Condo Hotel Developer, Ceebraid-Signal Defaults on another mortgage

July 26, 2010 – 5:26 am

Foreclosure Round: Palm Beach hotel defaults on $60M loan

From: South Florida Business Journal - by Brian Bandell

Swiss bankers are coming to Ceebraid-Signal Corp.’s Omphoy Ocean Resort in Palm Beach – and not for a vacation. They want to foreclosure on a $60 million mortgage.

Stabfund USA filed a foreclosure lawsuit on July 16 against CSC PB Beach, an affiliate of West Palm Beach-based Ceebraid-Signal, according to Palm Beach County Circuit Court records. It concerns the 134-room hotel at 2842 S. Ocean Blvd.

Originally built in 1980, Ceebraid-Signal redeveloped the hotel and reopened it in early 2009 under the management of Obadon Hotels, which is also named in the complaint. The hotel has 101,384 square feet on a 2.7-acre oceanfront site.

The boutique hotel has custom-designed furniture in each guestroom and an Asian-themed bar. It’s the home of a Michelle Bernstein at The Omphoy, a restaurant run by the Iron Chef America winner. The hotel also has what it calls a “mind-body spa.”

Officials at Ceebraid-Signal didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. While the company owns major properties, such as the Mayfair Hotel and Spa in Miami, the Traymore Hotel in Miami Beach and the Brazilian Court Condo Hotel in Palm Beach, it has experienced its troubles during the real estate meltdown.

It sold its troubled Eden condominium complex in Boca Raton in a distressed sale. The company’s Village Club Apartments in Palm Springs and its Holiday Isle Beach Resort and Marina in the Florida Keys have both been targeted by foreclosure lawsuits.

Back in 2007, CSC PB Beach got a $60 million mortgage to renovate the hotel from UBS Real Estate Securities. That loan was assigned in April 2009 to StabFund, an affiliate of Switzerland-based Schweizerische Nationalbank.

Boca Raton attorney Lisa Markofsky, who represents Stabfund in the foreclosure lawsuit, couldn’t immediately comment.

By bwaun | Posted in Condo Hotels | Comments (0)

Condo Finance Reform… the time is now

July 25, 2010 – 7:12 pm

Since I last wrote you, much legislative and regulatory activity has transpired in Washington that will have a profound impact on our industry.  The recent passage of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill and signed by President Obama last week underscores that CHANGE is now.   This legislation will open the floodgates of new regulations that will be decided on in the next 12 months that will impact housing finance for decades to come.  With change comes opportunity.

Present Fannie Mae (GSE) condo finance rules are grossly flawed. They misinterpret risks and scorn many resort condo developments in favor of higher risk projects.  The following are some examples of misguided Washington logic.   Your condo may not be GSE acceptable if:

Your project has a rental program. Condos that are available for rent are considered high risk by Washington regulators even though rental income reduces a homeowners expenses.
Your project has maid or hospitality-like services available.  Housing regulator logic is that more amenities are a reason to reject a condo project.
Any units in your project are ’shared ownership,’ even though fractional ownership often means higher values per square foot, better property utilization and _______? funded HOAs.
These are  just 3 examples of the basic issues in the present GSE condo approval process that discriminate against many well-conceived projects in America today. The Government (GSEs) endorsement of a condo project has become paramount to its success, and to condo owners ability to buy and sell.

Do you know anyone who has had trouble getting a condo mortgage recently? Have you developed or are you trying to sell a condo that cannot receive GSE project approval?

Now is a critical window of opportunity for sensible condominium finance reform logic to be heard in Washington.  For this reason, we have formed and are building a broad based condo industry coalition to take our fight and solutions to DC.

Our name is the RCFRC.org - Residential Condo Finance Reform Coalition and our goal is simple: fix the condo finance rules to allow more projects and consumers to receive the financing they need to succeed.

By bwaun | Posted in Timeshares, Fractional Ownership, Condo Hotels, Mortgage, Second Homes | Comments (0)

Ermitage du Lac 21 Club

July 15, 2010 – 7:12 am

The name even sounds exotic - Ermitage du Lac 21 Club? Like it is somewhere far, far, away… and yet Mt. Tremblant is a commutable distance for anyone in the U.S. Midwest or East Coast. They speak French in Quebec, but English too. The culture is rich in history like Europe, but the properties are modern and conveniences abound like we in the ‘New World’ are accustomed. It is the best of both Worlds - old and new.

Owning property in Canada is much easier than buying in Europe as well - the Dollars are in parity, and some say the Loony is rising. Might be time to bet on the natural resource rich Canadians? But how do you make this bet? Can you buy in Canada inexpensively without dive into the deep end of The Lake?

Owning property in other countries can be a management hassle too.

Fractional ownership takes much of these risks and hassles off the table. A friend of mine is offering a 1/4 share of his luxury Ermitage du Lac club condo for $79,900 - with financing that’s just $16,000 down payment and payments of roughly $475 + taxes and dues. This affords you 91 days of use or rental to offset your costs. Four seasons of fun, and flexibility without any hassle. Don’t rent your ski villa, own it!

You can go to the cocktail party and say ‘we have a condo at Mt. Tremblant’s Ermitage du Lac 21 Club’ (say it with a French ascent of course)…

And there’s the commute thing again - you can go to Mt. Tremblant for a long ski weekend and still be on the trading floor Monday morning.

For more info contact Neal Vinet nvinet@playground.com

By bwaun | Posted in Fractional Ownership, International Finance | Comments (0)

Home Inventory at Lows

July 2, 2010 – 3:58 pm

from Mr. Van Eck’s newsletter:

“You have to go back to the early 1960’s to find a smaller inventory of new homes on the market.  The U.S. population has grown by about 130 million since 1960 - an increase of 72 percent.  The housing market might be facing some near-term gyrations from foreclosures and tax credits but the long-term trend remains quite clear.  The market is going to desperately need more new homes for sale during the next few years.  I know that such an idea is hard for some people to grasp these days.  Business owners and managers involved with lumber and other housing/construction related industries might not feel that they can make it through the current storm to get to the clear patch on the other side.  I urge you to do whatever you can to get through this near-term slowdown in new home construction and sales.  By this time next year, I expect builders in many parts of the country to be hiring new workers and expanding their construction activity. “

By bwaun | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Second Home Sales (and Prices) Increase

June 30, 2010 – 4:10 am

As national primary home sales volume slumps, prices are rising. How does that happen on an economic demand curve? I blame government intervention. The tax credits have create a perverted equilibrium of home prices. Supply has dropped, some might say ’stopped’, and the tax credits spiked demand into a concentrated period of time.

The larger picture is a demographic shift in demand. People are moving whether they are buying new homes, letting other go into foreclosure, downsizing, right sizing, or ‘besting’ - especially baby boomers are re-prioritizing their housing goals. Many are going from luxury to shelter. Some are relocating to find new employment. All this change is driving prices of larger housing stock much lower, while creating a demand boom for smaller (greener) more efficient and cost effective housing.

Resort housing serves several purposes for an ‘information’ worker who can work from anyone and is not tied to urban centers. He/she can live a high quality lifestyle for less in rural/resort areas. We are seeing resort area housing prices rise, and the demand increase while the large suburban ‘tract’ homes of the past are cratering. Even condo sales in ‘walkable’ lifestyle communities are strengthening at a surprising rate.

“It’s all about affordability, scarcity and lifestyle” one salesman recently told me. The charmless suburban commuter communities are struggling. Well conceived resort communities are magnet neighbors for information workers who will lead the next economic boom.

This from CNNfn.com yesterday:

“

By bwaun | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)