HOA Fees

The Forest Condominium Association's HOA fees are paid quarterly. The amount of the quarterly fees is the same for each of the 54 condo units in our association. The owners of the units are responsible for ensuring timely payment of the fees. NO WRITTEN NOTICE IS MAILED before the due dates.

Fees are made payable to The Forest Condominium Assoc., Inc. and placed in the drop box or mailed to:

The Forest Condominium  Assoc., Inc.

1431 Bridge Water Way

Mishawaka, IN 46545

 Payments that are not received on or before 5 pm of the 15th day are assessed a $50 late charge to be added to their Monthly ACH Dues. To be fair to all members and to avoid adding to the treasurer's bookkeeping work, there is no exception to this rule, including for board members or former board members. 

ACH FORM

NOTE: Quarterly HOA Fees are $825 and due the 1st of January, April, July, & October or $275 per month if paid by ACH

Effective July 1, 2018, the FCA will only accept HOA payments in the following manner:

 (1)    If you select to use the ACH automatic payment method, you can pay either monthly or quarterly.  Those currently using this method will stay the same as they are now and need to do nothing. All ACH’s will be processed on the 15th of the month

(2)    If you select paying by check the Association will only accept quarterly payments in the current amount.  These will be due on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1.  If not received by the Association by 5pm on the 15th it will be considered late and subject to a $50 late fee

Contact the treasurer at forestmish@gmail.com with questions or concerns about the HOA fees. 

Items covered by the HOA fees

• Insurance premium for full replacement cost of each building (Auto Owners, Lansing, MI, Agency: The Healy Group in South Bend).

  • Note that the association's insurance for full replacement cost of the exterior of the buildings requires owners to obtain condo insurance to insure the contents and interior of their condo, which is  less than regular homeowners' insurance. There is also a liability policy for 1 million dollars the association carries.

• Taxes, Accounting, and Legal fees

• Replacing light bulbs in exterior light fixtures attached to their unit as well as the sensor units that automatically turn on and off the lights

• Exterior building maintenance and repair (excluding  windows, screens, doors (front, patio, and garage))

• Maintenance of grounds (lawncare, weeding, tree and shrub planting in truly common areas, trimming, removal in truly common areas, etc.)

• Snow plowing and walkway shoveling when snow fall exceeds 2"

• Street maintenance and repair

• Pond Pump Utilities (shared by all 3 associations)

• Pond maintenance and repair (shared) additional information can be found under Ponds in the menu

• Landscaping of Day Rd. and Filbert Rd. entrances (shared) & sprinkler system for grass areas along Park Place near Filbert Rd. entrance

Expenses that are shared among the three associations in The Forest at Edison Lakes is proportional to the number of units/owners in the associations. The Forest Condominium  Association pays ~27% of the total shared cost.

Per Indiana Code and our Association's By Laws, information about the association’s yearly expenditures and bank account balances is provided to owners/members at the annual meeting held in, or around, October each year. In addition, a budget for the following year is presented at the meeting for approval by the association’s owners/members. More information is available on the Legal Documents page and the  Meetings/Minutes page.

Items NOT covered by the HOA fees

Owners are responsible for the following:

• Setting up and paying their unit's utilities (electricity, water, phone, gas, etc.), trash removal, and recycling

• Repairing or replacing appliances as well as furnace, AC, water heater, water softener, water pipes

• Repairing or replacing windows, screens, and doors including garage doors. (all parts as if they were replacement windows and doors)

• All plumbing including outside spickets

• All electric including outdoor outlets

Financial Information

Financial information will be available for viewing. Please contact the Board if you would like to see detailed financial information requesting an appointment at Forestmish@gmail.com .

Unpaid Association Fees

The Forest Condo Association, Inc. is a non-profit corporation recorded as a Horizontal Property Regime.  As such, unpaid association fees constitute an automatic lien on the condo unit per Indiana Code 32-25-5-1: First conveyance; satisfaction of liens and IC 32-25-5-2:Unpaid assessments; grantee and grantor jointly and severally liable. The association’s Bylaws provide recourse for collecting unpaid fees, which include but are not limited to requiring an owner to pay all 4 quarters at the beginning of the year, pursuing a small claims court judgment to garnish the delinquent owner’s wages, initiating foreclosure on the condo unit.

Reserve Account

Indiana Code requires Horizontal Property Regimes to maintain an interest-bearing replacement reserve bank account. The reserve account is to be used for capital expenditures involving non-routine replacement, repair, or improvement of the buildings and common areas (e.g., replacing roofs, painting building, resurfacing Bridge Water Way). Reserve funds cannot be used for usual or ordinary repair expenses of the common areas and buildings. NOTE: Due to a hail storm in June 2008, the roofs on all of the buildings were replaced in Fall 2008. No money was used from the Reserve account to pay for these major expenses because the Association's insurance policy covered them. Therefore, it will be important to have a Reserve Account with at least this amount of money to cover the cost of replacing the buildings' roofs, painting them, etc. in 20-30 years.