Massive Massanutten Timeshare Auction of Association Inventory

[buzglyd]

Massanutten has a bunch of different phases. The newer units are very nice but some of the older units are past their sell-by date. I think one would need to look at what HOAs are in this.

 

[jp10558]

Massanutten has a bunch of different phases. The newer units are very nice but some of the older units are past their sell-by date. I think one would need to look at what HOAs are in this.

I heard they renovated (with decent reviews) the older units now. But I've only ever stayed in Regal Vistas that were newer.

 

[pedro47]

One of the problem with the older units are the number of stairs just to enter the unit.

 

[Clov9974]

it clearly has to be effective if the end result we are seeing here is a net positive on the balance sheet... though I dont see how it remains sustainable.

would love to see the bad debt lines on a massanutten association budget over the past few years.

I am a Massanutten timeshare owner and just this week looked at the financials for 2025 . Bad debt allowance is about 17% of the MF’s. As others have mentioned, it is a great 4 season resort, but greed prevailed and the developer built way too many timeshare units for the size of surrounding area 30 plus years ago. Unfortunately the Trading Power via RCI has decreased over the years.

 

[TUGBrian]

Thank you for the info! 17% sure isnt ideal, but way less than the 40-46% reported at other resorts!

still have to keep asking why they put themselves into an even bigger hole in not offering at least a pay for surrender option.

 

[dioxide45]

still have to keep asking why they put themselves into an even bigger hole in not offering at least a pay for surrender option.

I think this just ends up being a kick the can down the road. Perhaps they charge two year's of maintenance fees for the weeks they take back? That buys them two years. But what happens in two years? Are those weeks going to somehow be magically sold to a new owner? If no one wants them now, why would someone want them two years from now? They need to take a long hard look at things and realize that it just isn't working. It's time to shrink the overall size of the property by sunsetting some HOAs. The main issue is that the resort manager doesn't want to do that because that results in a loss of management fee revenue. The BOD in those HOAs don't want to do that because they are involved enough to want to participate in the BOD and HOA and thus are probably actually using their timeshares. No one single person or entity had enough control to force the HOAs into bankruptcy as Wyndham has done.

 

[TUGBrian]

I think this just ends up being a kick the can down the road. Perhaps they charge two year's of maintenance fees for the weeks they take back? That buys them two years. But what happens in two years? Are those weeks going to somehow be magically sold to a new owner? If no one wants them now, why would someone want them two years from now? They need to take a long hard look at things and realize that it just isn't working. It's time to shrink the overall size of the property by sunsetting some HOAs. The main issue is that the resort manager doesn't want to do that because that results in a loss of management fee revenue. The BOD in those HOAs don't want to do that because they are involved enough to want to participate in the BOD and HOA and thus are probably actually using their timeshares. No one single person or entity had enough control to force the HOAs into bankruptcy as Wyndham has done.

you arent wrong on any of those points!

but its a far cry better than "negative 3 years worth of fees + admin fees + attorneys fees" strategy they have now all to end up in the exact same spot!

 

[Volkyro]

Massanutten has a bunch of different phases. The newer units are very nice but some of the older units are past their sell-by date. I think one would need to look at what HOAs are in this.

If I'm reading the listing correctly, it's some of Summit and most of Shenandoah Villas which definitely lean towards the older side. You're spot on that Massanutten could benefit from just phasing out some of the oldest units instead of renovating them.

 

[Volkyro]

I don't think this is true for Massanutten though, it's got skiing in the winter, then has mountain bike trails in the warmer months, as well as hiking, go carts, indoor and outdoor water park, bussed day trips to a river for kayking and tubing, arcades, pools, hot tubs, steam room, sauna, multiple restaurants, arts and wine areas and events, and it's so big that's probably leaving a bunch out. Literally stuff to do every week of the year. Also 45 minutes from a bunch of caverns, a university town with various restaurants and shopping options. I really do think it's a 4 season resort.

