2013 Special Assessment For Hollywood Beach Tower Owners.

July 1, 2013

just received snail mail today, explaining the need for a special meeting of the HOA on July 11, 2013 to discuss and adopt a special assessment for each unit week in the amount of $1,782.09 spread over three years. The purpose of the special assessment is to cover the complete renovation of the units and lobbies at a total cost of $5,798,745.27. The resort has 92 units per week available for owners. One week is set aside each year for unit interior maintenance. This means that 4,692 unit weeks are available for owner use. If all unit weeks paid the special assessment $8,361,566.28 would be received by the HOA. This is $2,562,821.01 more than the needed amount.

Talked to the manager today after receiving mail. I asked for the addresses of the Board of Directors and was told to send any comments to them by mail to the resort. I have met the President but I have no other information on other board members. As of today there are 1,563 units that are delinquent in paying maintenance fees for 2013, 66 units are in foreclosure, and 15 units are owned by the HOA.

I own three units at the resort. I liked the units as they are now. They reminded me of the art deco buildings in South Beach. I feel that the Board of Directors are being lead down the wrong path by SPM Resorts (Hollywood Beach Tower's Present Management). SPM Resorts changes 35% to rent units for owners. SPM Resorts has a lot to gain with the owners paying for the cost of these upgrades. The owners will never get their money back in their lifetime. SPM Resorts will make money when they rent the first unit.

If you feel the same as I do, email me and we will discuss how we can attack this problem.

Yes I agree, i want to know what the resort is paying, and why do we have to pay for this and where all the extra money is going. What do they use our maintaince fees for. I personally do not want the unit renovated. I feel if we have to pay for it then we should be the ones that vote on it.

Hi there, I also am very upset and quite irritated about this. I have been trying to sell my week for about a year now. I have spoken with HBT and SPM multiple times about just deeding it back to them (it is paid off and I have never been late with a payment), but they said (and I received in writing) that they do not do that and that I would have to go to an outside source. Today I was told on the phone that they do not have an outlet to sell them because these is not a market for their property. The people were very condescending and I was on hold for over 8 minutes when asked to speak to someone about fees.

I did find a company that will buy the unit (dispose of it) and they rent out the units then. they require that the unit assessments and maint fees be paid in full, plus pay them to take the unit off my hands. I'd be looking at about $2800. I bought the unit 19 yrs ago when I was in a very different financial situation. I now work part time and have a 19 month old. I have put my maint fees on credit card for the past 2 years and like I said, have been trying to sell it. I just don't see how they can force us to keep something for us to "try to sell on our own" when they know they do not have a resale market. With SPM renting out on a nightly and weekly basis rooms, I also disagree with us having to pay for the complete renovation.

I have a phone call into my attorney to see what can be done. I have already offered to sign over my deed for SPM to have it back, but they said no. That does not make sense to me because if I choose not to pay the assessment and maintenance fees going forward, it will be sent to collections, where they will foreclose on the unit (fine by me). HBT and SPM are not willing to negotiate. ANY useful advice anyone has I would greatly appreciate. Thank you KImberly Rios

Hello everyone. Im glad Im not the only one that feels the same way about this $1782.09 special assessment. My wife and I bought this timeshare over ten years ago and we got very little use out of it. I rented it several times to get some money back for the maintenance fees but this has been a huge money pit. I was SHOCKED when I got my bill in the mail especially since I just recently retired from the military and need to find a job to help pay other bills. I tried selling this many years ago and I got stuck with a $460 advertising bill which never produced. Im so upset now Im sick to my stomach. Please contact me anthonybly1969@gmail.com as I am interested putting up a fight for this BS. No renovation should be done unless we all get a vote in this matter despite what any legal documents say. I guess I will take a hit with my credit because Im not paying this bill other than the regular maintenance fees. Until then, I will be looking to rid myself of this cancer.

Beware of using a company that says they will take it off your hands. Post the name of the company and see if anyone has dealt with them. There are alot of people who have tried to do the same and just lost what they paid and also ended up with the transfer not being done and they still end up with maintence fees. Take care

kimberly865 wrote:

Hi there, I also am very upset and quite irritated about this. I have been trying to sell my week for about a year now. I have spoken with HBT and SPM multiple times about just deeding it back to them (it is paid off and I have never been late with a payment), but they said (and I received in writing) that they do not do that and that I would have to go to an outside source. Today I was told on the phone that they do not have an outlet to sell them because these is not a market for their property. The people were very condescending and I was on hold for over 8 minutes when asked to speak to someone about fees.

