Offered Free Time Share [Schooner's Landing in Newport, Oregon]

[Link94]

First post, so please be patient! A family member has offered to transfer one of their timeshares to us for free. It is Schooner's Landing in Newport, Oregon. We live about 1 1/2 hours away, so it would be convenient for us. The initial timeshare was purchased by my husband's aunt in 1984 for $10,000. They bought into the largest unit for 8 people and it is available year round. They also have 3-4 weeks available with RCI. The maintenance fee for 2019 is $912.00.

We have never considered a timeshare, but we feel like this might be a good opportunity for us. We are self employed, so we have a lot of flexibility in our schedules and the maintenance fee is not an issue. I am going to call the contact person tomorrow at Schooner's Landing to ask some questions. Since all of you are experts, I thought I would see what your advice would be? Is there anything I should be wary of? I am currently compiling my questions and reading the stickies on the forum. Thanks!

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

1) - If it is something you can use and you can afford the yearly cost = it can make sense .
Drive to locations + self employed = flexibility to use .

2) Timeshares can have the benefits of a vacation home without the maintenance .This can be a good thing . When your there / it is for vacation .

2) - the weeks the aunt deposited into RCI - these will cost you an exchange fee to use
and do expire or require a fee to extend . They are likely in a “ virtually currency”form . Most likely in TPU’s . That said you will likely be able to vacation elsewhere or back into your resort for less than $500 per week on this “bonus “being gifted to you .

3) The only issue is the same one your husband’s aunt currently has . When you can no longer use it -
timeshares require an exit plan . This often means gifting it to the next person and including a bonus
like the weeks she paid for and deposited into RCI

 

[VanX]

Its an older building so definitely worth investigating it’s overall well being and the ownership financial well-being of the property as you could be on the hook for a special assessment if here are repairs needed anywhere at the site.

http://www.specialassessmentwatch.c...rtID=2739&TransactionType=Special Assessments

Be sure to go visit and see the exact unit and the overall property to get a sense of if it’s outdated and requiring new furnishings or not and the overall building(s) status in terms of well kept or not. Sounds like a great location and good unit overall for you.

RCI requires you to have an annual membership fee and potentially you could take over your family members account via a transfer of Membeship using the RCI MTA forms (with a fee).

Super important to know what is tranaferrable to you from their original agreement.

Good luck !!

 

[Panina]

First post, so please be patient! A family member has offered to transfer one of their timeshares to us for free. It is Schooner's Landing in Newport, Oregon. We live about 1 1/2 hours away, so it would be convenient for us. The initial timeshare was purchased by my husband's aunt in 1984 for $10,000. They bought into the largest unit for 8 people and it is available year round. They also have 3-4 weeks available with RCI. The maintenance fee for 2019 is $912.00.

We have never considered a timeshare, but we feel like this might be a good opportunity for us. We are self employed, so we have a lot of flexibility in our schedules and the maintenance fee is not an issue. I am going to call the contact person tomorrow at Schooner's Landing to ask some questions. Since all of you are experts, I thought I would see what your advice would be? Is there anything I should be wary of? I am currently compiling my questions and reading the stickies on the forum. Thanks!

What week do they own? Do you know how many tpus the week they own gets in rci? The resort is also a member of Interval International. Telling us the week owned will help us give you the best advice.

 

[Link94]

Wow, thank you to everyone for the information. I will find out what week they own and post the reply. In the meantime, I will work on researching the other information that was brought up. Again thank you. We pretty much have been sticking to Disney (Disneyland onsite), CA and Oregon (VRBO and Abnb) vacations, so we are clueless here!

 

[geist1223]

Visit the timeshare before you accept it. WMTC owns some weeks there. Several people from WMTC have commented that the place needs repair and maintenance. Ask the HOA about any upcoming special assessments.

 

[sue1947]

This might be a good deal for you. You are close enough for easy use and flexible enough to use it off season when it will be easier to reserve your time.
Schooners Landing is one of the small independent timeshares with an owner managed board. Some weeks are owned by Worldmark (WMTC as mentioned above) but not enough to make them a heavy hitter on management issues. I've looked at it over the years since it was built and it's always been well maintained but not fancy. They don't care about having the latest appliances, countertops etc; just a comfortable place to stay on the coast. That's why the fees are reasonable. Not all of the units have an ocean view but it's a great location to use as a base for a visit to the coast.

You mentioned being able to use it year round which I think means you own the 'year round' season, i.e. you can select any week of the year. They also sell the lower season weeks which have more limited choices. You have to submit your request for a week by Jan 15 and then they draw requests to determine who gets what week. So you might be too late to get a good week this year. However, with those extra weeks in RCI, I'd focus on using them first before they expire. They come with an additional fee to use (exchange fee + fee to join RCI), but since you didn't pay for the weeks, you'd be getting a 2 BR for a week someplace for $350 or so; a pretty good deal.

A few years ago, they had an issue with the ground near the beach settling so you might want to ask about that when you call about assessments. I think they got it fixed, but as you probably know, that area of the coast continues to shift (as indicated by the road just to the north near Moolack Shores).

So if you are 1 1/2 hours away is that Salem (like geist) or Eugene?

Sue

 

[Link94]

I didn't notice geist was from Salem! We live in Jefferson, which is VERY close to Salem. I did find out the timeshare is for 2 weeks a year and like Sue said, it is an annual lottery draw. I am still working on the other information and I am waiting for a call back from Schooner's Landing.

 

[sun starved Gayle]

Are the MF's $912.00 for each week, or for both ? If it were for both, I think it would be a decent deal for $456.00 for a week at the beach, times two.
Especially since you live close by. I would also absolutely check about special assessments, I have heard that this resort has had, or will have, the need for this to make major repairs to keep the cliff side property from eroding away.