A strong, owner controlled Board is always the best
The more members you get the cheaper the cost per member. If you don't hire a lawyer and fight it will cost you more assessments and MF increases in the future.
100 owners at $200 each would give you $20,000 to put in a retainer. 50 owners at $400 each would do the same thing. The lawsuit we filed against our board at a resort on the Gulf Coast cost our plaintiff group about $20,000, but we did prevail in court and stopped the board from rebuilding against the owners wishes. If we had not hired an attorney we would have been paying estimated 6000 per week in assessments. We had to pay $500 per week owned to fight the board with the few owners we could assemble to join our plaintiff group. We could have lowered the cost drastically if we could have contacted all of the owners, but the board refused to release the owner's list to us just as Cliff refuses to give it to you.The HOA's and developers don't ever want you to be able to contact all the owners to tell them what is going on because they know that they would have major problems if all owners were told the true situation rather than the lies told by the developers in the "newsletters" and in the annual meeting. You must fight this thing and you can't hire a lawyer for free.
To save your resort many of you are going to have to contribute some of your own money to a legal fund, and some of you are going to have to contribute a lot of personal time and effort in addition to money. To do anything less is to surrender and let Cliff/Outfield/Festiva/NEVMS do what ever they want at your resort including frequent assessments and large annual MF increases. You can pay the lawyer now or pay the crooks at NEVMS/Cliff/Festiva for as long as you own at your resort.
Using two resorts I'm very familiar with, both of which have had experience with Developer issues of management and control as well as Bankruptcies, the power and ability of a strong owners BOD to prevail against even the largest developers is always there. You need individuals who are willing to put the resort operation at a level of their own home, put aside internal issues and unite to gain the owners trust as well as critical financial support.
At one it occurred long before the Internet was king. Thankfully much of the ownership was basically local and could attend meetings, see the resort first hand and understood what was at stake. They were also blessed with a great developer who themselves were hurt by banks and rival developers that forced things into a bankruptcy. The resort suffered for 5 years and spent plenty of legal fees but that dedicated group (there was always a majority of Owners on the Board) fought it out, got things back on track and ultimately turned it around. Two special assessments later the resort is financially solid but unbelievably is STILL working to settle on a block of ownership that remains in question nearly 15 years from when it started! To say it takes time is putting it mildly. Now the annual meeting draws less than 500 people - used to be well over 1000 - due to the improvements made and an aging base of ownership. Everyone appreciates what that Board and the management has done there and it will never be allowed to return to the bad times from what I see.
The other was more recent - 2001 - and it too has a happy ending. Thankfully despite attempts for the developer to maintain control and management they had correctly turned the Board majority to the owners in 1998. They had made moves they felt would keep them in an unassailable spot as management through contracts signed by the outgoing, Developer controlled Board that basically tied the hands of the new Board to make changes. They also handled legal interpretations for the Board, had the Auditors, who appeared independent on the surface, tied to multiple long term agreements at many resorts to "simplify" reporting, had an unbelievable web of associated companies supplying services such as phone, cable TV, laundry, insurance, etc that all carried a significant yet buried commission as well as management fees of over $1 million/year! It was a sweet deal and took years to unravel.
By 2001 the Board had waited out the worst of the agreements (the overall management contract) and both openly and behind the scenes worked to find out what the options were to the current situation before simply moving ahead with a renewal of the contract as the Developer had assumed. At the same moment in time the Developer went into self inflicted bankruptcy and tried to separate the management side from the sales side to their benefit. They also sued Association over any change and pulled out all the stops to make it hard to defend against them by holding cases in other state and even Federal courts, using the shield of bankruptcy to eliminate possible changes, etc.
By then the Internet was a strong presence and thanks to that - using email, web sites, users groups and more - the HOA Board was able to stir up interest and inform owners as to what was happening. Plus having the Board majority allowed them to put out sanctioned newsletters not of the usual fluff but serious missives about the need to fight and why there was a BIG special assessment to support it. But even then the Developer withheld the owners list and had to be forced by the Courts to mail the newsletter. It was a really intense period that ended only when the Board used over $200,000 of Association money to make it clear they would not back down. A settlement was reached and today there are few if any resorts with a stronger bottom line, a better ongoing working relationship with the Developer or an owner base more involved or well informed. Again it was the efforts of a strong owner BOD - in this case with members spread all over the country - that placed the good of the resort FAR above their personal views and gave freely of their time and effort to make it happen. These are after all volunteers - they cannot be paid - and they fought it like they were being threatened with the loss of their home.
I know John Cummings had a similar group of dedicated Board members at his southern California resort(s) that also beat back some of the largest developers not once but twice! That doesn't happen by accident or by wringing your hands in defeat but by rallying owners anyway possible and showing results. We also met 5 Boards in Arizona who did the same, there were the folks at Bluebeards - the list goes on. You don't always hear about the successes here and there are many others that have simply and understandably given up in the face of the Developer onslaught, but it can and has been done with enough effort.
I really hope this group has a strong BOD and will do what is necessary to regain control and make the resort work for the owners. The very fact that it is a lively thread here and that things are happening means they have the chance to succeed. Keep it alive and best of luck to you all.
