Special Assessments

[zjhasan1976]

I checked the link to the database of historical MFs and see that St. John and Vistana seem to have the most occurences of special assessments. I am assuming this is primarily driven by either hurricane damage or improvements? I didn't see any for Vistana Villages - Bella so is it safe to assume that one would be on the horizon?

http://www.eternaltides.com/SVN/SVNQuery.aspx

 

[DeniseM]

Special Assesments are very unpopular, and Starwood/Vistana has had some owner revolts due to SA's in the past, so rather than special assessments, I would expect to see an increase in maintenance fees, for future renovations.

When SDO did renovations a couple of years ago, they raised the maintenance fee, instead of calling it a special assessment. It may cost the same but it sounds better.

The exception may be WSJ, due to the hurricane damage. No one knows yet.

 

[DavidnRobin]

There was no SA for WSJ-VGV. See the WSJ thread #1 - around 2009.

They increased the MFs to bring the Reserves up to where they should have been AND remodeled the interior and exterior of the VGV phase.

Will there be an SA after H. Irma? For VGV - the HOA had funded the Hurricane Insurance deductible- so hopefully not. Many VGV Owners couldn’t bare a SA and would likely default - causing MFs to increase - causing more to default - repeat.

I do not think that is a viable option for the BOD - hopefully...


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[cubigbird]

I know it all depends, but what could we be looking at here for SA — $hundreds or $thousands? I’m sure it is a fine line from the point of view of BOD. If it’s such a high SA people walk. How would a SA work with SB Villas since it is still in active sales?

 

[DeniseM]

cubigbird - There is no reason to think that there is going to be a SA at SBP, so not sure what you are referring to.

The last big SA was at Sheraton Vistana Resort and it was in the thousands. However, this generated a huge negative response from owners, so I will be surprised if we ever see that again - except in a case of unusual damages, like a hurricane.

It's far easier and less controversial for the BOD to raise the MF, than to impose a SA, so that's what I would expect to see in the future.

*A well-run resort should never have a SA, except in extraordinary circumstances like a hurricane. Under regular conditions, a special assessment means that the board has not budgeted well for renovations and refurbishments. Of course, with Starwood/Vistana, renovations are management driven, and I'm sure that major renovations at SVR and SDO would not have happed, except that Starwood insisted on it, and the board caved in to their demands.

Note that Villas of Cave Creek LEFT Starwood (fired them as management) because Starwood was demanding expensive renovations and the board refused to do it.

 

[VacationForever]

I think cubigbird meant Coral Vista at St. John.

 

[DeniseM]

If he is talking about WSJ, I respectfully request that he post in the ongoing WSJ thread on this topic, rather than starting a new discussion here.

 

[Helios]

I think cubigbird meant Coral Vista at St. John.

I think it was WSJ SB.

 

[VacationForever]

I think it was WSJ SB.

I forgot about the newest phase.