nelson84
newbie
At the Stoneridge Resort in Idaho we pay $202/year.
Sandcastle Condominiums, Provincetown, MA
Studio sleeps 4 (oceanfront)
Week 40 (Red per RCI)
$177 per year including taxes
... which gets us 56,000 points in PDF.
Yes, this does apply to RCI Points. And "PDF" is "PFD" which means Points For Deposit. This is a program, where an owner of RCI Points resorts can deposit any 'weeks’ resorts units they own into their Points account (instead of the traditional exchange). Points received are based on the resort location, rating, size and season. 56,000 points will probably get you a week in a 1 BR (Gold Crown) or 2 BR (others) during prime season (Hawaii, DVC may be exceptions). For example, last year I booked a 1 BR at the Divi Village Golf and Beach Resort in Aruba (55,000/wk) and a 1 BR at the Divi Little Bay in St. Maarten (56,000/wk). If you are willing to travel in the off season, or stay less than 7 nights and avoid Fri/Sat nights, the points will go further.Does this statement apply to RCI points? (I know very little about points, but am trying to learn all the time.)
Please explain what this means---and what is "PDF"?
Are 56,000 points a significant amount---what might that be 'worth' (in terms of a week's stay, etc.)?
Thanks,
Pat
Yes, this does apply to RCI Points. And "PDF" is "PFD" which means Points For Deposit. This is a program, where an owner of RCI Points resorts can deposit any 'weeks’ resorts units they own into their Points account (instead of the traditional exchange). Points received are based on the resort location, rating, size and season. 56,000 points will probably get you a week in a 1 BR (Gold Crown) or 2 BR (others) during prime season (Hawaii, DVC may be exceptions). For example, last year I booked a 1 BR at the Divi Village Golf and Beach Resort in Aruba (55,000/wk) and a 1 BR at the Divi Little Bay in St. Maarten (56,000/wk). If you are willing to travel in the off season, or stay less than 7 nights and avoid Fri/Sat nights, the points will go further.
The individual listings for Points resorts in the RCI directory has a link for the specific point values.
The only two caveats is that you must first own at a Points resort AND the "weeks' unit you own cannot be at a resort that has converted to RCI Points (even if you didn't convert).
Many owners take advantage of the 3-year lease to get into the points system to use PFD.
Many owners take advantage of the 3-year lease to get into the points system to use PFD. What do you mean by 3 year lease??
My post above is a bit off-topic, and I apologize for that.
I would like to add that low maintenance fees can be an indication that things are not being maintained properly and assessments are going to follow. I understand why fees are low in Africa, due to the exchange rate, but fees of $200 for a red week in any U.S. location is not a healthy thing.
We had fees of $336 for years on our 2 bedroom units at Twin Rivers. There are almost no amenities, just a pair of hot tubs, and those low fees paid the bills, basically. We have trash and snow removal costs, utilities, housekeeping, management fees, etc., and that cost covered all of those items, plus a tiny bit for reserves (if a television broke, then could replace it with another $300 television).
We needed to do interior and exterior repairs on our units, and that ultimately was the reason we had to assess, because the fees were too low for too many years. Now we need new carpet and tile in most units, and the owners are upset that their low-cost vacation is gone. Oh, well!
Although that may be logical, or popular belief.. it's not necessarily true. Example, if a resort is at about 100% ownership, and 98+% of those people actually pay their MF's on time, the resort's management costs are low, property costs, utilities, and taxes are low, and so on.. it can be done. Sure it's not easy finding that golden combination, but that's like telling wal-mart they simply cannot sell product X at their price because they're not making money, which also isn't the case.
I own a few businesses, and have been "wowing" my customers, competition, friends, family, etc because I have developed ways to keep costs consistently lower than my competition, but yet still manage to provide top notch service and support, for over a decade now. How? well that's my trade secret.. but the point is it can be done. And while some businesses may really screw up that effort, which is apparent by the assessment's, I've seen some stable balance sheets that show a long term history of being the elite that can pull it off. Most resorts surely cannot do that, but that doesn't mean the ones that do fall into that high risk category either.
It is done, and part of it may be due to the cost of living in different parts of the United States.
Yes, I understand where you are coming from, but why should timeshare MF not be more in line with the MF of condos. As I posted, I could except a reasonable annual increase...but with reference to the resort I mentioned in my post, the MF jumped 150% in one year...I think that year was 2009.
I certainly don't like rising maintenance fees any more than anyone else. I am also well aware that at some point in the upward escalation of annual fees, the "value" of ongoing ownership is open to closer scrutiny.
For some of my ownerships, that point is clearly in sight on the horizon and seemingly getting closer.
That much being openly acknowledged, can any intelligent and reasonable person realistically expect that maintenance fees can magically just somehow remain the same, while the cost of virtually everything else around us consistently increases?
Utilities and fuel costs move only upward, for everyone, anywhere. Likewise the maintenance, repair and / or replacement of heating and cooling equipment and most appliances. The cost of "soft goods" increases --- for everyone, anywhere. Property taxes increase --- for most places of any real market value, anyhow. Insurance costs go in no other direction than upward. Any and every resort, regardless of HOA, management company, quality, location (...or astrological sign) is faced with these harsh facts as an everyday reality.
Some timeshare presentations, or maybe more than some, like to use the prepaid vacation mumbojumbo as a reason for buying. These same hotels/resorts put absolutely no money in an escrow to cover any future expenses and therefore depend on the "owners" for all the upkeep money. Maybe it would be a good thing to put half of all the money obtained in purchases to be put in an actual prepaid vacation type account to keep maintenance fees at the original purchase price. This would also increase resale value. I don't think it'll fly though because sales and the real owner of timeshare properties like to run off with as much cash as they can carry.