a check and mail it to the HOA in the amount or go to your HOA office and pay the amount at the cashiers office.

2. Condo Fee. This is a fee that is included for condo owners, and can be a part of the sub community if there is a separate master association. Condo fees typically take care of everything outside of the doors of the condo. Some of these fees can include exterior painting, roof repairs, exterior pest control, etc. Because all associations are different, we recommend request in writing everything the association covers with the cost.

3. Master Association Fee. This fee is common in communities that have sub communities within one main community. An example in Naples is Treviso Bay as the Master Association, and Avellino, Trevi, Giaveno, Ponziane, etc as the sub communities. The Master Association takes care of the entire property outside of the sub communities. This fee is often paid annually and sent to the Master Association office. If the community is a golf community and there is bundled golf included with the property, the Master Association is where the fee will go to.

4. Mandatory Club Fee. This fee is typically a one-time fee paid at closing to the Master Association. Not every community will have that fee, but if they do, it is important to find out, as it can range as low as $1,000 and as high as $65,000.

5. Transfer Fee. This fee is also typically a one-time fee paid at closing. It can range from $100 to $20,000 and some even higher.

6. Annual Food and Beverage Minimum. If you are looking to purchase a home or condo in a community with an onsite restaurant, you may have a minimum annual food and beverage fee. This is often done so that if a community has 2,000 homes/condos they know they will bring in enough revenues to cover justifying being open. This fee is very common in Country Clubs and Golf Courses. This fee is on average $500-1,000 a year.

7. Application Fee. This fee is a one-time administrative application fee and covers the application process. The fee typically ranges from $50-500.

8. Special Assessment. This fee is issued if there is a Special Assessment on the HOA/COA. An example would be, the members want to include 3 new pickle ball courts and the HOA budget does not have enough in the reserves to cover the expense. The members vote and get it passed. They would have a special assessment of the cost divided by the amount of members in the community. A member can pay it off in one lump sum, or choose to make installments, dependent on the amount and how much time is given to pay it off.

If you go to a “Big” National Real Estate Website, they typically only pull the HOA Fee data or only the Condo Fee data. Everything else is not included, which by definition makes their information incorrect and incomplete. In the example below, if a real estate website only pulls one fee, it will either say $2,676 a year ($669 x 4) or $0 because HOA Fee is blank. This can often change the affordability for many buyers to know these numbers, and know them up front. If you have a realtor create a search for you directly from the MLS portal, you will have access to all of this information for every property you search. 

The above snapshot is an example of a condo development with multiple HOA fees in Naples. Not all associations have multiple fees, but it is important to know what and how much the fees are before you spend your precious time scheduling showings or asking questions for a property you are not interested in.

Below is a screenshot example of the same condo with information provided from a “Big” website real estate company. They only share the Condo Fee on their website. The information is off by 70% for Total Annual Recurring Fees and 100% off by Total one time fees. Their only goal is for you to click on the button ‘Contact Agent’ so that they can sell your information. There usually is 5-10 agents who pay for the service and when you click submit they instantly disburse it to the agents. Then it becomes who can push the call button. Because the fees are so high, most agents who use this service wait for the text and call you within seconds because they want you to buy from them. And that is how you get your phone to ring in 2022! 

We created this website to be a resource for you. Now that you know how they operate, you will never look at it the same way. The IDX on this site is pulled directly from the MLS. We are happy to answer any questions you may have. Your information will not be farmed out or sold to other agents. You want to invite your family and friends on the search, you can invite and share properties and comments in one area. If you want a custom search created, let us know and we will get as detailed as you would like. 

The purpose of this content is intended to be informational and educational. Because a lot of the information is provided by third parties, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the above information. If there are any questions I can help you with, please contact me.