Market down, may just return week to resort

[dchilds]

We own 4 weeks at Pelican Resort in St Maarten, two are week 24, so we tried selling one of the weeks. Last year we listed the one we wanted to sell on eBay with the option to rent for the maintenance fee to the winning bidder. The auction ended at $1500+, and the winning bidder decided to take the rental option. After staying there, they decided not to buy, because they had family in Florida and decided they would travel to Florida more often.

Pelican raised the maintenance fees this year and has a one time special assesment at about 40% of the maintenance fee. When we got our new bill, we decided to re-list the week, starting at $99 with no closing cost except resort transfer fee. This time, no bids.

We have enough timeshares that we don't need an extra week to bank, and while Pelican's maintenance fees are low compared to renting, they're a bit high to trade, and we can't use two units the same week every year. It looks like it may be time to give it back.

 

[Jbart74]

Hate to be a downer, but you won't have much luck giving it back right now. They most likely won't take it from you. If you can't sell it for free, they surely can't sell it for $10,000. They'd rather have you committed to paying the annual MFs.

 

[BocaBum99]

What can the resort do to an owner who just stops paying their maintenance fees? Isn't their only option to just foreclose? If it's outside the US, can it impact the owner in any way?

 

[Jbart74]

What can the resort do to an owner who just stops paying their maintenance fees? Isn't their only option to just foreclose? If it's outside the US, can it impact the owner in any way?

Out of the USA does not mean that you will not get reported to the three credit reporting companies in the states. Trust me, you will. It's not pretty. Forclosures are an ugly thing, as we are all learning if we are watching the evening news, or CNN, or are living human beings. If you plan to purchase anything on credit in the future, car, house, vacation, DVD player, etc... or if you might ever need to switch jobs, your credit will be checked, and your overseas forclosure will surely put your application at the bottom of the stack. Is it worth it? Maybe, if you are independently wealthy, keep stacks of $1000 bills hidden in your matress and never need a credit card, or even a debit card ever again -- it might be worth it. But if you had that much money, you wouldn't mind just paying the maintenance fees and enjoying the resort or exchange possibilities.

 

[Dave M]

Adding to John's comments, many timeshare resorts include language in the CC&Rs that make the owner legally responsible for MFs, late fees and all collection costs (e.g., attorney fees, court filings, court costs, etc.).

Merely stopping payment of MFs without discussing the possible ramifications with an attorney or knowing what action the resort will or won't take is a fool's game.

 

[AKE]

Re: Out of the USA does not mean that you will not get reported to the three credit reporting companies in the states.

I am not a lawyer and wonder if this is true - realistically a resort in St. Maarten has better things to do than report to a US-based credit service as they have no gain in it - and how would they even trace the person unless the resort has the person's social security number (which I myself would never give out to anyone, let alone a resort in a Caribbean). The only exception to this I would see is if there was a US-based financial service responsible for collecting the maintenance payments wherein they may have more clout. Look at the resorts based in continental US and Canada where people dont pay their maintenance fees - if this was a serious credit issue then I would think that maintenance fee payment would be high on these people's agendas but it doesnt seem to be... onve again only my opinion so I would suggest contacting a lawyer to be sure of any implications of not paying the maintenance fees.

 

[caribbeansun]

ISCO, which services all Royal Resort properties including Pelican, is based on Florida - nuf said?

The obvious solution is a $1 auction on eBay with no reserve. Relist it until it goes.

I am not a lawyer and wonder if this is true - realistically a resort in St. Maarten has better things to do than report to a US-based credit service as they have no gain in it - and how would they even trace the person unless the resort has the person's social security number (which I myself would never give out to anyone, let alone a resort in a Caribbean). The only exception to this I would see is if there was a US-based financial service responsible for collecting the maintenance payments wherein they may have more clout. Look at the resorts based in continental US and Canada where people dont pay their maintenance fees - if this was a serious credit issue then I would think that maintenance fee payment would be high on these people's agendas but it doesnt seem to be... onve again only my opinion so I would suggest contacting a lawyer to be sure of any implications of not paying the maintenance fees.

 

[dchilds]

Ownership Trade?

[Please see the Timeshare Marketplace link at the top of the page for owner exchanges - we can't offer exchanges in the forums. - DeniseM Moderator]

 

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

We bought Pelican cheap in a big sale, never used it, although that was our intent (it cost too much to get there from the West Coast). It was explained to me at the time, that they had previously allowed owners to only pay their MF the years they used the resort. Obviously, that plus being in a hurricane zone was a big problem. There were increasing costs and assessments and we sold it for about what we paid for it, which was, I think, $1000 for a one bedroom.
Liz

 

[luckybunny]

Re: Out of the USA does not mean that you will not get reported to the three credit reporting companies in the states.

I am not a lawyer and wonder if this is true - realistically a resort in St. Maarten has better things to do than report to a US-based credit service as they have no gain in it - and how would they even trace the person unless the resort has the person's social security number (which I myself would never give out to anyone, let alone a resort in a Caribbean). The only exception to this I would see is if there was a US-based financial service responsible for collecting the maintenance payments wherein they may have more clout. Look at the resorts based in continental US and Canada where people dont pay their maintenance fees - if this was a serious credit issue then I would think that maintenance fee payment would be high on these people's agendas but it doesnt seem to be... onve again only my opinion so I would suggest contacting a lawyer to be sure of any implications of not paying the maintenance fees.

