With the announcement yesterday BelleHavens follows the trend in the destination club industry of having backing from a billionaire. In this case the funding comes from Ray L. Hunt and his Hunt Realty Corporation.

Additional capital came from Sentry Financial Corporation who have been working with BelleHaven for 18 months.

Bellehaven intends to use the funding from these two sources to :

• acquire properties,
• expand the Club’s membership base,
• enhance the Club’s service and support infrastructure

BelleHavens started out in 2004 as one of the more fiscally secure Destination Clubs and its announcement yesterday continues this role. All it's properties are purchased outright with no leased homes so that it has a debt-free portfolio of real estate. (Leasing properties was one of the causes of the bankruptcy filing at Tanner & Haley this summer.)

Members of BelleHavens also have an equity interest in the club, which is another rather unique aspect of the BelleHavens model. The club currently has 11 properties spread throughout the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.