Buying Resale Timeshare

[candimarie63 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close candimarie63]

My husband and I recently purchased a timeshare from a friend. The timeshare was originally bought by him as a "points timeshare" which is funded 74,500 points annually.

Before we exchanged any money and sent in the paperwork for the Quit-Claim Deed, the previous owner called the developer (Vacation Villiage of Parkway) and spoke with two different people whom claimed that since the timeshare was purchased as a points timeshare that the points would transfer to us at no additional cost: the only cost involved would be the transfer fee of $100.

Now that we have gotten the Quit-Claim back from the county and are ready to complete the transfer with the resort, another person at the resort has gotten involved and is claiming that once the transfer is done it will convert back to weeks (even though this was purchased as a Points from the original buyer!!) and that we will have to pay $3000-$4000 reconversion fee.

We had the buyer contact her directly and she advised him that the only way around it would be to have him put the deed back in his name and then add us as joint owners to the deed. Then after sometime he can drop off the deed and leave us as sole owners.

Does this sound right? Has anyone experienced this or can offer us advice?

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

I purchased a Vacation Village @ Parkway and all I had to pay was $224 to RCI. $124 for my first year of Points Club membership and the $100 to RCI for the transfer of the VV@P points into my name. VV@P also charges $100 for their transfer cost (this is to update their owner log).

It is true that if a Points club member quits paying for membership the points membership will revert to a plain weeks week - however as long as the party you are buying from is still a member they can transfer their "ownership" of that membership to you.

Perhaps they have quit paying and it has already reverted?

When dealing with any customer service rep. remember: "Never take a no from anyone who lacks the power to say yes". It sounds like you might have to involve RCI in this and perhaps "higher - ups".

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

This is one of the big personal complaints I have against the Berkley Group! They seem to have no clear policy on rci point transfers, and appear to simply pick names out of a hat to terrorize.

I have heard that ownerships that were originally purchased as rci points are not subject to the $3,900 reconversion fee, but that ownerships originally purchased as weeks and then converted to points are required to pay it to enroll the new buyer into rci points.

However, I have also heard several horror stories similar to yours where there appears to be no rhyme or reason behind the "shake down" requirement.

I properly prepared written estoppels may have given you some protection, as you would have then had written documentation signed by a resort employee stating that no reconversion fee was required to complete the transfer. They may still have refused, but the original owner could have threatened them with a lawsuit based on that document as well as the original purchase agreement which states the ownership can be transferred.

These threats may have been enough to get your enrollment approved (RCI submits the new enrollment to the developer for final approval). However- admittedly having to go through this ridiculous circus would still have turned you off from owning and dealing with this developer!

Hopefully, potential buyers will read this and determine that ownership at these properties is not worth the trouble..