Quarter Ownership Plan Comes to Desert : Variation on Traditional Time-Share Concept Rotates Scheduling
Builder-developer Betty Williams is facing a new challenge for 1986--the marketing of her Four Seasons condominium project at Desert Breezes in Palm Desert. The grand opening is being held there today at Washington Street and Fred Waring Drive.
The challenge for the founder and president of the newly formed Williams Co. Inc., a Palm Desert-based construction and development firm, is to market the new condominium product on an innovative quarter ownership plan.
Williams calls the plan a variation of the traditional time-share concept, and expects she will make it work where others have failed.
“Quarter ownership has not yet become institutionalized in California,” said Art Spaulding of Cox, Castle, Nicholson, who helped Williams set up the legal format for Four Seasons. The nationally recognized real estate law firm, with offices in Century City and Newport Beach, has handled more than half of time-share registrations in California.
“This type of plan has been implemented in Colorado and a few other areas, but is still in its infancy in California and I don’t believe anyone else has registered such a plan with the Department of Real Estate,” Spaulding said.
Williams, who is presently developing the 75-acre, multiple-product Desert Breezes resort, has only just received approval for the quarter ownership plan for Four Seasons. She believes it will fulfill a special need in the desert resort areas, where whole ownership sales have been extremely “flat” for some time.
“We felt it was important to do something special, different and more appealing to attract buyers of a second home. Informal programs have existed for some time in resort areas, where two or three couples pitch in to buy a unit, but we believe there are perils and pitfalls to this system,” Williams said.
“For one thing, there is no professional management in these situations, nor the economy of scale provided by such professionals. There is also the question of working out differences among partners,” she added.
“The plan provides more independence for the owner and a common ownership without headaches,” explained Spaulding. “Through a property management system such as we have set up, the units undergo a routine assessment. In addition, a homeowners association plays a dual role in dealing with the common or exterior areas and also with the smooth operation of the units.”
The association, Spaulding said, has lien rights, and there are sanctions that can be imposed for violation of rules. Under this more formalized system, privileges in the common areas may be suspended.
Williams has also established a rotational system in conjuction with the quarter ownership plan.
Ownership of a quarter share is about $37,500 and up, she said, adding that cost benefits are greater when long-term ownership is considered.
There are 51 weeks of total unit use per year with one week reserved for maintenance and refurbishment. Each purchaser who buys in, is assigned a code number and this gives three of the owners 13 weeks and 12 weeks for one of the owners.
The scheduling rotates so that in four years each purchaser will have had one of the 12-week periods, Williams explained. “Naturally, some partners may elect to swap periods and that can be worked out among the individuals.”
In order not to tie the owners down to spending vacation periods in the same location, Williams has made a connection with Resort Condos International (based in Indianapolis), which permits Four Seasons owners to put some of their use time to vacationing elsewhere.
“One of the more enticing aspects of the plan is the turn-key furniture and furnishings package we provide--with high-style approach. The furnishings are owned by the homeowners’ association with appropriate reserves for maintenance and replacement,” Williams said.
Each time there is a change of occupancy there is also a maid service to be paid in advance by each user, but occupants may also contract for additional maid and laundry services.
A builder-developer for more than 20 years, recently named Outstanding Professional Woman of the Year in her field in California, Williams was president of Watt Industries for the Coachella Valley for five years, during which time she built more than $280 million in desert properties.
The Desert Breezes project is the flagship project of her new firm and is an ambitious multi-million-dollar development. It encompasses 78 acres of choice Palm Desert real estate.
Desert Breezes’ multi-product types presently under development are the 192-unit Four Seasons, with 48 units of phase one already completed, Vacation Villas, 60 condominium units with 18 units already completed, and Portofino Homes, 164 single-family dwellings, with 41 units already completed.
“Other elements already in place, which we expect will enhance the marketing of our product are: a 15,000-square-foot office complex, a 5,000-square-foot tennis club with five courts, lakes, pools and resort clubhouse,” Williams disclosed. She added that a commercial project is currently in the zoning process.
A licensed general contractor in the state of California, Williams serves as director of the Desert Advisory Council of the Building Industry Assn., and is chairman of the Theatre Management Board and a trustee of the McCallum Performing Arts Theatre and Bob Hope Cultural Center.
