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SHELLY

SoWal Insider
Jun 13, 2005
5,770
802
Please share some details.

Lawsuits

With once-hot condominium markets across the country in sharp decline and many real estate professionals predicting a further weakening, some developers are facing more than a glut of unsold inventory. Angry condo buyers from Boca Raton, Fla., to San Diego are taking them to court, alleging everything from breach of contract to fraud.

Some of the lawsuits claim that the amenities featured in glossy marketing brochures and models never made it into the final product. Others involve much-hyped projects that went bust, leaving hundreds of buyers with contracts for condos that will never materialize.

In Florida, 2,557 individual complaints against developers were filed in fiscal year 2006, ended June 30, up from 1,825 two years ago, according to the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
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Developer Fraud
But now their company, Sky Development Group, is at the center of a huge real estate fraud investigation that started in Citrus County - and could span the globe.

Detectives say they think Natalia and Victor Wolf slipped out of the country in October, leaving behind more than 100 victims and taking more than $20 million from fraudulent transactions.
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Mortgage Fraud
Coral Gables lawyer Brian Bieber is intimately acquainted with mortgage fraud, having represented people accused of the crime. But earlier this year, he was stunned when a broker instructed his own mother, a Broward County schoolteacher, to create phony evidence of a second job to get a mortgage for a Hallandale Beach condo.

''That mortgage broker actually suggested to my mother that she obtain a false letter of employment from me and my law firm,'' Bieber said. ``The broker went so far as to give her the explicit amount my mother needed to be earning per week and asked my mother to ask me to generate at least four pay stubs.''

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Homebuilders Fraud
Jeffery Alan Teague (also known as Jeffrey Allen Bryant), 49, pleaded guilty late Nov. 27 in federal district court to two counts of wire fraud for a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders by arranging loans to buy incomplete homes in the names of California, New York, and Florida "investors." Teague provided the lenders with false Certificates of Occupancy, stating the houses securing the loans were "completed to code" and "suitable for occupancy."
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All contributed to the crazy run-up in prices over the last couple of years--this type of crap is baked in to the price of properties bought during the frenzy.
 
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flyforfun

Beach Fanatic
Oct 20, 2006
311
39
Birmingham, Al
Shelly, I don't understand what all of your issues has to do with Watersound? Do you think corruption is only limited to real estate an mortgage companies? Ninty-nine percent of the developers, contractors, real estate agents and mortgage people out their are honest hard working folks, especially the people at our beach. There are scam artist and crooks in every trade and profession! It's good they are getting caught, and I certainly hope they all spend some time in jail or spend every last penny trying to defend themselves from going to jail. Still, none of your listed items have a thing to do with the Watersound development. Are you against people making money in real estate, buying beach property or are you a stock broker?:rotfl:
 

fisher

Beach Fanatic
Sep 19, 2005
822
76
The development is not designed around flippers. Were in a post hurricane correction, so get it cheap while you can. When the two year extension runs out, I am certain St. Joe want hesitate to buy back a few lots. It's a community built around people who want to live there full or part time.

Even when watersound east, west, north and south (condo's or barges) it will still be an awsome place. You have to remember that Chicago (5 million plus population) has less than a mile of brown sandy beach along Lake Michigan. It may take some time to find a parking place, but you still can find a place to park your body out in the sun. Having a home at Watersound, just makes finding a parking place a lot easier :).

A blast from the past.

Almost 3 years later, I bet there are a lot of people WISHING Joe would buy them out now at original purchase price. ;-) I don't think Joe will ever be buying back any lots.
 
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totally

Beach Comber
Jul 19, 2008
42
10
The "build-out" thang rarely--if ever-- applied to lots sold in 02'/03'. The "build-out" clause was added @'04 to keep the frenzy moving along during the hottest period of the bubble to give the "illusion" of exclusivity in order to justify jacking up the prices.

Cherry-picking lots to buy back will seem like a "dream" compared to the upcoming PR nightmare when "Place-Maker JOE" starts cutting corners on "promised" amentities for its "Places."

.

They have already been doing that, re: the amenities.:cool:
 

melscuba

Beach Fanatic
Apr 22, 2009
260
38
Roswell, Ga hoping SoWal someday
Such as charging fees for tennis, bikes, boats, etc in watercolor.

It may seem silly, but they also stopped providing towels at all pools except the beach club in Watercolor. BTW, we still had one hour of kayaking each day while we vacationed there this summer. Are you saying as a homeowner, there are now charges for using these amenities?
 

Matt J

SWGB
May 9, 2007
24,646
9,496
Such as charging fees for tennis, bikes, boats, etc in watercolor.

It may seem silly, but they also stopped providing towels at all pools except the beach club in Watercolor. BTW, we still had one hour of kayaking each day while we vacationed there this summer. Are you saying as a homeowner, there are now charges for using these amenities?

I guess that could be construed as Joe's decision if they still ran those things. Perhaps Noble House isn't in the business of subsidizing the amenities like Joe was?

Anybody remember what a cocktail cost at the Beach Club prior to Noble House?
 
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