bankruptcy

regarding on whom to talk to: in a conversaton with branson personnel who are wanting individuals to travel to branson, I asked about French Quarter. I was advised that Spinnaker resort in Ormond Beach, Florida is the headquarters for the "mess" in Branson, and spinnaker is involved in this bankruptcy problem. If I had some corportate names with spinnaker in ormond beach, two or more phone calls to the corporate officers would give some type of answer . If you need more information, please call Karen B. Geiger, Legal Specialist and Collections Managers, Managing Agent for Southwind association at hilton head, sc, 843-785-3355, ext 5211 who advises that the original developer of the resort is out and business and in bankruptcy, (must mean Spinnaker) and there is a new "developer entity" and someone has to be appointed to sign deeds on behalf of that entity. As I under stand this issue, Missouri attorney general and others in responsible positions have "washed their hands" off the complete issue.

French Quarter LLC is the original developer, the original management company and is the one in bankruptcy and the cause of the "mess" in Brason.

Southwind Management, who as I understand it is also the management company for Spinnaker resorts, appears to be who the HOA hired to manage the resort once the origninal developer went out of business.

Southwind (Spinnaker) is only the management company hired by the HOA. They'll be of little assistance other than for some information on the bankruptcy. Their involvement will be managing the resort. Their interest would be in taking over the management contract on a more permanent bases and, if there's inventory worth selling or additional areas to develope and sell, in taking over the future developement/sales at French Quater. All of that will be determined by the bankruptcy court.

If anyone wants a list of HOA members or how to contract them, I'd suggest calling Southwind management and inquiring. Numbers can be found in the semi-annual newletter sent out by the HOA. Right now, I'm not at home where I can access past newletters. When I get a chance I'll post the phone numbers.

jiml317 wrote:

We tried to trade in our FQ condo a few years ago, and it never went thru, as it is not possible to transfer your deed from FQ. We ended up owning two, but finally sold the other one, and kept FQ. What a mistake that may have been. We heard that FQ defaulted on completing several buildings that were being developed, and therefore is in default, hence the bankruptcy. Southwind Inc, is located in South Carolina and Florida, so they are out of the mind of Branson and Missouri regulations. It makes sense that a class action law suit may be needed against FQ and Southwind Inc. Anyone interested????

what about class action suit. Trusting and honest people should be able to recoup their money.

Class action? Who are you going after? A bankrupt developer?

Class actions make money for one group of people, lawyers. Take for example the big class action against RCI that was suppose to bring them to their knees and stop them from renting all best deposits. What did members get? $12 if you have an active membership and $10 if your membership is not active.

Sure it sounds good but over the course of history, class actions have accomplished very little for the class they supposedly are supporting. They do make a lot of lawyers rich.

I just spoke with Karen, the legal rep for Southwind. She said that a bid has been accepted on the FQ property and the closing should take place in the next 30 to 45 days. She said we should hear something in the next 90 days or so and after that deeds should be issued. Cross your fingers.

I'm assuming the bid that was accepted was from Southwind? I'll be glad to get this behind us so the property can move forward. Personally, I'm at a point where I'd like to have clear title so that I can consider dumping this property in favor of something a little more stable. I'm not thrilled with the requirement of a $1,500 advance deposit against maintenance fee's and/or special assessments SWM requires to transfer a deed. It's a HUGE drawback to anyone wanting to buy. I had a taker for our Grand Regency Week (sister resort) but they backed out when SWM wanted that $1,500 up front PLUS a transfer fee.

I am an owner of building 8 or 800,whichever it is. first of all Southwinds did not let me know of a bankruptcy. But the fraud, that goes on is something else. I have 3- bedrooms with FG. In 2009,Stormy Pointe had us delivered to listen to there buy. Tim Butler( Who sold us FG 3rd. Bedroom unit) Sold us Stormy piont under fraudulant claims.He told us they'd sell French Quarter(Penthouse status) so we could get Stormy pointe. told him I was already still paying FQ, he said he had a guy that sells them to foreign people who buy in blocks, well it never happened... so a year and a half made a visit to stormy pointe walked in and talk to some one and said I want the owner, I was sold this under fraud... Well , we were wisked away an another man come in the room and told him what TIM BUTLER, told is,(he's working for Stormy pointe now) well, we got our money back...Tim also said FG was going to go bankrupt,a year before it happened, and he was going to save us from loosing FG timeshare.. it never sold... so HE lied... I'm going to write the Attorney Generals office and explain this to him... Something really needs to be done, as they are feeding fraud off thousands of people, or maybe bouycottthe town for a few years, and yes the MF is up to $700.00 a year.. thats wrong

The property on which Building 8 was built on has been foreclosed. the new owner of this property takes the position that this state court action extinguished our interest in this property.

