Peppertree Atlantic Beach I bankruptcy

[Kozman]

I think you need at least 100 owners to file a complaint with the NC Attorney General Office for action to take place. Good Luck.

If we only had a mailing list or someone to look up all the deeds in public record.

 

[Mulligan101]

Carteret County Register of Deeds

If we only had a mailing list or someone to look up all the deeds in public record.

You can look up deeds and transfers at http://deeds.carteretcounty.com.

I typed in Peppertree as the Grantor and came up with 200 pages of deeds and transfers, many of which show the building numbers. The downside is that there are old deeds such as mine that do not have an image, so that no addresses are available.

I have been following this situation on other social media such as Facebook, various consumer complaint boards, and although I have not been able to find an active class action suit concerning the current situation at PAB; it seems like a number of owners are interested in a class action suit. If you Google " Festiva resort complaints " you get dozens of hits. Lots of unhappy consumers!

I would be interested in a class action suit or filing a complaint with the AG.

 

[Kozman]

You can look up deeds and transfers at http://deeds.carteretcounty.com.

I typed in Peppertree as the Grantor and came up with 200 pages of deeds and transfers, many of which show the building numbers. The downside is that there are old deeds such as mine that do not have an image, so that no addresses are available.

I have been following this situation on other social media such as Facebook, various consumer complaint boards, and although I have not been able to find an active class action suit concerning the current situation at PAB; it seems like a number of owners are interested in a class action suit. If you Google " Festiva resort complaints " you get dozens of hits. Lots of unhappy consumers!

I would be interested in a class action suit or filing a complaint with the AG.

We need to keep informed on the situation. Supposedly there was a lawyer representing the Phase I owners. Too bad they don't see the economy of scale by adding Phase II owners into the mix. Even if we had to share on some costs it would be pleasurable to see these people squirm. Unfortunately our own money is being used against us by the HOA and Festiva. They don't have their own money! Pffft!

 

[Shelleykc]

You can look up deeds and transfers at http://deeds.carteretcounty.com.

I typed in Peppertree as the Grantor and came up with 200 pages of deeds and transfers, many of which show the building numbers. The downside is that there are old deeds such as mine that do not have an image, so that no addresses are available.

I have been following this situation on other social media such as Facebook, various consumer complaint boards, and although I have not been able to find an active class action suit concerning the current situation at PAB; it seems like a number of owners are interested in a class action suit. If you Google " Festiva resort complaints " you get dozens of hits. Lots of unhappy consumers!

I would be interested in a class action suit or filing a complaint with the AG.

Thanks for the link. I typed in Festiva as the Grantor and found around 800 or so deeds that had been registered for Phase II and Phase III units with recording dates beginning 1/29/2016 through 4/7/2016 (although I did not see anything after 3/4/16). These deeds do identify the owners and their mailing addresses.

 

[allsmiles277]

I just finished reading all the threads posted about the law suits, bankruptcy, demolition and repairs going on at Peppertree Atlantic Beach. Thanks for all your insightful posts. My husband, our son and I owned 4 units in Phase I and are wondering if any of you have had the following happen to them. I apologize in advance for the length of this post.

We elected to deed back one of the Phase I units last year and exchanged the remaining three to Phase II. I am wondering if any of you have experienced what is now happening to us. We, like many others, did exactly as requested by Festiva by sending in the required paper work along with deeding fees in March 2016 (our checks were not cashed until June following the filing of the bankruptcy papers). We were told by Festiva Member Services after receiving the bills for 2015 MF plus late charges to ignore them as they were computer generated and that we would receive a new bill when we received a new deed.

As time approached to use the first week (21) last year, we contacted Member Services and were told that we could pay the MF over the phone and use the unit. Now, considering we did not have a deed to the unit, we considered that a user/rental fee. How or why would we pay MF on a unit we did not own? My son did the same thing to use week 22 in 2015, again, knowing he owned nothing.

We were called in Aug 2015 by the manager of Peppertree cancelling our upcoming stay for week 35--we had not paid any fees as we still had not received a deed. I stated at that time that I was glad we had not paid for the use. She stated we would have to pay the MF because they still had to run the resort. Well, of course we did not pay since we did not own it and we were not going to be allowed to use it.

