Resort fees when transfering ownership

I am looking to purchase a points program resale. Developer points are generally really overpriced.

My question is what is the range of cost if any resorts charge to get into the point program on resales. Is there a list anywhere of these costs based on the resort?

I've read e-bay ads that state "yes these points transfer".

I would guess that this is not the case with all resorts?

I know that you have to pay your RCI membership when you purchase resale. I just fear paying a couple thousand more to get the property back into the points program that the prior owner was already in.

Thanks

Anthony

It Varies.

Some timeshares view converting to points as a major serious moneymaker -- charge the owners big bux to convert the straight (non-points) timeshare weeks they already own. I've always suspected that those are the timeshares where the timeshare company is still in the driver's seat -- not the mature, sold-out timeshares under the direction of independent, owner-controlled management. (But that's only suspicion -- somebody on TUG-BBS who knows for sure can set me straight on that.)

Other timeshares charge for points conversion only what the RCI Co. charges -- not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because they see points-conversion as a way to enhance the value of off-season weeks & get as many orphan weeks as possible into the hands of responsible, fee-paying, points-using owners. (An independent, owner-controlled timeshare resort doesn't -- or shouldn't -- care about making any money off sales of unsold orphan weeks. Shux, I think they'd happily give'm away if that's what it takes to get responsible people to pay fees reliably on weeks that otherwise bleed red ink. But that's another story.)

I doubt there are any comprehensive lists of which timeshares charge which conversion fees -- just have to check individually with whatever points-timeshares you're considering.

To illustrate, we bought a minimal points-timeshare in 2005 -- only 15,000 points per year, which was OK with us because we just wanted a toe-hold into the points system so we could do Points For Deposit with the regular (non-points) timeshares we already owned. We sniped in a winning eBay bid during the closing seconds of the on-line auction -- $152.50 was the purchase price. To that, we added RCI Points initiation fee of $199, closing & deed-recording costs of about $365, & 1st year's maintenance fee of approximately $350. So either the resort did not charge us for points conversion, or the week was already converted to points & the resort did not make the new buyers ( -- us -- ) pay for taking over the points-converted week. We specifically asked the seller about all that before we made the decision to bid.

The rest is history.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Do your homework...

AROMANO said:

I've read e-bay ads that state "yes these points transfer".

I would guess that this is not the case with all resorts?

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You would guess correctly. In some instances (two come right to my alleged mind immediately -- Oyster Bay and Oyster Pointe, both in Sebastian. FL), a RCI points ownership reverts right back to a "week" upon EACH resale. If the new owner wants RCI points, s/he must then pay an additional fee to convert. The choice to convert is optional (there) however, as the new owner may simply choose to keep the underlying week as a "week".

In short, I recommend that you dig deeply and get all the details in order to ensure to your own satisfaction that whatever you're looking at does not have a similar "repetitive conversion" arrangement and, if it does, exactly what that conversion cost would be. Better to know before deciding to purchase than to get an unwelcome (and expensive) surprise after closing.

theo said:

In short, I recommend that you dig deeply and get all the details in order to ensure to your own satisfaction that whatever you're looking at does not have a similar "repetitive conversion" arrangement and, if it does, exactly what that conversion cost would be. Better to know before deciding to purchase than to get an unwelcome (and expensive) surprise after closing.

Click to expand...

I am looking for points in the Hilton Head area. Looks like the folks are Coral Resorts. I like the idea of being able to book the area 12 months out because we travel there yearly. I do not want to pay the resort for a points program, especially if the resale is already in the program.

Thanks for both replies, much appreciated.

Anthony