Reserve study in metro Detroit

What makes a metro Detroit study different?

Scale and age. Wayne County is Michigan's most populous county and Oakland its second (US Census Bureau), and the suburbs around Detroit hold condominiums of every era, from early garden-style complexes to recent site condos. The older the complex, the more components are already past their first life, and the more the study is about sequencing several big jobs rather than funding one.

Paving is the line that surprises boards most. Many complexes own long private drives, parking bays and carport slabs. Southeast Michigan winters crack asphalt every year and the plowing contracts make it worse, so a study usually splits paving into crack sealing on a short cycle, overlays in the middle years and full replacement at the end.

What about the lakefront and riverfront?

Macomb County fronts Lake St. Clair, and parts of Wayne County sit on the Detroit River. Complexes with boat wells, seawalls or shared docks need those in the inventory with their own life and cost; they are expensive and often missing from older studies. Work below the waterline on Great Lakes connecting waters usually needs state and federal permits, which a provider should allow for in the timing.

Who keeps the master deed?

Every Michigan condominium has a master deed and bylaws recorded with the county register of deeds. A provider will ask for both, plus any amendments, because the master deed says which elements are general common elements (reserve items) and which are limited common elements the co-owner may have to maintain. In older Detroit-area complexes, decks, patios and garage doors are where that line is most often unclear. If yours is, ask the association's attorney before the study is scoped.

What should the board have ready?

• This year's budget and the last two years of reserve spending
• The recorded master deed, bylaws and every amendment
• Any past reserve study, even an old one
• Paving, roof and seawall invoices from the last ten years

The Michigan rule is the same everywhere in the state: at least 10 percent of the annual budget into reserves. Our guide to the Condominium Act and reserves covers it, and the cost guide covers fees.