Fast forward to Nov, we all received bills for MF (week 35 showing MF without any late or additional fees). We still did not have a deed and did not own anything that came from Phase I. We FINALLY received a single deed for two properties on March 5th, 2016 (recorded in Carteret County on Feb 9th, 2016).

I contacted Member Services on March 7th and reminded them that we had paid for two recording fees and expected two deeds. The young man said he could not help me and would send the information to the "right" office. On March 11th I received an email stating that "as a cost-savings measure to the Homeowners' Association" the decision was made to register the two new weeks under one deed. They also were "kind" enough to tell me how I could have them registered as two separate properties (at my expense). I immediately sent a reply that reminded them that I had paid for the deeding of two properties and expected two deeds and that the Homeowners Association did not have the right to take cost-saving measures with my money. To date, I have had no response to that email. I also have not received a request for MF payment that I was told to expect with my new deed.

Yesterday, I got a call from a collection agency demanding payment of over $900 in MF and late, interest and collection fees. (I have not received a bill from Festiva for payment since the new deed was issued, contrary to what I was previously told). Needless to say, I was/am quite upset at this unprofessional tactic. I immediately got out my paperwork and called Member Services again. This time the agent tried to give me the number to the collection agency because he couldn't help me. I told him of the two issues (single deed and the collection agency) and that I would not deal with an agency or pay late fees, etc on property I did not own at the time of the only billing of MF last November.

The agent did confirm that my record showed only the November statement as being sent, quickly stating that maybe it was noted elsewhere. I stated that I want my account pulled back from collections and dealt with by Festiva. He in turn said he would get this request to the "right" office. I also requested a return phone call to discuss and resolve this since I have found that email is not an effective form of communication with them. And as you can guess, I am still waiting---however, the collection agency called my residence again last night. Our son is having the same experience and received a phone call from the collection agency this morning.


Is anyone else experiencing this lack of cooperation from Festiva concerning your trades from Phase I to Phase II? Is my logic skewed in thinking that I do not owe any MFs on property I did not own? Please share your thoughts with me. Is there recourse for us? If a class action suit is imminent, our family is ready to sign on. Is small claims court an option?

Get to the Big Dogs.....don't waste your time with the puppies !!!!

 

[NC Air]

Some photos from a friend

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think this photo is taken from behind building 17 more or less, looking down the walkway towards where the mushroom buildings used to stand.

is it my imagination, or are the blue umbrellas in the photo "poolside umbrellas"? They are positioned right where the pool ought to be. If so, does this photo show they tore down the buildings and left the pool from Phase 1? Leaving a pool in the middle of an otherwise deserted piece of land? That's not really how they'd sell this property to "someone", is it?

To me that indicates Festiva is planning to buy the land out of bankruptcy and build bigger and more units than before, after having basically evicted all the owners and created land to sell this all over again. Or if not Festiva, then some fake holding company allowing these losers to get around the legal restriction they have for 3 years...

Can someone who is driving on site confirm if the pool is still there?

Also, wouldn't maintenance of Phase 1 pool fall on Phase 1 HOA, which is now nonexistent?

This whole thing stinks

 

[allsmiles277]

Yes they are poolside umbrellas. They always planned on keeping the pool. Festiva and the Boards are slimy, creepy liars, cheaters and snakes !!!!

 

[jimbob79]

There are approximately 80 units in Buildings 15-25. I divided 1,000,000 dollars by 3 years and got 333,333.333. I divided that by 80 units and got 4166.66 and then divided that by 52 weeks and got 80.13. Can any math people confirm this ?

I went through the same math but one very significant factor is the number of deadbeat owners which will likely be increasing as more people bail. A 25% non-payment means that those paying would have to pay 33% higher. The figures could end up much higher as more owners default. Under $300 total cost per week would be a surprise. We already paid for our elevators twice in Buildings 20-23! :-(

 

[allsmiles277]

Even with a 33% increase it should only be a little over 100 dollars assuming my figures are close to being correct. I don't blame people for not paying their maintenance fees since they are getting nothing for their money. The problem is the Boards and Festiva.

 

[allsmiles277]

I think the term "deadbeats" is an insult to owners that have paid their maintenance fees for years and been very loyal to Peppertree AB but see Festiva and the Boards for what they truly are.......negligent, liars, poor managers, financially untrustworthy, non communicators, and just generally unreliable. The result is you cannot trust some Boards and management companies because they only care about the money and don't care about owners. I am not saying that there are Boards at different complexes that properly do their job and management companies that do care about owners. Peppertree AB had been a favorite of mine for years but it is doomed to failure under the management of Festiva and Boards that are spineless.

