Have you ever had a weather related timeshare special assessment?

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Have you ever had a weather related timeshare special assessment?

I had one a few years ago with a hurricane here at Fort Lauderdale beach resort.
Cost me $1000 extra one year because the insurance wasn't enough to cover the damage.
I own many of my timeshares in FL and this is the only one so far that I had to pay a special assessment.
Needless to say I got rid of it.

How about you?

[grest Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close grest]

Never happened to me....and I hope it doesn't, ever!

[FreeIn2010 Member Find all posts View Profile Close FreeIn2010]

I have not... and as a wanna-be beach bum, I own at a few oceanfront resorts.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

As a former HOA president of an oceanfront resort, management of insurance is what makes the difference. First, the HOA needs to always increase its coverage the max that is allowed each year to stay fully covered. It is a false economy not to do so. Second you need a good board and good management to properly handle proceeds. There will always be a deductible, but good management can mean you can do your repairs and not have to pay it. You have to be careful with the contractors you hire and also pay attention to detail with the insurance adjusters. If management is involved, watch them closely. Then there are some things that insurance just will not cover, one of which is swimming pools. If you lose one of those, the HOA will have to come up with its own funds.

Four T/S resorts were condemned as a result of Hurricane Isabel on the Outer Banks, and all four got rebuilt. Two, Ocean Villas I and Ocean Villas II did so without any special assessments. The HOA boards ran everything in these rebuilds with no management involvement. The other two, which had the same management company had severe problems as a result of that management company. The management company took a cut, 10% if I recall correctly, to ''supervise'' the repair contracts, even though in both cases the contracts involved major disaster repair firms who needed little or no supervision. They had put that cut into their management contract, even though such fees on insurance proceeds were illegal under NC law. At one resort, they got their money out of general reserves and that years operating money, so the resort reopened but then closed again in two months because there was no more money in the operating account. That led to a lawsuit that collapsed the timeshare, Bodie Island Beach Club. At the other, the management company did some of that but also did not do the full repairs on space belonging to the former resort developer. The former developer sued both the HOA and the management company, and eventually legal expenses collapsed that timeshare, Sea Ranch II. The crook who ran that timeshare management company is no longer in that business and no longer on the Outer Banks. Two other resorts had serious damages but not to the point of being condemned.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Wow, Carolinian.
Those are some terrible stories.

I can see something like that happening here if we had a catastrophic hurricane
at these old timeshares but luckily they seem to be built like a bunker and unless
we have a Tsunami they probably aren't going anywhere.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

Wow, Carolinian.
Those are some terrible stories.

I can see something like that happening here if we had a catastrophic hurricane
at these old timeshares but luckily they seem to be built like a bunker and unless
we have a Tsunami they probably aren't going anywhere.

Condemnation does not mean a total loss. It just means repair costs meet a certain ratio to value. Three resorts did have to get engineering studies to see if their main buildings were stable, all of which were. In all cases, the existing buildings were reused.

One other resort that had a few units condemned, also lost its pool. That is Dunes South. Last I heard, they still were debating whether to do a special assessment for a new pool. One of the arguments was that the pool would have to go where the tennis courts are, and some of the off season owners do not want that. The units were refurbished rather quickly, but it has been years with no pool.

Zoning can be a hassle, too, as some aspects have changed like ocean setbacks and lot coverage restrictions. That has created problems if something has to be totally rebuilt. Ocean Villas II could not replace its pool for that reason as they were already maxed out under current regs for lot coverage. Ocean Villas I also had one of its units that was destroyed and could not be rebuilt for the same reason.

One other thing that comes with condemnation is that the building have to be built to current building code. Fortunately, there is an insurance rider that can be bought to cover these changes, as three of these resorts had to redo their plumbing to meet the new code and normally insurance would not cover that. Again, it is important that whoever is handling insurance for the resort understand that and get that rider.

One rider that does not exist that many owners inquire about in such situations is coverage for their loss of use. Unfortunately that coverage is not availible to HOA's.

A positive aspect of all of this is that it put the HOA's way ahead on their reserves, as the units were totally refurbished as new out of insurance money, so it would be years before replacement was needed from HOA reserve funds. Ocean Villas II, for example was within a year or two of needed a new roof on their main building and just a few years behind that on a new roof for their ''5'' building. They were already getting replacement quotes. The hurricane completely took the roof of the main building and damaged the roof of the 5 building, so insurance paid for two brand new roofs and they kept their HOA money in the bank. All of the resorts got all new furniture, appliances, carpet, cabinets. wiring, HVAC, etc.

[RESORT2ME Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RESORT2ME]

A few years ago, Santa Barbara Resort and Yacht Club hit us for $3000 after extensive hurricane damage. The resort closed till rebuilt. Sometimes I think weather can force improvements, as in this case.

[Icc5 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Icc5]

Haven't had that but got nailed years ago for assessment for electricity usage when we checked in. I think it was on Maui.

[buzglyd Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close buzglyd]

What management company was it or are you not at liberty to say?

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

What management company was it or are you not at liberty to say?

If you are asking about the problem on the Outer Banks, it was Cape Management. The problematic owner sold the company, which is now under completely different ownership. This was not the only issue with them. The husband of the owner of the management company ran a maintenance company which was hired by Cape at its timeshare resorts, and charged outrageiously. I once had the HOA president at Dunes South sit down for a long chat right after they fired Cape while he went through some of the horror stories they discovered in their maintenance billings. Cape had for years manipulated who got elected to the Dunes South board, but when they finally got some independent minded leaders in, they kicked Cape to the curb.

[stan2u Member Find all posts View Profile Close stan2u]

I've had several experiences along these lines. The TS we had several weeks in was damaged by a hurricane hitting Florida and the insurance was insufficient, so we had a special Assessment. An RV park just north of LA was wiped out by an earthquake. They had to knock the thing down and closed it. Because it was a membership RV park there was no assessment - on the other hand, when the property was sold for a big gain we got nothing. And last of all we stayed at a TS on Kauai that had been destroyed by a hurricane and rebuilt. I'm not sure what happened with the former owners, but the units were being re-sold.

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

As far as I know, no.

We were assessed an electricity surcharge at Morritts a few years ago and some odd fee or tax in Hawaii last year.

All of my timeshares are multiple destination with good management.