Condo building seems to be in pretty bad shape

Hey, whatever. It’s your funeral if you’re wrong. I wish you good luck. Sure hope you don’t need it.

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If you are planning on walking away from the timeshare when the special assessment bill comes, don’t you want there to be nothing in your father’s name that they could possibly come after to satisfy what “he” owes on the timeshare?

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There are probably 5,000 timeshare owners here with 1,2 and 3 bedroom units. As a studio owner, we would be at the bottom of the collections list. And what can they come after? It’s not like there is a mortgage on the timeshare. And it’s unlikely they could go after a persons house for payment of a special assessment. Most they could do is transfer ownership in the timeshare to the management company.

Main question was what happens to the building if there aren’t enough funds to have it repaired? If the structure is deemed too dangerous to live in, is everybody ordered to leave? Does the city condemn it? Tear it down. If it’s torn down, is the land sold and the proceeds divided up? There must be thousands of similar buildings in the area and all over the country like this. What’s the national impact of something like this?

Go ahead and keep believing that if you want. But you are the one who asked the question.

You dont inherit anything until the estate has paid all it’s debts. And you lax approach has left his estate with both assets (the house) and liabilities (the special assessment).

The only reason they wont slap a lein on the house is if they mistakenly assume that someone who dies 12 years ago doesnt have any assets to slap a lein on and dont even try.

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If someone stops paying on their car they repo it and sell it to recoup whatever they can. If someone stops paying condo fees, the condo board puts a lien on the condo and maybe get an order to sell it. Not sure how they could put a lien on other property, especially if the owner died years ago. Not too worried as the condo association or management company is pretty screwed up anyway. It was actually quite a nice place up until there was some kind of change in ownership 10 years ago.

How much are the annual condo fees usually?

That would give some idea of how much money is really at stake here. Knowing how much money is at stake would I think give us an idea of how likely the timeshare company is to take legal action to get the money.

e.g. If these timeshares resell for $1 on ebay and the fees are $500/yr then I honstly don’t think theres any chance they’ll do much legally. Like I think they’ll probably just send a colleciton letter then find out your dad is deceased and then stop there.

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…and if they get less from the sale than what’s owed, you (the borrower) are still responsible for the remainder. Just because most people getting underwater cars repo’ed have nothing else to come after doesnt mean the lender cant go after them, it means the lender has little to gain for the effort.

You can laugh it off - but it’ll be on the hopes that it doesnt bite you in the ass, not because you are in the clear.

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About $730 now for this 2 weeks prime pool view studio in February. Pics from balcony in 2005.

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Over annual fees, yes, they most likely just let those couple unpaid years go. But dont forget the pending [potential] 5-figure special assessment.

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Is it a deficiency state? What specific recourse do lien holders (such as a building HOA) have other than foreclosure and seizing the collateral?

No mortgage so no collateral.

Please, please, please get a good real estate attorney and/or someone familiar with wills and trusts. At the very least, get someone for a consultation to understand the risks and your available options to see if you can just walk away or if you are stuck holding the bag.

This is not a situation to be a cheapskate and take advice from fellow cheapskates on the internet.

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I’m not spending money on a lawyer at this point.

Unsecured debt is still subject to collections, liens, etc. All a mortgage (or other “collateral”) does is give the lender that lien position prior to them needing it. Unsecured just means the debtor has to wait until there’s a default before it can pursue whatever assets the debtee has at the time. And remember, you’re claiming the property (both this timeshare unit and the house) is owned by someone who’s been deceased for 12 years, so it isnt even subject to any primary residence protections.

Yes, you can potentially be held liable for every penny that is owed - be it you personally (as the owner, even if a deed hasnt been recorded), or through the equity in your dad’s house. As Sullim says, dont believe us if you dont want to, but talk to a lawyer before betting on your own opinion. Just a [free] initial consultation should give you a really good idea of how much exposure you may or may not have.

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So what happens to the thousands of people that just walk away from their timeshares every year? They ARE the legal owners of the property. The unit is foreclosed on if there is a mortgage and unit is turned over to the HOA if not, to be resold. I can’t imagine the relatives would be on the hook for anything.

You arent talking about walking away from future fees. And as already said, they probably wont worry about a couple years of unpaid fees, it’s just not worth it.

You are talking about 1) hiding the fact the faux “owner” hasnt existed for over a decade, and 2) walking away to avoid a potentially huge assessment. Those are not the same circumstances of thousands of people that just walk away every year.

You are the owner, you inherited it. Collecting from you doesnt require going after relatives of the owner.

Conversely, as you seem so proud of having left it in your dad’s name to avoid personal responsibility, they dont need to involve you at all - you’ve left assets in your dad’s estate that they can claim to settle the amount due. Either you own the timeshare and the house, or the estate continues to own both - either way, the owner has assets available for them to come after to pay what’s owed. Which is why everyone is saying you need to get on this ASAP - if you can get it straightened our prior to that 5-figure assessment becoming official, you might be able to squeeze out if it.

But by all means, just keep crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. There’s a decent chance you’ll get lucky and nothing will come of it regardless. But that makes you lucky, not right.

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I liked your post, glitch99. Good post and a good try. But I sense a hopeless situation here, regardless your fine efforts. One reason I’m saying that is personal:

I’m a lot like atikovi when it comes to lawyers and their outrageous charges. I really am. I avoided them like the COVID back when the average smarter person than me would have hired a lawyer. But I do sense one difference between myself and atikovi:

Back in those days I worked my ass off to learn the law. I spent hour upon hour in multiple law libraries, my head in those law books, just studying . . . and studying. I continued to do that until I believed I had a chance to do certain legal work on my own. And even then I realized I was taking a risk. But it was worth the risk not having to hire a lawyer . . . . and it was informed risk, at least to the best of my ability.

So would I have considered “just winging it” with no work or study whatsoever? I was stupid not hiring a lawyer and I was most fortunate that I came out OK. But I was never stupid enough to just “wing it”. All the hours of work and study I put in just barely gave me enough confidence to proceed on my own. Absent that work and study: no way.

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Is he ? Did he?

I mean legally.

I mean I don’t know for sure. But I dont’ think that an unsettle estate automatically ends up the property of the next of kin.

Was Atikovi the legal executor?

If Atikovi refuses the property can’t he disclaim it and say he doesn’t want it? I am not totally sure here but I don’t think that inheritance is forced. I’m sure its usually not a thing case people don’t often refuse free inheirtance of value but timeshares might just be a typical exception cause they suck so awful even when they have nice pool views.

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I’m just saying it’s either one or the other (the sentance you quoted goes along with the following sentance) - he either owns both properties, or the estate still owns both properties. He cannot state that the house is his despite it remaining in his dad’s name, but the timeshare is not his because it remains in his dad’s name.

Of course he can disclaim an inheritance - but he needs to do so sooner than later. The fact that for over 10 years he has maintained the property as the de facto owner (paying the bills himself, and pocketing any excess rental revenue) may mean that ship has already sailed. It’s a tough sell to keep and use the timeshare until it becomes inconvenient, and only then claim he never accepted it in the first place.

And again, if he doesnt take the timeshare, the timeshare’s debts still need to be paid by the estate before he can inherit the house. Wait much longer, and that [potential] special assessment will become one of those debts needing to be repaid before the estate gives out any inheritance. Including the house.

My point is, regardless of how you choose to frame the situation, there is a piece of the puzzle that remains out of place. Until that taken care of, he is exposed in some way, either directly or indirectly. He really needs to get things squared up before even more uncertainty gets added to the equation. I dont know what the final resolution looks like, but the longer he waits the less control he will have over how it’s resolved.

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