 

[allsmiles277]

https://portal.festiva.travel/files/PAB2/March9letter.pdf what a joke !!! One more example of poor communication after August 17, 2015

 

[NC Air]

since a lot of folks likely didn't pay their maintenance fees, I hope that when they eventually open up for the Summer, whenever that is, that they'll prioritize getting a week for those who have missed their week AHEAD of someone who hasn't missed their week but didn't pay their maintenance fees.

regarding the math calculations for guessing the amount we'll be assessed, I tried doing similar math not knowing how many units are weeks owners vs. points owners, and not knowing how many people would skip out on an assessment.

I was guessing the amount we'll each have to pay at around $250 to $300 a year for 3 years. Have no idea what kind of interest rate they were able to line up on $1 million for 3 years

Anything in that realm of a few hundred dollars is ok with me if it fixes this construction issue.

 

[pedro47]

Can you exchange or use your week for a vacation now at this resort? This summer I predict is going to be a Hugh Mess.

 

[NC Air]

Can you exchange or use your week for a vacation now at this resort? This summer I predict is going to be a Hugh Mess.

when I log into festiva I see reservation ndates for our week this summer. We were fortunate in that they closed the resort after we used last summer's week. We are blocked from trading this week for any other resort.

I did find a bunch of more info on the Town of Atlantic Beach web site for buildings and construction permits. Although Festiva absolutely SUCKS at keeping the owners informed, they've had to give monthly reports to the Town for the whole mess they allowed to happen. There are monthly reports up thru late January that are very informative, more than anything I've received from Festiva.

Here is the link to the page

http://atlanticbeach-nc.com/highlights/​

scroll down to Peppertree condemnation.

Here's the newest letter if you want to go straight there to the info:
http://atlanticbeach-nc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2016_01-25-letter-from-Peppertree-to-Council.pdf

It gave dates of when things were demolished and dates for when things were planned to reopen.

One thing I noticed is they plan to open each building as the decking and stairs are finished, as early as APRIL 2016 and everything to be open by Memorial Day weekend.

 

[pedro47]

when I log into festiva I see reservation ndates for our week this summer. We were fortunate in that they closed the resort after we used last summer's week. We are blocked from trading this week for any other resort.

I did find a bunch of more info on the Town of Atlantic Beach web site for buildings and construction permits. Although Festiva absolutely SUCKS at keeping the owners informed, they've had to give monthly reports to the Town for the whole mess they allowed to happen. There are monthly reports up thru late January that are very informative, more than anything I've received from Festiva.

Here is the link to the page

http://atlanticbeach-nc.com/highlights/​

scroll down to Peppertree condemnation.

Here's the newest letter if you want to go straight there to the info:
http://atlanticbeach-nc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2016_01-25-letter-from-Peppertree-to-Council.pdf

It gave dates of when things were demolished and dates for when things were planned to reopen.

One thing I noticed is they plan to open each building as the decking and stairs are finished, as early as APRIL 2016 and everything to be open by Memorial Day weekend.

Has anyone contacted The Town City Manager for an update for the Months of February 2016 and March 2016?

 

[allsmiles277]

Festiva can't give out weeks that don't exist to everybody that did not get to use their weeks. They should be reimbursed their maintenance fees. The numbers of units that would give people that did not get to use their weeks a week this summer or Fall just don't exist. The Boards and Festiva are trying to do a magic act but they are not magicians.....they are crooks !!!

 

[NeedsAnswersPABII]

My husband is traveling down this weekend to the resort to take pictures and find out face to face what work has really taken place. We still do not believe that construction has even begun on some of the buildings. We will report to you guys after he sees what is really going on.

 

[NC Air]

My husband is traveling down this weekend to the resort to take pictures and find out face to face what work has really taken place. We still do not believe that construction has even begun on some of the buildings. We will report to you guys after he sees what is really going on.

Photos would be great. Festiva should understand that keeping us up to date on progress with photos etc. they could do themselves would keep the tempers down among their customers. Even just putting them on their facebook page or whatever.

