Fairfield Palm Aire Royal Palm building damage question

I bought a fixed week in Sep 05 at Palm Aire on Ebay and was happy with the deal. Then of course came the Hurricane. I have yet to see what this unit looks like. I was about to plan my week for next winter when I find out they are still working on this building. Correct me if I am wrong but as I see it, you can build a whole subdivision in a year and a half, much less repair a single building. Doesn't Fairfield have a duty to repair this Asap as they are denying usage to paying customers? If they were underinsured as I have read that some resorts are at the FF group, they will have to fix the place and bill accessments at some point anyway, what are they waiting for? Or is it the POA running the repairs (which I understand is run by Fairfield too so what is the diff)? Are they haggling with insurance? I sure could use some advice on insight on this. Should I convert my week to points? How much to do that? What are they offering people for this inconvenience if anything? Thanks, Bob Condon

Your sister resort is having the same problems. Since Andy is following this closely, I think moving it to the Wyndham forum might be helpful for you to obtain more responses.

Meanwhile, I will ask for a listing of T/Ss still closed so we can make the other owners and exchangers aware of these 'closures'

I do believe they were placeing weeks and points owners in different Palm Aire buildings.

IMO (and most disagree), I would not give up my week ownership for points...the price is wrong...they should be paying you.

Check here:
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27369

Hi Bob
I too own a unit in this tower and the last time I called Fairfield, they told the repairs were not done....
Did you hear anything and I wonder what we could do for compesention
All they did was send me a certificate from RCI for a bonus week but this is worth nothing...
Chica

It will only cost you

Chica said:

Hi Bob
I too own a unit in this tower and the last time I called Fairfield, they told the repairs were not done....
Did you hear anything and I wonder what we could do for compesention
All they did was send me a certificate from RCI for a bonus week but this is worth nothing...
Chica

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Talk of compensation makes no sense. Since any money needed for repairs or compensation would have to come from the owners all you'd be doing is raising your own fees to "pay" yourself back! People seem to feel that "someone" owes them when their property isn't usable. Unfortunately, just like your house if you own it, if you can't use your timeshare because of damage you simply lose that use and still owe the fees. The fees (and hopefully insurance) are what will get your property back up and functional again. The real question is what are the damages and why aren't the buildings repaired over a year later? Unless they ran into code issues or structural damage it seems to dragging out far too long.

Confused...

Dear all-

Have a heart and bear with me. My mother - and I (long story) - own a unit at this same resort. We are interested in selling it but have no idea where to start in light of the construction that is being done. Not to mention the fact that a lot of feedback on this board is not exactly pro-FF.

Further there are some real grey areas for me. First - I have no idea what points are. All I know is that we own a unit for week 13. I'll leave it there, this isn't an ad, so don't worry - we'll be posting one soon. Are we nuts to think that anyone will want to buy this property in light of the construction ? Has anyone heard of these being resold recently ?

Second, the prices are also all over the map. I won't get into it here but the size of the ranges blows me away - regardless of the types of units in this resort, the ranges are mindblowing.

Third - is the best way to go about it, using a TUG classified ? Or go through a broker ? Ebay ? Where has anyone seen these things sold ?

Any suggestions for a strategy for a first time re-seller who is very keen - greatly appreciated. Moderators - I am not trying to skirt the ads - I will post an ad... believe me... I want this to work - if only you saw half the emails I have sent to my mother.. wow !

Thanks-
Trevor

Well, I just bought one for $1.00. It was a one bedroom week 14. I didn't know about the hurricane damage until after the fact. The seller on ebay didn't mention it at all. I used timetraveltraders.com for the closing, so they just prepare & record the deed. You have to do your own due diligence. I only checked to see if fees were current and they were. I never thought to check and see if the unit was in working order. It goes to show--If something looks to good to be true, it probably is.

Do you know if there are any assessments to come?

Same problem at the Santa Barbara. Check out the postings there.

twlewis said:

Second, the prices are also all over the map. I won't get into it here but the size of the ranges blows me away - regardless of the types of units in this resort, the ranges are mindblowing.

Third - is the best way to go about it, using a TUG classified ? Or go through a broker ? Ebay ? Where has anyone seen these things sold ?
Trevor

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Trevor:

Don't pay any up-front. Don't go through broker, since you probably will need to pay a fix amount that your week may not be able to fetch. Go to tug's sale/rent forum and read the how to sell.

You have choices. It depends on how quickly you want to get rid of this week. If really desperate, follow the advice, find a good reliable closing company, put your ad on eBay, give it at least 7 days in auction, start with 1 dollar no reservation, see how it goes. If none take, you can always pay for closing.

