Okay, everything has cleared and I am finally fully purchased, enrolled, and elected. Whew, that took a while (but not as long as HGVC!).
Here are details for anyone looking to do a GRC quarter share purchase:
First, for those who don't know or need more info: a "quarter share" is a single deeded "unit" containing 13 weeks (1/4 of a year). The GRC program divides quarter shares into week 1, week 2, week 3 and week 4.. basically you get one week every 4th week but the exact week you get changes every year. The MVC point value of each week also changes because it matters which week you are electing to points (and weeks change each year). So this year, for example, my first week ends up being over new years 2019-20 and has an elected value of 3900 points, but some other weeks in the summer are only 1100 points. The total points for 2020 turns out to be 24,825 but it can vary between 21,000 up to as high as 27,000 (I think - it is hard to calculate exactly) depending on the year.
Paid $49,750 for the GRC quarter share. This was roughly $2 per point based on 2019 point values. I was told by Marriott reps that it needed to be $2 to clear ROFR, but I understand also that lower values have gone through in the past 12 months (Marriott acknowledged that, but said they expected the minimum needed to be higher than in the past and I did not want to take a chance).
I also purchased at the same time 5,000 MVC Trust points direct from MVC under the September promotion. That cost about $53,000 all in for the 5,000 MVC Trust points.
We also received 12,500 incentive points at closing (we get more if we keep financing in place but probably will not).
I asked for and obtained a written assurance from MVC that they would treat the 5,000 MVC point purchase as if it occurred after the purchase of the GRC quarter share (this is important because in order to enroll the GRC quarter share, you have to purchase 5,000 MVC Trust points after already owning the GRC quarter share).
We also paid the $5,000 enrollment fee at closing of the GRC purchase direct to MVC (from the escrow of the GRC purchase).
ROFR cleared the week after we submitted it. It took about a month for the GRC quarter share to be enrolled, and another few weeks before the elections were made effective (converting 2020 into points). We had approval from GRC that we would be able to elect "late" due to the timing which required closing in late October. I was nervous about this, but it all worked out exaclty as GRC/MVC promised it would.
In addition, as part of our "deal" MVC made 4 weeks of reservations for us at Frenchman's Cove for 2020 - we would not have been able to get these reserved on our own had we waited, so I am glad we insisted on that. The Frenchman's Cove reservations used our 2020 and 2021 Trust points, plus some points "borrowed" from our bonus point allocation. Once we closed, they made a bunch of point transfers, and the Frenchman's Cove reservations magically appeared in our account!
The net result of all this is that we now are Chairman's Club owners, with around 29K points every year. Our "average" cost per point including the enrollment fee was $3.70. I haven't calculated the exact maintenance fee average cost, but I think it will be around .25 cents.
I am very happy with this purchase, and might even look to add on another quarter share down the road as long as GRC maintains the program that allows enrollment of the entire quarter share (FYI, the ability to enroll the entire 13 week GRC quarter share with purchase of 5,000 Trust points is unique to GRC as far as I understand it).
Marriott has been amazing to deal with. I am really impressed with the teamwork exhibited by the entire Marriott team, and their willingness to work through complicated issues. This never, ever, would have been possible in the HGVC system (of which I am also the highest elite level currently).
