# DRI resale advice request



## LexiFLA (Aug 26, 2012)

Hello, 

I read the other 'DRI resale' thread but have one question with a few moving parts.  I am new to this so forgive the ignorance in improper terminology:

I purchased a small unit with Sunterra back around 2000.  As a workoholic, it forced me to get out at least once a year, but now I find myself priced out of even that with increasing point costs/wk. We had an AWESOME time with DRI Visa Rewards card, but I'm now out of points from that.

I like the DRI internal exchange's flexibility/locations and would only infrequently use I.I.

I have had the screws tightened on me to buy into whatever DRI owner/membership it is that I apparently don't have after Sunterra was bought up in 2007.  I have not taken the bait as of yet.  

Now with a family, I am looking to jump from the 5000pts/yr range into the 20K range, but only if I can do it cheaply.  It seems like buying them online at $0.11/pt is like robbing a bank, but I feel I don't really know what I'm doing.  In my inexperienced mind, I would then buy a resale collection online and convert it to general points with my shiny new membership.  I need help achieving this goal efficiently. My questions are:

1.  At my next "Owners' Update", should I 'succumb' to the pressure and buy the smallest unit available to get into the DRI membership (whatever that means)?  I suppose I could always call the nice peeps at the Membership Enhancement Dept. and save myself the retail price of more points.

2.   My assumption here is that the collection points then revert to general DRI points (making them more valuable to me).  I also assume at that point, I buy the cheapest, restrictive collection (CA collection?), since all I really want is the points from it, and stick with that collection to limit myself to only that MF.

3.   Are deeded weeks a better deal than collections, and if so, do those points also revert to general pts with my DRI membership?

4.   Why the HUGE discrepancy in points cost from one resale to another? It's not like anyone actually stays in the unit they buy...points are points, right?

5.   Does it matter if I buy this upgraded membership first, then the collection/deeded week, or vice-versa?

6.   As a Sunterra owner from before, is there really a mystical power (as above) I do not have, since I have not purchased new points from DRI? 

7.   How would you do it? 

Thanks so much!

Lexi


----------



## LexiFLA (Aug 27, 2012)

Thank you for that bit of advice, which leads me to one of my other questions:  I googled what you mentioned and found 2 different ads for weeks at the Powhatan 4BR for $13,500, and the very next ad for $495.  How is that possible? What am I missing here? No, the cheaper one doesnt seem to be a one-time only sale, either.  May I ask how you arrived at your selection of those two resorts as having low MFs?

Thanks a million!

LF


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Aug 27, 2012)

My advice:

First decide where you see primary use occurring.  If there is one  resort you want to make your primary resort, then you should try to buy a resale for a deeded ownership at that resort - with a size and season that fits your needs.  That will be your cheapest ownership option.

If you want to visit multiple resorts, and those resorts are all, or almost all, in one of the DRI "Collections" (aka, trusts), then you want to own in that collection. Determine how many points you need and buy resale what you need.  Note that there is a trust fee that is charged to each account; yhou want to be sure you get all of your ownership into one account so you pay only one trust fee.

If you want to travel outside the confines of one of the Collections, then you might want to thing about getting into the Club.  To get into the Club you must first have an ownership interest in DRI resort - that interest would be either an ownership in one of the trusts or a deed to at a DRI resort.  When you get into the Club, there is an annual Club fee that adds to all of the other fees and assessments you are paying.


----------



## LexiFLA (Aug 28, 2012)

Thanks!
I do think I want the luxury of flexibility, and if $3K is what that takes, then cool.  But does anyone know if I have that luxury already?? As an old Sunterra owner only, am I in some sort of limbo-type place where I can't do all those suggestions made above.  

Frankly, I'm afraid of calling up the 'Membership enhancement' office w/o more info because they might blow smoke at me, trying to oversell.

Does anyone know why the huge discrepancies in DRI resales for the same type unit as I mentioned above?

