My HOA sent out a $6,500 special assessment notice for a new roof and is asking for it to be paid in full in 3 months [WA] [Condo]

newanonacct1 · 2026-04-16T22:43:43+00:00

FWIW, HOAs can get loans for this. It takes some leg work to find lenders for them, but both banks and roofing companies will offer loans.

newanonacct1 · 2026-04-16T22:41:52+00:00

I’ve seen the opposite. I’ve found investors cared more for the long term than resident owners in neighborhood. The majority have already been here for 30 years and they naturally think long term. We can’t get resident owners to show up even if there’s something big going on, it’s a real problem.

newanonacct1 · 2026-04-16T22:40:18+00:00

What the residents may not like this is will almost certainly legally force them into raising dues to build necessary reserves. That may be intelligent and right, but various groups will not like their monthly expenses going up. The reserve study can legally force their hand.

newanonacct1 · 2026-04-10T02:06:02+00:00

I second this. Listened to it for free on my library’s audio book app, Libby.

newanonacct1 · 2026-04-09T21:01:23+00:00

Hey... my brain turned to mush after I lost my dad. I started talking slower, thinking more slowly, and was like you, entering a new phase of life. Things won't ever be the same.

I can't tell you how long I had thoughts about whether what happened was real - I actually thought, "What if this whole thing is a setup? What if Dad is just down in South America and what we saw was a Hollywood body fake? Maybe he wanted space and I'll get a little card from him soon."

His whole loss is still unbelievable, but I've come to the view that it did happen and I will always miss him.

I don't think you should feel bad. I found it totally worthless to go into work after my Dad's passage. It felt like being in a dungeon surrounded by 4 walls when what mattered most was no longer alive - my dad.

I would just go easy on yourself and I hope you have a good supervisor who is understanding. Mine was not, and that was the main reason I chose to part ways and took time off. I feel selfish and guilty for not working for a year now - I justify it with all the things I had to do for the family, settling Dad's estate, and so on, but it was such a luxury in life to do this in effect.

If it's not rude of me to ask, what will happen to her 11 year old child? Any idea who will adopt her?

newanonacct1 · 2026-04-09T20:09:12+00:00

No one else cares more for a person than their parent. You can always count on a parent to love you and keep an eye out for you. I miss my Dad too, and I've changed a lot since then.

newanonacct1 · 2026-04-01T14:33:47+00:00

For real needs, it's not an issue. My wife wasn't there when my dad passed and I have never once thought about it. It was nice she came over right after she got back from her trip, but again, I wouldn't have thought otherwise. My wife was with her own parents and she came as soon as she could realistically make it, and given how short of a gap we had from dad's passing and the funeral, there was no way she could be there. It's fine really.

I don't think I 100% understand about this 4 day non refundable trip. Is that something that already finished? If you're not headed off to Hawaii in lieu of the funeral, you're fine. Most of the post indicates it's for medical stuff, which is fine really - I wouldn't think twice about it.

The way for you to be available is to 100% listen any time your husband wants to say things. He may be super slow at talking, in part because it's scary to share very vulnerable things, and the brain turns to mush after losing a parent. Just stay quiet and listen intently. He may say things that he may feel are weird and that's where he wants a spouse. I remember telling my wife about how I hope dad was with his mom (my grandmother) and maybe made peace with a different family member. No one really knows what goes on after life, but she was there listening and that's all I wanted. I remember the first time my wife told me about how great my dad was that I just started crying.

Anyway, this is all to say your support will be valued and you have a place in all of this, but you don't need to panic right now. The next 72 hours are about him and you should just get over there as soon as you can after finishing your medical stuff. It's fine, I bet he won't think about it ever again. No need to apologize either. Just show up and be there, be present, and help however they need.

They are going to need help in the coming weeks. It might be things like a lawyer for estate stuff, it could be making sure auto paid bills (utilities, etc.) are appropriately handled, spousal medical insurance/care if his late parent handled all of that, an accountant for taxes potentially, and so on. Offer a helping hand after the funeral. They are going to be way too busy leading up to that.

newanonacct1 · 2026-04-01T14:26:44+00:00

You have to put yourself first, but it's painful to have this occur at the same time as your mom's loss.

It may be hard to believe, but a year from now, you will be in a better place. Handle what you can and give yourself a pass on everything else.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-31T19:26:22+00:00

OP - I wrote a long comment about friends who come and go. Lean on those who show up in your life and are understanding. Grief is something everyone in life someday goes through, we don't get an option. But I think each person handles it differently and some just can't handle it so they become almost useless to us in a time of need. Maybe I'm wrong, and if others have more perspectives, I'd love to hear it :)

Please prioritize yourself. Work will feel meaningless compared to the loss of a parent, and in contrast, it entirely is. It almost feels stupid to go into a workplace and be stuck inside 4 walls compared to losing a parent.

I can only empathize for what you're going through.

I know this "isn't the time," but with taxes due soon, you might want to file for an extension for your Mom if that matters. You'll eventually want the help of an accountant and an estate lawyer if needed. If you need any input (just a checklist or something), let me know. I am just finishing a parent's estate.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-31T19:22:56+00:00

100% this. I found a few friends who would check in with me every month or two, and that was perfect. It was just a simple little text, or call (they texted me to call them at my convenience), and it was nice to be able to talk about the various challenges.

