The Timeshare Tourniquet

[SallyHoover Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SallyHoover]

The funny thing about Lakewood is they are very progressive and creative in some ways and in others very backwards. They have some decent shoulder season weeks and winter weeks- they are 5 minutes from the nicest ski resort in the state (not saying a whole lot but still) that they rent to owners for a little over half of mf's first come first serve with owners who participate in a volunteer clean up/fix up/pretty up weekend that concludes with the owner meeting getting first dibs. The thing they do that is really backwards and prevented me from buying a late August week awhile ago, they don't take cc's and not just for mf. They make owners give in a $200 damage deposit. If you rent your week, the owner still has to submit a $200 check from their bank account as the association won't do business with anyone but the owner. You get it back about a week after checkout un cashed.I don't know what they do for II exchange deposits. As someone who exchanged in I only had to fill out a form and drop it in the lockbox and my keys were waiting in my lockbox that opened with the code they gave me on the phone.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

sally, you are talking about the wrong Lakewood, the one with the fire is in Missouri, sept is a great week there, and the insuranve has not paid out yet, but since i no longer own there I don't know why.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

since i no longer own there I don't know why.

Why would you think that being an owner means the resort would tell you anything about anything?

[SallyHoover Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SallyHoover]

... and you've asked the resort to take it back,
tried to sell/ give it away and sweetened the pot with a year or two of free usage and paid closing and even a cash bonus.....
...your alternatives seem to be to stop paying and let them foreclose and take the appropriate hit or find a company that will actually take it and get it out of your name and make the problem go away for a fee and then not worry about it again.
...or pay forever hoping the place will burn down or fall into a sink hole.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

... and you've asked the resort to take it back,
tried to sell/ give it away and sweetened the pot with a year or two of free usage and paid closing and even a cash bonus.....
...your alternatives seem to be to stop paying and let them foreclose and take the appropriate hit or find a company that will actually take it and get it out of your name and make the problem go away for a fee and then not worry about it again.
...or pay forever hoping the place will burn down or fall into a sink hole.

OK, sinkhole, let me add that.


(Seems like a sinkhole would be a good place for a bottomless money pit.)

Boat: A hole in the water into which you pour money.

Timeshare: Same thing, no water.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

One thing that is kind of puzzling is that three of the weeks we wish to give away, free, have MFs of $350, m/l, and relatively good faux points in weeks.

You would think that for anyone who vacations a lot, and to the more popular vacation destinations like Orlando, Branson, Vegas, Williamsburg, etc., that there would be a desire to get unlimited access to those $294/week 2-bedroom condos on Last Call. It seems like $350 a year would be a fair price to be able to do that, and then take one exchange for $200.

As an example, there are people who make several trips a year to Branson, the Branson forum always has people looking for deals on lodging, and there are always Branson Last Calls. The same could be said for Orlando, and other destinations, maybe more so.

Maybe not, though, if those Last Calls are generally available to non-owners, too.

Or, maybe the stigma of timeshare ownership is just so negative with the general public, that they are skeptical of owning even for this reason.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

One thing that is kind of puzzling is that three of the weeks we wish to give away, free, have MFs of $350, m/l, and relatively good faux points in weeks.

You would think that for anyone who vacations a lot, and to the more popular vacation destinations like Orlando, Branson, Vegas, Williamsburg, etc., that there would be a desire to get unlimited access to those $294/week 2-bedroom condos on Last Call. It seems like $350 a year would be a fair price to be able to do that, and then take one exchange for $200.

As an example, there are people who make several trips a year to Branson, the Branson forum always has people looking for deals on lodging, and there are always Branson Last Calls. The same could be said for Orlando, and other destinations, maybe more so.

Maybe not, though, if those Last Calls are generally available to non-owners, too.

Or, maybe the stigma of timeshare ownership is just so negative with the general public, that they are skeptical of owning even for this reason.

I thought maybe Why Buy the Cow? comes into play, since lodging is already reasonable in the overbuilt area, but $294/week for a nice 2-bedroom condo is still a deal in those areas. Maybe Pay a Little More and Not Have the Baggage comes into play.

[ronparise Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ronparise]

Ive said it more than once, If I had it to do over again and I was buying for my own use, Id do exactly as you suggest, Buy a cheap mf timeshare for access to RCI last calls. The problem is that few people know about these bargains unless they already own a timeshare ...and then they dont need yours.

Another strategy that works much like last calls, is to deposit your week and use it to exchange for last minute discounted exchanges. I deposit a lockoff I own at Vacation Village at Parkway and get 40 TPU, I routinly exchange back into the same resort for 5 tpu. At my mf, plus the exchange fee, I get 8 weeks at about $300 each, Not much more than last calls.

How many TPU do your weeks get when deposited to RCI

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

20-ish.

But, back to my premise, if someone was informed of what I explained, that they could get one $200 exchange and an unlimited number of below-$300 Last Calls, for $350 a year, what do you think is keeping them from doing that?

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Maybe they stayed a week at Wastegate.

[ronparise Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ronparise]

I think if they were informed, you could charge for these weeks....just like the timeshare developers "inform" folks at their timeshare presentations, and once informed pay big bucks for their future vacations.

Id buy yours except that I already own too many.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I think if they were informed, you could charge for these weeks....just like the timeshare developers "inform" folks at their timeshare presentations, and once informed pay big bucks for their future vacations.

Id buy yours except that I already own too many.

& I would feel bad "selling" you ours.



As far as Wastegate goes, we did go to the original WVV once on an RCI bonus week. It was not long after Mr. Seigel had his man-fling with Ms. Dehaan. Coming in there under RCI, we sure got a taste of what it's like to be treated as second class citizens.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

What, no pressure ?

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

Ive said it more than once, If I had it to do over again and I was buying for my own use, Id do exactly as you suggest, Buy a cheap mf timeshare for access to RCI last calls. The problem is that few people know about these bargains unless they already own a timeshare ...and then they dont need yours.

My thought as well. Some of my kids might go for a deal like that, because they already know the TS approach works for them and we're not going to be giving them ours anytime soon, but I think most people who know already have an ownership, or are likely to get one from a relative once that relative quits taking them along.

Although my second thought is that it seems like most people who have a TS either stick to their favorite resort, or like to go new places. The first group would rather own at the particular resort they want, while the second group tends to get really good traders.

I do think you're right, JLB, that your units would be a good fit for someone. Hope that someone finds you sometime soon!

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I do think you're right, JLB, that your units would be a good fit for someone. Hope that someone finds you sometime soon!

Ah, that's so sweet.