Thanks again! LF


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Aug 28, 2012)

LexiFLA said:


> Thanks!
> I do think I want the luxury of flexibility, and if $3K is what that takes, then cool.  But does anyone know if I have that luxury already?? As an old Sunterra owner only, am I in some sort of limbo-type place where I can't do all those suggestions made above.
> 
> Frankly, I'm afraid of calling up the 'Membership enhancement' office w/o more info because they might blow smoke at me, trying to oversell.
> ...


As I tried to indicate, you need to decide what flexibility you want. If the resorts that are contained within a given collection will give you the flexibility, then buy in that collection.  If you want more flexibility than can be provided by one of the Collections, then you should think about whether it makes sense for you to pony up to get into The Club.

*****

If you do decide to get into the Club, then there's a secondary consideration that comes into play, and that involves your Home Resort Advantage.  Bear with me a bit on this.

To get into the Club, you first need to own something.  That can be either a specific deed at a resort or an ownership interest in one of the Collections.  Whatever it is that you own, when you link that ownership up to a Club membership, you will have an advantage in making home resort reservations - you will be able to make reservations in your home resort or home collection 12 months to 13 months before check-in, whereas other Club members who aren't part of your home resort or home collection cannot reserve until 10 months before check-in.  

So this is a key decision point - do you want a home resort or home collection advantage, and if so where do you want it to be?  That should dictate what ownership interest you decide to hold.  A side point is that if there is one specific resort you want to visit, if possible you should investigate getting a deed at that resort rather than an ownership interest in a Collection that includes that resort.  That's because owning that resort through a Collection means that you will be paying a trust maintenance fee every year on top of your prorated of the annual fees imposed by the resorts in that Collection.  Unless that particular has very high maintenance fees in comparison with other resorts in the Collection, you will come out money ahead by having a direct ownership and avoiding the added burden of the annual trust fee.  The difference is often big enough that it would make sense for you to dispose of your current 5000 points ownership and acquire a deed (being judicious in the resale market).  They payback period on the costs you might incur to do that could pay out in as little as three to five years.

I'm going to call whatever you go with here as your "core ownership".  If that core ownership is one of the Collections, then as a general rule any future ownerships you add should be in that Collection so that you spread the trust management fee over a larger base.

****

At the same time that you're doing this,  you need to decide how many points in the Collection or Club you want to wind up with.  Now you need to start thinking about what your annual fees will be per 1000 points you will wind up with. Obviously, once you hone in on a set of specific resorts or a specific collection that will work for you, you should start looking at that ratio and work that into your evaluations.

****

As far as getting into The Club, others have mentioned being able to pay $2995 to get into The Club, joining existing ownerships to the Club. That may or may not be available; in the last several years there have been some reports by people that that option was no longer available.  So don't assume that you can do that unless you verify it is still an option.

If it's not an option, and you still want to get into The Club, you are going to need to make some increment of purchase from DRI.  If you wind up in that situation,  your best course is probably to make as small a purchase as you can in whatever core ownership unit you have selected.  If you decide to buy an added increment in the 5000 point Collection you already own, as part of the sale you should try to get the new purchase combined with your existing ownership so that you end up with a single new ownership with greater value rather than two smaller ownerships that sum up to the same amount.

Then negotiate into the sale a provision that within one year you can add to your Club membership any additional purchases that you make.  With that in hand, start finding people who are willing to give away their ownerships in your core ownership unit, and pony up your account inexpensively.  

Note that as you acquire additional ownership units, when you are in a situation where you need to try to sell an ownership, larger contracts (up to a point) are easier to get rid of than are smaller contracts.  As a general rule I wouldn't bother with any ownership unit (especially in a Collection) that isn't worth at least 10,000 points.  That's part of why I think I should you should not hesitate to dump your existing 5000 points if that ownership doesn't align with your traveling interests, and why I recommended above that you merge contracts if you do decide to expand your ownership within your current Collection.


----------



## OprahtheHutt (Sep 1, 2012)

You may also try to "purchase" additional points from TUG members looking to offload theirs.  In most instances they might be willing to pay you to take them off of their hands.