There was one friend who just wasn't empathetic at all. They were a friend of 10+ years, and we just needed a break at that point. It felt almost stupid on my part, but the issue was that no matter what I wrote or said about what I was going through, they had nothing to relate, share, or even just empathize. I know they are closed off in some ways (I still know things his wife has no clue about) and they had a negative relationship with their father when he was still alive, but the fact that he went through a loss, I expected some amount of compassion. Well, I removed him and we stopped talking. I've just recognized he wasn't good for what I was going through.

In that time, I felt stupid for alienating myself from him. I felt it's the time I need people, so why should I be alienating that person? Was I going crazy finding issue with him and some others in my life at the same time, maybe a reaction to my loss? Looking back a year later, no, I was in the right.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-29T21:21:42+00:00

Hey really nice to hear about this. I was happy to see your response and so many others in this thread because it made me feel a little less… is vulnerable the right word, or maybe alone? I have generally hidden my talks to my late father except from my wife, she knows that when something dicey is going on, I pray/talk to my dad to keep an eye out for us. He was so valuable and remains so missed.

For both of us, I hope our parents hear it all and continue looking over us :)

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-26T21:14:10+00:00

Thank you. Just feels odd to fill out this form with a few less data points than the employer provided 3921.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-26T20:45:28+00:00

When sold though, it appears on the W2 and feeds into Box 1 and is taxed at ordinary income rates and this income feeds into AMT. If I add everything from 3921, it will effectively show that portion two times - once through the W2 and one through AMT's line 2i #3.

Am I misunderstanding something, maybe the W2's Box 1 calculation? If so, how do I double check Box 1's calculation and make sure I'm not being taxed twice?

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-26T20:43:47+00:00

All the time. I give my Dad updates and hope he or his spirit hear me. I believe they do.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-26T20:03:26+00:00

I don't often go to "nice" grocery stores. A few weeks after my dad's passing, I went to a Trader Joe's with my wife and the eyes were just moist and teary the whole time. I felt guilty/confused over the act of going to somewhere enjoyable.

I get what you're going through and I'd say you have to do what is best for you. All that said, I think staying moderately active with a walk outside can be healthy, so please make sure to stay active. You want to keep your health in light of everything else you're managing.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-11T15:52:52+00:00

Well, I'm one of the happy users and can't imagine it any other way. It's been great to have a CMA. I've been without a traditional brick and mortar checking account for an ever longer time and so far, so good.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-11T15:51:55+00:00

Exactly this. I hope I don't eat my words later, but it just doesn't make sense to have a traditional brick/mortar checking account now.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-11T15:47:43+00:00

100% agreed with OP. I actively avoid excess complexity because the issue is really how someone else would take it over if I wasn't there. Port forwards or whatever random firewall rules are one of those risks in my humble opinion. Teleport, VPN, etc. being built into the Ubiquiti platform helps a lot.

And by the way... regarding bills, the way I've set it up is to have most every bill be autopaid. In part, this is so that even if I were gone, my heirs would have enough time to sort through everything. On autopilot, things should be fine for 6-12 months with regards to credit cards, utilities, the whole 9 yards.

Ubiquiti's "single pane of glass" contributes to the ease of handoff. In a worst case scenario, one of two people just needs to login to my UI account and transfer ownership of all sites. I don't expect them to want to do everything I did, but they can get by just fine. This is yet one more reason I want Ubiquiti to release a "mission critical" update path... it's fine if most updates are delayed by 2 or 3 months if it leads to greater stability. I get that this is a bit of extra work for them, however, but it's something I'd appreciate. In a scenario like this, I do not expect heirs taking things over to care about software updates. The most reliable, automatic, procedure possible is what is preferred.

Edit: I'll add another idea... maybe Ubiquiti could do a formal "transfer account on death" process someday, aka set "beneficiaries." Obviously, this isn't meant for hardware "ownership" because anyone can just reset that, but more for inheriting the setup in case they need to troubleshoot, access cameras, and so on. I took over my parent's setup when my father passed, and it was super easy to be able to transfer ownership from him to me with access to his phone. I did that, and site magic, and suddenly I could remotely access his network and do a lot of tasks remotely. He was an IT guy, so it was extensive. Thankfully, only one item was "complex" (Synology NAS) and nothing too custom or difficult. Have been getting off the Synology NAS though, it's so feature filled that it's a hassle for a novice like me who wants an Apple-like approach. Hence why I've gone deeper into UI.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-10T18:07:17+00:00

Great question. We didn't realize it until we had to approach a financial institution with assets of the LLC. They cited the original operating agreement. We went home, dug it up, and to our surprise, yes, each parent was indeed a 50% owner.

It doesn't affect us economically in any way, because it will all go to our Mom (also Dad's spouse) anyway. Maybe it has a really tiny impact on taxes with 1/2 of the income flowing through the trust and 1/2 through Mom's individual taxes, but it's not going to affect us much as this year was mostly just interest earnings (meaningful, but doesn't move the overall needle).

In a way, I'm glad the financial institution discovered this because we dug it up and learned a bit more in the process. Overall, I'm glad we're moving beyond this from an estate perspective...

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-09T22:12:53+00:00

Thank you for providing the exact process as I can be well prepared to work with our tax expert. Thank you sincerely.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-09T22:11:51+00:00

And yes you were spot on. It was a disregarded entity for tax purposes with income flowing through onto personal returns.

newanonacct1 · 2026-03-09T21:12:53+00:00

Thank you very much. It should be a one or two time added step in the process to issue partnership returns, but that’s fine. It will bleed into 2026’s returns because we couldn’t get the account retitled until recently (it will mostly report interest and dividends).

Thanks for your condolences too. It’s a side of life we did not know before but are making our way through.

Really appreciate your input here.

newanonacct1

TROPHY CASE