Initial reaction to condo fees - well, I hate them. So there you have it. A condo fee is like a second mortgage that you can never pay off and will only ever go up not down. When do you hear of a project where the fee drops?

On second glance, a condo fee includes stuff you’d have to pay anyway. Essentials like water, heat and insurance. Is it possible the condo fee for a merged water bill is cheaper than individual billing where each unit gets 50$ in fees to purchase $10 worth of water? Maybe the entire building pays a single tiny fee for admin compared to seperate billing such that even egregious utility wasting is insignificant in comparison.
More likely is the condo board pays outrages sums to maintain optional extras like Rec facilities and for reserve contributions. Despite the dubious merit of the high fees, this must have an impact on the resale value of the units in high fee buildings. $1000 per month would give the owner of a bareland or detached unit a vast sum to work with over time to make repairs or fund utilities. At historic low interest rates that 1000$ per month would also carry a $200000 mortgage. I would much rather have a $200000 better property than that kind of a financial ball and chain as a $1000 condo fee. Even worse are reports in the media of huge cost increases for condo insurance policies, these can add a lot of cost to the condo fee that is hard to manage. Bear in mind that catastrophes to the condo will come with a huge deductible, and regardless of the presence of a big condo fee, special assessment may still be needed. Yet a 60 year old bungalow can limp along with deferred work basically in perpetuity until someone such as myself comes along and buys it…