Maintenance Fees

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Original Message:

Re: Maintenance Fees (by Thomas C.):

joel382 wrote:
thomasc147 wrote:
After 25 years of exorbitant and ever-increasing maintenance fees, I've become "mad as hell and I can't take it anymore." My main complaint at my resort (High Point World Resort) is that management and administration fees account for 33% of the operating costs, or $884,871 for 108 units. That is ridiculous! I feel helpless to act. Does anyone have any experience on how one begins to address this issue? Is there a regulatory agency in Florida I can contact? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm ready for action. Thanks.
I TOTALLY Agree! These Resorts have us by the Gonads, and the Maintenance fees are a BIG Stinking Rip-off! As stated above, they get 500-700 per unit, per week, or 52 x 500 (average) = $26,000 average EVERY YEAR FOR EVERY UNIT! Multiply that times however many units are in the resort and you know how much money they are bringing in on the 'Maintenance' fees! Then, like that wasn't enough, last year, my Stinking Resort, Celebrity Resorts in Indian Shores, FL., had the gall to charge me over $1000.00 'Special assessment' ON TOP of my normal $500.00 maintenance fee. I Was Steaming Mad, and so were a lot of other owners. I called the local Government offices, and they are USELESS! They said there was nothing they could do. I believe the only way to correct these situations is to get enough owners to vote out the board, if it is run by a board, and get a new board in there that have some common sense! Only problem is, with Indian Shores, it is 'owned' by a Father/Son, or something like that, and they 'make the rules', so if you don't like it, tough! Guess I will have to sell this unit to some poor unsuspecting sole! ;) By the way, I didn't see it above, but I may have missed it. Did you add up how much these original owners made on the original sale of each unit? 52 x $10,000 (one bedroom average), or 520,000 PER UNIT. Your realize how much it costs to build a 800-1000 square foot apartment/condo? Maybe 150,000!, and that is being generous as it should be more cost effective to build 20 units than one. Talk about a KILLING! Even if you pay the High Pressure Salespeople well, they are still making about a 50% profit on each unit. No wonder there are so many Timeshares Out There flooding the market! Just my 2 cents worth!
Yes and mine may be one of them soon. It's quite a racquet. Just about everything they told me 25 years ago when I bought the unit has turned out to be a lie. As investments go, it doesn't get much worse, and the yearly fees aren't much different than renting on the open market. I'm thinking about just giving my unit to a relative, but I am not sure they will want it, even minus the investment costs, when they consider the annual costs. Like most things that get accomplished it will probably take a massive organized effort to put pressure on the industry somehow, but I don't see that happening now. No one feels sorry for the "rich" people who buy timeshares, so only the owners themselves would be successful, and I don't know where to begin to try to organize or join such an effort. I don't even know where to start with my own resort.