Seems that Cay Clubs has been facing some serious challenges lately. The economy has soured, buyers have hibernated, insurance rates have skyrocketed, times have changed and the reality is most if not all developers have faced either going out of business or watching their stock prices plummet. They're all struggling, to say the least.
Two short years ago, the arena was very different. You could find a delapidated single-wide trailer on a narrow canal for $600,000 +. Not today. Due to the changes which began about a year ago (following the two years-in-a-row-hurricane poundings throughout Florida and S.E. USA) developments/renovations at some Cay Clubs properties were put on hold, while they continued marketing and renting the condominiums out to vacationers- continuing to bring income to their buyers.
Some buyers opted for a rental management arrangement where Cay Clubs would lease back the specified units from the buyers at a certain one-sum lump in exchange for the ability to rent the units out by the company, themselves- thus bringing the developer the funds instead of the buyer. Some of these buyers were unable to receive the optional rental management arrangement due to the pervading snowball-effect of the economic conditions that were becoming problematic company as well as country-wide.
Each and every buyer received a deeded property (already built- with plans to amenitize the property by renovating and adding value-enhancing amenities). Each and every property is there; rentable, sell-able, use-able. Most are on the water, many have marinas. A handful of investors are upset, understandably, because the renovations have yet to materialize. They believed things would be complete within a year or so. They are not.
Now Cay Clubs faces bad press to compound their difficulties. Hopefully, they will pull through this difficult time- enabling each condominium purchaser the ability to realize their units' full potential values. I am a buyer of several of these units. Now my investments are at risk. More-so by the bad press and the vulture legal threats. But these threats, I fear, will only further my in-ability do make the most on my dollars, which I used to purchase these condominiums.
There are several blogs out there, but it seems whenever someone posts things that shed truth or point out the things that are erroneous, the blogs get buried in piles of other news- the blog-masters hoping that people will only remember their mud-slinging attacks and the bad image they wish to portray. Well, I figured I'd start my own blog, which can never be buried. I'm trying to protect my purchase. I'm trying to protect the company that will or will not continue to have the power to make certain I receive what I paid for.
True, I have my condos; they're renting out, I sometimes visit them, check up on them and cash my rental checks, although I wish I was making more. Hopefully, that day will come. I want all the amenities and renovations that were planned for to finalize. The only way this will happen is if I try and do my share of lifting Cay Clubs up (although there will always be those trying to tear them down). Please help me help them. I believe that if they fail as a company, a lot of things, including our condos' market values, will only decline.
No matter if the legal eagles win whatever they're trying to accomplish; the truth is , they will inevitably lose. Maybe they (the angry investors trying to attack) utilized some type of creative financing arrangements and used "stated income" tactics, or other ways that enable people who can't really afford to buy vacation properties the ability to do so. Maybe their mortgage ARM rates ballooned, matured, changed, or became too much for them to handle (I think everyone is hurting lately). Maybe they counted on their rent or lease-back options to pan out and that was the only way they could pay their mortgages. Who knows. But the truth is, they sought their mortgages, secured them with whomever they chose, and had the full responsibility of telling their mortgage brokers/bankers the truth about their expectations, limitations and financial realities. But they want to be investors. Understandable.
The professionals like myself who have the funds available to hold us over through the down-cycle (as there always are) fully expect the market to re-correct itself in a beneficial way. We are the ones not suing; as we know that if we do, there is no good that can come out of it. If Cay Clubs doesn't make it, neither does our investment potential. I don't believe a struggling company that cannot currently honor the optional rental proposal will have the funds to reimburse anyone for whatever they're hoping to be reimbursed for (lawsuit awards). The condos we bought are not "pre-construction" contracts. They are fully present, closed on, given-title-to-condominiums or townhouses - there is a very big distinction in the legal arena regarding both types of situations.
Many lawyers have intelligently positioned themselves to bank on the exasperated buyers' inabilities to hold on through the down-turn in the economy. It is similar to ice cream trucks circling the neighborhoods when summer-time comes. They probably stand to profit more than the investors can. I understand everyone's position on the matter and I respect everyone's opinions and concerns. But again, my hope is to bring to light the comments which have supported the other side of the story. So I have gathered comments/posts from other blogs and I will little by little, display them where they cannot be buried.
