# Split a lock-off unit before trading?



## yowzator (Oct 11, 2011)

I've not used RCI before, but am going to make some deposits soon. I have a lock-off unit that can be split into two studio units and am wondering if I should split it before depositing.

I've heard that I can get more overall TP in RCI if I split my lock-off into two studios and deposit them separately. This would give me two separate deposits that might have more value than one deposit for a single lock-off unit. 

In general, is this accurate?

My concern is that I will then have to pay the $199 exchange fee twice to use all of my TP (total of $398). If I want to go on a "big" trip and use the TP from both deposits, I've been told I can pay a fee of $99 to combine my deposits. And then I would only pay a single exchange fee of $199. But that is still a total of $298. 

Wouldn't it be better to just deposit the lock-off unit and then pay a single exchange fee of $199?

Thanks for the help!
Tauren


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## STEVIE (Oct 11, 2011)

Hi, The week I own doesn't have good trading power, however, there was a big difference in TPU's when I split the lockoff. If I had deposited the week as a two bedroom lockoff I would have gotten 11 TPU's total, but when I split it I received 20 TPU's total. Of course I had to pay the fee to combine , but what I found at least for next year is that I was able to trade into a resort I would never have been able. My fear is that if the majority of folks split their lockoff, will there be many two bedroom units to trade into? Sue


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## MichaelColey (Oct 11, 2011)

You can use the Deposit Calculator on RCI to see which way works best.

Generally, you'll do much better splitting and depositing separately, then combining if necessary.  RCI typically values a 2BR about 10-20% higher than a 1BR, so you'll usually get about 70% more trading power by splitting.

For some of my deposits, I would get a trading power of something like 21 for a 1BR, 24 for a 2BR or 27 for a 3BR.  Deposited as a whole, my 3BR lockout might only get 27 while it would get 45 (21+24) if split and deposited.  That's a HUGE difference to me.


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## jlwquilter (Oct 11, 2011)

yowzator said:


> I've not used RCI before, but am going to make some deposits soon. I have a lock-off unit that can be split into two studio units and am wondering if I should split it before depositing.
> 
> I've heard that I can get more overall TP in RCI if I split my lock-off into two studios and deposit them separately. This would give me two separate deposits that might have more value than one deposit for a single lock-off unit.
> 
> ...



Generally it is better to split your lockoff, deposit seperately, and then combine IF you need to. There's no rush to combine - you can do it online IF you find an exchange you want that requires more TPUs than a single deposit line has. You may find exchanges you want that cost less than your deposit lines and only have to combine, if at all, sometime down the road.

Everyone looks at it a different way but for me I am not 'concerned' about paying an additional exchange fee as it's for an exchange I want. In fact, I think of it sometimes as getting an 'extra' vacation for the cost of only the exchange fee, as I would not have had those 'extra' TPUs under the old system or if I had deposited my unit as one single bigger unit.

And as the previous poster said, if you are able to get an exchnage that you otherwise would not have been able to, paying a $99 fee on top of the exchange fee is alot of times 'worth it'. Only you can determine that based on your own personal needs and thought process.


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## yowzator (Oct 11, 2011)

Thanks everyone for the advice! Very helpful!


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## Ron98GT (Oct 12, 2011)

MichaelColey said:


> Generally, you'll do much better splitting and depositing separately, then combining if necessary.  RCI typically values a 2BR about 10-20% higher than a 1BR, so you'll usually get about 70% more trading power by splitting.




If a 2 BR has more trading power, why do you want to split it before depositing it.  Are you not depositing a 1 BR and a Studio which have less trading power?    

Sorry for the confusion and question since I have points, but I'm curious.


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## jhac007 (Oct 12, 2011)

For the OP another scenario..........I have a two bedroom lock-off in Weston, Fl. (inland) and will use the larger side of the unit myself.  I deposited the smaller unit with a partial kitchen into RCI and in turn traded it for a full two bedroom unit (Gold Crown) on Marco Island, Fl. beach front property.  Yes, I had to pay the exchange fee ($179 online) but this is an example of what can be done and in a very cost effective manner.  All this for the same one maint. fee!

Jim


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## TSPam (Oct 12, 2011)

Ron98GT said:


> If a 2 BR has more trading power, why do you want to split it before depositing it.  Are you not depositing a 1 BR and a Studio which have less trading power?
> 
> Sorry for the confusion and question since I have points, but I'm curious.



A two bedroom unit gets more TPU than a one bedroom OR a studio but not more TPU's than a one bedroom AND and studio


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## MichaelColey (Oct 12, 2011)

Ron98GT said:


> If a 2 BR has more trading power, why do you want to split it before depositing it. Are you not depositing a 1 BR and a Studio which have less trading power? /quote]An example might help.  Here are the TPUs I would have received for one of my 3BR lockouts:
> 
> 3BR lockoff as a single deposit: 31 TPU
> - or -
> ...


