# Morritts Special Assesment



## Floridaski (Sep 28, 2007)

Well Folks,
It's back, Global Resort sent out the 2008 budget and the MF have gone up.  The current MF for a 2 bedroom is closing in on $ 1000 per year.  

Plus there is a special assessment of around $250.00, I filed the letter with disappointment and will wait for my bill.  I pre pay my MF so that I can rent out or trade my units.  I am not losing money on the renting - but it is getting very tight. I rent out the weeks that we cannot use since we purchased Hyatt points.  I used my last RCI Morritt deposit and based on the most recent exchange, I am not sure I will ever deposit with RCI again.

Anyway, we live in Florida and the letter was postmarked Wed 9/26 and I got my letter yesterday.


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## Poobah (Sep 29, 2007)

*Morritts MF & SA*

The beat goes on. I believe this go on for at least another year.

There are owner's at Morritts who are paying MFs and SAs on units that have not been built yet! MFs go up even though there is less of a resort to maintain.

Owners are dumping and/or walking away from their units rather than put up with the nonsense. When the units are taken back they are difficult to sell because because of the dumping. What is even more interesting is the that the BOD, which it totally controlled by the Morritt family, has delinquent MFs and SAs as a budget line item, which means that part of an owner's MF goes to make up the revenue shortfall caused by the delinquencies! 

What a deal!!! 

Cheers,

Paul


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## Steamboat Bill (Sep 29, 2007)

Poobah said:


> What is even more interesting is the that the BOD, which it totally controlled by the Morritt family, has delinquent MFs and SAs as a budget line item, which means that part of an owner's MF goes to make up the revenue shortfall caused by the delinquencies!



This does not seem legal...but this property is NOT in the USA so I don't have any idea what the laws are like there.


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## TomCayman (Sep 30, 2007)

Legally the reality in Cayman (and most other Caribbean islands) is that they have no system to allow subdivision of property title into individual weeks, so timeshare is on a RTU basis, ie owners rights are basically as per the contract they sign when they buy.

In general, those contracts give far fewer rights to the timeshare buyer than anything that conveys title, as you are simply buying the right to use a unit.

Think of it as being (as is often portrayed in timeshare sales presentations) prepaying your hotel vacations, and then ask what rights to hotel guests have to query why the hotel operates the way it does, levies charges the way it does.... none, but market forces dictate that if a hotel charges an unreasonable amount as years go by, they will lose customers.

As such then, it all depends on the developer / operator of a Caribbean resort.... if that developer decides to start levying assessments, increasing maintenance fees beyond the true rate of increase in costs etc... then in the long run members start dumping units on the resale market and ignoring maintenance fee requests...... and if that carries on too far, the resort ends up running down as fewer and fewer members pay their fees, thus leading to a vicious circle of budget shortfalls and higher fees on those who remain... and of course a resale market with very low prices as nobody wants to buy (which of course also means that the developer finds it very difficult to sell his inventory at full price).

The bottom line is that timeshare owners have, at most, very little say on what a developer does, but a savvy developer wants to do what he can to keep members happy so that they keep coming back (and pay their maintenance fees), and of course tell their friends they should buy at the resort etc.

One can chat through what owners can do, but legally in most cases they can do nothing. However, again, a responsible and savvy developer will listen to the concerns of the owners and take them on board in how the resort is to be managed, as (I repeat) happy owners make for good business.

Please note this is a generic comment, not aimed at any specific resort in Cayman or elsewhere.... but simply made to inform. I see many posts on this and other forums by owners talking about what they can do, but the first thing to do is try to talk to those in control (developers/managers), but beyond that, if you don't like what you hear back, your only options are a) to pay what you are charged and keep using your timeshare, or b) to sell it for the going price on the resale market, take your licks, and move on.

A few last thoughts :
- A Warren Buffett maxim is that one of the easiest ways to make money is to think longer term than the next guy. Reselling a timeshare is normally a loser for the first 10 years or more of ownership, but if you own a well managed timeshare in a high demand location, in time the value of even timeshare will exceed what you paid for it.
- Any time that this does not happen in the long term, it is normally ultimately due to lack of owner comfort / confidence in the developer/operator, leading to them dumping units on the resale market for far below what they paid for it.
- Combine the two... and if you see resale prices being a fraction of original price on a resort that appears to be in good physical condition, then perhaps one should reconsider buying there, unless you are just buying for a low mtce fee unit for trading (eg SA RCI weeks)
- Lastly.... the economic concept of "sunk cost" is something that human nature struggles with, so people didn't want to sell tech stocks when they crashed in 2000/2001 as "I'll get less than I paid for those shares"... in a timeshare world, if you don't like being an owner at a resort anymore, what you paid for it is irrelevant, it is what you can get for it now that counts... look at the value TODAY (not years ago), and ask yourself what happens if you hold onto it for a few years more.... will it be worth more on the resale market then ? will you be happy with the mtce fees / assessments to be paid in the interim ?