I wonder how big a damage it will cause to your credit rating if you simply stop paying for MF for a US based timeshare especially if you are not US resident, for example, for a Canadian resident. What can the US timeshare do, sue you across the border? If timeshare is a real-estate property then wouldn't they do what other real estate debt holders do which is foreclose?

I mean for home mortgage, if you have a good relationship with your banker, it really wouldn't matter. Especially if you have never missed a mortgage payment for years. If you already have a couple of good credit cards and have established long history of good credit with them what will they look at? Your past cc history or a delinquent of MF payment?

Car loans? I doubt that will stop a car sale.

So they send some collection agency after you? Sue you? What is the worst they can do?

I mean a lot of people are under some serious issues in this economy. There are lots of $1 ebay without bids. If you simply can not pay the timeshare MF because you have other more important use of your cash, what other choice do you have? Will the resort really come after you? I am sure there are lots of people now not paying their MF and what are they going to do? go after them all? Or just foreclose the timeshare and try to find someone else that will take it and pay MF on it?

 

[Carol C]

There have always been timesharers who've foreclosed on their t/s interests. Often we get free or cheap weeks from resorts when there's a mass exodus of timeshare "owners" due to large special assessments. Those people bail out in droves rather than pay special assessments. Heck, there was a SA of only $500 at Foxrun and folks bailed. Same with Peregrine. That's how savvy TUGgers have bought into resorts cheaply; those resorts want to get maintenance-fee paying "owners" back into their fold. Just watch what will happen now that maint fee bills are in the mail. And heaven only knows what will happen if any resorts are in the midst of billing for special assessments due to hurricanes or whatnot. (Texas gulf coast resort owners, take note.) I predict there will be several resorts giving away free t/s weeks in the second quarter of 2009. Keep your eyes on TUG if you're in the market for a free week; this will be the site to watch for announcements of such deals being offered by smaller/older resorts trying to make payroll.

 

[timeos2]

International debt is still debt

Re: Out of the USA does not mean that you will not get reported to the three credit reporting companies in the states.

I am not a lawyer and wonder if this is true - realistically a resort in St. Maarten has better things to do than report to a US-based credit service as they have no gain in it - and how would they even trace the person unless the resort has the person's social security number (which I myself would never give out to anyone, let alone a resort in a Caribbean). The only exception to this I would see is if there was a US-based financial service responsible for collecting the maintenance payments wherein they may have more clout. Look at the resorts based in continental US and Canada where people dont pay their maintenance fees - if this was a serious credit issue then I would think that maintenance fee payment would be high on these people's agendas but it doesnt seem to be... onve again only my opinion so I would suggest contacting a lawyer to be sure of any implications of not paying the maintenance fees.

Well the reverse is certainly true. At one resort we own there were nearly 5% of the weeks were sold by the developer to Argentina based owners back in the 90's. Early 2000-2001 that economy virtually collapsed and they couldn't even pay if they wanted to due to government restrictions. Our resort management stayed on it, reported the past due fees to whatever the proper place is in Argentina and, what do you know, in 2008 w have less than 20 of those weeks in delinquent status and only foreclosed on 5 out of nearly 500 owners from that country. Turns out Argentinians are very credit conscious and a black mark carries heavy consequences so they did whatever they could to get those fees paid and current. Some even had relatives in the US pay the fees for them and somehow reimbursed them during the period when monetary transfers were restriicted. I never expected to see a turn around like that but we did. So it does pay to follow up even with out of country owners.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Not Just Argentina.

Well the reverse is certainly true. At one resort we own there were nearly 5% of the weeks were sold by the developer to Argentina based owners back in the 90's. Early 2000-2001 that economy virtually collapsed and they couldn't even pay if they wanted to due to government restrictions. Our resort management stayed on it, reported the past due fees to whatever the proper place is in Argentina and, what do you know, in 2008 w have less than 20 of those weeks in delinquent status and only foreclosed on 5 out of nearly 500 owners from that country. Turns out Argentinians are very credit conscious and a black mark carries heavy consequences so they did whatever they could to get those fees paid and current. Some even had relatives in the US pay the fees for them and somehow reimbursed them during the period when monetary transfers were restriicted. I never expected to see a turn around like that but we did. So it does pay to follow up even with out of country owners.

That strikes a familiar chord -- that is, the problem-solving flipside of that strikes a chord.

As timeos2 knows well, the seller of the 1st timeshare we bought was a distressed South American owner who was behind in fees & assessments because of those economic conditions & financial restrictions in his home country, Chile, which borders Argentina.

We got an outstanding Orlando timeshare for nickels on the full-freight dollar. The distressed original owner got out from under a bad financial situation not of his own making. The resort got a fresh fee-paying owner for the delinquent week. A win-win-win situation all round.

The seller's back fees & assessments were paid to the resort out of the proceeds of the sale. (The timeshare closing services agency took care of that.)

Even though the original owner got hosed in the transaction, he did get his arrears cleared up & he got his name off the deed. Plus (sorry to say), getting hosed is SOP for anybody who sells a timeshare for which he or she paid full freight, regardless of conditions & restrictions in the home country.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​