These are my personal images and photos that show the beauty of the view from Deer Ridge Mountain Resort and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cobbly Nob and the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area.
Just click the Play button to watch - or click Big Picture to see a much larger slide show on a dedicated page here at DeerRidgeOwners.com.
Deer Ridge Litigation Fund
Do you, as an owner at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort, believe we are ALL entitled to have access and be able to copy the books and records of our Homeowner's Association?
So, do I.
But, apparently, Employee Joe Thomas and President Luther Parker and the Board disagree - and are doing all they can to block access, publication and candid discussion of the Asinine Assessment, special deals and favored treatment - at the expense of all Owners.
What ARE they so afraid of us finding out?
Maybe it has to do with the HUGE $10,000 overcharge for my HOA Fees, special assessments, water and cable TV bill - which, in my personal opinion, is due to fraudulent intent or at least gross negligence by the Deer Ridge Board of Directors and / or General Manager Joe Thomas. Please see the posts for details.
We have no choice but to file a lawsuit against GGRC and RML in order to finally, once and for all, make it clear that OWNERS do have a right to all the information about our property and our investment at Deer Ridge.
If you have thoughts and ideas and suggestions, please post them here on this blog.
If you have any clout with the Board, convince them to stop the charade - and let the owners have the information that all owners own!
If you want to help cover the legal costs to get us the right to see the bids for $50,000 for nuts and bolts - and the other background documents for the $353,500 Asinine Assessment, please click on the Donate Button below.
With enough in donations, we can hire BOTH an attorney AND a forensic accountant for the whole process through the Court in Sevier County to make absolutely certain we win EVERY point - and never have to fight Employee Joe and the Board on this stuff again.
Even a $100 contribution will help show that you are in favor of an open and FULLY transparent homeowners' association at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort!
Thanks so much to those of you who have already contributed!
GENERAL DISCLAIMER FOR ALL PAGES AND POSTS AND EVERYTHING ELSE I DO OR SAY REGARDING DEER RIDGE AND ANY AND ALL RELATED PARTIES:
Note: The following, and the information on any and all other posts and pages by me about General Manager Joe Thomas, GGRC, RML and /or the Board of Directors and its members, or any related topics, are my personal opinions based on my ongoing investigation into the actions and inactions of the GGRC and RML Board of Directors and / or Joe Thomas, General Manager.
While I believe these allegations to be true based on my objective analysis, these opinions remain as only allegations until I, or others, prove things in court.
My goal is to offer all owners all the information and evidence that I have available so that everyone can reach their own conclusions.
Please note the obvious:
Everything I ever say or write in person, via emails, or on my blog, about Deer Ridge or any and all related entities and organizations or any and all affiliated personnel or owners, is strictly my own personal opinion of course - based, in part, from my owning a unit at Deer Ridge for over five years - and on my own personal history.
That history includes earning a Presidential MBA degree, being awarded a Bachelor of Science, With Honors, in Engineering Physics from UT, working for NASA as a rocket scientist at Marshall Space Flight Center, 30 years of CEO experience directly employing and managing many hundreds of people at multiple companies I personally started and operated (including one that I took public), 15 years experience buying and selling over $100 million of property and managing more than 45,000 rental units - AND being able to read and do four-function arithmetic.
Legalese - And Powered Wig - Off
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Welcome to All Deer Ridge Owners
Welcome to all owners of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort condos in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
My goal is to help all Deer Ridge owners to have a voice in the management and operation of your property.
Click on the TITLES of any of the following subjects to read the whole posting - and see the comments made by your co-owners. You can also type any term into the below search box, or any word or term in the search cloud.
Click the big image at the top of the page to return to the front page at any time.
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Investment Analysis For A Rental Condo At Deer Ridge
Will you really lose $40,000 cash if you buy a rental condo at Deer Ridge and use Ridge Management Ltd?
As an owner-occupied home, Deer Ridge is an incredible value with THE best view in the Smokies and great amenities.
However, several owners and would-be owners of Deer Ridge condos have asked me if these units are a good rental property investment or not. To help answer that question
objectively, I had to analyze the real moving parts of buying and owning here.
Get my complete, detailed investment analysis based on buying a rental condo unit at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
It shows what you MUST do to make money when you buy a rental unit at Deer Ridge.
Every Dollar You Pay For Deer Ridge Is The WRONG Amount!
Please read the various posts here on this Deer Ridge Owners Blog - and see my evidence and analysis which I believe shows conclusively that EVERY dollar of HOA Fees, EVERY dollar EVERY special assessment, EVERY water bill and cable TV sent out for YEARS to ALL Deer Ridge Owners has been wrong!
