In response the Condo Owners have sued. The Facebook Support Group – Myrtle Beach Condo And Beach Rental Owners, is monitored and vetted so that no H.O.A. Chairmen, Property Managers, nor H.O.A. buddy board appointees can join. It is open to all Grand Strand Beach Home and Condo rental owners.
A newly formed Sea Mist Resort rental company, associated Sea Mist Resort related LLCs, and individuals are being sued by the Sea Mist Resort Condo owners.
Beach Life Resort, LLC, Beach Life Property Management, LLC, Carolinas Holding Company, LLC, Sea Mist Master Homeowners’ Association, Inc., Tides/Driftwoods/Oasis Homeowners’ Association, Inc, Gary Weatherford, Constance Doyle, Cameron Herpolshemer and Beverly Shrake are named as defendants in the lawsuit filed on May 4th.
The plaintiffs are condominium owners at Sea Mist Resort located at 1207 South Ocean
Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They state the issues are ongoing from Shiv of SM, LLC and have only increased. These condo owners invested in units located in the Driftwood and Tides buildings at the resort.
VIRAL VIDEO OF SEA MIST FROM 2022
The rooms in this video were owned by the resort itself and not the condo owners. The “Sea Mist owned” rooms have reviews that commonly rate those rooms as dirty.
An article that ran at the end of April rated all City of Myrtle Beach rooms among the 3rd dirtiest in the USA. While the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber refuted those claims, over 461 condo owners told MyrtleBeachSC News they felt their rooms were not being properly cleaned by area property managers.
The units in the Tides and Driftwood are the best rooms at the resort.
One month after the above video went viral, condo owners stopped being by paid by the rental management company. Condo owners say they were not paid from July 2022 until the end of February. The checks that were previously paid were made out from Sea Mist Oceanfront Resort Rental Management Account.
However, the 1099s sent out to the condo owners were sent from A&S of MB, LLC. MyrtleBeachSC News called the 843-448-5155 number provided by A&S of MB, LLC on the 1099 just below. It rang to the First Baptist Church of Myrtle Beach. A&S of MB, LLC has long since disappeared leaving the condo owners unpaid for rooms that A&S collected full guest payments on.
As a result, most of the 214 condo owners went with 3rd party rental firms like HomeAway and VRBO. These firms pay their bills.
On or about March 31, 2023, a newly formed Beach Life Resort, LLC, sent a letter to all
condominium owners at the Sea Mist.
The letter stated that Beach Life Resort had acquired the Tides/Driftwood/Oasis. However land map records we searched showed no record of such a purchase. We asked the principal of Beach Life Resort if he had sublet the building from Coastal Holdings Company.
The resort sent out a letter to the condo owners saying that Coastal Holdings Company had purchased the resort. However, once again, land records showed the property as belonging to Shiv of MB, LLC. (Montego Investments)
It appears that the land owners of the Sea Mist separated the ownership of the property from the actual business operations. We asked Gary Weatherford, a principal in the business operations at Beach Life whether the property was leased, leased to purchase, or if he had sublet his portion from Coastal Holdings Company. Weatherford did not respond to our email.
ESCROW ACCOUNT OUT OF BALANCE
We were forwarded this email written by a realtor representing a condo owner whose sale collapsed after documents reflected a quarter of a million dollar deficit in the Homeowner Escrow Reserves. Condo owners we spoke with stated they paid their HOA dues on time and regularly.
Where did the HOA escrow funds go?
The newly hired HOA Property Manager, Natalie Harbit-Brookshire told MyrtleBeachSC News that the escrow issues dated back to former HOA funds managers Empress and Tradd.
Condo owners on property state that Harbit-Brookshire operates in an unrented room at the Sea Mist.
On December 28, 2021, the following email was sent out from Tradd which confirms the board needed to move $232,857 into the escrow account.
We asked Gary Weatherford if that had been done. He did not respond.
Just afterwards, Tradd was transitioned by H.O.A. board management and Natalie Harbit-Brookshire was hired. In our 20 years of reporting issues on the Grand Strand, Tradd has always stood out as among the best in HOA management in our area.
From: Tara Alford <>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2021 1:12 PM
To:
Subject: Tides Reserve Transfer – Need BOD Approval
Importance: High
Pat,
The Board of Directors discussed in the 2021 budget meeting that the budgeted amount for the 2021 reserve funding would be $166,609 even though the reserve schedule showed that the funding amount should be $399,466. The board had agreed to move the difference of $232,857 from the operating account to the reserve account by the end of 2021. The reason behind this would be to fully fund the reserves per the schedule and reduce the amount in the operating account so the funds would be closer to the $250,000 FDIC insured amount.
As of today, there is $493,006.56 in the operating account. I need approval from the board to move the $232,857 from the operating account to the reserve account.
Thank you,
Tara Alford
Controller
___________________________________
After not being paid, having escrow funds in question, a letter from Bev Shrake and Gary Weatherford was sent to condo owners stating the following: As of March 15, 2023, Beach Life Resort has acquired the property formally known as the Sea Mist Tides/Driftwood/Oasis… The property will start the process of rebrand[ing] to Beach Life Resort starting April 1, 2023. Sea Mist Property rental clients will transfer to Beach Life property management on 4/2/2023.
Any Homeowner that rents short term or long term or uses a 3rd party rental company will need to pay a Commercial Resort Fee to Beach Life Resort in the amount of $450.00 monthly per unit by or before May 1, 2023, to have guest use of any Amenities listed below. This agreement is year to year, once you end payments the unit is not eligible for reinstatement until arrears are paid in full…. The resort fee covers the commercial use of the following:
- Parking Passes
- Pool
- Saunas
- Jacuzzi
- Key cards
- Elevators
- Luggage Carts.
The lawsuit filed on May 4th states: Defendants Weatherford, Beach Life, Sea Mist, et al have, in fact, prevented the use of the above referenced amenities by those unit owners who do not utilize Defendant Beach Life Property Management, LLC as their Property Management Agent.
Plaintiffs have suffered, and will continue to suffer, actual, consequential, and resulting damages as a result of Defendants’ actions.
The Driftwood building is 16 stories high. Under these terms, guests staying at the Driftwood who booked through third parties will be required to walk the luggage up the stairs to their rooms. They will not be allowed to park on the Sea Mist Resort property.
QUESTION: DID BEACH LIFE BUY THE SEA MIST RESORT TIDES, DRIFTWOOD AND OASIS? Is Gary Weatherford leasing or subleasing the buildings as Beach Life Resort, LLC.
It is unclear…, however, in response the condo owners have sued. Myrtle Beach Condo And Beach Rental Owners is a vetted Facebook group, so that no H.O.A. Chairman, Property Managers, nor HOA buddy board appointees can join.
Summons Complaint Sea Mist Resort by MyrtleBeachSC news on Scribd
At the time of this publishing, the 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson has been made aware of these issues, as well as, the legal liaison for the Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors.
This is a developing story.