Free PDF guide
Condo Buyer's Association Guide: What the Reserve Fund Reveals
What a funded percentage above 70% or below 30% means for your risk, before you're under contract.
What's inside
- ✓The two numbers that determine your real risk — funded percentage and the per-unit dollar gap — and the thresholds separating healthy from high-risk
- ✓Five signals in board meeting minutes that predict a special assessment before one is ever announced
- ✓A cash-buffer table sized to the association's funded percentage, from 3 months of dues to a mid-five-figure reserve
3 key takeaways
What's more important than the unit itself when buying a condo?
The association's financial health. You own the airspace inside your walls — the association owns and is responsible for the roof, exterior, elevators, and major mechanical systems.
What reserve-fund percentage should worry you?
Below 30% funded. The association is functionally borrowing against a future special assessment, whether or not anyone's said so yet. Above 70% is healthy.
What should you request before you're under contract, not after?
Twelve months of board meeting minutes and the association's most recent reserve study. A missing or 3+ year old reserve study is a red flag in most states.
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