In many cases at least ONE THIRD of ALL owners have been GROSSLY overcharged. My calculations show that I have been overcharged more than TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS in the past 50 months I've owned at Deer Ridge.
The Board has been WRONGLY and arbitrarily ignoring the requirements of the Master Deed and the Bylaws for YEARS.
If my analysis is correct, the Board has zero choice. They MUST abide by the Master Deed Percentages.
But they haven’t.
However, if the Board knowingly ignored the clear directives of the Master Deed and the Bylaws when allocating costs to various unit types, and overcharging certain unit types on a regular basis, my opinion is that the Board and Joe Thomas may have acted fraudulently.
If they have not been fraudulent, then they have been, at the very least, grossly negligent.
Read the various blog postings - and judge for yourself.
Comments Welcome From All Visitors
You are welcome to leave your comments on the various posts on the blog. You no longer have to be registered to comment. (Even regular contributors had trouble remembering their log on passwords!)
Note that SPAM blockers are in place - and all comments require approval to be visible.
So, let's hear from you on these topics!
To view the comments, you need to click on the post topic to see the entire post and the comments.
"We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert." — J. Robert Oppenheimer. This includes the Board of Directors of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
At this weekend’s board meeting, my presence was warmly anticipated by the Board making sure that Chuck Sexton, the GGRC attorney, was there while I was there. He, unfortunately, left right after I left.
While Chuck was argumentative about many of my 17 issues, as it turns out, his presence worked in our favor in several ways.
Three Good Victories + One MAJOR Victory
During my presentation, we got Chuck to get the Board to capitulate on four of our points we have been pushing for. The first three:
The Board and Joey HAVE to give the names and current addresses in writing for ALL owners to any owner who wants them. The Board, and especially Joey, have been fighting this issue against me, Neil and Todd. Chuck make it clear to Luther that he had no choice. Luther ended up asking, “Is that right?” about three times before it finally sunk in. I had to fight this same issue three years ago. I told Luther I wanted the list. He said he would get to it when there was time. Same old slow roll. But now he KNOWS from his own attorney that he is breaking the law.
The Board, at Chuck’s urging, capitulated on owners FINALLY having private mailboxes that are only accessible by the owner and the US Postal Service. Finally, no more mail tampering at Deer Ridge. Joey even committed that the mailboxes would be installed within the two weeks. This is a big deal to all owners who actually live here – so this is a big win to check off the list of demands!
The Board finally capitulated on their absurd two week notice requirement. Now, ANY owner can show up at any Board meeting without ANY notice. FINALLY, this is as it should be. The current official requirement was as follows:“*All board meetings will be open to all owners. Owners who want to attend a meeting must indicate to the secretary two weeks before the meeting in writing their intentions to attend. Additionally, agenda items must be submitted in writing two weeks prior to the meeting.”
THE REALLY MAJOR WIN FOR ALL OWNERS
When I pressed that Article XII of the Bylaws REQUIRED a 75% vote of ALL owners for ANY improvement to Deer Ridge and that Joe’s Folly Pavilion was illegally built and funded by GGRC HOA fees, I was surprised that Chuck seemed surprised by the wording and its requirement. However, after reading it, he pronounced that I was right and that it did, indeed, REQUIRE 75% of the owners to give PRIOR approval for any improvement.
This means that the Joe’s Folly Pavilion was illegally funded and constructed, the office and pool area improvements were illegally funded and done, the maintenance shed that was just completed was illegally funded and constructed, etc. All totaled, this adds up to more than $120,000 of OUR money that was WRONGLY spent by Joe Thomas at Deer Ridge. Think how much would be available from this to help fund the current Asinine Assessment?
To me, this alone is justification to FIRE Joe Thomas on the spot.
What this MAJOR victory means is that the owners FINALLY have the power for decision making for improvements back in their hands where it belongs. It means that Joey and the Board can no longer go off and spend tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of OUR money on their splurges for improvements…and maybe tell us about it, after the fact.
This is HUGE.
So huge, that it is already making an impact on the upcoming Asinine Assessment. The Board was going to go off and replace all of the wood railings with aluminum (an ugly, unaesthetic, expensive solution that would not tie in with the natural wood setting of Deer Ridge.) Now, they are already planning on sending out a letter asking for a 75% vote of approval after Ed Palmer rightfully pointed out that this replacement had a different look, hence it was an improvement and not a maintenance cost.
As readers of this blog know, this 75% vote right has been one of the major issues I have been pushing for – and I am very happy to say that we at least got that one complaint noticed and resolved – primarily due to their attorney being at the meeting. Chuck, thanks for your help on this!
Four GREAT victories this past weekend – but we still have miles to go before we are done getting this property’s operation back under control of ALL owners.
