# La Lucia Sands levies



## thetimeshareguy (Oct 2, 2007)

Just a note to anyone who owns at La Lucia Sands (or that is considering owning there).

I just paid a small balance owing on my 2007 annual levy. I had prepaid the estimated levy a couple of years ago but had to pay a further R1260.00 to bring my account up to date.

The estimated 2008 levy is R3720. This is quite a bit of money, roughly Canadian $537 (about the same in US dollars nowadays, too). Add in the international exchange fee (CD $210) and that's about $747 for me to exchange and use my timeshare.

This equates to the annual maintenance fee on a lot of North American resorts, so at least from the levy perspective, some of these SA timeshares are not the screaming bargain the once were. However, the annual levy on my red weeks at Lowveld Lodge are still very reasonable.

I'm starting to wonder if I should keep my La Lucia Sands interval. Fact is, I bought it for next to nothing (it was part of a three week deal). It's a blue week, so it doesn't have strong exchange power. But it's a three-bedroom unit, which is useful sometimes. And it still exchanges fine into over-built places like Orlando, especially in low season (e.g., after Christmas).

I suppose I could just give it to someone, or donate it to a charity. I'm going to think about this before I pay the 2008 estimated levy. Maybe I'll just wait until next year.


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## BILLVACK (Oct 2, 2007)

Don't forget to subtract the discount on your levy, unless you already have that figured in.  And, if the Rand should move like it did years ago, you could be back paying half of what you pay now.  Keep in mind, a lot of us bought when the Rand was 12 to 1, not the 7 to 1  it is currently at.  I personally think the 3 Bedroom is a fairly good trader, but agree that the levies are going up.  
Bill


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## thetimeshareguy (Oct 3, 2007)

Agreed. Now that I have caught up on my levies (went the phone route as email was just impossible) I feel a lot better. It's somewhat quaint and amusing talking to the ladies who answer the phone over there with their fairly extreme accents. I really must go to SA one day -- an interesting place.

I feel an odd affiliation with the country. Even though I bought my SA units to trade, getting those letters in the mail with the exotic bird postage stamps and so on, and the occasional letter about some scuttlebut with some nefarious company trying to take over a resort...it's just to funny. Reminds me of that wonderful Australian flick form a few years ago, Strictly Ballroom.

Being Canadian, I relate to the former-colony dimension of it all.


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