If not, try to put ad on some free site to start with like vacationtimeshareforrent.com, craigslist.org. Then say in 5 month, you can try to put on tug, timeshareforums, redweeks.com or myresortnetwork.com with a competible price. Run then for 6 more month, and if you did feel too many quality offer, you can alway try to put your week on eBay. The price usually start go up from Feb, March, and reach high at summer, so if you do that, don't try to sell it just before the end of the year.

Jya-Ning

Hi Trevor
I too would like to sell my week at this resort. Did you hear if repairs were completed.
I read that you can donate your time share and use the receipt for income tax. I live in Canada and i wonder if I can do the same.
I would be willing to go that route if it meant not paying any more maintenance fees.
Let me know if you heard re. repairs
Thanks
Chica

I have talked to the member rep of the homeowner's association. He said that the Royal Palm building is scheduled to open April 15. He said no special assessments are anticipated.

abc

I own FF UDI points at Palm Aire. The MF for 2007 were raised about 10%. The assessment notice indicated that no special assessments were anticipated.

Does anyone know if the Royal Palm building is schd. to re-open April 15 (as a previous poster mentioned)?

I have an extra vacation on hold through RCI (for Dec 2007). It is for a studio 4/2. I called the resort directly tonight to enquire about location of the studios. I was told that all studios are all located in the Royal Palm building and was then told that they are still being refurbished and that they would NOT be finished by Dec 2007.

I have no idea if I should confirm the RCI extra vacation or not now..

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated at this point since I am totally confused as to what I should do.

Thank goodness for TUG. The information on this board is amazing.

condor1087 said:

Correct me if I am wrong but as I see it, you can build a whole subdivision in a year and a half, much less repair a single building.

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Bob, here in Florida, as ridiculous as it might sound, it takes up to and sometimes longer than 2 years to build a single house.

Riu Girl, I answered this question on another thread. It's not expected to re-open next week but next month - at least 1/3 of the rooms. Two more opening dates for the remaining rooms in the next couple of months.

Thank you for the info.

New Casino Open Across the Street

HI All,
I don't know if this will affect the price or not but the new Casino at Pompano Park just opened Saturday and it is beautiful. Located right across the street from Palm Aire it is walkable. There are slots and two restaurants open at this time with more to come.

Barb

Thanks for the info.

Update on studios in Royal Palm building

Just to provide anyone interested with an update: I called the resort this evening looking for any information on the opening of the studios in the Royal Palm building and was told that the studios should be open in 2 weeks to 3 months time. The person I spoke to told me that they are just waiting on some site inspections and paperwork etc. not sure what this means exactly, but crossing my fingers that a studio will be available for us for Christmas week.. (I have one booked through RCI EV)

Regarding the studios in the Royal Palm building, does anyone have any other info. that they could share?

riu girl said:

The person I spoke to told me that they are just waiting on some site inspections and paperwork etc. not sure what this means exactly,

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It means they have major fix done, and waiting local government/utility company come to do an inspection on the electric and plumbing and give them license to open again for TS operation. Once they got that, they probably will put in finish touch and furniture, so it should be reopened pretty soon.

Jya-Ning

Thank you for the explanation. Since you own there, if you hear of any other news regarding opening date on the studios in the Royal Palm building, would you mind letting me know? I would really appreciate it.

Just an update for anyone interested:

Studios in the Royal Palm building are competed. Inspections completed. Did not pass fire inspection. Waiting for new fire inspection to take place.

Tentative opening date: Oct. 1. 2007.

Have my fingers crossed.

If anyone has heard anything different, please let me know.

riu girl said:

Just an update for anyone interested:

Studios in the Royal Palm building are competed. Inspections completed. Did not pass fire inspection. Waiting for new fire inspection to take place.

Tentative opening date: Oct. 1. 2007.

Have my fingers crossed.

If anyone has heard anything different, please let me know.

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That's curious that they couldn't get the repairs or whatever up to code re: fire inspection.

riu girl said:

Just an update for anyone interested:

Studios in the Royal Palm building are competed. Inspections completed. Did not pass fire inspection. Waiting for new fire inspection to take place.

Tentative opening date: Oct. 1. 2007.

Have my fingers crossed.

If anyone has heard anything different, please let me know.

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To those who may be interested: Spoke to Palm Aire again last night. The person I spoke to said that there is NO schd. re-opening date and transferred my call to Wyndham. The Wyndham rep told me that the opening date is now LATE OCTOBER. O well, not as good as Oct. 1, but as long as it is open for Christmas , I will be happy!!!