# Palace View Branson Lockoff units?



## abdibile (Jul 28, 2012)

I am researching Palace View Lockoff units and have some questions:

Are all 2 BR and 3 BR units at Palace View Lockoffs?

Or how to distinguish Lockoffs from non-Lockoffs?

How do I best contact the resort to check if everything a seller states is correct? I much prefer to do that via eMail compared to over the phone.

What is your experience regarding trading power in Interval? Is it worth the higher cost to own a 3 BR lockoff instead of a 2 BR lockoff?

Thanks!


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## dougp26364 (Jul 28, 2012)

We've toured Palace view and, I believe all 2 and 3 bedrooms are lock-off units. 

The advantage of the 3 bedroom is it should lock-off into a full 2 bedroom unit and a full 1 bedroom unit. If you're going to use the unit to exchange that's a huge advantage IMHO. With a full 1 bedroom unit as the lock-off of a 3 bedroom unit, you can place an ongoing request with I.I. for another 1 bedroom unit. You have a much better chance of getting a nicer unit when you're exchanging a 1 bedroom unit.

With a 2 bedroom unit, if the lock-off is a studio the largest unit you can request for an ongoing exchange request is another studio, unless the resort your wanting to exchange into has no studio units. 

Now having said this, what we've toured and where we've stayed has been Palace View South, which is just part of a larger complex which includes Palace View, Palace View South and now Palace View Heights. They're just different sections of the same complex but, each is different. I do not know the unit configuration of Palace View, which is the older section (still maintained very well). You'll need to confirm that the 3 bedroom unit has a full one bedroom unit as the lock-off portion.

Trading power can be subjective. I guess it depends on what you expect. If you expect to get a prime ski week at one particular resort, that's likely a tough exchange no matter what you put up for trade. If you're requests can cover a range of 3 or 4 weeks and/or a range of 3 or more resorts, you're chances improve. 

There's enough resorts in Hawaii, so if you're not to particular about which one you can exchange into, I'd expect you could get there. Again a range of resorts and weeks give you your best chance. 

Branson is considered overbuilt by many and the general thought is overbuilt doesn't trade well. I have not found that to be the truth. We own a 1 bedroom unit at Grand Regency Resort at Thousand Hills and that silly little unit has traded extremely well. It's a unit we don't need but I've been hesitant to give it away simply because it trades well for what we want. 

We've used that unit to get larger units at nicer resorts in Branson. We've used that unit to get larger units at nicer resorts in Breckenridge during the summer months and we've used that unit to go to S. Lake Tahoe in a larger unit at a nicer resort in the summer. Now none of these exchanges have been Earth shattering but, they've mostly been uptrades in size and better rated resorts. So, depending on what you'd be asking for, Branson summer weeks trade very well.

How to verify what the seller is telling you? Sorry, I haven't had to do that so I'm not the person to advise you.


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## JeffBrown (Jul 28, 2012)

abdibile said:


> Are all 2 BR and 3 BR units at Palace View Lockoffs?
> 
> Or how to distinguish Lockoffs from non-Lockoffs?
> 
> ...



Not all units are lockoffs, I do believe that in the Pal View South and newer units they are but in the older section only some units were lockout.

We advise our clients to double check us.  There are generally 2 ways to check.
1.  Estoppel (Owner Information Sheet) which is provided by the resort giving you the nitty gritty of that ownership.

Problem with that route is that Southwind Managed properties will not provide estoppels until after a new owner has been named.  That policy baffles me...so it won't work on this resort.

2.  Call the front desk of the resort.  That number is usually found in their RCI or II contact details.  Ask general questions not specific questions.  For instance, Is Unit 813 a 2 bedroom lockoff?  NOT Is Unit 813 owned by John Smith a 2 bedroom lockoff?

This will work almost every time because you are not asking about a particular owner's account or information, simply asking about the resort or unit. 

We haven't found an email contact for this resort that will give you any useful information.  

A 2bdrm lockoff gives you a 1 bdrm and a studio to trade, a 3 bdrm gives you a 1 bdrm and a 2 bdrm.  So, yes it has better trading capability but either does well.

Hope this helps.

Jeff Brown
Sumday Vacations


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## Beefnot (Jul 28, 2012)

Deleted.........


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## abdibile (Jul 31, 2012)

I also saw that there seem to be weeks floating 1-52 and others with two seasons (1-9, 10-52).

Is that correct or only a mistake in eBay ads?

Any idea for a fair price for a 3 BR lockoff (best season) annual or biannual?

Thanks!