To beac 5:

It's not just FQ salesmen or Stormy Pointe salesmen. It's a problem throughout the industry. While most don't go this far, they all stretch the truth a lot. In Williamsburg, I had one salesman try to get us to buy based upon his "secretary's" ability to rent out units. He told us he could convert the weeks we currently owned into 30 some odd weeks worth of points and could rent those weeks out easily for $1,000/week. Of course he couldn't do that and within a few years I started to read about this guy and the complaints about being sold a bill of goods.

I can't tell you the number of times we've been told a resort would take a "trade in" but, when I pushed to get it in writing that we would never have to pay MF's on the resort week traded in, that's were the deal would break down. "Trust me" isn't good enough when they're wanting thousands of dollars from me.

Another lie told around Branson was that Disney was coming to Branson. After all, Missouri was Walt's home state. Disney was supposedly buying land like they did in Orlando to keep the price down. The only thing Disney ever brought to Branson was a Disney store and I don't think that lasted very long.

One other lie told to us by a salesman in Branson was that there would NEVER be another timeshare built in Branson because they'd passed a law prohibiting them. Inventory was going to run out by the end of the year (2009 I believe) so I'd better buy more weeks now. That same resort group just opened another resort over by Palace View called Palace View Heights.

You've learned an expensive lesson. Always keep in mind that if a salesmans lips are moving, then they're lying. We don't go on updates anymore. We're tired of the lies and arm twisting.

This is an interesting prospect. Are they saying that owners in building 8 are no longer owners? If that's the case then owners of building 8 are likely going to have to band together and get a law firm to help them retain their rights of ownership. I don't believe it's as simple as foreclosing on the land to cancel signed, legally binding contracts. This sounds as if it could drag on for years.

I've spoken with the bankruptcy trustee, and the new buidling 8 owner is apparently claiming that the owners of building 8 have nothing. I'm a south carolina attorney representing a couple who bought a unit in building 8. It appears that they paid for title insurance with a closing attorney here, and that may cover their loss. I'm currently investigating this claim. If you have information regarding this, I'd like to hear about it. Robert Culver in Charleston, SC. 843-853-9816

I spoke with a rep. from SWM this afternoon after having posed about a dozen questions on the French Quarter website. Hopefully I was able to get a lot of my questions cleared up.

As to buildings 8 and 9, deeds were never issued. The contractor who built building 8 was never paid, put a lien on the building and was able to foreclose. It is not part of the trustee sale and apparently not part of the bankruptcy. Once it was foreclosed on the doors were locked and it is now unoccupied. The land and the building are no longer a part of French Quarter and SWM no longer manages the building.

Those that pre-purchased in building 9 are actually in the same position. They own nothing. As it stands now building 9 will never be built. For that matter I believe it's safe to say that there will be no more additions to the property.

The court trustee has done a poor job communicating with everyone and has made mistakes. One mistake was listing property in the trustee sale that could not be listed. For instance, there was additional land that Brian Taylor had purchased with a bank loan. The bank had foreclosed on the land and had resold it. The trustee had listed it in the trustee sale, someone objected (probably the bank) and the judge to the trustee they better get their stuff together.

Those in buildings 1 to 7 should have deeds and business should go on as normal.

Grand Regency got pulled into this because there was unsold inventory that the developer used to obtain loans.

While Southwind is the management company now, they might not be after the trustee sale is complete. Southwind is considering bidding on the property but, if they don't win the bid, they'll likely be out as management and whomever does win the bid will be in or, will decide who to hire as management.

If SWM doesn't win the bid this could be very bad for those who bought into buildings 8 and 9. SWM has allowed those buyers to pay MF's and has provided inventory for their use. While there is no guarantee, the person I spoke with feels that SWM will make arrangements to help those owners. After all, any management company wants owners who pay the MF's. What help they would give, if any, is an unknown and not guaranteed.

If another management company or developer wins the bid I think it's safe to say that the buyers of buildings 8 and 9 may simply be out of luck. The company has filed bankruptcy so that's probably not an option. Perhaps they could go after the principle owner of the company but, as I understand it, he's bankrupt as well. If that's true then there is nowhere to turn and it's just a very bad investment loss, sort of like owning stock in a company that no longer exists.