I did find a company that will buy the unit (dispose of it) and they rent out the units then. they require that the unit assessments and maint fees be paid in full, plus pay them to take the unit off my hands. I'd be looking at about $2800. I bought the unit 19 yrs ago when I was in a very different financial situation. I now work part time and have a 19 month old. I have put my maint fees on credit card for the past 2 years and like I said, have been trying to sell it. I just don't see how they can force us to keep something for us to "try to sell on our own" when they know they do not have a resale market. With SPM renting out on a nightly and weekly basis rooms, I also disagree with us having to pay for the complete renovation.

I have a phone call into my attorney to see what can be done. I have already offered to sign over my deed for SPM to have it back, but they said no. That does not make sense to me because if I choose not to pay the assessment and maintenance fees going forward, it will be sent to collections, where they will foreclose on the unit (fine by me). HBT and SPM are not willing to negotiate. ANY useful advice anyone has I would greatly appreciate. Thank you KImberly Rios

Yes I received the same letter and frankly I do not have the 1700+ dollars they are asking for I do good to make my maintenance fees each year. I have been trying to sell and even have tried to give away my timeshare at this location and have listed it online for over 6 months for 50 dollars and no one will buy it to me it is not worth the maintenance fee and now they want us to pay over 1700 dollar more for renovations. Please if there is anything you can do to help let me know thank You. Lecil

try to sell them privately.

I am in the same position. I own 7 units and will have to let them go into foreclosure because I cannot afford the assessment fee plus maintenance.

kimberly865 wrote:

Hi there, I also am very upset and quite irritated about this. I have been trying to sell my week for about a year now. I have spoken with HBT and SPM multiple times about just deeding it back to them (it is paid off and I have never been late with a payment), but they said (and I received in writing) that they do not do that and that I would have to go to an outside source. Today I was told on the phone that they do not have an outlet to sell them because these is not a market for their property. The people were very condescending and I was on hold for over 8 minutes when asked to speak to someone about fees.

I did find a company that will buy the unit (dispose of it) and they rent out the units then. they require that the unit assessments and maint fees be paid in full, plus pay them to take the unit off my hands. I'd be looking at about $2800. I bought the unit 19 yrs ago when I was in a very different financial situation. I now work part time and have a 19 month old. I have put my maint fees on credit card for the past 2 years and like I said, have been trying to sell it. I just don't see how they can force us to keep something for us to "try to sell on our own" when they know they do not have a resale market. With SPM renting out on a nightly and weekly basis rooms, I also disagree with us having to pay for the complete renovation.

I have a phone call into my attorney to see what can be done. I have already offered to sign over my deed for SPM to have it back, but they said no. That does not make sense to me because if I choose not to pay the assessment and maintenance fees going forward, it will be sent to collections, where they will foreclose on the unit (fine by me). HBT and SPM are not willing to negotiate. ANY useful advice anyone has I would greatly appreciate. Thank you KImberly Rios

I actually go rid of my unit. Cost me nearly $3000, talked to a lot of people that are untrustworthy, and finally found a real place that I could dispose of it to they put it to good use. First of all, I talked to Donate for a Cause and numerous places I found on the internet. Donate for a Cause was not interested at all, except to send me to a broker. Lots of places I spoke to are horrible. You pay then about $1000 and they transfer it to them and they get foreclosed on and then they close their company a few months later. Not cool Then I found The Timeshare Company in Waunakee, WI. This place is within about 30 minutes of my home, so I figured if they messed me over I could deal with them in the same county court. They say they take the timeshares from people and they use them to rent to corporate rentals. I had to pay all of the maintenance fees in full up front, as well as about $1200 to them. I did get notice from FL that the deed was transferred and called SPM to confirm. They did. The reason I did it this way is because I spoke to two attorneys that pretty much said the same thing...by not paying, it will ruin your credit score and haunt you forever. It's like a cancer...it's not worth anything positive and it won't go away. These timeshare companies can sell us rights to use their property, but then you are locked into their rules even though your "rights" aren't worth anything monetarily. Now I'm just hoping that I can take the tax write off on the loss from purchase price and also what I had to pay to get rid of it. Good luck to all of you out there. If anyone is going to file a class action, please let me know as paying that money really hurt. It's on my credit card for a while.

