Reserve study to funding plan: what the study doesn't tell you

A reserve study describes component needs and may present several funding schedules. The board still needs to select a budget and consider how to pay for work when it becomes due.

What the study decides — and what it doesn't

The study identifies components, remaining useful lives, replacement costs and funding schedules. The board selects a funding approach within the applicable requirements. ReserveGap compares the entered annual contribution with the highest study recommendation and the percentage benchmark separately; lender acceptance is not determined here.

Finding the gap

Start with the timing of planned work and the cash available when that work falls due. Enter a sourced financing amount from a study schedule or a board scenario. Total replacement costs less current cash is not necessarily an immediate funding need. It is also different from the annual contribution shortfall shown by the numerical comparisons.

Three ways to fund it — beside the status quo

The report compares the current budget with a special assessment collected over the entered installment window, an amortizing loan illustration, and a hybrid of the two. The loan illustration does not model a revolving line of credit. Entered timing, rates and contribution assumptions determine the results. The report does not recommend a method or determine whether a vote or lender agreement permits it.

Per unit means by the declaration

Common expenses generally follow the proportions in the declaration, except as otherwise provided by the chapter. Confirm the applicable allocation for the expense being modeled.

In this illustration, a unit with an entered 0.85% ownership share receives 0.85% of each modeled total. The report uses declaration shares and does not determine expense-specific exceptions or amounts legally billable to an owner. Any delinquency sensitivity is an explicit scenario assumption, not a banking requirement or an additional owner charge.

Start with the four dollar amounts

Enter assessment-income base, annual reserve contribution, highest recommended contribution and reserve cash, together with the property state. These inputs produce separate numerical comparisons. The check runs in your browser and your numbers stay on this device; the full report adds funding illustrations, ownership-share tables and ten-year cash projections.

What the budget collects this year ($)

$

Enter the assessment-income base from the budget. Lender-permitted exclusions are not calculated here.

What you're putting into reserves this year ($)

$

Current annual reserve contribution — the reserve line in this year's budget.

Highest amount the reserve study says to put in ($)

$

Highest recommended annual contribution — the largest funding schedule in the study. If it shows one schedule, use that.

Cash sitting in reserves today ($)

$

Reserve cash on hand — all reserve accounts, as of a stated date.

State

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Florida's rule is built in. The state-rule check on the paid report needs the study's component schedule.

Run the free check

No credit card or account required. Your numbers stay in this browser.

Read the special assessment, loan and hybrid comparison for the distinction between annual contributions and project cash needs. Use the free condo reserve calculator with your own figures.