Palm Springs Condo- Need to Get Creative

[Tim Jonasson]

I have a beautiful, nicely upgraded 3 BR 2 BA condo in Palm Springs. It is in a gated community, has a 2 car garage, very private with only a shared garage wall. There are 3 pools, tennis courts and it is a beautiful park-like community. It has easy access to the airport and major thoroughfares. Sounds great, right?

Here's the bad part:

It on leased land with 26 years remaining on the lease. This was previously Indian land but the land is now held by an investor who assumed the indian lease. She will not sell the land and will not renegotiate the lease. She is in first position (well, after the tax man). The lease is water-tight. She has rights to all improvements on the land at the expiration of the lease and, again, she will not renegotiate the terms. If this were a SFR I could move the house but I can't very well chop off the condo so she or her heirs will have a nice, free condo in 26 years.

I have had the condo rented for the past 10 years but at a loss. I can't rent it for enough to cover the mortgage, HOA, insurance, taxes and her land lease. I have spoken briefly to a leading vacation rental company and with the Candian dollar down, they had lots of vacancy this year. So not likely I could keep it rented often enough to covder the

It doesn't make sense to keep throwing money at a condo where the future value is $0. So I am at risk of foreclosure and looking for creative ideas. I would love to retain occasional use of the condo so wondering if a fractional ownership makes sense. My monthly expenses are about $2500 for the next 26 years or $30k per year.

Ideas?