Back from a presentation, questions??

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

Hey guys

We just stayed for a week at Cypress Point Resort in a 3 bedroom and loved it. We rented from a tugger for about the maintenance fees $900. We went to a DRI presentation for the first time and I came away with a few updates and some questions. First they wanted to sell us 4000 points for $23,000 and then they wanted to sell us 2500 for $11,600, when I balked they brought over a cute little old lady who told us she would knock $2,000 off that price to make it 9,600 and they would freeze that price for two years. All they needed from me was $999 and that would get me 9500 single use points and two 7 night dream vacations over the next 2 years?

Obviously I think the 2500 points are too expensive but I do like that it includes membership for the club which they said I cannot get with resale points?? Is that true??

Can I do much with the 9500 single use points?? Does anyone know what the dream vacations are? Has anyone gotten them??

Everything was a little overwhelming and took way too long but I really like the Grand Beach resort we toured, the remodel looks great!

Thanks for any help

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

I am sure others will chime in but there is NO advantage to buying from the developer in your situation. All developer sales people will tell you that they have something special for you that you can't get any other way. Not true. Or if you can't get it any other way it is essentially useless anyway. Certainly not worth the many thousands of $$ they will be asking.

Resale is the way to go if you like the resort, and this site can give you lots of advice about buying resale. Patience is a virtue...

Take your time and make sure you understand all the in's and out's before taking the plunge.

And maybe renting will work for you rather than purchasing - something else to think about.

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

Your 9500 points may get you a week in moderate resort, but not in most of the high-end resorts at peak time. Once they are used, they will be gone. With the 2500 annual points, you will not be able to access much, if anything, in the DRI system. Even saving the points to go every other year won't give you many options. The only way you may be able to work with that limited number of points is to use the last minute 50 percent point reduction available at some resports. Even then, the chance of finding something is going to be slim.
Don't fall for the ploy about resales not being accepted into the club. While it is true that club membership won't transfer, DRI has allowed nonmembers to buy in at a small (as little as $3000) fee. They may even throw some more points to sweeten the deal.
However - before you make a purchase, take time to look at the DRI system. Go onto the website and look at the locations of member resorts (ignore the New England resorts - DRI only owns a few units and a few weeks, so these are nearly impossible to book). You want to make sure the places you want to visit have TSs you can use.
Also keep in mind the high cost of annual MFs. You were probably quoted a really low price due to the limited number of points in the purchase offer. We have a 11,500 points, which we have found meets our needs. The annual MF is close to $1500, and it increases every year. Can you afford this annual cost? If money is tight, you will be stuck, since it's nearly impossible to sell, or even give away most TSs these days.
I don't want you to think I'm against TSs. We do love ours and only regret making the initial purchase through the developer. But that was long ago, before the Internet and the availability of all this information. Take your time. Ask questions and weigh your options before you make a purchase.

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

Look at us collection points on the resale market. They are cheaper and get you to 20 different resorts within Diamond

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

In my last post I should have written U.S. collection not us.

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

Question about II within Diamond

Longtimer - "Don't fall for the ploy about resales not being accepted into the club. While it is true that club membership won't transfer, DRI has allowed nonmembers to buy in at a small (as little as $3000) fee. They may even throw some more points to sweeten the deal."

Thank you so much for your post. We are seriously considering rescinding our purchase from the developer. We were told that with resale we couldn't access the benefits of DRI Club Select (where you use money or points), as well as the resorts available in Interval International (which includes Hyatt and Marriott resorts).

Our purchase from the developer wasn't a horrible price, but now that we are looking at the resale market we are wondering if resale is too good to be true.

Is it true that purchasing points means we will never be a "deeded" owner? And with that said, is there any reason to care (about being a deeded owner)?

Thanks so much.

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

Deeds are or property, points are for developers---developers do go bankrupt from time to time making points sometimes worthless.

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

Deeds are or property, points are for developers---developers do go bankrupt from time to time making points sometimes worthless.

Huh? In a points system deeds are typically held by anon-profit corp. A developer going bankrupt would not impact that ownership. The deed holding corp. would simply need to find a new manager. It's also likely the developer would own a large number of points which would likely transfer as part of the bankrupts to some other developer.