Resort will not take Deed back

[gnipgnop]

I have posted before asking how to proceed with giving back my deeded week to the Resort. I received a lot of good advice which I followed to a tee. Now here is where I am: The management company (Legal Dept.) told me that "no way will they take the week back". I then politely told them if they didn't take it back they would have to foreclose. They said if that happened then I would be responsible for all attorney fees. I told them it's impossible and they told me bluntly: read you contract. I really feel doomed!! What to do????

 

[VacationForever]

Well, that is the process for foreclosure, they will send your bill to collections. Your credit score will be dinged. Do you still owe money on your timeshare? If not, have you tried giving it away? I went to look at your posts and found one listed for free since late Dec 2016. You need to be patient.

 

[DeniseM]

Are you bumping your Ad on the Bargain Deals forum once a week and adding more pertinent info. to the thread each time, to make sure it stays visible and interesting?

 

[Ty1on]

I have posted before asking how to proceed with giving back my deeded week to the Resort. I received a lot of good advice which I followed to a tee. Now here is where I am: The management company (Legal Dept.) told me that "no way will they take the week back". I then politely told them if they didn't take it back they would have to foreclose. They said if that happened then I would be responsible for all attorney fees. I told them it's impossible and they told me bluntly: read you contract. I really feel doomed!! What to do????

Scare tactics.

 

[theo]

I have posted before asking how to proceed with giving back my deeded week to the Resort. I received a lot of good advice which I followed to a tee. Now here is where I am: The management company (Legal Dept.) told me that "no way will they take the week back". I then politely told them if they didn't take it back they would have to foreclose. They said if that happened then I would be responsible for all attorney fees. I told them it's impossible and they told me bluntly: read you contract. I really feel doomed!! What to do????

I'm not sure what you own, or where. That blunt advisory to "read your contract" suggests (but does not conclusively establish) that your ownership might be within a "chain", or was perhaps originally a developer-direct purchase. Also I'm unclear why the management company (rather than the resort HOA) is offering you their input on the matter in the first place. Except in developer-controlled situations, a management company is a basically just a contracted (and replaceable) entity, hired by (and can be terminated by) the resort HOA / BoD.

Those details aside, it's not "impossible" (but IMnsHO, it's highly unlikley) that they might attempt to collect attorney fees upon foreclosure.
The actual cost of non-judicial foreclosure proceedings is just a few hundred dollars anyhow; I'd frankly be inclined to just call their bluff.

Don't be intimidated. You're not "doomed". If you cease paying fees, they will ultimately have to take the ownership back, either voluntarily or by foreclosure --- and they certainly know this. I'm betting that you are a very nice, very pleasant and soft-spoken person and the reference in the post directly above to "scare tactics" is likely spot on. Don't let them frighten you; let them just go pound sand if they won't work with you.

 

[Ty1on]

I'm not sure what you own, or where.

The Cliffs at Peace Canyon in Las Vegas (Vacation Village/DMResorts)

 

[theo]

Well, that is the process for foreclosure, they will send your bill to collections. Your credit score will be dinged. Do you still owe money on your timeshare? If not, have you tried giving it away? I went to look at your posts and found one listed for free since late Dec 2016. You need to be patient.

Not necessarily true. If the ownership is paid off with no underlying loan on which to default, a timeshare foreclosure in a non-judicial proceeding may very well never get the notice / attention / reporting of the credit agencies. Defaulting on a loan is of course another matter entirely.

 

[VacationForever]

Not necessarily true. If the ownership is paid off with no underlying loan on which to default, a timeshare foreclosure in a non-judicial proceeding may very well never get the notice / attention / reporting of the credit agencies. Defaulting on a loan is of course another matter entirely.

True, I stand corrected. However they can still send the outstanding MF to collections, right?

 

[theo]

True, I stand corrected. However they can still send the outstanding MF to collections, right?

Sure, if they choose to do so. Collection agencies cost money too, however --- they usually get a percentage of whatever they can convince a person to pay. For resorts with any form or flavor of a resale program, it may be simpler, quicker, cleaner and less expensive to just take the ownership back (whether voluntarily or via foreclosure), in order to get the ownership into the hands of a new, willing, fee-paying owner asap.

Any and every HOA-owned week is a non-performing liability on which no one is paying any fees until it gets (legitimately) resold.
A fiscally responsible resort understandably wants to keep "non-performing" HOA-owned weeks to a minimum, as best they can.

 

[TUGBrian]

I see plenty of this resort given away on the resale market regularly.

of course these ads are for $1, with the seller not only covering all closing costs and the 2017 mf being paid, but offering up $100 to $250 additional dollars on top of closing in the form of a gift card.

have you offered these terms in your ads where you have it listed?

in the TUG ad I see for this resort under your account (note its expired, as it wasnt renewed back in november) you are asking for $30 dollars for this timeshare, and the fact that you are asking for money would likely have folks just skim right over it since all the previous successful resales on TUG of this resort were in the $1 range =)

I would edit your ad to literally say "take this timeshare for free" "free 2017 usage" "free closing costs" etc etc.