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## Ron98GT (Oct 12, 2011)

MichaelColey said:


> Ron98GT said:
> 
> 
> > If a 2 BR has more trading power, why do you want to split it before depositing it. Are you not depositing a 1 BR and a Studio which have less trading power? /quote]An example might help.  Here are the TPUs I would have received for one of my 3BR lockouts:
> ...


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## yowzator (Oct 12, 2011)

jhac007 said:


> For the OP another scenario..........I have a two bedroom lock-off in Weston, Fl. (inland) and will use the larger side of the unit myself.  I deposited the smaller unit with a partial kitchen into RCI and in turn traded it for a full two bedroom unit (Gold Crown) on Marco Island, Fl. beach front property.  Yes, I had to pay the exchange fee ($179 online) but this is an example of what can be done and in a very cost effective manner.  All this for the same one maint. fee!
> 
> Jim



Thanks, that's a great idea Jim! I might use that next time.



MichaelColey said:


> 3BR lockoff as a single deposit: 31 TPU
> - or -
> Split into a 1BR and a 2BR: 23 TPU + 28 TPU (51 TPU total)
> 
> ...



Is there somewhere I can find out how much TPUs things are worth? Nowhere on the RCI site can I find this listed. I'm thinking I need to make a deposit before I can see them. I just made 6 deposits today, splitting my lock-off unit into two studios each time for 3 years. So maybe I'll be able to see this soon.

Michael, your TPUs sound much stronger than mine. I'm trying to get a feel for the "value" of my resort in comparison to others. Each of my studios appears to be worth up to 14 TPU, or 28 TPU total. I pay $810 per year for the lock-off in maintenance fees.

Are your units true 1BR units, meaning they have a separate bedroom? Or is your 1BR one big room that includes the bed, kitchen, dining, etc? Mine is the latter, which is why they are calling them studios. One side has a bath, mini-kitchen, sitting area, and bed. The other has a bath, full kitchen, dining, bed, and living area. It's confusing though, since my lock-off is often called a 2BR. 

If your unit is similar to mine, then you are getting almost double the TPU. If so, then I have rather crappy TP at my resort. Do you mind sharing how much your maint. fees are? Where is it located? Mine is in Cabo San Lucas.

Anyway, I'm just trying to figure this all out to get the most value out of my timeshare and RCI membership. More details are in this post:
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156929

Thanks everyone for all the help! This appears to be a great community and I'm excited to become part of it!

Tauren


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## MichaelColey (Oct 12, 2011)

yowzator said:


> Is there somewhere I can find out how much TPUs things are worth? Nowhere on the RCI site can I find this listed. I'm thinking I need to make a deposit before I can see them.


I've never NOT had a deposit, so I don't know if you can use the Deposit Calculator if you don't have a deposit.  To get to the Deposit Calculator, click on Manage Your Deposits, then the Deposit Calculator link in the right column.  You'll be able to look up the trading power of any unit at any resort for any week.


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## yowzator (Oct 13, 2011)

MichaelColey said:


> I've never NOT had a deposit, so I don't know if you can use the Deposit Calculator if you don't have a deposit.  To get to the Deposit Calculator, click on Manage Your Deposits, then the Deposit Calculator link in the right column.  You'll be able to look up the trading power of any unit at any resort for any week.



I've been able to use the deposit calculator to find the TPU of upcoming deposits I want to make. My screen shows my 2011, 2012, and 2013 year with a link to the deposit calculator for each. It automatically shows results only for my resort.

I didn't realize I can change that resort to something else and look up the TP for another resort. I'll give that a try.

If I have a deposit in the system, and I do a search, will the TP column on the search results have the TP value listed? Right now it is blank for me. Going to the deposit calculator for each one would be cumbersome.

Thanks for your help!


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## Jwerking (Oct 16, 2011)

yowzator said:


> Michael, your TPUs sound much stronger than mine. I'm trying to get a feel for the "value" of my resort in comparison to others. Each of my studios appears to be worth up to 14 TPU, or 28 TPU total. I pay $810 per year for the lock-off in maintenance fees.
> 
> Are your units true 1BR units, meaning they have a separate bedroom? Or is your 1BR one big room that includes the bed, kitchen, dining, etc? Mine is the latter, which is why they are calling them studios. One side has a bath, mini-kitchen, sitting area, and bed. The other has a bath, full kitchen, dining, bed, and living area. It's confusing though, since my lock-off is often called a 2BR.
> 
> ...



