If you own a house, you already understand the concept from a homeowners association. A motor condominium association works the same way, it just insures a building full of vehicles instead of a subdivision of houses.
What the HOA fee pays for, and what it does not.
Water, sewer and trash for all units
Not covered, your responsibility, Insurance on your unit's interior improvements and contents
Landscape, well and lake maintenance
Not covered, your responsibility, Your own vehicles, insure them separately
Pest control
Not covered, your responsibility, Your electricity, individually metered, billed directly to you
Cameras, security and community electric
Not covered, your responsibility, Property taxes on your unit
Road, roof, building exteriors and facility cleaning
Not covered, your responsibility, Interior buildout, lifts, cabinetry, flooring, second floor finish
Facility property and liability insurance — does not include contents inside your unit
Not covered, your responsibility, Any HOA violation or special-use fees you personally incur
RV dump station
Not covered, your responsibility,
Third-party HOA manager
Not covered, your responsibility,
Administration and annual inspections
Not covered, your responsibility,
The fee funds the things you can't insure or maintain yourself.
You cannot individually insure a shared roof, if your neighbor's section of roof fails, it affects your unit too, so the building shell is insured as a whole and the cost is split across owners. The same logic applies to the gate, the camera system, and the drive aisles: nobody owns a fractional slice of the driveway, so the association owns and maintains all of it collectively.
