Ka'anapali Beach Resort - 11.7% increase in MF

[d0ugie_fresh Member Find all posts View Profile Close d0ugie_fresh]

I just got my notice to expect an 11.7% increase over last year's maintenance fees....

Taken from the email that was sent to me from our BOD president:

"Following our rate increase last year, my goal when entering the budget talks was to keep this year’s increase below 10%. I have told many of you in private conversation that we would do all that we could to keep future increases in single digits. As you will see when you receive your maintenance fee billing, the Board of Directors was unable to meet that goal. The major expense lines that forced us above the 10% rate were property taxes and reserve fund contributions. More discussion of these two items as well as a complete report of the meetings is available to you on our owner’s website at Ka'anapali Beach Vacation Resort Owners.

In 2008, your maintenance fees for a one-bedroom unit will increase by 11.7%. The majority of this increase covers the 54% increase in Hawaiian property taxes and a substantial sum to restore the depleted reserve funds to a level that is financially sound, to cover unplanned projects and avoid future special assessments. We decided it is best to rebuild these reserves slowly over a three-to-five-year period rather than face the possibility of a special assessment."

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

doug......That's too bad, I feel for you.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Yikes....bummer. The sales people did nothing but brag about how low the maintenance fees were compared to the other Maui properties. Does the developer subsidize the MF since it is still in sales?

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Suites at Polo Towers went up over 13% this year and the Villa's went up over 7%. Reasons given were increase in property taxes and increase in utilities. Both are believalbe at this point since land values in Vegas along the strip have sky rocketed ($27 million per acre price tag at present) and the utility company is in the news frequently about rate increases that seem to be granted every time they ask for them.

I haven't sat down yet to do a line by line comparison to last year but, unfortunately this seem reasonable. My property taxes and insurance costs keep going up here in fly over land forcing my house payment to increase every year as well. Of course that still doesn't make it any easier to pay the bills since income doesn't seem to keep up with inflation or government spending habits.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Maui officials have specifically targeted timeshares for increased taxes. They believe that timeshare owners do not contribute as much to the local economy as do "conventional" travelers, and they are using that as a rationale to increase tax assessments on timeshare properties.

Current Maui elected officials would prefer that all timeshares on Maui be converted to hotel and vacation rental properties.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Ouch!

What is the current and proposed MF?

[d0ugie_fresh Member Find all posts View Profile Close d0ugie_fresh]

Ouch!

What is the current and proposed MF?

Sorry it took me a minute to find last year's fees. It is ironic in an electronic world how hard it is to find things. Anyway...

Last year's MF for a 1 bedroom ocean view (8500 points annually) were $792.79 so unless my math is out of order on a Monday AM... this year's MF are going to be $885.55 PLUS the Club Sun dues.

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

Suites at Polo Towers went up over 13% this year ....

Doug, I think your 13% is for the Suites' 2BD. My calculations for the increase at the Suites' BD is:

(551/479-1)x100 = 15%

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Doug, I think your 13% is for the Suites' 2BD. My calculations for the increase at the Suites' BD is:

(551/479-1)x100 = 15%

Yes I'm looking at the 2 bedroom unit and I'm going by what the cover letter said, not my own calculations.

FWIW our HGVC went up a little over 7% and is now just under $750. How HGVC manages to undercut DRI I'm not certain. They have a nicer resort and more amenities. All I can figure is they have a better rental program and have meeting facilities. They also hire an independant company for the valet that charges $6/day, do not have daily maid service and offer spa services as well as an onsite deli/starbucks/convenience store that is set up better and does a very brisk business. I suppose HGVC's management team has figured out how to bring in more income while keeping costs lower without upsetting the owners.

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

Maui officials have specifically targeted timeshares for increased taxes. They believe that timeshare owners do not contribute as much to the local economy as do "conventional" travelers, and they are using that as a rationale to increase tax assessments on timeshare properties.

Current Maui elected officials would prefer that all timeshares on Maui be converted to hotel and vacation rental properties.

We sold our Gardens at West Maui week this year because our last year's taxes went up from $50 to about $150 for the week, with rumors of even higher property taxes for this next year.

I don't see how timeshare owners spend less than a person who rented a unit with a kitchen? If you get the kitchen, you are much more likely to cook a meal or two, whether timeshare or rental. The whole point of having a kitchen is the convenience of making some meals and at least having breakfast in the room. Perhaps they should just remove all kitchens from timeshares.

