Do condos and townhouses always include HOA fees?

As a general rule, YES. In the case of a Townhome, part of your ownership is for the unit you own and part is for your share of the common area that you share with the other owners. There are costs that are incurred such as landscaping, electric, insurance, etc. Your "Dues" are income the Association uses to pay for these expenses. In the case of a condominium project, you rarely own the unit. Instead you own the exclusive right to use the unit and the building, the roof; the landscaping, etc are owned by the Association. Here too, your dues pay for the upkeep of the Association's property as well as for the insurance that protects your investment. In the lending world, your HOA dues are treated as part of your housing expense, but almost always you will pay them yourself to the association. ~ Bert Carpenter, The LoansA2z team of NOVA Home Loans ~ NMLS 40586 ~ Licensed in California and Arizona ~ www.LoansA2z.com 888-889-9950

I'm not sure what you mean by "Include HOA fees".. But most condos and townhouses have a monthly fee.. That fee is separate from your mortgage payment; however the lender will include the fees when calculating your debt to income ratios... Fannie / Freddie guidelines state that we need to know what your total housing payment will be in order to calculate your front and back debt ratios, so that will include principal, interest, mortgage insurance, property taxes, home owners insurance, and any condo or HOA fees... I'm a Broker here in Scottsdale AZ and I only lend in Arizona. If you or someone you know is looking for financing options, feel free to contact me or pass along my information. 480-287-5714 WilliamAcres.com

In almost all cases, they do.

Yes. The fact that a condo is a property on land that is owned by the collective group means an association has to maintain, insure and care for that property. To do that an HOA has to exist for that purpose and all that is done through the HOA fees. I assume there could be some way that a property was designated a condo and not have communal space/expenses with other units, but that would be extremely rare. A PUD is a slightly different animal as the land is owned by the unit owners, but the other hurdles would be the same and the HOA fees would still be most likely applicable.

yes , in a condo situation you want a HOA association, to keep control over the properties i lived in a condo about 100 yrs ago , or so, and the developer went bankrupt and didnt pay the electric company, so we had no outside lites, the pools went green, and we as home owners formed our own, and found him in hawaii and took him to court .

There are some locations, such as beach cities in CA that are 2 or more units, and zoned as condo. These are beach homes that look just like a SFR, or DUPLEX. Some have common areas and are under a HOA while others are not controlled by any HOA company, but rather and arbitration between the two or more property owners.

In Utah they all have an HOA fee but it is generally not part of your monthly payment and needs to be paid seperately. I am a LOCAL lender here in Cottonwood Heights and can talk to you more about it. Call me at 801-971-6901 and/or you can visit my website at www.carlo.blueroof360.com