How Important Are HOA Dues in Rental Properties?

[Jay Staudt]

My wife and I are house hunting for our primary residence, but we eventually see it becoming a rental.

Around here (Northern VA), pretty much any decent place you find is going to be tied to an HOA, a condo association, or sometimes even both. So since it's pretty much unavoidable that we'll end up with a place that has a monthly maintenance fee, how big of a deal should I be making about it? I've told our Realtor to only send us listings with management fees below $150/mo., but it looks like we're missing out on some otherwise promising properties that don't meet that threshold.

I know those fees are tax deductible for rental properties, but in the long term (ie., when the mortgage is gone and we're paying this fee every month for the remainder of eternity) how big of a difference does that make as far as cash flow is concerned? Anyone have any personal experiences to share?