2nd Rams Horn Village (estes park) auction cancelled

[colovaca]

RHV was planning a second acution - maybe this weekend? Anyway, I got notice that someone is buying up the remaining developer's stock and the auction is cancelled. I wonder who and what that means for the rental or trading availablility.

 

[Gibson]

Auction

I am delighted to announce the Rams Horn Village Owners' Association has purchased the developer's remaining inventory at Rams Horn Village. It plans to sell some weeks over a period of years at former retail values of $9,000 to 18,000. These weeks will be sold mostly in multiple week packages (most current owners own between two to thirteen weeks).

Rams Horn Village has experienced less than 4% resale over 18 years and is Association Managed by its owners. Most resales have been for more than the original purchase price. The deveoper had financial pressures. The Association is financially strong, so this purchase was great developement for our owners.

The balance of the weeks will be used for rental and annual maintenance. The Association intends to keep some weeks to provide reservation flexibility for our owners. There will be no increase in exchange activity.

I have removed part of this post that was an ad. Advertising of this type is not allowed in the forums. Karen G, Moderator
Deborah Gibson, General Manager

 

[Robert D]

Deborah, $9K to $18K sounds way overpriced to me. I was considering an offer from the developer you bought out for an summer (A week) for $6,000 for building 13 and any other building summer week he owned for $6,900, when the association bought all of the weeks. Historical TS values are irrelevent and virtually all timeshares decline in value over time. The offseason weeks in Estes Park seem to me to be next to worthless, given the hyper seasonality of EP but the summer weeks do have value. I was hoping that you bought these weeks in bulk at a really attractive price that would allow you to sell them at prices that made sense. My guess is you're stuck on selling these weeks at $9K-18K you'll have virtually all of the weeks you just bought in inventory two years from now.

 

[colovaca]

Thanks for the update Deborah and good luck to the HOA. I rented last MLK weekend and had a wonderful time - in the unit/resort, in the park and in town.

 

[Gibson]

Hi Robert D. With all due respect you do not know Rams Horn Village. I am sorry that are disappointed by not being able to purchase at the "fire sale" pricing that the developer was apparently offering due to its significant financial pressures. The Association and its owners have no pressure to sell these weeks quickly as we have ample opportunity to offset expenses with rental and minimal sales a year. We expect to retain a significant number of these weeks in any event to provide flexibilty of use and maintenance opportunity for our owners. I have been involved with Rams Horn Village since 1989. $9-18,000 per week (depending on season) is the current market value for this Gold Crown top rated (we score in the top 2% of all RCI resorts) resort at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado's top resort destination. In fact, we had three new owners purchase resales from existing owners in that price range in the weeks proceeding the cancelled auction. You are also wrong about the "off season weeks". Nearly all trade as red with RCI and we have over 98% utilization of those exchanged weeks. While you may be right that many timeshares do not retain their resale values over the years, this has never been the case at Rams Horn Village. We have experienced less than 4% resale over 18 years as most owners plan to pass their ownerships on to future generations. Most RHV resales that have been offered have sold for at or more than the original purchase price. That is fact, not fiction. In so many ways, Rams Horn Village is different than so many other timeshare properties. Our owners (including myself) insist on it and have worked hard to make it so. Regards, Deborah Gibson

 

[Gibson]

Hi Colovaca, Thank you for your best wishes! As you know MLK week is considered to be in the "off season". There is something very serene and peaceful about the Park in the winter. It always seems to be a more private experience that time of year. It sounds like you found lots to do and enjoyed yourself. I hope you come up to stay with us again soon. Make sure to introduce youself! Trail Ridge just opened yesterday and snow is absolutely awesome this year. Come up soon before it melts away! Deborah Gibson

 

[sondave]

As a long-time Rams Horn owner, let me tell you that you are WAY LOW in your thinking regarding the value of a summer week at Rams Horn. Also, off-season can be a great time at Rams Horn Village. There is value in those weeks, too.

 

[Robert D]

Deborah, I appreciate your comments. Thing that puzzles me is that if you're right about the market value, why did the developer still have over 400 weeks in inventory, and this was after doing an auction last fall with some summer weeks selling in the $6,000 range. Sure seems like he could have unloaded most all of the weeks in the fall if he was selling them for less than half price, but the sales just didn't happen, and this was after an aggessive marketing campaign. Tells me that you're numbers are way high. Haven't looked in the last couple weeks but there was (and probably still is) a summer week available on Red Week for an asking price of $10K, and that is the asking price. We'll see what happens but my guess is that you'll still own most all of the 400+ weeks you just bought 2 yrs from now if the price is $9K for an offseason week and $18K for a summer week. I just can't imagine why anyone would pay $9K for an offseason week in Estes Park. Just my opinion, nothing personal.