Almost every buyer asks me the same first question about fees. How much are they? It's a reasonable question. It's also nearly useless on its own, and I'd rather explain why than just answer it and move on.
Why "how much" doesn't tell you much
A $400 monthly fee on a building with a healthy reserve fund and well-maintained systems is a good deal. A $400 monthly fee on a building quietly under-funding its reserve, heading toward a special assessment nobody's talked about yet, is not a good deal at all, it's a bill you haven't received yet. The raw number tells you what you're paying today. It tells you almost nothing about whether that number is sustainable, or about to jump.
The question worth asking instead
What does the fee actually fund, and is the reserve fund keeping pace with what the building will need? That's the real question, and it has a real, checkable answer in two documents: the status certificate and the reserve fund study inside it. A building can look expensive on the surface and be the more financially sound choice, or look cheap and be quietly heading toward trouble.
How to actually compare two buildings
Don't just stack the monthly fee numbers side by side. Ask what's included in each. Some buildings bundle heat, water, and even internet into the fee. Others charge those separately, making a lower headline fee actually cost more once you add everything up. Amenity-heavy buildings, like Waterclub with its dual pools and guest suites, will naturally run higher fees than a boutique building with modest amenities, and that's not a red flag on its own. It's a trade-off you're choosing, not a warning sign, as long as the fund backing it is healthy.
The trend matters more than the snapshot
Ask how fees have moved over the last three to five years, not just what they are today. A building whose fees have climbed steadily in line with a well-managed reserve fund study is behaving exactly as it should. A building whose fees have stayed flat for years despite an aging building envelope is often just delaying an increase, not avoiding one.
This is exactly the kind of comparison I build into every building profile on this site, and exactly the conversation worth having before you fall for a unit based on the fee number alone.