Assessment not in Ebay ad

There are a few Auctions for Oceancliff resort in Newport RI in which the current $2000.00 assessment is not mentioned. There will be a few surprises.

rant about eBay

This area really needs cleaning up by eBay, if it wanted to be of more service to buyers it could impose an information template requiring disclosure of basic information. Some listings are really hard to decipher as to the real deal, like simple information such as unit number which is missing from many ads. In small resorts without elevators I will never buy another third floor (or higher) unit. I have emailed sellers asking for more unit information and gotten a deer in the headlight type answer. Oh well, it remains buyer beware!

Ebay ads with missing information are often the best deals. Other bidders stay away, but there can be hidden gems if you do the research yourself.

Agreed, this is basic information which should be disclosed.

I often can not make sense of the MF's on some ad's, to be generous they are often some years out of date.

Marriott's former resort, Streamside at Vail.

There is so much misinformation and missing information on ebay listings.

Marriott dropped a large part of Streamside at Vail, I think one area is still Marriott-owned, but the listings always call the resort a Marriott. It was not built originally as a Marriott but was purchased and run by them. The properties were neglected for a very long time. Our son stayed there many years ago and thought it was only an average resort, nothing special at all.

I feel it is dishonest to say the resort is still a Marriott. They are also paying HUGE assessments to get the place back to a luxury resort again, but you certainly never see anyone disclosing that fact. What was once considered luxurious is now ordinary. Marriott warned the owners for years that major renovations needed to be done. Now VRI has taken over and I expect it to be a great resort again. Marriott maintenance fees are way too high, but these assessments that the board is imposing are going to cause more and more people to abandon their units. Eventually VRI will get the place in order. I think I will consider a purchase after the assessments are done.

Another example of misrepresentation is an eBay seller who appears to operate under several different names (the ads are identical) and who is selling Equivest points. In some prior ads he/she was incorrectlty representing the ability to reserve within 45 days for 10% of the regular points needed to reserve a unit. There is no discount. He/she also included all of the fomrer Equivest resorts as available for reservation with points, when in fact, only about half are in the points system. He/she also advertises the points exchange through RCI, when they only exchange through II.

I agree with Dave

The lack of information in timeshare ads is a bonus for me. Items that are left out of the listing or incorrect information can be verified with a little effort.

I've seen 2BR units advertised as 1 BR, and newly refurbished units advertised as needing updating and requiring an assessment. I've seen the wrong weeks, wrong views, and wrong buildings. And don't get me going on the maintenance fee numbers some listers come up with!

Other than that, the timeshare listing information is right on the money.

Ebay Misrepresentation

A few years ago I won an auction for a week that was listed as a white week when it was indeed a red week. The best thing to do is call the resort and make sure of fees and status. I regularly e-mail seller's with corrections for their auction where I am absolutely familiar with the resort. Recently someone had a 1br listed as occupancy 6 when it was actually 5. Further, the maintenance fees were listed as $230 when they were $410. This person e-mailed back and called me the timeshare police and cussed me out! Nothing like misrepresenting your auction and running into problems down the road!

Kozman said:

This person e-mailed back and called me the timeshare police and cussed me out! Nothing like misrepresenting your auction and running into problems down the road!

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I use to email ebay lot sellers for Cherokee Village, Arkansas for misrepresenting the lots they have for sale. I stopped doing that....now I just list their ebay seller name on my website for ebay buyers to avoid.:ignore:

Estoppel letters!

This is another reason why estoppel letters are so important. They confirm week, unit number, L/O status, points, mf status, pending special assessments, etc.

cluemeister said:

This is another reason why estoppel letters are so important. They confirm week, unit number, L/O status, points, mf status, pending special assessments, etc.

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And how do you get this? Can it be done before bidding/purchasing on ebay? From searching the archives it would appear to me that you can't get one until you have made the purchase.

Thanks,
Dale

Arkansas Winger said:

And how do you get this? And can it be done before bidding/purchasing on ebay?

Thanks,
Dale

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Before you bid, you have options, such as a) get a copy of the page of the deed from the seller that shows the week/unit information, or b) ask seller detailed questions about the unit, or c) ask seller a specific question you already know the answer to to check seller's knowledge/truthfulness.

You cannot get an estoppel without authorization from the current owner.

I then bid on the unit, and if the unit is won, then I sign the purchase agreement, and order the estoppel letter through the timeshare closing company. I do not send payment to the timeshare escrow account until the estoppel letter is received. The estoppel confirms all of the unit information, but just as importantly, the financial situation, such as unpaid mf's.

Thanks for the information. I had done a search on Estoppel letter and did not find the detailed information on how to get and use it until your reply. It is really appreciated.

Dale