Ron:
What kind of an exit strategy should the POA and the developer offer. And where does it end. I no longer want my Florida house that I am 140k upside down on, should my lender offer me an exit strategy as I no longer want to live there and still allow me my clean credit and no collections activity.
What happened to you bought a deeded timeshare, house,condo and you have made a financial commitment to pay the annual fees, mortgages etc.
Should I ask my homeowners association where I live what the strategy is for my upside down house now that I no longer want it? Where in the POA docs does it say the other owners can just take over my financial responsibilty now that I no longer want it.
Why does a timeshare developer, POA, HOA, COA or for that matter my car company or anyone else have to provide me an exit strategy that is in my best interests. When do I have to be a responsible adult and handle my own affairs?
I agree somethign needs to be done, but I am not sure the Developer or the POA is the answer.
No one is asking your lender to bail you out, and no one is asking your condo assoc to take over the maintenance payments. But you can sell that condo (Ill list it for you since you are in Florida) If you are upside down $140k, in my market, Id assume you paid about $280 and its worth about 140k we'll sell it for that. If you dont have a mortgage its easy, you just lose 140k
If you do have a mortgage we can work out a short sale. Im closing one this week where my clients owes 150k and we sold it for $50. So I know its possible
And if you dont pay your condo fee the rest of the owners do have to pick up the slack
Most time share owners would be happy to take half of the developer price for their timeshares...but that option is not available to them. and Ive not heard of a lender negotiating a short sale for a timeshare loan
The POAs and the owners are already taking a hit. I have the budgets for 15 timeshares on my desk right now..most of them have a bad debt expense of nearly 20%.which means my fees are much higher than they should be. Most of them already have a procedure to get these units back on a paying basis...foreclosure..Im suggesting that it may not be the best procedure, and in fact its a procedure that makes it easy for the scammers to do their work..ie we threaten to foreclose which pushes the owner into the hands of the scammers.
The folks that are so desperate to be rid of their timeshares are willing to take nothing for them, in fact they pay these criminals to take them away. They are trying to do whats right (sell) , and they cant.
You mention car companies...There is and exit strategy,,I tow my junker to a yard, where they strip it for usable, salable parts and crush the rest, send it off to a mill where steel is recycled and the car companies buy the now new steel to make new cars...also there are used car lots right on site with the new cars. I talked a salesman yesterday who says he gets paid twice as much by the dealer when he sells a used car as when he sells a new one. Make sure you understand what Im saying...new cars and used cars are on the same lot, and the sales force gets paid more to sell the used stuff.....Ill be with a timeshare salesman at Wyndhams Bonnet Creek next week....How many used timeshares do you think he/she will offer me??
Im not suggesting the Developers or the POAs develop an exit strategy to help the people that want out. Like you I dont care about them. Im acting purely in my own self interest by suggesting the developers and POAs develop an exit strategy to help those of us that want to own this stuff and do pay our bills...The lack of one makes for higher fees and gives the bad guys their market
As to what that exit strategy should be...I think we should go back to the roots of timesharing for the answer...I like the Hapimag model..Owners own shares in the company and after 4 years of paying fees, the company will buy your shares back (thank you Carolinian for the information)
