TAMPA - The condo board at Westshore Yacht Club was at the end of its rope.

Homeowners were walking away from their units because values had fallen. Others just stopped paying their quarterly dues.

"That left us in a situation where we had to foot the bill ourselves," said Jason Messer, a board member and first-time homeowner. "We were going to have to do a large special assessment for all the homeowners who were paying."

But then they heard about another option.

A Tampa-based company, LM Funding LLC, purchases delinquent receivables from condo associations.

In this volatile real estate market, hundreds of condominium boards across Florida face budget shortfalls and are struggling to pay their bills. They typically have few options other than hiring an attorney and pursuing foreclosure.

LM's business plan is unique. It's sort of a bailout for associations on the brink of financial disaster. Associations are eligible for up to 80 percent of the past-due assessments upfront, depending on the severity of the shortfall.

All they have to do is give up the rights to collect fees on the account, said Frank Silcox, founder and CEO. That's how the company makes its money. It has an attorney who goes after the owners, which in some cases are lenders.

"A lot of condos are so distressed that they wouldn't get the fees anyway," Silcox said. "They don't mind giving up those rights because they get more money with us, and they get cash upfront."

LM then negotiates with the owners and often files liens to pressure them into paying the association the dues. As LM collects the money, it pays the association.

The company formed two years ago and has expanded to Orlando, Miami, Fort Myers, Sarasota and Jacksonville. In the past year, it bought nearly $9 million in condo receivables, Silcox said.

"We are very successful in getting a lot of mortgage holders to pay off the liens," he said. "That way they can generate short sales much faster. It's a motivator."

Bruce Rodgers, of Business Law Group, is the attorney for LM. He and Silcox are longtime friends and came up with the business plan together. They had worked in real estate for years, and were hearing the complaints from condo associations and thought this plan could work.

The legal side of it is nothing new. Rodgers does the same kind of work other attorneys do for condo associations. He just considers himself much more aggressive.

With so many companies making big promises and not delivering, it's worth noting that the Florida Attorney General's Office has seen no complaints of LM.

And condos associations in trouble are increasingly unable to afford to hire an attorney. Since LM is buying the rights to collect fees, the association doesn't have to pay them upfront. And since Rodgers dedicates his business to collection, he said, other attorney duties don't get in the way of his work.

Vernon June, the property manager at Lake Chase Condominium in Westchase, said the association was in a "severe" situation when it hired LM Funding this summer.

"We were probably going to have to have a large special assessment in July to cover the shortfall, and we were going to have to hire an attorney," he said.

Instead, he said, the association is receiving checks each month, as LM collects from owners.

LM's plan may not be a perfect fit for all associations, but with so few options available to suffering associations, this business model is a notable one.

Messer sure does give it a ringing endorsement.

"I really don't know what we would have done without them," he said.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804