Condo owners in Panama tell Trump: You're fired!

[IDemo]

PANAMA CITY (AP) — The directors of the Trump Ocean Club met July 28 on urgent business. They needed to fire Donald Trump.

The building's residents and condo owners had invested in the namesake, a 70-story waterfront tower along Panama Bay, on the strength of Trump's reputation. But during the four years that Trump Panama Condominium Management LLC had managed the property, Central America's largest building, a team installed by the Trump family was accused of running up more than $2 million in unauthorized debts, paying its executives undisclosed bonuses and withholding basic financial information from owners.

The Trumps had done all of this through fine-print chicanery, the board said. A clause in many residents' purchase agreements prevented them from voting against the Trump company's wishes. That allowed the Trumps to install their top employee as chairman and the residents' representative on the board — even though the Trumps' actual stake in the building's residential area was merely a storage closet on the 15th floor.

The Trump Organization sent its response days later. "Your letter is a complete sham," wrote the Trumps' top lawyer, Alan Garten. He accused the board of ingratitude and criminal trespassing. After refusing to accept being fired, Garten declared that Trump's company was quitting — and demanded a $5 million termination fee.

http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Condo-owners-in-Panama-tell-Trump-You-re-fired-6564690.php

[NCjack]

1. The super rich who felt the need to be validated by one of the 1%ers

are in for life-time of misery. You can avoid their big problems by avoiding them and their deals:

a) Realize why you want a condo. Is it for the status of being associated with 1%ers or their wannabes? Then a deal such as one Trump Ocean Club (TOC) buyers got is for you, and you can be happy by just ignoring the politics of the condo board of directors and accepting the unfair fees and rules. Do you want low stress living, transparent condo budget and fair fees, a management company that works for the interests of the association (or is replaced)? Then you don't want a TOC-type deal, and you have to screen them out.
b) Screen to avoid 1%er deals. Before considering the purchase of a condo, require the condominium association to own all of the land within an enclosing boundary and all of the physical property within and on, above, and below the surface. That screen will save you from the worst deals.
c) Don't buy into a condominium feature or activity that you will not use. Use it or not, you will have to pay for its maintenance.

I wont bore you with more screens here -- perhaps I will write a book on buying an almost hassle-free condo. I have owned condos in the past, and I like condo living. But, your chances for being happy about a purchase is greatly improved by a cold analytical screening. I know this couple who bought a new 1%er-branded golfing condo. Afterwards, they were shocked when they could get no reduction in their fee for the costs of maintaining the golf course and house, since they don't golf. (For more examples, for "golf", substitute swim, play tennis, own a horse or a boat, casino gambling). They are underwater on their mortgage, since their condo's resale value immediately dropped by the amount of the branding fee.

[flamingdem]

4. This is even worse for the owners since the legal fees

for international lawyers are so high. In general it seems to be very risky to invest in real estate in another country, worse if it's a 1% operation that intentionally set up to take advantage of local laws, which might be part of this.

[47of74]

2. Always knew Trump was sleaze

I saw this in the article;

Whether wheeling and dealing with Wall Street bankers, debating political rivals or running a condo association, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has advanced his interests by leveraging his outsized reputation, canniness and aggression. The Trump Organization's adventures in Panama provide a window into how these traits have filtered into his business empire — and the style of management that could be expected in a Trump White House. Transparency and close attention to expenses are not strengths. Squeezing the most from contractual language is.

Dude probably gold plates his shits and the board is surprised that he and his people did this sort of stuff.

[lpbk2713]

3. The condo owners failed to read the applicable clause in the contract.

Entitled Catch-22.


Trump and his cronies are laughing their asses off all the way to the bank.