As to the illegally spent $120,000, I want my portion of that money back – and will be pursuing my legal remedies!
For one thing, more and more units are being occupied by full time residents – and those residents have as much right to this property being run as an owner occupied property as those who choose to operate their individual units as rentals.
NOTE: New Page Added At Top Of Blog – Click I Want To Hear What REALLY Happens! to hear the quality of a sample recording with the proposed recorder.
Why is the Board sooooo dead set against having audio recordings of all Board meetings made available to all owners to hear?
I personally have the Olympus DS-30 shown in the photo. It does a GREAT job and is under $90 at Amazon. With the way that the Board squanders money on RML, wouldn’t it be worth $90 total for all owners to be able to REALLY hear what happens at Board meetings – especially when they are spending YOUR money?
On top of that, Neil has offered to even buy the digital recorder…and I have offered to take the digital recordings and post them for zero cost on this site so ALL owners can play them online or download them and play them on their own computer, iPod or other MP3 players. That way, EVERYONE could know Continue reading Why No Audio Recordings Of Board Meetings?
Just some initial thoughts about the asinine assessment letter sent out by Luther:
The assessment is based on VERY rounded numbers…like EXACTLY $50,000 for “nuts and bolts” (that’s a LOT of nuts and bolts) which makes me think they don’t even have real bids…PLUS…the “contingency” is about $400 a unit on the current assessment….that is huge…and the $36k is probably for RML coverage but being called a contingency…yet another subterfuge by the Board and Joe.
Back when I was a rocket scientist with NASA, we had a term, “SWAG” = Scientific Wild Ass Guess – when we didn’t have enough data for any logical conclusion. Looks to me like SWAG is alive and well – and used to “guess” at the huge Asinine Assessment that you and I have to pay – even if the Board is unconfused by facts as to the real costs for what they THINK needs to be done on the property.
Check out our new Deer Ridge Owners webcam for the current view from our balcony!
Just click the photo for the most recent update. Updated every 5 minutes.
Top 10 Cam Award!
Our new Cobbly Nob TN site was just chosen as an Earthcam Top 10 Webcam!
All of this in just our first two weeks of operation - and before we install our new wide angle, high definition lens! Stay tuned for even better images!
EarthCam, Inc. is the global leader in providing webcam content, technology and services and ranks among the top 1% of all websites. EarthCam.com is the world’s favorite webcam network and the EarthCam Network cameras have been seen on top news shows, including CNN’s Headline News.
New YouTube Channel For Deer Ridge Owners!
Check out ALL of our videos on our new YouTube Channel for Deer Ridge Owners:
We already have videos that will walk you around the whole property and give you reviews from past guests and tourists. Find out what they REALLY have to say about Deer Ridge!
We are adding even more videos in the next few weeks - so check out our Deer Ridge Owners Channel often!
Update: Just added two new videos for a total of 20 videos so far! Check them out!
Owner Files $3 Million Lawsuit Against HOA, General Manager And Board Members
A homeowner in Gatlinburg, Tennessee has filed a $3 Million Lawsuit against his HOA, General Manager And All Individual Board Members at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
In response to their meritless, retaliatory $1 Million defamation lawsuit against me, I have now filed a $3 Million lawsuit against Deer Ridge Mountain Resort, AKA Gatlinburg Golf and Racquet Club HOA and Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Barone and Tom Reise, all as individuals.
If you believe in free speech as much as we do, we need your help - no matter where in America you may live.
The Deer Ridge HOA board and individual board members have filed a $1 Million Lawsuit against me in their ongoing attempts to stop this blog and have its contents removed. Click Press Release for details.
This power clique wants to continue to block free speech on this property and to keep their illegitimate secrets hidden from other owners.
They are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars of other owners' money on legal fees to keep themselves in power while they continue to break both Tennessee state law and Deer Ridge property law.
We need your help with the legal fees that will be required to force them to abide by the law - and insure that Deer Ridge Mountain Resort is entitled to free speech like the rest of America.
If you would like to join with others who believe in free speech and believe that all of the 305,000 Home Owner Associations across the nation should be protected from tyrannical boards that ignore the laws, please click the
Donate Button below.
Even a donation of just a few dollars would be very greatly appreciated as a way of showing that we have financial support from thousands of Americans for these important issues!
Thanks so much to all of those of you who have already contributed!
Please help us broadcast this Press Release to others you know who can spread the word. You are welcome to link to this site from Twitter, Facebook or other sites.
With your help we can fight and win this $1 Million lawsuit - and keep this blog active - and an inspiration and model for other HOA Abuse Blogs across the nation.
have as much right to this property being run as an owner occupied property as those who choose to operate their individual units as rentals.
Owner Comments