Just some thoughts that are hopefully helpful to some in working through the thought process on a rational, rather than emotional level.


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## x3 skier (Sep 30, 2007)

TomCayman, you have some very good thoughts on this topic (as well as others).

One of my timeshares actually reduced the maintenance fees since the new BOD renegotiated the management contract with the developer / operator of the resort. They maintained the reserve and budget for other expenses but are managing the property though another entity with better rates with higher service.

We will see what this portends longer term but as of now, the units are appreciating slightly.

Cheers


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## RMitchell (Sep 30, 2007)

Since there was very little damage from the last hurricane and MF's went up and they added a SA...what's going to happen if there is real damage. Are we going to get a refund if the owning family gets the isurance settlement? We have been paying the improvements. Let me see...how about NO.


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## Poobah (Sep 30, 2007)

*Morritts MF & SA*

Along the lines of what Tom has said there was an interesting observation on Wall Street concerning Home Depot. There was a survey taken of customer service satisfaction and Home Depot's customer service rating had fallen significantly and so had its stock.  The observation that was made was, to the effect, that if you want to know how a company is performing right now look at its financials; if you want to know how the company will perform in the future look at its customer service ratings.

In the context of Morritts, this does not bode well.

The "owners" of Morritts are not true owners, they only have a right to use (RTU). But, it a right to use, not a right to be used.:annoyed: 

The arbitration with Lloyds of London should be resolved shortly and then it is going to get REAL interesting at Morritts. 

Cheers,

Paul


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## walkupp (Nov 5, 2007)

*Morritts Special Assessment*

I am one of the owners of an oceanview studio who hasn't had a unit since Ivan.  I Until now I have patiently accepted the loss due to Ivan, but now that I am being not only charged an ongoing  "maintenance fee" for a unit that doesn't exist ....a 2nd special assessment, I am livid!  

I now have a HUGE issue with the fact no one can tell me when I will have a unit but they certainly can project how much they need to charge me!  The fact that I can no longer bank a unit until it exists but they can bank my money doesn't seem that ethical to me.

I have also let me RCI membership expire, because regardless of what the official word is, the trade value for these nonexistent units is not very high.

In my opinion, the resort is only a "nice" one for visitors; not owners.  I have friends that are not owners going the same time I am next spring.  Considering I am being placed in a poolside and I own(ed) an oceanview and the addtional assessment fees I am being/have been charged - they are actually getting an oceanview 1 bedroom for less than I will be spending for a poolside studio.  No other way to put it - that SUCKS!

I have a few other friends that are also owners, though I am the only studio owner.  Because of their inability to get decent trades, they are all considering doing the ebay dump just to get out from under before the next hurricane.

I refuse to *give* the value of that unit to the Morritts family, but will continue to privately rent out a unit until it actually exists.


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## Poobah (Nov 5, 2007)

*Morritts Phantom Units*

Ironically what may have gotten you an ocean front, was to bank your (non-existent) week with RCI and then trade back in.:  In many cases owners could not get weeks, but traders could. 

If you have been watching this forum and the Morritts Forum (http://morritts.17.forumer.com/index.php) you are not alone in your frustration with the situation at Morritts. It is truely mind boggling.  

As I said in an earlier post, the arbitration should be resolved in December and then it is going to get real interesting.  

Cheers,

Paul


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## Htoo0 (Nov 6, 2007)

Walkupp: Cute how the 'rules' only apply to owners isn't it? Before Ivan we had invited friends down for our 2nd week. We inquired about a bonus week when we tried the sofa bed in our 1 bdrm and found how bad they had become. There were several available in most catagories so we asked about the possibility of 'upgrading' to a 2 bdrm by paying the MF difference plus some sort of transfer fee. (maybe $75-150.) We were told that was absolutely not possible because we had purchased a 1 bdrm pool and that was all we could stay in as it wouldn't be fair to those who paid for something else. NO exceptions! (If you bought a 2 bdrm OF you had to stay in a 2 bdrm OF.) (We wound up renting a studio and staying in seperate buildings.) Now however it's fine if they bump you down to a unit of lesser value with no compensation or even a sincere apology due to circumstances beyond their control. It's just too darn bad- take what we give you and be happy. (Oh, and we need more money from you.) But it's still a nice place to visit. (Really)


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