I was in disbelief when I opened the bill for the extra assessment and now the predicted maintenance fees for 2014 are more than double what they originally were when we bought the unit back in the late 90's. I have been out of commission for a while with a health issue and trying to catch up on this. Does anyone have any input on where this stands or any contact information on where to complain to? I'm wondering if consumer protection in FL can be of any assistance to us? These fees are quite out-of-line with today's economy - there has to be legal recourse for we owners somewhere and would gladly join a class action suit. Any input or information will be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

MJ

I just finished paying my first installment on the special assessment. I also believe this is an unnecessary expenditure which fundamentally abuses the timeshare owners. If there were enough of us that believed this is unnecessary or at least cost prohibitive the we need to vote two or more timeshare owners in as board of director members. This is the only way that the voice of the members would be heard and then voted in accordance with our vision. However, this would only be possible during the annual board of director elections. If I could find a cost effective method to dispose of my unit I would do that immediately.

I have a question... I am in the same boat. I own week 9, no mortgage. If I go into default, I know it will affect my credit. I am not concerned about that. What I am concerned about is... Can they get a judgement against me for the delinquent maintenance fees. Does anyone know the answer to this?

Well, I see and hear that I'm not the only one that is upset with this Timeshare. I am so pissed at these people. My story is the same as you all. Please, count me in on a game plan to get out of this mess.

Anthony Lucarelli

Count me in, this is stupid, unnecessary, and yeah I liked my unit just like it was. Hollywood Towers buget looks like are government's.

jacob

I am now delinquent on special assessment which has been sent to AXIS Financial Services for payment. I have not paid 2014 maintenance fee since there is a lock out on the unit. We have tried Donate for a Cause and Florida Veterans, but they say we have to pay everything owed to Hollywood which would total $2750 at this point plus an additional $2000 in fees to maybe get out of Hollywood. We have always had good credit, but at this point we don't want to give any money to a sinking ship which is what this sounds like. Please advise us how to join in on whatever you are doing to resolve this issue??

Please call Kevin and Jane at 607-648-9380 to see how to get out of this mess...Thank you

felixi4 wrote:

July 1, 2013

just received snail mail today, explaining the need for a special meeting of the HOA on July 11, 2013 to discuss and adopt a special assessment for each unit week in the amount of $1,782.09 spread over three years. The purpose of the special assessment is to cover the complete renovation of the units and lobbies at a total cost of $5,798,745.27. The resort has 92 units per week available for owners. One week is set aside each year for unit interior maintenance. This means that 4,692 unit weeks are available for owner use. If all unit weeks paid the special assessment $8,361,566.28 would be received by the HOA. This is $2,562,821.01 more than the needed amount.

Talked to the manager today after receiving mail. I asked for the addresses of the Board of Directors and was told to send any comments to them by mail to the resort. I have met the President but I have no other information on other board members. As of today there are 1,563 units that are delinquent in paying maintenance fees for 2013, 66 units are in foreclosure, and 15 units are owned by the HOA.

I own three units at the resort. I liked the units as they are now. They reminded me of the art deco buildings in South Beach. I feel that the Board of Directors are being lead down the wrong path by SPM Resorts (Hollywood Beach Tower's Present Management). SPM Resorts changes 35% to rent units for owners. SPM Resorts has a lot to gain with the owners paying for the cost of these upgrades. The owners will never get their money back in their lifetime. SPM Resorts will make money when they rent the first unit.

If you feel the same as I do, email me and we will discuss how we can attack this problem.

Kimberly, Where are you at with this mess? I am starting to get calls from collection agencies. I am curious if you were able to get rid of your timeshare or not. I am not happy with this timeshare. I own one in the Poconos and have had only one assessment for $160 in the 30 years that I have owned it. In this economy I don't understand how they can go ahead and hit us with such a high assessment. I have reported them to the Better Business Bureau in Southern Florida but have not heard anything back yet. If you would like to email me I am at Jpier3521@gmail.com.

Felix, can you please tell me what you did to resolve this or are you letting your units go into foreclosure. I am about to report Pinnacle Recovery for harassment since they don't stop calling my phone. I tried to sell my unit through Palmetto Marketing, but must be no one is buying. Who would in this economy? My email is Jpier3521@gmail.com

I do not own at Hollywood Beach Towers . I am an owner at Lacosta Beach Club. We also had this type assessment There are things you can do. I wood suggest that you and the owners who lost their units contact a Lawyer . He may consider assisting you in a class action Law suit.

Email me at wrgreb123@gmail>com and I will fill you in on the real story Wendell Graham