 

[gnipgnop]

The resort that I'm referring to in this post is Silverwoods at Treasure Lake in DuBois, PA. Originally I tried to sell it until I realized (after some time) best to offer it for free. So I changed the add and still didn't have any success.
We bought this years ago from a co-worker for very cheap and at that time I was a total novice to timesharing. I have paid the maintenance fees every year in advance plus any assessments they asked for. Everything is up to date. Now we are in over our heads and I need to eliminate this resort (Silverwoods at Treasure Lake) and the Cliffs at Peace Canyon that you see on my post in the Bargain Deals. I can not risk my credit being ruined if they report me to a collection agency or whatever else they can do to destroy my credit. Our credit rating at present is excellent.

 

[TUGBrian]

ah ok, looking at that ad (also expired and not active in the marketplace)...you are only asking $1, but you dont mention in the ad you are willing to cover the closing costs.

same response applies though as the peace canyon interval, I see a number of recent listings that all successfully sold for $1, with the seller offering to pay all closing costs and also added a visa gift card on top of that to sweeten the deal.

 

[presley]

Hang in there and look at posting your ads on other sites, too. Redweek, Craigslist, and Myresortnetwork come to mind.

 

[bogey21]

Don't give up on calling the Resort. Be prepared with your story. Learn from what they tell you when they say no. The key is to find out who you need to talk to. I did a lot of Deed Backs. Few were easy. One of them took probably 10 calls over a 6 month period.

 

[2rebecca]

.... I can not risk my credit being ruined if they report me to a collection agency or whatever else they can do to destroy my credit. Our credit rating at present is excellent.

If there is no mortgage and the only thing they will be foreclosing on is unpaid maintenance fees, I wonder if that would really impact your credit rating especially if you have an excellent rating now. Just thinking out loud here, but if I were a mortgage lender and I saw a foreclosure on someone's credit history for not paying timeshare maintenance fees and everything else about their history was great, would I care about the timeshare foreclosure? I don't think I would if the person applying for the loan explained that foreclosure was the only way to eliminate the ongoing maintenance fees.

 

[gnipgnop]

There is no mortgage and never was. The maintenance fees and the most recent assessment of $300.00 are totally up to date. I have nothing outstanding with this resort. So if I am forced into foreclosure what would they foreclose on? I've never faced anything like this before and I am bewildered.

And Brian: I would love to be able to sweeten the deal with an incentive but I'm having trouble keeping my head above water right now since my husband has just had surgery 3 times. We are in our mid/late 70's and traveling right now is a low priority. But I always appreciate your suggestions.

 

[Jan M.]

I can not risk my credit being ruined if they report me to a collection agency or whatever else they can do to destroy my credit. Our credit rating at present is excellent.

From your photo you don't appear to be a younger couple. Why are you worried about your credit and how would a lower credit rating hurt you? Will you be trying to get a mortgage or loan or lower credit card rates on balances owed? Who will be looking at your credit card score and for what reason? I believe some auto insurance companies do look at your credit score when you are applying for a policy with them but if you aren't planning on changing insurance companies anytime soon I wouldn't worry.

I think many of us more mature folk are influenced by the commercials we see on TV and think a good credit rating is crucial. We tend not to realize that a lot of younger people have a mediocre to bad credit rating and it can impact them in ways we don't have to worry about anymore. You would be surprised at how easy it is to start raising a credit score just by making sure everything is paid on time for a few months. Back in our day having bad credit haunted you for years and it was hard to put it behind you. We have a small group of people that we go out to dinner with once a month and recently we were all talking about how a huge percentage of the people buying houses now wouldn't have qualified for a mortgage back when we were younger. A lot has changed over the years.

Maybe the younger people or the more knowledgeable older people can tell us if older people really need to be all that concerned about credit scores and the ways it might impact us at this point in our lives.

 

[Ty1on]

There is no mortgage and never was. The maintenance fees and the most recent assessment of $300.00 are totally up to date. I have nothing outstanding with this resort. So if I am forced into foreclosure what would they foreclose on? I've never faced anything like this before and I am bewildered.

And Brian: I would love to be able to sweeten the deal with an incentive but I'm having trouble keeping my head above water right now since my husband has just had surgery 3 times. We are in our mid/late 70's and traveling right now is a low priority. But I always appreciate your suggestions.

They obviously wouldn't foreclose until you were sufficiently delinquent to warrant it. That threshold varies both by association manager and by their interest in acquiring deeds at specific resorts for resale or board control needs.

 

[tschwa2]

They could foreclose on the deed due to the back MF dues. Taxes are paid from the MF so technically the county could also foreclose for the unpaid taxes. Sometimes resorts won't take back deeds until you show that you can't pay and they have reported you to the credit bureaus but will ultimately relent and take the deed back in lieu of foreclosure. Their reasoning is if they accept every off season worthless deed just because the owner made a bad decision buying/accepting the unit then the system would fail. The board is either controlled by the developer or happy red week owners who need the off season owners to supplement and sustain the resort. There is a difference between I can pay this $400-$500 MF but I would rather spend it on another vacation or upgrade to a newer car that I would enjoy more, and, if I pay this $400-$500 MF I will need to skip some meals and/or won't be able to pay my CC minimum or my home mortgage. They may not budge if you are part of the first group but may if you are in the second.

