We, too, own at Sam Rayburn Country Club. We purchased it in 2008 for almost nothing, and have enjoyed the generous 27,500 annual RCI points for very low maintenance fees (MFs). (Last year MFs went up to $414 + $100 assessment. (Here's the MF History = $260 in '08; raised to $286 in '10; raised to $314 in '12; raised to $414 in '17 + $100 assessment in 2017.)
We stayed there for the first (and only . . . ) time in 2015, and found it a disaster -- terribly run down & filthy. The office moved us to another unit but it was equally filthy & run down. I attended a Board Meeting while we were there, and I listened to the housekeeping supervisor give a raving report -- I presented a slide show of the filth & disrepair and expressed my dismay at the appalling condition of the property -- and I was essentially ignored by the Board. The Board seemed to have no idea what is happening or are powerless to change anything. I suspect it is the latter. We were told (by someone who is in the know) that Clyde Pederson, President & CEO of Rayburn Country Timeshare Assn, owns a large number of properties there -- I am guessing that he got them in foreclosures for next-to-nothing and is milking them to the end or is reselling them privately for a handsome profit. We recently received a request to change ownerships to a reduced number of units (the best ones) to salvage the property ownership because there have been so many foreclosures (from non-payment, I assume) -- it required 100% approval by the remaining owners, & we have not heard the results. They essentially are holding us hostage -- either agree to the reduced ownership & keep the same maintenance fees (MFs) - or if they don't get 100% owners' approval, then MFs will go up because they need to pay the resort expenses over a smaller number of owners.
My question is - what are they going to do with the units that are abandoned, if they get their 100%. Is Mr. Pederson going to take ownership of those also?
We requested to deed-back the property in 2015 & Mr. Pederson declined. We then attempted (unsuccessfully) to sell the property, but ultimately decided it was best to keep the property because (with RCI) you can move credits from weeks to points only if you have both types of ownership. We make good use of our credits on the points side and do often move most of our weeks credits to the points side. So up until now it has been worth it to own such a crappy property. However, if the MFs start going up even more, or if we get a big assessment, we may have to reconsider that strategy.
It looks to me like people are letting go of their ownerships by simply not paying their fees. It's rather expensive for a property to foreclose, & it's hurtful to your credit rating -- but if we care about neither, then it seems a no-brainer. We are just undecided what to do because we do like those 27,500 annual points, and the price, so far, is still OK. Time will tell . . . (I'm hoping WorldMark by Wyndham will acquire the property like they have done so many other failing resorts -- it'll probably be the only way we see any future in Sam Rayburn Country Club.)