The land the original sales office was located on was never owned by French Quarter LLC. I had assumed there was trouble and the insurance money from the building got put into someone's pocket. That was wrong. I did not ask but I'm assuming the resort is currently renting the building for it's registration desk.

The Copper Tree hotel, which was sold as a benefit to owners for inexpensive nightly rentals, was also never owned by French Quater LLC. As most of you know, it was closed a couple of years ago, sat empty and has since been raised.

With luck the trustee sale will close in the next three months and we'll all have a better idea where the resort stands. I know I'll be glad to put this entire situation behind me.

We recieved a letter today indicating that French Quarter Resort has been purchased from the banruptcy trustee by Spinnaker Resorts. The management arm of Spinnaker Resorts, Southwind Management, who has managed FQ since 2006 will continue to manage the resort.

While this is good news for the majority of owners, it does not address the issues facing the 800 and 900 building owners. The 800 building was foreclosed on before the bankruptcy was finalized and removed from the proceedings and the 900 building was sold pre-construction with the construction never taking place. I have no idea if Spinnaker Resorts can/will assist those owners recover any of their value.

I would assume that with FQ officially being a Spinnaker owned resort, it may now be possible for most owners to "upgrade" their ownership by "trading in" their week for a new week at Palace View Heights. Since we will be at FQ next month, we might take the owners update tour to see what/if they're offering. We're personally happy with our current ownership and the resorts location but I'm always curious to see what the latest offer might be. I do not trust the sales staff to actually know what is going on with the resort itself. Their job is to sell, not inform.

RE: French Quarter May 3, 2008. )Owned two other timeshares and phone calls made by7 french quarter to a resale in Omaha indicated that the could be sold for a very good price in one month. Of course this wa all fiction. the resale com. later went broke. Last year, I attempted to sell the week in bldg.l no. 8. . the message from legal specialist Karen Geiger, " this owenership cannot be sold due to no deeding for bldg. no. 8, in other words there is not a recorded deed for this ownership. since this is adeeding question call karen at 843-785-3355, ext. 5211,. The forms that I received from french quarter a "Warranty Deed" recorded in fook 0485,m page 8963 , etc. Wow, how much fraud ddoes it take to hand our "so called warranty deeds. which are not recorded. I would have liked to visit the taney county courthouse, and ask how this was possible, due to illness, I never did make it down to branson. I have filled out paperwork twice for the bankruptcy hearings and my impressions of Branson now, since they allow this kind of fraud, I do not trust any other form of ownership in Branson.

I'm desperately trying to get some help in getting rid of a timeshare at FQ in Branson that my father purchased just weeks before 9/11 and has never done anything with. He's in his late 80's and we just need to get it taken care of so he's not responsible for the maintanance fees and can be rid of it free and clear. You all are the first group of people I've found anywhere that I could ask for some direction. If anyone would be willing to give me some guidance, I'd really appreciate it. Hi unit is listed as F311AO/BO. I should amend this to add I'm not trying to sell it to you- just don't have a clue how to look into what I need to go forward.

As you can see, getting rid of a timeshare is a lot more difficult than buying a timeshare. As a last resort, he could just not pay the MF's and allow them to foreclose on it. He'll take a ding to his credit rating but, at 80, he might not really need that high of a credit score anyway.

Thanks for your great information. As an "owner??" at French Quarter Resort, LLC in Bldg. 8, I am furious that we are being cheated out of what we bought. I'd like to know whose pocket our money went into and bring them to justice. I will participate in a class action suit and I want to communicate with Home Owners Association leaders as soon as possible about that. Can you give me their contact information, please? I never hear from the Association, so I'm out of the loop. Please get back with me soon and thanks.

Dina Nash 4624 Kenyon Dr. Little Rock, AR 72205 501-246-3026 Dina_Nash@yahoo.com

Hi, can you tell me what you are finding out from the HOA Board? What recourse do we owners have now? Any information would be great, and I would participate in a class action suit.

Dina Nash Little Rock Dina_Nash@yahoo.com 501-246-3026

If you're building 8 or building 9 owners, any recourse you would have had would have been through the bankruptcy court. Unfortunately those claims would have been so far down the list of creditors that I doubt there would have been any relief. Now that the bankruptcy is closed, there is no recourse. It's simply put down as a bad investment. Tough to swallow yes but, bad investments happen. It's like buying stock in a company that goes out of buisness. When there's nothing left, there's nothing left.

When I spoke directly with a rep from Spinnaker, the unofficial word was that Spinnaker would try to work with those owners who had continued to pay MF's. No word on what "work with those owners" actually means.