As for spending money, we spend a bunch of money on the islands. I prefer not to cook much because I am on vacation, but we do grill steaks once or twice, plus we like breakfast before showers, so the kitchen is a "must have" for us.

Perhaps they should raise the TAT a little more, so the exchangers get penalized. This would anger enough folks to not go to Maui, leaving plenty of weeks for those of us who don't mind paying.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

We sold our Gardens at West Maui week this year because our last year's taxes went up from $50 to about $150 for the week, with rumors of even higher property taxes for this next year.

I don't see how timeshare owners spend less than a person who rented a unit with a kitchen? If you get the kitchen, you are much more likely to cook a meal or two, whether timeshare or rental. The whole point of having a kitchen is the convenience of making some meals and at least having breakfast in the room. Perhaps they should just remove all kitchens from timeshares.

As for spending money, we spend a bunch of money on the islands. I prefer not to cook much because I am on vacation, but we do grill steaks once or twice, plus we like breakfast before showers, so the kitchen is a "must have" for us.

Perhaps they should raise the TAT a little more, so the exchangers get penalized. This would anger enough folks to not go to Maui, leaving plenty of weeks for those of us who don't mind paying.

It's very silly.

Building condos isn't a problem, but building the same project as timeshare is. Nevermind that whole ownership condos don't have the same occupancy rates that timeshares do. Nevermind that whole ownership units (whether occupied by the owner or rented out) are probably even more likely to eat in rather than dine out.

Nevermind that when there is a slowdown in tourism, timeshares are less affected than are hotels and rentals.

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

Has anyone appealed the tax valuations?

It seems to me that when politicians try to penalize one group like this, there may be avenues of appeal, specifically to appeal the tax valuations. I do not know what the process is on Hawaii, but in North Carolina, there is a property tax commission appointed by legislative leaders that hears appeals from the county commissioners, and is pretty darn objective in its decisions. It seems to me that armed with resale price data, it would be easy to establish that timeshare weeks are, in fact, worth a whole lot less than the county claims.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Isn't that what ARDA is supposed to do?

It seems to me that when politicians try to penalize one group like this, there may be avenues of appeal, specifically to appeal the tax valuations. I do not know what the process is on Hawaii, but in North Carolina, there is a property tax commission appointed by legislative leaders that hears appeals from the county commissioners, and is pretty darn objective in its decisions. It seems to me that armed with resale price data, it would be easy to establish that timeshare weeks are, in fact, worth a whole lot less than the county claims.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Perhaps they should raise the TAT a little more, so the exchangers get penalized. This would anger enough folks to not go to Maui, leaving plenty of weeks for those of us who don't mind paying.

Timeshare owners pay the property tax and they pay the daily TAT too so we don't want it raised more yet! The problem is that we cannot vote so they can take advantage of the timeshare owners even more than of the tourists. If they keep raising the taxes, we have no choice but to spend less or stop visiting the Islands.

I don't mind paying taxes because we use the roads and facilities too but we shouldn't be double or unfairly taxed. A lot had to do with the reevaluation of property values as they had gone up so much, especially on the coast, but now they are slowing down or going lower which is better for the local people anyway. If they live and work there, they should be able to buy a home and that was almost impossible with the ridiculous increase in real estate prices.

Once hotel occupancy drops again like it did once before, they will welcome us with open arms but it's too early for that yet.

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

Everything is a matter of perception. As an owner, I was upset at the tax because that unit is something I can trade into cheaper than it was costing us to own it. I can actually trade into something a whole lot better because Gardens is a pretty easy trade. I have a resort with maintenance fees of $368 that traded into Gardens, so I thought, "Why am I paying over $700 to own a week there?" But if I had the charge added onto an exchange, it would not cost me much at all. The exchangers should be penalized, not the owners, so maybe a new tax that is not charged to owners.

I understand that Maui residents don't care how the government gets the taxes, because most of them could not afford to pay what we pay per week in property tax. Can you imagine every homeowner paying that much for taxes X 52 weeks? I was surprised when someone who owns at Sands of Kahana posted what they pay--over $280 per week, and this was before the latest increases even came into effect. I am wondering what they will be now.

Many Maui homeowners/ homesteaders probably figure that if we come to Hawaii, we need to pay our fair share. I get it. But I wasn't willing to pay that unfair tax myself because I can trade in cheaper. So charge me a higher TAT and reduce the owners' burden.