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## tschwa2 (Jul 31, 2012)

I think you will also need to prepay $1500 in MF's for Southwind units.  Double check on this.  This often brings the selling price (unfortunately for owners) way down.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 31, 2012)

tschwa2 said:


> I think you will also need to prepay $1500 in MF's for Southwind units.  Double check on this.  This often brings the selling price (unfortunately for owners) way down.



SWM has institued a poison pill of requiring $1,500 paid in advance for future MF's and Special assessments. If it's an every other year unit, the fee is $750. This amounts to approx 3 years MF's, depending on the size of the unit. 

I own a 1 bedroom unit at Grand Regency with a MF of $285. When I inquired about transfering the ownership to someone else, it didn't matter that the MF was so small, they still wanted $1,500 in advance PLUS trasnfer fee's. By contrast they only want $750 for our EOY French Quarter unit, which has a MF of just under $500. So in one case they're wanting the equivelent of 150% of the current MF but in the other they're wanting > 500% of the current MF. This hardly seems reasonable but, my complaints fell on deaf ears.


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## Beefnot (Jul 31, 2012)

tschwa2 said:


> I think you will also need to prepay $1500 in MF's for Southwind units.  Double check on this.  This often brings the selling price (unfortunately for owners) way down.



There are ebay listings where the seller will subsidize much or all of the prepaid MFs.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 31, 2012)

Beefnot said:


> There are ebay listings where the seller will subsidize much or all of the prepaid MFs.



I think this will be a necessary evil going forward. I was willing to give away our Grand Regency but, it's seems obvious that it will cost me upwards of $2,000 (maybe more) just to give it away. Thank you PCC's that were dumping unwanted weeks into some sort of corporations that would go bankrupt and leave HOA's and resort owners hanging on the unpaid MF's.

We're fortunate in that we don't need to get rid of the week. We get good use from it and it's done well for us with exchanges. If we can't exchange it, we still enjoy the resort and going to Branson is easy enough as it's within driving distance. The only issue for us is owning to darn many timeshares. This is the only one not in a system that we routinely exchange. It forces me to keep an active I.I. account and pay exchange fee's and that's what I'm not thrilled about. But, I'm not paying $2,000 to save the I.I. fee's. At least not at this point.


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## MichaelColey (Jul 31, 2012)

abdibile said:


> I also saw that there seem to be weeks floating 1-52 and others with two seasons (1-9, 10-52).
> 
> Is that correct or only a mistake in eBay ads?


I've always suspected that they were wrong.  As far as I know, they're 10-52 (although I'm sure they would let you book the less valuable weeks 1-9 if you tried).


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## abdibile (Aug 1, 2012)

Thanks for all the info!

Are all Palace View weeks Southwind units or does this prepay MF requirement only apply on part of the units?


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## MichaelColey (Aug 1, 2012)

I'm pretty sure Southwind manages all of their units.


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## chrisdu (Aug 5, 2012)

Hi Michael, when you trade with palace view, do you know if you can select the week to deposited with II or RCI, or the resort randomly select it for you


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## MichaelColey (Aug 5, 2012)

I've always been able to select mine.


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## Beefnot (Aug 6, 2012)

There is one woman who works there who apparently does not like for owners to deposit prime weeks with II or RCI. Think her name is Tiffany. The other ladies in the reservations department are fine though.  Just call back another time and talk to someone else if you are being told you cannot select your specific prime week for deposit.


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## CMVer (Aug 6, 2012)

I just tried to reserve a summer 2013 week to deposit and they refused to give me anything weeks 20 - 33.  I called twice and talked to two different people.


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## dougp26364 (Aug 6, 2012)

CMVer said:


> I just tried to reserve a summer 2013 week to deposit and they refused to give me anything weeks 20 - 33.  I called twice and talked to two different people.



I just reserved a summer week with our Grand Regency ownership. Grand Regency is also managed by Southwind. I had no problems reserving a July week.

Just call in and reserve a week. Wait a couple of days for SWM to get the week on the books and then deposit it with I.I.

Or, argue with them on the phone emphatically enough that they finally reserve the week you're asking for. Hound them to send you something in writing showing you argeed to give up your ownership right. Ask them why they believe they have the right to select a lower value week. When they give you the arguement that all weeks are equal, then ask them why they're giving you flack over selecting the week you want. Any answer they give affirms that some weeks are more in demand than others and the line that all weeks are equal is BS so give you the week you paid for and are requesting or, since all weeks are equal it shouldn't matter to them any more than it shouldn't matter to you so give you the week you're asking for. Either way, they need to give you the week your asking for.

I've been down this road with another ownership. If you're persistant and keep after them showing how illogical any answer they give you would be or, how unethical since there is nothing in you're written documents that gives THEM the right to select an exchane week, you'll eventually win. If all owners would do this, they'd stop this BS.


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