Available guidelines $cost/sunoptions for purchase & annual fees?

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

eBay: 4000 Club Sunterra Sun Option Annual Points Timeshare (item 200124230868 end time Jul-06-07 12:00:00 PDT)

Is this way too expensive, say it eventually sells for $700 - and the MF is $562/yr.

Are there available guidelines to shoot for NOT to go over in both purchase price and annual fees (MF, taxes, trust fee, etc...), both measured in $cost/SunOption ?

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

I'm assuming that you're starting to work on the two free Club Sunterra additions you negotiated the other day. If so I advise the following - and I apologize if you've already gone through these steps.

The first things that you need to decide are the following:

1. The resort(s) you want to have as your home resort. That establishes where you will be able to reserve 12 months in advance instead of 10 months in advance (13 months if you are adding a Trust ownership). If you want to stay at peak demand times or you want to rent the best units, you want that 12-month (or 13-month) window.
   
2. The number of SunOptions do you want to have in the Club after you've added those two additional properties. That will establish the size of ownerships you want to pursue.

You've negotiated a nice, but finite, option for yourself. Take a bit of time to be sure you get the most advantage for yourself.

****

If I were in your situation, I would first answer those questions and decide the price I was willing to pay. Then I would hit every resale site I could - particularly including the upfront fee sites - and send inquiries to every listed ownership that me the parameters.

We did that when we came close to buying a unit at Hanalei Bay a couple of years ago. I sent out about 15 inquiries, got responses on half of them, and got three or four owners who were interested at the price we proposed - which was less than half of what those owners had listed their units for.

It doesn't matter if 80% of the people you send inquiries to are insulted or think you're lowballing them. All you need do is find a couple of owners who are motivated. And after having a unit listed for several years with zero offers, some of those folks are glad to take anything they can get. And you should feel good if you do so, because if you buy one or two of those listings you've probably kept them out of the clutches of a postcard company.

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

First, I am in no financial position to purchase anything the rest of this yr - I am just educating myself by looking at the resale sites, and eBay came to mind right away.

yep, I am already trying to decide how many pts I need/want. I am still thinking only 4000, which will get me inot elite status. Which is what caught my eye with the link I posted.

Thanks for the tips, I'll likely follow some of them - I got some time but again a year flies by very fast

I'm assuming that you're starting to work on the two free Club Sunterra additions you negotiated the other day. If so I advise the following - and I apologize if you've already gone through these steps.

The first things that you need to decide are the following:

1. The resort(s) you want to have as your home resort. That establishes where you will be able to reserve 12 months in advance instead of 10 months in advance (13 months if you are adding a Trust ownership). If you want to stay at peak demand times or you want to rent the best units, you want that 12-month (or 13-month) window.
   
2. The number of SunOptions do you want to have in the Club after you've added those two additional properties. That will establish the size of ownerships you want to pursue.

You've negotiated a nice, but finite, option for yourself. Take a bit of time to be sure you get the most advantage for yourself.

****

If I were in your situation, I would first answer those questions and decide the price I was willing to pay. Then I would hit every resale site I could - particularly including the upfront fee sites - and send inquiries to every listed ownership that me the parameters.

We did that when we came close to buying a unit at Hanalei Bay a couple of years ago. I sent out about 15 inquiries, got responses on half of them, and got three or four owners who were interested at the price we proposed - which was less than half of what those owners had listed their units for.

It doesn't matter if 80% of the people you send inquiries to are insulted or think you're lowballing them. All you need do is find a couple of owners who are motivated. And after having a unit listed for several years with zero offers, some of those folks are glad to take anything they can get. And you should feel good if you do so, because if you buy one or two of those listings you've probably kept them out of the clutches of a postcard company.

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

In terms of cost - I have found a couple of CSV's for about $0.35/pt, excluding closing costs.

Is this reasonsable?

In terms of buying into an actual location where I would want to go... I should only be looking for those resorts listed at Welcome to Club Sunterra or sunoptions booklet, correct? I think the answer is yes, but I wanted to be sure. I mean, are there alot of other resorts (like Polo) that are NOT located in either the website or sunoptions book for which I can receive annual sunoption pts for?

If I brought in CSV points (say 4000) into my converted club (11000 pts) acct, do I get the 13 month advantage? or does the CSV pts get blended in and become "Club" pts?

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

I have been slowing looking to purhcase a csv-1 trust membership and want to clarify the annual cost.

for the following:
Timeshare Resales at Club Sunterra Vacations in Various Locations

See that 5500 annual pts ... annual fee is $671.50. If I take away the $0.073/pt, that leaves $270. Is this $270 no longer applicable when I roll this CSV into my Club Sun acct? in other words, I know I have to pay the $0.073/pt, but is the $270 replaced by my existing $151/yr Club Sun dues?

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

In terms of cost - I have found a couple of CSV's for about $0.35/pt, excluding closing costs. Is this reasonsable?

No, that is on the high end. Last one I bought on eBay cost me 8¢/pt closing included, the deals are out there if you're patient.

In terms of buying into an actual location where I would want to go... I should only be looking for those resorts listed at Welcome to Club Sunterra or sunoptions booklet, correct? I think the answer is yes, but I wanted to be sure. I mean, are there alot of other resorts (like Polo) that are NOT located in either the website or sunoptions book for which I can receive annual sunoption pts for?

Your goal should be to find the resort or Trust deed/contract that satisfies your need for Home Resort Advantage or Home Club Advantage with both initial purchase price and ongoing maintenance fees as low as possible. To me, that means MFs at the Trust rate of 7.3¢ or lower. To get that at a resort you need to look for Holiday weeks that produce more points for the same weekly MF.

If I brought in CSV points (say 4000) into my converted club (11000 pts) acct, do I get the 13 month advantage? or does the CSV pts get blended in and become "Club" pts?

Yes, you get HCA for that number of points.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

I have been slowing looking to purhcase a csv-1 trust membership and want to clarify the annual cost.

for the following:
Timeshare Resales at Club Sunterra Vacations in Various Locations

See that 5500 annual pts ... annual fee is $671.50. If I take away the $0.073/pt, that leaves $270. Is this $270 no longer applicable when I roll this CSV into my Club Sun acct? in other words, I know I have to pay the $0.073/pt, but is the $270 replaced by my existing $151/yr Club Sun dues?

The $270 you're referring to is $151 annual Club or Trust fee plus a $119 Trust Base Assessment. For sure the $151 will be absorbed and the $119 should disappear, too.