For the record I own a week 8 in OC, MD along with many others. I accepted it as a giveaway many years ago and at the time thought that when I no longer wanted it I would be able to give it away too. Not so much. Luckily the MF only just now crossed the $400 mark, for the most part because the board will not take deed backs from owners who realize it isn't worth the MF to own the week. I've offered incentives but to be honest I would feel guilty burdening anyone else with the week or giving it to someone who wants the incentives but doesn't intend to pay once the incentives are gone. So I pay it and hope I don't make more mistakes like that one. The off season week owners are also the most apathetic (and I'll admit I am guilty of this) in terms of voting and voicing our concerns to the ownership and getting everyone to do something about it. Really what needs to be done is the TS system at these resorts needs to cease and/or some other major fix for the off season problem at seasonal resorts.

 

[2rebecca]

...Why are you worried about your credit and how would a lower credit rating hurt you? ....

I think many of us more mature folk are influenced by the commercials we see on TV and think a good credit rating is crucial. We tend not to realize that a lot of younger people have a mediocre to bad credit rating and it can impact them in ways we don't have to worry about anymore. ...A lot has changed over the years.

When I first read your post, this was my thought as well, but I didn't want to bring up age. Since you & Jan brought it up, I'll just add that I agree with a lot of what Jan said regarding credit report & age.

There is no mortgage and never was. The maintenance fees and the most recent assessment of $300.00 are totally up to date. I have nothing outstanding with this resort. So if I am forced into foreclosure what would they foreclose on? I've never faced anything like this before and I am bewildered.

And Brian: I would love to be able to sweeten the deal with an incentive but I'm having trouble keeping my head above water right now since my husband has just had surgery 3 times. We are in our mid/late 70's and traveling right now is a low priority. But I always appreciate your suggestions.

I'm sorry about your husbands surgeries. It sounds like a stressful time for you right now. I suggest instead of calling the HOA/management company again, you write them a letter detailing what you just told Brian and tell them you will no longer be making any more payments. Then give them a choice: 1) they take back the deed now while your account is in good standing; 2) continue to send you bills, which you won't pay and then foreclose on you at a later date. After you mail the letter, put a copy in a file; walk away and focus on your family. It sounds like you have enough to worry about without adding the timeshare to it.

 

[Talent312]

If anyone tries to threaten you with a deficiency judgment, court costs or attorney's fees...

Laugh and say: "That's rich. I'm judgment proof and I can file Bankruptcy.
Either way, you won't see a dime. Take it now or take it later. Your call."

"Judgment proof" means you have no assets other than what's exempt from creditors by state law.
You may have no intent to file Bankruptcy, but it scares creditors who understand it all too well.

.

 

[Ty1on]

They could foreclose on the deed due to the back MF dues. Taxes are paid from the MF so technically the county could also foreclose for the unpaid taxes.

Taxes are very jurisdiction and resort specific. In some, the owner is directly billed by the jurisdiction. In others, the resort collects on behalf of the jurisdiction and remits what they collect to it. In still others, the resort pays the entire tax fee and allocates the expense among the owners.

 

[TUGBrian]

I didnt realize your health and financial situation, im sorry to hear that.

in that case, id certainly go with Talents suggestion...you have made multiple good faith efforts to work with the resort...youve made multiple efforts to try to give it away for free on the resale market. (although it wouldnt hurt to renew your TUG ads and expand on the free part of the deal, even if you dont include the additional gift cards)

if at this point its between paying your important bills, and paying your maintenance fees...that decision is very easy to make IMO.

 

[rapmarks]

I love the post about a board being controlled be happy red week owners. That was the problem at a resort where I owned two flex weeks. They actually hired a salesperson, but she would not list our weeks. So we all paid but only redweek owners benefited. I overheard someone asking about resale weeks and offered him mine for half the price.


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[Jason245]

There is no mortgage and never was. The maintenance fees and the most recent assessment of $300.00 are totally up to date. I have nothing outstanding with this resort. So if I am forced into foreclosure what would they foreclose on? I've never faced anything like this before and I am bewildered.

And Brian: I would love to be able to sweeten the deal with an incentive but I'm having trouble keeping my head above water right now since my husband has just had surgery 3 times. We are in our mid/late 70's and traveling right now is a low priority. But I always appreciate your suggestions.

At this point it sounds like you are pretty much living off social security (collections can't touch that). Unpaid medical debt goes to collections and can be a cause of bankruptcy as well.

Why are you worried about a credit ding from these guys. Personally I would stop paying and when the first collections call came in I would say two things:

1. Get in line with my other creditors and good luck.

2. Please send all future corrispondanc via mail.. and then file that stuff in the garbage.

Ultimately they for close and get the property back and you just get one more ding on your credit.

As an aside I would probably get on the 30 year payment plan on your medical debt (or as I like to call it.. 10 bucks a month for life).

If hospital comes after you tell them you are paying what you can as fast as you can..

As others have suggested.. a planned bk at your age isn't as bad a thing as it sounds..



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