You say you don't think construction has even begun on some of the buildings...I'd be SHOCKED if there was construction underway on all buildings. Pretty clear from the latest Festiva update they have SUBMITTED PLANS FOR APPROVAL for all buildings. My question would be if any are nearing completion. It's not a surprise to me at ALL that they wouldn't have started every building yet, because who knows how long the plans will take. Beach will be extra thorough to avoid having to condemn shoddy workmanship again down the road.

I'm 100% certain the Atlantic Beach government wants this over ASAP too, not just us owners and Festiva

Think about this: This is simply a deck and stairway project. This isn't rocket science. They say they can reuse some of the stairways or railings or whatever. This won't take that long once they get all the plans approved. For them to have a Memorial Day date floating around that THEY are the ones who gave, means it's likely to be over soon. Just what the heck took so long to start?

 

[bogey21]

This whole escapade boggles my mind. I ran into a similar situation with a Week I owned (in my Son's name), Orofino at Straight Creek in Dillon, CO.

There the HOA laid out the facts and offered Owners two choices, (1) pay the increased MF and Special Assessment and keep your week (they told you exactly what the cost of both would be) or (2) pay $1,000 and Surrender your Week back to the HOA before the end of the year. Both cost money but at least Owners knew where they stood and were given an option.

George

PS I think the difference is that in the case of Orofino Owneres were dealing with an Independent HOA with a Board made up of Owners. In the case of Peppertree Atlantic Beach you are dealing with a corporate entity, Festiva. I also owned at two resorts that suffered massive hurricane damage, Peregrine (in Texas) and Chateau LeGrande (in Mississippi). Both had Independent HOAs who were able to rebuild without (to the best of my recollection) large Special Assessments. My recollection is that we lost usage for about a year while the Resorts were being rebuilt.

 

[Kozman]

since a lot of folks likely didn't pay their maintenance fees, I hope that when they eventually open up for the Summer, whenever that is, that they'll prioritize getting a week for those who have missed their week AHEAD of someone who hasn't missed their week but didn't pay their maintenance fees.

regarding the math calculations for guessing the amount we'll be assessed, I tried doing similar math not knowing how many units are weeks owners vs. points owners, and not knowing how many people would skip out on an assessment.

I was guessing the amount we'll each have to pay at around $250 to $300 a year for 3 years. Have no idea what kind of interest rate they were able to line up on $1 million for 3 years

Anything in that realm of a few hundred dollars is ok with me if it fixes this construction issue.

What has been done with the almost 8 months of maintenance fees collected last year and this year at about $600-$700 per unit? Since the resort was closed most of the expenses of running a resort should not have been spent. It would seem that would be more than enough to pay for the said repairs!

 

[NC Air]

What has been done with the almost 8 months of maintenance fees collected last year and this year at about $600-$700 per unit? Since the resort was closed most of the expenses of running a resort should not have been spent. It would seem that would be more than enough to pay for the said repairs!

7 or 8 months of expenses would be just over half the maintenance fees

Top 6 maintenance fee line items:

1) Biggest line item on the budget for each maintenance fee is "repair and maintenance" at 23%. Since maintenance is what the problem is here, I doubt they need "less" than this 23% recently. If nothing else, they probably need MORE.

2) Next biggest line item: BAD DEBT at 16%. I think this one is hysterical. What other industries besides time shares have so many people walk away. What an embarrassment. My suspicion is with so many people saying "screw you I'm not paying my MF" that their "bad debt" amount is significantly worse this year.

3) Next biggest: Housekeeping. Yep, should be less, just under 15%
4th largest... utilities: also should be lower, but only 12%.
5th largest... Management fees: 8%
6th largest...Resort Management 6.7% (i suspect 5 and 6 are fixed per contract, not "less" if there are fewer guests).

Those top 6 budget items account for about 65%
There just aren't that many places to realize savings with all the other items that are left. Add in that you have a bunch of legal fees with lawyers and having to hire design consultants to design a $1,000,000 construction cost project to repair decks and stairways, get it permitted, etc. My estimate of design is about 10% of the construction price, so about $100,000.

All that to say I really don't think there's much "savings" from unused maintenance fees this year.

(anyone who wants to check my numbers, I just used the 2016 annual budget that was in the mailing for our 2016 maintenance fees. I used a 2 BR calculation.

