[2008] John Faeth's unfinished business

[Carolyn]

Has anyone heard from John's brother or wife concerning the unfinished closings? I sent an e-mail about a week ago to John's e-mail address (which I heard his relatives had access to) but haven't heard anything.

Should we contact another timeshare closing company to help out?

Thanks.

Carolyn

 

[sfwilshire]

JMHO, but I'd give it a bit of time out of respect for the family. It has apparently already been stated that everything will be taken care of. I know from past experience how difficult it can be to get a handle on all the unfinished business, even for a person who had minimal financial dealings. This must be a nightmare for the family right now.

Sheila

 

[tomandrobin]

I would agree about giving space, however I do know that there are a bunch of us who has had zero response to phone calls and emails.

 

[Carolyn]

I understand and agree completely about respecting the family's time of mourning. I really don't expect for all of this to get sorted out for months, even though we only need the deed recorded. Unfortunately, it has to be recorded in St. Thomas. I was just hoping for some sort of response such as
"we'll be in touch in the near future". When anyone else hears anything from the family, I'm sure they will post on TUG. I hope I don't seem insensitive as that was not my intention.

Carolyn

 

[Tia]

I emailed someone from my bluebeards beach club yahoo that was a friend of John's with a link to this thread. Hope it will get directed to where it needs to go for you.

 

[LINAND]

John was handling my closing, but first waiting to hear back from Westgate on the ROFR thing
(they haven't made up their minds yet) I am the seller, my buyer has money in Johns escrow account. if anyone hears anything please let me know. thanks.

 

[Jim C]

Contact the executor!!

I would agree about giving space, however I do know that there are a bunch of us who has had zero response to phone calls and emails.

We had a similar situation when we sold our Sanibel Beach Club unit years ago. Buyer missed an annual payment, I called and his daughter answered. She informed me he had just died. I gave her my personal information, including my work info(I was a NYS Police Investigator) to reassure her I was legitimate. I followed up with a letter and some phone calls over the next several months with no luck. I was unsuccessful in speaking with, or getting a response from, the widow. I also couldn't find out who the executor was. I finally contacted a Ft. Myers attorney to assist me in moving against the estate. The widow called me a short time later asking why I hired an attorney instead of contacting her. Explained the preceding to her and learned that the daughter had completely intercepted all attempts to contact her as well as not passing on information regarding the executor. As a result, the estate was facing several suits. Note that the daughter was NOT the executrix. I received full payment a short time later.

My point is this; John's estate has an executor. It is his legal obligation to handle these issues and I would NOT wait to contact him/her. Giving the family their space is kind, but you need to follow up ASAP. If the executor is a family member, then he/she will be expecting to hear from you.

 

[Carolyn]

John's brother is an attorney so I assume he is handling everything...but maybe not??? I just spoke with the resort and they have the names changed to the new owners. However the new owners do not have a copy of the deed as it has not been recorded in St. Thomas. And of course we don't have our money from the sale since it is in an escrow account.

Carolyn

 

[Jennie]

I hope I am not disclosing information that will upset the Faeth family. But I do want to try to calm the fears of TUG members who have unresolved business matters pending. John's brother is a highly respected attorney. He was the Registrar of the City of New York for many years (a high level career government position). He now handles legal mattters for major real estate developers. In my brief conversations with him, he was as just as kind and decent as John always was. John said he had a close relationship with his brother and greatly admired and respected him.

It's been only three weeks since John passed away. I'm confident that the family is already immersed in trying to get a handle on what remains to be done.

 

[Tia]

The reply I got from John's friend is-

"John had planned a trip to STT in mid April to do deeding but then
became involved in a big deal contracting job in NYC. His wife,
Lorelei was preparing to go to STT in his place in May, but of course
that won't be happening now. Lorelei told me that she will be
focusing on deeds that were near completion or people whose use is
upcoming. I know that she appreciates everyone's patience and be
assured that she is committed to following through on all of John's
deals."

 

[Carolyn]

Has anyone heard anything yet from John's brother or wife about pending timeshare closings he was working on? Thanks.

Carolyn

 

[LINAND]

Yes, I got an email from Johns wife a couple of days ago... she was working on my closing and wrote to say how things were coming along.

 

[kdorward]

I have been calling and emailing to find out about the closing of my St. Thomas property. I just wish I would get an update on the closing. If Lorelie wants to do the closing that would be fine, if she would want someone else to handle it then she could send back the escrow money. I would just like to know where things stand. I am the buyer and I don't know how much longer the seller will wait to hear anything.

 

[richardm]

Wow... What a scary thread.. Anytime you are dealing with a small, private closing agent- there are obviously risks involved.. Plus it seems like we are hearing more and more cases of escrow failures from these private closing companies... Perhaps some actual regulation would be a good idea at this point!.. I'd love to hear DaveH thoughts on this from a closing agent perpective?

While I certainly feel sympathy for the family- this does not seem to help those buyers and sellers that have been effected.. It would seem prudent at this point to suggest the family take just a small amount of time to simply transfer documents and most importantly, escrow held- to another closing agent to finalize....

