Pay Dirt is Slate’s money advice column. Have a question? Send it to Lillian, Athena, and Elizabeth here. (It’s anonymous!)
Dear Pay Dirt,
In June, after years and years of renting, I finally saved up enough (and improved my credit score enough) to buy a small condo. It’s wonderful, two-bed, two-bath. The location and price were exactly what I wanted. The condo fees to the management company were low and the whole monthly payment was less than what I was paying in rent. I was able to get back to saving money and even splurge a little on myself and my son.
However, in September, the condo association announced a “special” assessment for the roof. It caught multiple people, myself included, completely off guard (there had been about four other condos bought this year). My portion of it is almost $600 a month for five years, bringing this affordable place much higher than what I was paying on rent. In fact, if it had been for the fees when I was looking, I would have passed. I was informed during the inspection that it looked like the roof had another two or three years to it. I have an option of making a lump sum payment but that is way out of my price range. It was also announced that because of the way the roof and the building are shaped while two-thirds are getting done now (neither over my direct apartment), likely by the time we finish paying off this assessment, they’ll just do another. This was after I was told by the owner…