----------



## ccwu (Sep 7, 2012)

Steve is correct. You need to see what you need. 

I am not sure if DRI will covert your resale point to club points by paying $2,995. There was a time Sunterra allowed resale or fixed resort week to convert to Sunterra points with $2,995.

 The resort, Kaanapli Beach Resort, told me that one need to buy minimum of certain points from developer to bring the resale points to the club. I do not know how much that will cost.  Being DRI club member, you get free II membership.  I do not think resale points can exchange in II.  If you purchase additional resale points after you get into club, you need to do another upgrade ( buy additional minimum points from developer) to bring the new resale to the club. So my advice is get the resale, use it first. When you feel you need to go outside the collections, then upgrade to Club.   you can call the membership enhancement to find out the information.  

You can buy from eBay for US collection points that you can use in 20 resorts in the US collection.  A point is a point, so get the best deal you can have.  Diamond point is so cheap is because that non of the benefit from developer can be transferred by resale.


----------



## daventrina (Sep 11, 2012)

Nice description Steve.

If you go to an owners update to add/convert get additional acquisitions first and make sure that you try to get offered the price that you first purchased at.



ccwu said:


> A point is a point, so get the best deal you can have.  Diamond point is so cheap is because that non of the benefit from developer can be transferred by resale.


Unless MAYBE and only MAYBE you have those points prior to adding additional points from DRI AND then rolling them all together into the Club/Collection.

There are a couple of additional benefits to being in a collection.
If there is an assessment ... it is distributed across the entire collection not the resort. (a tender, expensive,  subject for anyone  in Hawaii collection and especially owners at P@P)  

Everyone get 10 months out reservations
Home Resort get 12 months out reservations
Home Collection gets 13 months out reservations in the entire collection
Sometimes this really matters to some folks (like us)
We book Maui 13 months our for October. It was a gamble ... do we book and make sure we get what we want or wait and see if we can get it at a discount.  Last year there was lots of availability 60 days out.
This year none ... Glad we booked 13 months out.


----------



## hvsteve1 (Sep 13, 2012)

I'm in The Club.  I declined to join the collection when they first started it.  The sales pitch then was the idea of distributing costs across all resorts in the collection.  My understanding is that the collection has not worked out so well and, on my last sales pitch earlier this year, the collection seemed to have MFs increasing at a much faster rate than The Club.  Am I misinformed?

Also, DRI is tightening their rules on how many points you can buy limiting your options to the number of points needed for at least one full exchange week.  This was done to stop people from buying odd numbers of points on the secondary market and then going to DRI to buy a small number to bring the total up to what is needed for a decent exchange.

Costs for points have also gone up substantially. The salesperson (bless her eager little heart) was trying to convince me of all the advantages of upgrading to Platinum for a mere $125,000. :hysterical:


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Sep 13, 2012)

hvsteve1 said:


> Also, DRI is tightening their rules on how many points you can buy limiting your options to the number of points needed for at least one full exchange week.  This was done to stop people from buying odd numbers of points on the secondary market and then going to DRI to buy a small number to bring the total up to what is needed for a decent exchange.



There are some other aspects associated with increasing the floor on the minimum number of points that can be bought.

First is that many of those little contracts eventually turn into problems.  There is an operating cost associated with each trust account, so there's a benefit in overall cost to having fewer of those small contracts floating around.

Second is that most of those small contracts eventually become toxic.  They are totally worthless on the resale market; owners who want out need to pay serious money to get someone to take them off their hands, or they just walk away from the contracts.  NO matter what happens, they become a problem for the Trust, again creating added cost.

Third is that increasing the minimum number of points to the minimum amount needed for a one-week reservation eliminates one of the misleading sales tricks used by the less ethical sales reps.   After going through the sales presentation, the sales rep would eventually drop down to the small points contract.  The rep would show how they can still generate points to stay for a week by saving points from one year and/or borrowing from a following year.  