I too have wondered where Michael owns - esp. if his maint fees are low??  I will provide some perspective with my 2 BR lockoff GC Hilton Head weeks - own a mid May week and July 4h week and maint fee is about $850.  TPUs are as follows:

May week- studio 18 tpu and 1 br 21 tpu ( 2011 week) 
               studio 19 tpu and 1 br 21 tpu ( 2012 week)     

July week - studio 27 tpu and 1 br 31 tpu ( 2011 week) 
                 studio 26 tpu and 1 br 29 tpu ( 2012 week) 

As one can see, quite a diff in tpus bet the May week - when weather is not so hot in HH versus July 4 - prime kiddy travel season.  I will have to say that in the old RCI days prior to TPUs that both of these weeks traded about equal.

Also, of interest, the TPUs for my July 4th week noticeable between the 2011 week ( deposited prior to RCI conversion to TPUs)  and the 2012 week.  Did anyone else experience such "adjustments"? 

I also own a Mayan Palace Puerto Vallarta week and will say that the TPUs vary significantly based on which week the resort deposits for you into RCI.  I have only owned this week two yrs and have only deposited once - they gave me a March studio week and a Sept 1 Br.  As one may expect, the March week had significantly more TPUs than the Sept week.  Honestly, in Sept - who wants to go to Mexico when it is hot, humid, and rainy and there is an oversupply of Mexican resorts.  Much diff in the winter when snowbirds are trying to escape the cold. Also, the drug violence in recent years has lowered the demand for Mexican timeshares IMHO - as folks with kids don't want to take the chance.  Thus, it is possible that TPUs have been lessen - who knows?

I am retiring myself in about 6 months and am going to eventually try going to the Puerto Vallarta area on exchanges for an extended time during the winter.  Don't know if it will be cheap considering the exchange fee of almost $200 plus maint fee of about $450 = $650 per week.  That is about $2500 per month - hmmm, wonder if one could rent a place in Mexico during the winter for $2500 per month?

Joyce


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## ChrisBooth (Oct 17, 2011)

I also own Mayan Palace weeks and am in the process of purchasing an older 2 bed lockoff contract with very low MF. To verify my purchase I called both Grupo Mayan customer service and talked to an RCI rep and they both told me to split the week for deposit for more TPUs. Apparently they will do a 3 way call and you can choose how or what you want to split or deposit.The Mayan rep said it could also be split with them for a longer usage in smaller units. They also BOTH told me that the RCI/Grupo Mayan collusion continues and that there is a guaranteed minimum/maximum range for these deposits: 2 bed = 25-33, 1 bed = 21-25 and st/h = 18-22. The TPUs will never be lower than the minimum regardless of what deposit week you are given.
Time will tell if the information I was given is accurate, but for right now my TPUs are in my mind high and I get good value tradewise for the small low MF unit I deposit.
Hope this helps, 
Chris


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## MuranoJo (Oct 18, 2011)

ChrisBooth said:


> Apparently they will do a 3 way call and you can choose how or what you want to split or deposit.The Mayan rep said it could also be split with them for a longer usage in smaller units. They also BOTH told me that the RCI/Grupo Mayan collusion continues and that there is a guaranteed minimum/maximum range for these deposits: 2 bed = 25-33, 1 bed = 21-25 and st/h = 18-22. The TPUs will never be lower than the minimum regardless of what deposit week you are given.
> Hope this helps,
> Chris



Hi, Chris,
I also own MP/Grupo and this is the first I've heard of their willingness to do a handshake 3-way call with RCI to manage your deposit.  I've also never heard of them both stating the range of TPUs you'd get for depositing, although there is a deposit calculator on rci.com which may or may not work at times.  

Just to clarify, is this a resale purchase?


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## Patriot's Place Mom (Mar 7, 2012)

Jwerking said:


> July week - studio 27 tpu and 1 br 31 tpu ( 2011 week)
> studio 26 tpu and 1 br 29 tpu ( 2012 week)
> 
> 
> ...



I've been playing around with the RCI deposit calculator for July 4th weeks and I see something strange too.  In 2012 week 26 gets a TPU bump for July 4th, but in 2013 week 27 (the week after July 4th) gets the TPU bump.  The unit I looked at week 26 has 42 TPU in 2012 and 37 TPU in 2013.  In 2013, week 27 has 42 TPU even though the actual 4th of July falls in week 26.  I don't understand this.  Does it have to do with which weekend RCI "thinks" people will celebrate 4th of July?


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## fishingguy (Mar 7, 2012)

What you get from RCI for each deposit, depends on how each is configured.  For example, mini kitchens don't get quite the same TPU as full kitchens, and studios don't get quite the same as mini kitchens. Of course the week(s) you are depositing, timing on when you make the actual deposit, and supply and demand for the unit are also factors.   So the deposit calculator is the way to find out how RCI evaluates the exact deposit in real time (e.g. today).


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