Those fees are for a lot more than gym membership. Take a large building - have you ever looked at the maintenance costs for something like that? If you haven't

Those fees are for a lot more than gym membership. Take a large building - have you ever looked at the maintenance costs for something like that? If you haven't the good news is that annual budgets and statements for the past x number of years are publicly available for these associations (at least where I live that is true). Before you buy a place, a good realtor will walk you through the association's finances and give you an idea of how well the property is managed.