Frequently we come across "reserve studies" done “in-house” and even by professional reserve study companies that do not meet the minimum requirements in Washington State. Here are the requirements as outlined in the Washington State RCW’s.

Reserve study software functions are helpful in creating a comprehensive and reliable reserve study that we can adapt to a large variety of scenarios we encounter.

The costs and useful life data of components is the foundation on which the remainder of the reserve study is based as all funding models are directly impacted by the estimated current and future costs for repair / replacement.

There is often a misconception that just because a community has been recently renovated the Percent Funded Calculation in our reserve study will be very high. There is due to a misunderstanding of what Percent Funded is. This article goes into a simple example of how a reserve account can have a low percent funded level even after a recent renovation. This is not an uncommon scenario that we encounter. 

Underfunding a reserve account can be particularly troubling for a common interest community as the negative consequences (special assessments, high HOA Dues) can often be pushed out years or decades with only the very few suffer the consequences.