 

[Shelleykc]

You may find this of interest regarding Festiva & Peppertree Atlantic Beach, NC

[Moderator Note: Beginning with this posting which started as a new separate thread and any replies to Shelleykc posting which began on April 19, 2016 have been merged into the original thread entitled: Peppertree Atlantic Beach I bankruptcy which became the dominant and earlier thread on the same subject]

I decided to do some sleuthing around online at the Carteret County Register of Deeds website and here are some interesting facts that I found:

Over 800 deeds were recorded in Carteret County beginning 29 Jan 16 through 4 Mar 16 with Festiva Development as the Grantor to various individuals (including us and our son). This confirms that many, many people did not own the units that Festiva billed them for back in Nov 2015 (our statement date was 24 Nov 15).

Additionally, once Peppertree was forced to close all buildings in Phase II due to the deck and rail issues on 17 Aug 15, Peppertree management was forced to cancel all vacation usage until further notice. Coincidentally, the remainder of the exchanged week conveyance deeds were recorded 25 Aug 15. This means that many owners that had a usage week from 25 Aug through the end of the year (and until deeds began recording on 29 Jan 2016) DID NOT OWN units in either Phase I or Phase II.

Based on the aforementioned information, an owner that did not pay the 2015 maintenance fee waiting for their new deed and bill (as was instructed by Patton Hospitality in 2015) did not legally own the unit. Legal ownership of property begins with the registering of the deed per NC law and confirmed with a call to the Carteret County Register of Deeds office. Peppertree and or Festiva Development owned every unit exchanged in Phase I and every unit in Phase II for which no exchange deed had been issued.

We will not pay a maintenance fee on a unit we neither owned nor used at the end of August 2015. We are not deadbeats and have in fact paid our maintenance fee for a different Phase II unit that was not caught up in this horrible mess of Phase I to Phase II transfer.

We have sought and retained legal representation. I will share what we learned in another post later this week as this one is already lengthy.

 

[Mulligan101]

I decided to do some sleuthing around online at the Carteret County Register of Deeds website and here are some interesting facts that I found:

Over 800 deeds were recorded in Carteret County beginning 29 Jan 16 through 4 Mar 16 with Festiva Development as the Grantor to various individuals (including us and our son). This confirms that many, many people did not own the units that Festiva billed them for back in Nov 2015 (our statement date was 24 Nov 15).

Additionally, once Peppertree was forced to close all buildings in Phase II due to the deck and rail issues on 17 Aug 15, Peppertree management was forced to cancel all vacation usage until further notice. Coincidentally, the remainder of the exchanged week conveyance deeds were recorded 25 Aug 15. This means that many owners that had a usage week from 25 Aug through the end of the year (and until deeds began recording on 29 Jan 2016) DID NOT OWN units in either Phase I or Phase II.

Based on the aforementioned information, an owner that did not pay the 2015 maintenance fee waiting for their new deed and bill (as was instructed by Patton Hospitality in 2015) did not legally own the unit. Legal ownership of property begins with the registering of the deed per NC law and confirmed with a call to the Carteret County Register of Deeds office. Peppertree and or Festiva Development owned every unit exchanged in Phase I and every unit in Phase II for which no exchange deed had been issued.

We will not pay a maintenance fee on a unit we neither owned nor used at the end of August 2015. We are not deadbeats and have in fact paid our maintenance fee for a different Phase II unit that was not caught up in this horrible mess of Phase I to Phase II transfer.

We have sought and retained legal representation. I will share what we learned in another post later this week as this one is already lengthy.

Thank you for the update and please keep us posted.

 

[NeedsAnswersPABII]

PepperTree Visit

I wanted to post a update on my visit to the property.

All building permits have been issued.
Work on units 20-23 is nearing completion.
Units 15-19 will soon begin. Building materials have been delivered and will soon start.
Units 24-25 will be last.
I spent the weekend there and work is progressing quickly.
I will be sharing photos soon.
The area where the units were removed and the pool remains, is nothing more that a slim pond. In speaking with a ground crew member, they have no plans for that area.
I have lots of pics and will share. I am having a bit of a issue getting them posted on this site.
I will share more details of what I have learned but did want to at least provide this quick update.
Thanks

 

[NeedsAnswersPABII]

Link to shared photos:
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=35EAE4456DBFA769!55454&authkey=!AHOMSE0UoC2aVhA&ithint=folder,