What the rep conveniently omits, though, is that the Home Collection Advantage is only available for current year points.  And since the small points contract isn't big enough to reserve a week during Home Advantage period, Home Advantage becomes a fiction.  They buyer doesn't realize that, and very often the sales rep doesn't point that out.  The buyer only finds out later, when they try to make a reservation during Home Advantage period and are told they don't have enough points and have to wait until ten months out.

Personally, I think DRI should include with all sales an option for the buyer to add to the contract by adding on many of those small contracts.  The can charge a fee to add the contracts that is large enough to cover the administrative cost of combining the contracts, as well as provide a follow on commission to the sales person, so that they will have incentive to present that as a feature of the sale.

As a member of one of the Trusts (with a relatively small contract myself) I can see some real advantages to getting those small contracts rolled up into larger contracts that have actual stand-alone value.


----------



## fluke (Sep 13, 2012)

The last report I am aware of someone bringing in resale on a small points purchase was on TUG summer 2011. The person negotiated with the resale purchase and the direct points purchase at the same time.  She spoke directly with corporate DRI Sales.  

If I was going to do this I would call DRI corporate (don't try to make these deals at the local resorts) tell them you want to by a small amount of points (whatever you chose 2500, 3500, etc) but you want to bring in a resale property you have been looking at.  See what they say and go from there. Always make sure you get it in writing that you are able to bring in an additional property before you agree to anything.

The thing about DRI is their sales team has alot more ability to negotiate then alot of the other players (Starwood, Marriott, etc) who have preset corporate pricing.  DRI always seems to start at about 6 dollars a point but with enough effort appears to almost always drop the price to 2 dollars(one time offer! - once again) a point.  I have never seen that amount of spread with any other company.

Also another suggestion for a property is 2 bedroom lock-offs at the Polo Tower VILLAs.  (Polo Towers Suites is different).  These get 14500 points and MFs are below $1200.  And lately ebay has had multiple (not mine) selling for 1 dollar and free closing with 0 bids.


----------



## RuralEngineer (Sep 25, 2012)

*Exactly*



robcrusoe said:


> Price difference 'cause people are people and some still believe the salesman.  If you bought a holiday week [26,27,47,51,52] at Powhatan, it's worth 15,000 points, with patience, you'll find one for $495 plus closing to be under $1000, with that you get MF of ~$1250, which is ~8.3¢/pt or 2/3s that of the US Collection with no Trust fees!  A holiday week at Greensprings is 18,000 pts which works out even a little better, I think.  Of course, this all assumes that DRI will allow you to bring your deeded week into THE Club for a fee.




Those are good deals.  Just wait be patient and keep asking.


----------



## AZAkiMom (Oct 10, 2012)

*Scottsdale Villa Mirage*

I saw this thread and thought I would share some information I received from the "owner services" department at Scottsdale Villa Mirage.  I believe this is also a previous Sunterra property.  I am in the process of purchasing a resale week from an original owner.  It is a 2br/2ba deeded float week that I was told is worth 9,000 points in the DRI system.  I inquired about how to use the point values at other DRI properties.  With the deeded week, you only have access to the specific property that you purchased, not any other DRI properties, unless you are a member of II/RCI.  

I was told that there is an optional membership that is called the "deeded club" that carries a $277 annual membership fee. You do not need to purchase directly from the developer to join, and the developer apparently does not offer the sale of deeded weeks anymore anyway, only points.  So this club is a hybrid club membership for owners of deeded weeks only.  You would then have access to other resorts in your "collection." In this case, the US Collection.  I was also told that if you have 2 different deeded units in different collections, the points are pooled in the club and you would have access to book in either collection.  The other resort I am interested in is Los Abrigados in the "Premier Vacation Club" collection, from the purchase of ILX/Premier.  From my conversation, it is my understanding that you could snatch up smaller contracts for free weeks in more expensive collections, but get the bulk of your points from a less expensive resort, as mentioned above, and have the option of using your pooled points at multiple collections for only the $277 membership fee.  

Also, being in the club, you would have free membership to II that is linked directly to your DRI points, that you only need to pay an II booking fee, but that would give you access to all other II resorts.

Does anyone know this information to be true?


----------