 

[GrayFal]

Just a FYI for people waiting on St Thomas closing - NORMAL closing time for a STT timeshare is 6-8 months - the government there is really on 'island time'. When I purchase at Bluebeard's BeachClub in late June 2004, the closing was handle by a large closing company. I got my recorded deed in May 2005
John had connections in St Thomas and visited the island 3-6 times a year and went to the government office to personally have the recording done.

That personal visit is a thing of the past unfortunately - I am not affiliated in any way with John's company but I kind of relate this to a 'regular' Wyndham closing - if you use one of the big resellers - Tom C or Angel from RPIM? - they get your closing done in 4 weeks because of their 'special relationship' with Wyndham - I purchased from someone else in March/April and I'm still waiting for my ownership to be acknowledged.

 

[richardm]

GrayFal is absolutely correct about the timeframe.. I've never had the luck to see one of these closing proceed in a timely manner.. I'm going to have to ask Delva or Tom what kind of "special relationship" gets them through the deeding process so quickly.. I'd be willing to bet that these quick closings were non-deeded Wyndham transfers? I normally advise buyers it will probably take between 8 months to a year from start to finish..

 

[SASSY]

This is my first posting experience, so I hope I'm doing it right.

We contracted with John to buy a timeshare at Bluebeards Beach Club in St. Thomas in Feb 2007. Despite numerous communications, we still don't have title/deed. This goes way beyond the "Island time" 8-10 months.

I have tried to reach John's cell/email, but no response from his wife, etc. Mention was made on several posts that his brother may be executor. Does anyone have his name and or contact information?

Thanks,
SASSY

 

[Carolyn]

Has anyone heard from John Faeth's wife concerning their timeshare closing??

There is nearly $5000 in escrow for the sale of our timeshare. Prior to his passing, John had notified the resort of the new owners, yet we haven't received our money as the deed needs to be recorded in St. Thomas. After numerous emails, I have not heard from her in 2 weeks and am becoming very concerned. Any ideas??

 

[DeniseM]

I understand your concern, but even under normal circumstances, 2 weeks is not very long with closing companies. My understanding is that recording the deed will require that someone make a trip to St. Thomas, so my guess is that they want to have as many deeds ready to go as possible before they make the trip. I don't know if you've seen the other posts about this or not, but John's brother, who is a well-known attorney, is helping finish everything up. The last I heard, his wife was receiving all his calls and emails, but she's swamped.

*I'm going to move this to your other thread on the same topic, to keep all the info. together - please post there if you want to add anything.

 

[Carolyn]

It is my understanding (from a reliable source) that John's brother has since developed his own rather serious medical problems and is not much help. Our contract was signed last February and everything was to be finished by April.
I certainly understand the situation and am just asking for some sort of response to my emails. Has anyone else heard anything?

 

[Talent312]

It is my understanding (from a reliable source) that John's brother has since developed his own rather serious medical problems and is not much help. Our contract was signed last February and everything was to be finished by April.
I certainly understand the situation and am just asking for some sort of response to my emails. Has anyone else heard anything?

Two ideas:
Those who have deposits with the deceased may want to check with the county clerk where he lived to see if there's an executor and estate file open, and file a claim against the estate with the court and executor. Also, the state agency which issued his license may have a proceudre for handling this situation and a client security-fund for reimbursements.

 

[somerville]

I understand your concern, but even under normal circumstances, 2 weeks is not very long with closing companies. My understanding is that recording the deed will require that someone make a trip to St. Thomas, so my guess is that they want to have as many deeds ready to go as possible before they make the trip. I don't know if you've seen the other posts about this or not, but John's brother, who is a well-known attorney, is helping finish everything up. The last I heard, his wife was receiving all his calls and emails, but she's swamped.

I can appreciate the stress that John's wife must be under, but that really is not an excuse to not timely respond to e-mails. If she cannot handle finishing up his business, she should hire someone to do so, or transfer the files to another company who will finish the work. As for recording deeds, why can't they just pay someone in St. Thomas to do the leg work. They could mail the deeds to that person. JMHO

 

[icydog]

I'm staying out of the whole thing since I am not involved. But I do know that Holiday Group closed a ST Thomas property for me without anyone physically being there. I don't know how they did-- it but it got done.

 

[ownsmany]

the situation is so bad for all concerned - on both sides. Hopefully someone will step in to help his wife and brother finish up his business.

I hate to see his name associated with unfinished business.

He meant so much to all of us.

 

[Jim C]

Somehow, I'd thought this thing would be well on the way to resolution by now. Looked back over the thread and noticed a lot of wishful thinking in many of the posts. It's been nearly three months and there is absolutely no reason for the lack of action on the estate's behalf. Why should anyone have substantial sums of money tied up for months and some for the better part of a year? Sadly, those in limbo need start looking for legal remedies to all of this and consider filing claims against the estate. As I stated previously, the estate is legally bound to address John's unfinished business. Too many excuses and not enough action.