Wellington Place TN Special Assesment [merged]

[hjsweet2002]

Just received a notice of $600 special assessment for Wellington Place Fairfield Glade TN. This is for exterior renovations. The HOA did send pictures of before and after. They were going to do it in stages but after three were done the board felt that it was imperative to finish the other six buildings. They are replacing the roofs, gutters, siding and windows. Composite decks, stairwells and vinyl railings will also be replaced. This is my first dealing with Special Assessments. I was surprised by it.

 

[eafinct]

Just got my notice too -- this essentially equals a full year of monthly maintenance for me. I have to say I resent having years of neglected maintenance now dumped on me -- a lot of routine maintenance was obviously not done. Upgrade and renovation should have been done over many prior years. I've only owned this timeshare for a few years but now have to pick up the tab for the board's neglect over decades. I've got a kid leaving for college in a month and tuition payment due; don't have $600 to spare before 9/15. NOT good timing! Even having this special assessment phased in over 6 months would be better.

 

[massvacationer]

I own a converted week at Wellington Place. I also received that letter. The exterior pictures show some serious issues that definitely need renovation. I didn't realize the buildings are 30 years old. They have been keeping up with updates, though, as it's gold crown and has nice renovated interiors.

My question is whether owners that are in points need to pay the SA as a lump sum or will it get rolled into our monthly charges?

 

[pacodemountainside]

Just received a notice of $600 special assessment for Wellington . I was surprised by it.

Take a look at your annual HOA assessment from resort. If money going into cash reserve is not around 20%, SA is extremely likely sooner if not later!

 

[Lori2221]

I also received my notice. Does anyone know how many owners Wellington Place has? I'd sure like to know! Also, no phone number to call with letter, just an email to send to and you get a sorry response back. Who did the work to start with? Maybe the contracting company should be contacted. Where are the estimates for renovations? Let's see names and numbers. It's insane to just toss an unexpected $600 bill at someone with a short time frame in getting it paid. My referrals to Wyndham are done at this point!

 

[theo]

Don't target the hired contractors...

Who did the work to start with? Maybe the contracting company should be contacted. Where are the estimates for renovations? Let's see names and numbers. It's insane to just toss an unexpected $600 bill at someone with a short time frame in getting it paid. My referrals to Wyndham are done at this point!

I don't claim to know anything about this resort whatsoever, but with all due respect the true issue here is unlikely to actually be related in any way to contractor costs. Multiple bids were almost certainly obtained by the HOA before a work contract was ever awarded in the first place (and probably awarded to the lowest bidder).

The true issue is likely that financial reserves have simply been insufficient and inadequate, creating an unfortunate (but inevitable) "deferred maintenance" situation.
Your HOA may have been trying to keep the maintenance fees down, but if in doing so they failed to also have adequate reserves on hand at all times, then a special assessment at some point was likely inevitable. As in all timeshares, whatever and whererever they may be, it's "pay now or pay later" for facility maintenance.

 

[Lori2221]

No blame, just a passing thought

I was just looking for some kind of "excuse" for maintenance fees perhaps not being utilized correctly. The contractor thought was a passing one. As I said before, I'd like to know how many owners there are to see how much comes in per year in maintenance fees PLUS this $600 per week held. Regardless, it's s hit and blindsides people that don't have a savings plan or budget for this type of expense.

 

[theo]

I was just looking for some kind of "excuse" for maintenance fees perhaps not being utilized correctly. The contractor thought was a passing one. As I said before, I'd like to know how many owners there are to see how much comes in per year in maintenance fees PLUS this $600 per week held. Regardless, it's s hit and blindsides people that don't have a savings plan or budget for this type of expense.

Doesn't your HOA issue to you an annual, detailed financial / budget report? They should. If so, do you read it? If they don't issue one, why not?

A very close approximation of how many owners there might be at your particular facility is a relatively easy calculation (assuming that the place is sold out).
The total number of units at your facility is easily determined with a single phone call to the resort, if you don't already know. Multiplying that number by 51 will yield an approximate number of owned weeks. Whether some owners own multiple weeks is irrelevant, since each individual week incurs an individual maintenance fee.
(Yes, I do know there are actually 52 weeks in a year; I'm just allowing for a deep cleaning week per unit and some (varying number) HOA-owned weeks, neither of which yield any maintenance fee payments, so I am just loosely using 51 weeks as the multiplier to obtain a rough estimate of owned weeks ).

Again though, I frankly think that the real answers you seek derive from very different questions than the ones you are even currently asking.
A special assessment is always unwelcome, but the relevant question is why was it necessary and why couldn't existing financial reserves on hand cover the repairs?

 

[pacodemountainside]

I also received my notice. Does anyone know how many owners Wellington Place has? I'd sure like to know!

Just give them a call and ask how many units. Then multiply 52.

 

[pagosajim]

I own a converted week at Wellington Place. \

Knowing that this HOA is based on converted fixed weeks tells me the association is likely dealing with a significant amount of bad debt due to owner delinquencies. I would guess they've been drawing down reserves just to keep the operating financial stream afloat and/or postponing scheduled maintenance due to lower than expected reserve funding.

It's extremely difficult to collect on many of the delinquent accounts, and the bad debt just continues to accumulate. Even if you can foreclose on some accounts, you now need an outlet to find a paying customer to assume ownership while in the meantime, the association is saddled with the financial responsibility for the week. Oh, and let's remember that these are now fixed weeks that are no longer converted to points (if indeed they ever were), which makes them less attractive on the open market. So now you are almost forced to strike a deal with Wyndham sales to market your week, most likely through CWA, which comes with a host of requirements placed on the association in order to be accepted into that program.

