Know The Real HOA & CDD Costs Before You Commit

You don’t need to gather every document immediately to get started.

In many cases, key information—such as governing documents (declarations) and CDD details—can be located early using publicly available sources. This helps establish a baseline understanding of the community structure, basic restrictions, and recorded obligations before going deeper.

In Florida, larger communities (typically those with 100 or more homes) are generally required to maintain an official website where documents such as governing documents, budgets, and financial reports are made available to homeowners. These records are maintained by the association and are typically already available. Requesting them is a standard part of the purchase process—not additional work.

The most important documents to request are:

• The current HOA budget
• The most recent financial audit
• The oldest available audit (for comparison)

These documents contain recorded information about how the community is funded and how its financial position has changed over time.

If a reserve study is available, it should also be requested. If not, the audit—particularly the Schedule of Future Major Repairs and Replacements—is an additional source of recorded long-term obligation data.

These documents can typically be requested through the builder, sales office, HOA, or property management company as part of the purchase process.

These are standard association records—not confidential or difficult-to-access documents.

In a resale transaction, the current homeowner typically has access to the association’s website or portal where many of these records are maintained. In new developments, the developer or builder—who often controls the association during early phases—has access to the same information.

Before signing a contract, these documents can typically be requested and reviewed as part of the standard due diligence process.

Reviewing these documents beforehand provides visibility into how the community is structured and what obligations are recorded against the property—before making a commitment.

If you are told documents can only be reviewed after a contract is signed, it may be worth asking for clarification. In many cases, these records are available and can be shared earlier in the process.

If requested financial and governing documents are not made available prior to purchase, there is no way to independently verify what those records contain.

These records are typically available through the seller, developer, or the association’s management portal as part of the standard purchase process. 

Without access to current and historical financial reports, budgets, and reserve information, the documented details of how assessments are structured, what reserves are recorded, and what obligations are tied to the property cannot be independently verified. 

When documentation is unavailable or incomplete, a purchase decision is made without access to the recorded details of the community’s structure and obligations.

Due Diligence Consideration

Purchase agreements may include provisions allowing for review of association documents prior to finalizing the transaction.

If financial and governing documents are not provided upon request, the recorded details contained within those documents cannot be independently verified.

The absence of these documents limits access to recorded information that would otherwise be available as part of a standard document review.

We provide an independent, document-based review of the records tied to the property you’re considering — presented exactly as documented, referenced directly to the source.

You obtain the documents directly from the builder, sales office, HOA, or homeowner. We then review them and present what they contain, how the information is recorded, and how it aligns across documents.

Our process is based on document-to-data validation — comparing what is stated, what has changed over time, and how the numbers and disclosures appear across documents.

This typically includes:

• HOA budgets
• Financial audits (current and historical, when available) Reserve studies (if available)
• Schedule of Future Major Repairs and Replacements
• CDD bond information and related obligations tied to the property

We work directly from the source documents — not summaries or sales materials — and present what is recorded across time.

We do not provide grades, opinions, or recommendations. Our role is to present documented findings tied directly to the source so you have the recorded information in hand before signing a contract.

General concerns or opinions are easy to dismiss. Statements about a community’s recorded financials only carry weight when they are tied directly to the underlying documents.

What carries weight is specificity.

Document-to-data validation ties each finding directly to the source — down to the document, page, and paragraph — so the information can be clearly located, reviewed, and verified.

The focus is on what is documented and how the data appears across budgets, audits, and disclosures — not interpretation or assumption.

This approach provides a clear, traceable record of exactly where each piece of information comes from.

Every finding is tied to the source document — nothing assumed, nothing inferred beyond what the documents contain.