Is it ethical for a Hyatt High Sierra Lodge HOA board member to profit from a foreclosure?

The Hyatt High Sierra Lodge used to post their foreclosure listings in the lobby - my friend bought her timeshare thru a foreclosure sale last year at a great price. Over the last few months, she and I stayed at the resort and inquired about foreclosure sales; we were told that there wasn't any sales notices, so we assumed that meant no foreclosures. My friend then found out through another acquaintance that there were in fact two foreclosure sales, one occurring in August and one in September. Being a realtor, he was able to access the court web site to see what those units sold for and SURPRISE! - a Hyatt High Sierra Lodge HOA BOARD MEMBER had bought all four units at the minimum price; these included a high end diamond week, a gold week and three silver weeks, all for under $2,000 each. Those units now appear to be for sale through the HOA exclusive broker for the High Sierra Lodge. So, my question: is it ethical to with-hold information about foreclosure sales from the resort owners while a HOA board member is able to use that information to attend the foreclosure sale; purchase units, list them with the broker for the resort and make a profit for himself? How is that in the best interests of the timeshare owners? If you own at the Hyatt High Sierra Lodge, voice your concern at the next board meeting on September 20th.

beverlyh119 wrote:

The Hyatt High Sierra Lodge used to post their foreclosure listings in the lobby - my friend bought her timeshare thru a foreclosure sale last year at a great price. Over the last few months, she and I stayed at the resort and inquired about foreclosure sales; we were told that there wasn't any sales notices, so we assumed that meant no foreclosures. My friend then found out through another acquaintance that there were in fact two foreclosure sales, one occurring in August and one in September. Being a realtor, he was able to access the court web site to see what those units sold for and SURPRISE! - a Hyatt High Sierra Lodge HOA BOARD MEMBER had bought all four units at the minimum price; these included a high end diamond week, a gold week and three silver weeks, all for under $2,000 each. Those units now appear to be for sale through the HOA exclusive broker for the High Sierra Lodge. So, my question: is it ethical to with-hold information about foreclosure sales from the resort owners while a HOA board member is able to use that information to attend the foreclosure sale; purchase units, list them with the broker for the resort and make a profit for himself? How is that in the best interests of the timeshare owners? If you own at the Hyatt High Sierra Lodge, voice your concern at the next board meeting on September 20th.

What you need to do is voice your complaint to all the other board members and owners at the upcoming meeting.

Also, when HOA board members are seeking election or re-election make sure that board member is not re-elected .... you need to contact other owners with the above information. Looks to me like that board member was keeping the foreclosures under wraps so that he/she could profit. This is not in the best interest of the resort and all its owners .... this was definitely a 'conflict of interest'.

beverlyh119 wrote:

How is that in the best interests of the timeshare owners?

On a foreclosed unit, NO ONE is paying the resort ANY maintenance fees while the unit is under HOA ownership. If your HOA member has taken legal ownership of these weeks via purchase, then he / she has now then also accepted full responsibility for paying the associated maintenance fees on those weeks. Having those fees paid IS indeed most certainly in the best interests of the other owners. If the weeks don't get sold for more than he / she paid (or if they don't sell at all), then the intrepid HOA member will have taken a gamble --- and lost --- yet STILL be responsible for paying the maintenance fees.

On the other hand, this HOA member appears to have utilized his / her position to acquire weeks at prices free from competition and apparently without any other owners ever even knowing of their availability at all. IF other owners would actually have paid MORE than the HOA member paid, if given the opportunity to bid on and buy those foreclosed weeks, then this intrepid HOA member is dead wrong to unfairly benefit (and potentially also profit financially) from his position (albeit, let's be honest here, an UNPAID position).

In any case, this person should be promptly voted off (or kicked off) the board. He / she should first be promptly asked to voluntarily and immediately resign, since he / she has (at the very least) clearly violated the trust and good faith of all the other owners to which he / she is supposed to both represent and be accountable. No henhouse needs self-serving foxes operating freely inside.

Just my personal opinion...

I think owners should be allowed to post units for sale by owner before they go into foreclosure.

suanned wrote:

I think owners should be allowed to post units for sale by owner before they go into foreclosure.

A unit only goes into foreclosure if the owner does not pay his maintenance fees. And if an owner wants to sell his or her unit, then that unit must first have all the maintenance fees, special assessments, and mortgages paid up.

So if he or she is all paid up on everything, then there is no reason for foreclosure and that owner is allowed to sell it as s/he sees fit.