Defaulting on Maintenance fees?

[leibfce]

I spoke with Bluegreen in 2020. I own my unit (8,000 pts) outright. The representative told me that if I stopped paying my maintenance fees, they would take over the property and It wouldn't affect my credit because I owned the property outright. I received a call from a collections agency in 2021 which I was shocked to hear from. I explained what the bluegreen representative told me and I never heard from them again. Fast forward to 2024, I received a past due maintenance fee bill for $6k. I never received a letter, call, or email from Bluegreen from 2020-2024. When I explained to them this time on the phone what I was told in 2020, the agent said, yes we will take the property back over, but I can't give you a timeline of when that would happen.

She did give me the option of paying $8.5k to go through the responsible exit program.

I feel like they are just letting the fees accumulate instead of taking it back. I guess I just don't know what their course of action will be going forward. I would hate to have it hurt my credit, but out of principle I don't feel like paying $8,500 is justified. Anyone ever had luck negotiating past due fees? Or had Bluegreen foreclose on a property?

 

[RX8]

This sounds more like a call from a collection agency rather than Bluegreen. Bluegreen may have sold the debt for pennies on the dollar and this collection agency may be doing their best to get what they can. The $8500 charge to go through their responsible exit appears to be scam itself. Hopefully someone familiar with Bluegreen’s exit program will respond.

 

[TUGBrian]

being turned over to collections is a normal result of defaulting and likely simply just part of their policy on dealing with owners in arrears. the job of collections is to attempt to collect. one effective strategy used int he collections process is the threat of (and following thru with) reporting said default to the credit bureaus.

seems you haven't paid in 4 years, has anything shown up on your credit yet?

yes bluegreen will eventually make efforts to recover the ownership from you, however there is nothing that dictates how long that might take, in this case it would seem that "years" applies.

I see little value for you to pay $8500 to give it back, vs simply inform them that you are more than happy to sign the ownership back over to them free of charge! There is usually a fee for the transfer of a bluegreen ownership that I would consider paying if they ask...think its $450?