Beacon Pointe Condominiums

When we purchased, one building was already full & the other two buildings were going up. We agreed to purchase a condo in the complex & started paying ?construction draws?. Meaning, that they started collecting money as it was being built - before closing. They were way behind in building due to city complications. It kept being delayed & delayed. In the meantime, we?d sold our home because were planning on moving into the condo so we were paying rent. We'd also suggested to my mother, who was recently widowed, that she purchase a unit next to us, so she was also paying construction draws. Part way through - $150,000 into construction draws - they came to us & said they?d be changing the whole set up. Instead of being in the building we thought, we were moved. They assured us that everything would be fine & nothing else would be really different. The residential building would be able to buy a pass to access our original buildings pool & gym (that wasn't even in the original plan). A lot of other people dropped out of the purchase after this happened. Considering everything that had already been invested, we didn't. We were assured that we would still be able to enjoy a quiet, happy, retirement home. Everything finally gets done. We closed on 6/10/2008. We didn?t notice ? we hadn?t bought a condo before ? that were supposed to legally be ?governing documents? regarding the home owners association in place & given to residents before closing. This didn't happen. According to the original developer, Wells McGifford, we'd start having home owners associations meetings shortly after we moved in. People kept moving in but there were no meetings. We were then told that once our building was 75% full, the building would be turned over to the home owners association. We kept counting as people purchase so we knew when we hit 75% & asked when the building would be turned over. We never billed during this first year for the HOA & other amenities & we were reassured that we didn't owe until they started billing & that we wouldn't be back-billed. The developer would be responsible until the HOAs first meeting. We finally got these 'governing documents' or at least an interpretation, after living there for a year, through our lawyer. We found we were were NOT a separate residential facility. The governing documents did not match with what we were told. We petitioned that would allow us our our own HOA. The resulting split agreement had a number of additions & addendum's that we didn't find acceptable. We were then billed for $6000 worth of back dues for the HOA that we never really had. We also found out that not only would we be paying for our building, but the OTHER building that we were supposed to be in that was being run as a hotel & its amenities. After a few months of paying dues we found that no one in the other rental/hotel building was being assessed dues & that the money wasn't actually going into our HOA bank account but the developers account! The split never took place. The lawyer we'd being using to try & negotiate split recommend a law suit. Eight residents, ourselves included, came together to file said law suit. About three weeks later we read in the newspaper that the developer had gone bankrupt & turned over their assets to a bank. The new president of the bank appointed the new president of the HOA - which still had not had a meeting! During a 'private board meeting meeting', closed to the owners, the board - himself & his CFO - elected themselves president & secretary, decided to use their own contractors, & deemed their own company to be the management company of both the rental building/resort & our building & home owners association. The dues were soon raised nearly 50% (~$330 - ~$515/mo). We were also told that because two owners paid dues while the rest of us didn?t during that first year, that we as the other owners had to put together money to pay these people back ? not the developers or managing company! There was no recourse! He also hired an attorney for ?us? to protect the board & the HOA as a whole from the lawsuit that the 8 owners had started. The board started appealing to the other owners to try to convince us (the 8 filers) to drop the suit because it was costing all owners money. We finally have our very first home owners association meeting, we were told that the owners would not be able to vote on any issues at the annual meeting after all because the bank owned 51% of the property & had taken declarant rights. Another new president walks in along with a whole new board. They tried to get us to drop the lawsuit as well, saying they can?t work with us while it was going on. They promise they'd help the owners get want - as long we drop the suit. In the mean time, the next-door resort/hotel had a patio with a firepit that was turned on 3 hours a night every night. The original developers told us it would be by the water. It?s actually right next to our window now. We asked our lawyer if there was a chance that the management company/resort developer ? Bob Ryan ? would be able to gain a controlling share, buy up remaining condos in the resort building, thus removing any chance of having an unbiased HOA controlled by the actual owners. We finally just settled after being pressured to give up the suit & being told that we'd still get our own HOA. The banker who assured us for years that they?d help split us from the condo association eventually went back on that word. The management company did in fact end up with controlling, voting share in the condo association. And as it turns out all the units here are supposed to be single-family, residential units only, according to the governing documents & state law. Including all the rooms in the rental building/hotel. I went to the board with this information ? they refused to do anything about it & didn?t pass the information on to their lawyer. When asked whether he would support a split, Bob Ryan has stated that he will vote his own interests. It is an obvious conflict of interests. We as home owners have to go through him & his businesses for all our needs.