Sorry for the rant. Been there, done that, sat on the board that approved that, and paid the special assessment at another Wyndham property.

 

[massvacationer]

I agree that it feels like we were blindsided. From the notice that I received in the mail, I think that they had planned on doing phased exterior renovations over a number of years and baking the costs into the maintained fees....like pushing them up like $150 per year over 4 years - for example.

I think the contractor started doing some if the units and discovered serious issues that really needed to be taken care of ( like water seepage)

This is we hat I am deducing from reading the notice.

I do think the reserves must have been inadequate

I bought in 2010 and the maintained fees were like $490 plus the VOA fee, so my cost per 1K points was less than $4....they have been pushing up the maintainence fees over the last 3 years

They do issue detailed financials every year

 

[Tom T]

Wyndham [Merged at this point]

Just received a bill from Wellington Place HOA for $600. What happened to the fees I have paid every year since 1987? They say they need it for renovations? Why weren't the buildings maintained with the fees that I sent?

 

[DeniseM]

The dreaded "Special Assessment."

 

[ace2000]

Why weren't the buildings maintained with the fees that I sent?

Wyndham's reply to your question...

"That's how we roll"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=that's how we roll

 

[uscav8r]

Just received a bill from Wellington Place HOA for $600. What happened to the fees I have paid every year since 1987? They say they need it for renovations? Why weren't the buildings maintained with the fees that I sent?

Well discussed in this current/recent thread:

http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214408

Perhaps a Mod can merge this thread with the one in the URL.

 

[Tom T]

HOA Special Assesment.

WHat happens if you refuse to pay???

 

[Joe33426]

WHat happens if you refuse to pay???

The same as if you don't pay your maintenance fees....

Ultimately, no use of your timeshare, foreclosure, and ding on your credit report.

 

[Tom T]

They do send a report.

But it says nothing about being short of funds! Surprise!!!!!!

 

[Tom T]

Color me gone!!!!

After being an owner since 1988 and have seen fees go up every year it's no wonder they have bad debt. I'm fed up and have been retired for 14 years and have received no raises in that time. I will use TUG, VRBO, and Home away from now on. I guess your fees will go up even faster! :annoyed:

 

[uscav8r]

After being an owner since 1988 and have seen fees go up every year it's no wonder they have bad debt. I'm fed up and have been retired for 14 years and have received no raises in that time. I will use TUG, VRBO, and Home away from now on. I guess your fees will go up even faster! :annoyed:

Fees going up annually is a fact of timeshare life. Heck, it's a fact of life in general.

I feel your pain, but IF you are implying just walking away from the TS, that will simply exacerbate the bad debt problem. It's not your current fellow owners' fault that this SA occurred (although perhaps too many former owners took this non-paying route in the past). I humbly suggest you sell or give your ownership away (which may need some seller incentives, and may include having to pay the SA anyways) to a new owner to get out from future MF/SA liabilities. The TUG Bargain Deals subforum might be a good place to start.

 

[pacodemountainside]

But it says nothing about being short of funds! Surprise!!!!!!

It does not take a CPA to see if cash reserve fund is a few bucks or a million plus which would be expected for older resort.

Operating funds pay for daily expenses just like you pay property taxes, insurance, fixing appliances, utilities, maintaining lawn, etc. on house/condo.

If you do not set aside funds for new roof, major painting, refurbishing interior, dive way, you put on CC or HEL. HOA does SA!

As I mentioned previously, if HOA is not putting ball park 20% in cash reserve you will have a SA.

 

[jerrys30]

How Often Does This Happen?

I own 2 deeds at Wellington and aaas hit by an unexpected $1200 bill. I am new to the timeshare world having owned these deeds for 2 years and I bought them for next to nothing on eBay. I have generally been happy with the cost to value I get out of the Wyndham points but this changes things. Now I am trying to decide if I should just sell or give away my points and get out. How often do these assessments happen? Is there a way to tell how many times it has happened in the past and if it is likely to happen again soon?

 

[Rent_Share]

I own 2 deeds at Wellington and aaas hit by an unexpected $1200 bill. I am new to the timeshare world having owned these deeds for 2 years and I bought them for next to nothing on eBay. I have generally been happy with the cost to value I get out of the Wyndham points but this changes things. Now I am trying to decide if I should just sell or give away my points and get out. How often do these assessments happen? Is there a way to tell how many times it has happened in the past and if it is likely to happen again soon?

They are worth what you paid for them, minus the $1,200 you owe as the owner of record when the special assessment was assessed.

If you are getting value, then add $1,200 to your sunk cost, if not you will have to pay at least the $ 1,200 to be able to transfer.

 

[hjsweet2002]

Wellington SA

This was my first experience with SA. I too bought this TS from Ebay. Of course, I was not happy with the unexpected expense. However, the low cost for purchasing from Ebay and the cost of the SA still makes it a great deal. Hopefully, there wont be anymore unexpected SAs. I love my TS. I love all the vacations I now take that I own these.

 

[massvacationer]

I just wrote a check for the $600 SA



When I bought the contract in 2010 the maint fees were about $3.95 per thousand points

Now they are:

HOA= $727.49
Program Fee = $84.70
TOTAL = $812.19

my contract gets 154,000 points

So, $812/154 = $5.27 per 1K points


5.27 is still pretty good


hopefully this SA fixes the issues and we can go back to small annual increases