A reserve is unnecessary, but I still keep around $15,000 - $20,000 in my account.The point is, you should sit down and assess your personal finances to determine what the worst-case scenario may look like, how much you would need to cover it without impacting your life, and whether you will need to build a reserve.

Zillow is actually more accurate than our county assessments because Zillow uses near by sales data.

As I'm only 2.5 hours away, I would go up every other week to take a look at the progress and make sure everything I wanted done was getting done.

When you have an issue like this the HOA will do nothing for you, their response is always to sue your neighbor and don't forget to pay the dues and assessments on time. 

I'll circle back next week once he's out and I can assess the damage, but it's not good.  

Is the new assessed value set by the new purchase price?

There is no progress without struggle.  

If it’s a few weeks, you can do a progress payment but it’s hard to tell when starting out what good progress is. 

Thx for that catch on tax, didnt consider ARV assessment value. 

Make sure they have enough reserves and if they don't be weary of an upcoming special assessments.- If they have special assessments make sure to ask when does it expire and how much is it per month on top of your HOA.