My email inbox gave off the odor of desperation Tuesday. A note from a sales representative for the Reunion Resort near Orlando had fire sale written all over it.
"...prices for the Villas at Reunion Square are being lowered by [about] $300,000 (prices now average $375K) in order to quickly sell the remaining units and move on to developing the rest of Reunion," he wrote. "This will be our last major release at Reunion with a pricing opportunity that compares to ground floor."
The organization that bears the name of its founder, Robert Ginn III,
This all follows a similar fire sale at the firm's big name resort, Hammock Beach in Florida, where ocean condos were reduced from $1.5 million to $750,000. Some years ago, Ginn's Bella Collina community near Orlando sent me a marketing brochure whose front and back covers were made of genuine leather, which I thought a ridiculous affectation. Now, according to a real estate friend who has visited and stayed at all of the Ginn properties, Bella Collina has "big problems...Lake Apopka is alligator infested, has high levels of mercury, fish don't survive in the lake..." "Great accommodations," she said of the condos and homes at the Ginn properties, "but something just didn't feel right."
Owners at Ginn's Cobblestone Park in Columbia, SC, don't have mercury in their lake but neither do they have a clubhouse, whose construction was put
The mainstream media, which is often blamed by real estate professionals for promoting negative news about the housing markets, has given Ginn a pass. Do a search by the terms "Ginn" or "Reunion" at the Orlando Sentinel's web site, and you won't find any news about the missed payments or lawsuits. But the blogosphere is rife with news updates and complaints about the none-too-shy Mr. Ginn, a walking advertisement for caveat emptor. One attorney representing a group of related investors who purchased 40 Ginn properties, wrote: "There were three families...and they were being foreclosed on all the properties...bought pre-construction and now the loans are past due, lives are ruined, credit is ruined, and yet they still had hope that Ginn would make the deals good until the end...I never met the guy, but they had and [they] could not believe the Ginn operation would allow them to lose everything..."
People did stupid things, for sure, during the housing upsurge. But Ginn's pleas of not guilty (with an explanation) are a little ambiguous. He did
"If someone relies on what a salesman says without checking it out," the developer told Mr. Tobin, "he's an idiot." So let's see, if I buy a pair of pants at J.C. Penney and they split apart at the seams, I'm an idiot?
Ginn is no idiot. He has built a large and largely successful company over three decades. But it does seem that some of his recent moves are more advised by ego than business sense. Yet compared with the egocentric but shrewd Donald Trump, no stranger himself to financial problems, Ginn is a mere apprentice who shuffles among ideas like a snail darter. You certainly can't fault him for
The fire sale at Reunion and some of Ginn's other properties could be a good opportunity for those with patient capital. Ginn recently announced that a member at any of the company's lush golf courses will be granted reciprocal privileges at all the others, certainly an excellent selling point for golfers. The units for sale at Reunion are undeniable bargains compared with the undiscounted units next door. And Ginn amenities - where they have been completed - are top drawer. But if you buy one of these bargain-basement properties, be aware you will wind up living cheek by jowl with someone who will hate you for paying half as much as he did.
Of course, rest assured that will be nothing compared with how he feels about Bobby Ginn.
