HOA fee questions about my condo association [View all]

This seemed like the best group to ask these questions.

Earlier this year I bought a 2 br/2ba condo in a desirable suburb in Florida. When I bought the condo, my HOA fees per month were $325, which I thought was quite reasonable and comparable to what I had seen with other condos in my area.

A month ago, the HOA sent us all a notice saying they had a new appraisal of the property and the cost to repair/replace everything had increased. The last appraisal was in 2008.

We had two options: a) keep the monthly fee at $325 and run the risk of big assessments if the roof caved in, etc.; or b) raise the monthly fee to $492.83 and have no special assessments. The members voted to raise the fee, so now it's set at $492.83. To save you the math, the fee has now gone up roughly 52% in 4 years, or around 13 percent per year.

The buildings and property are roughly 28 years old and in very good condition, from what I can tell.

Questions: 1- Is this really typical nationwide of what is happening right now ?
2- What kind of inflation can I look forward to, in this area (hard question, I know) ?
3- Short of selling my condo in the future, what can I do ?

Thank you very much for your time.

Steve