Honestly I think the main issue is it's almost too big and just has massive capacity, and while there's a lot to do there I figure it'd need something like another Disney park to fill all those units they have across what, 6k acres? If it had about 1/2 the units, it'd be packed much of the time. But for those in the know, it's very often available cheap in Extra Vacations and Last Calls so owning there would only make sense if you could get a really good trading unit I think. IDK, they might have some RCI Points units that are that - I vaguely remember that. But that's for TUGers.

Ya, Massanutten is honestly awesome. I've been 5 or 6 times since buying a week at Regal. We ski there in the winter and golf there in the summer/fall. It's drivable from a lot of places, and as is mentioned around this thread, the resort has a ton of inventory.

For trading, Massanutten has a few good options for RCI Weeks. RCI points seems to be tougher to find. The last time I took an owner update, they were still trying to get 8 grand to convert a week to points. For obvious reasons, I don't think a ton of people have taken them up on it, so good points weeks can be trickier to find.

 

[pedro47]

The Regal units are the newest edition to the Massanutten Resort.

 

[Alindoo]

My guess is that none of these deeds will be bought out of the auction unless some other timeshare entity is interested in taking them on. Perhaps something like Capital Vacations.

Yeah, that's Capital Vacations specialty. Take over the deeds for free, get enough to control the board and the resort is yours.

 

[Larry M]

Massanutten has a bunch of different phases. The newer units are very nice but some of the older units are past their sell-by date. I think one would need to look at what HOAs are in this.

That's clearly listed in the PDFs attached post#1. If you can associate the opening year of each section with it's name, it would be easy to validate your thought.

 

[bobweav13]

We have been owners at Massanutten for probably about 20 years. Lived in Virginia for about 40. It's a great place to go unwind in their off season. We used to go every spring, play some golf, ride horses, and just hang out. But now we are old Floridians that are just done with it. It's a shame they have no interest at all in any process to take back deeds from owners. We'd be happy to give it away, but it seems our only options are to pay maintenance fees forever or just stop paying. You can guess which one we choose. The business model just seems nuts to me. I know that owners in default all have different stories, but I'm sure there are lots of people like us who paid for their weeks long ago and would be willing to give it away to get out from under the annual fees. The HOA is wasting a lot of money on lawyers and collections that they don't need to.

 

[jp10558]

We have been owners at Massanutten for probably about 20 years. Lived in Virginia for about 40. It's a great place to go unwind in their off season. We used to go every spring, play some golf, ride horses, and just hang out. But now we are old Floridians that are just done with it. It's a shame they have no interest at all in any process to take back deeds from owners. We'd be happy to give it away, but it seems our only options are to pay maintenance fees forever or just stop paying. You can guess which one we choose. The business model just seems nuts to me. I know that owners in default all have different stories, but I'm sure there are lots of people like us who paid for their weeks long ago and would be willing to give it away to get out from under the annual fees. The HOA is wasting a lot of money on lawyers and collections that they don't need to.

IDK how compelling Woodstone is as a deed, but I always suggest listing it on some of the timeshare giveaway sites like the forum here at TUG.

 

[escanoe]

I think this just ends up being a kick the can down the road. Perhaps they charge two year's of maintenance fees for the weeks they take back? That buys them two years. But what happens in two years? Are those weeks going to somehow be magically sold to a new owner? If no one wants them now, why would someone want them two years from now? They need to take a long hard look at things and realize that it just isn't working. It's time to shrink the overall size of the property by sunsetting some HOAs. The main issue is that the resort manager doesn't want to do that because that results in a loss of management fee revenue. The BOD in those HOAs don't want to do that because they are involved enough to want to participate in the BOD and HOA and thus are probably actually using their timeshares. No one single person or entity had enough control to force the HOAs into bankruptcy as Wyndham has done.

They appear to be shifting (slowly and gradually) from selling timeshares to building a senior retirement community. They are also expanding their water park and putting in a new hotel at that location. They also recently put in a gravity mountain coaster.

 

[Patri]

They appear to be shifting (slowly and gradually) from selling timeshares to building a senior retirement community. They are also expanding their water park and putting in a new hotel at that location. They also recently put in a gravity mountain coaster.

Interesting. Got a few smart people on board.

 

[escanoe]

I'm not surprised.
Massanutten used to be run by Daily Management before the sale to Vacatia and this is the same process that was used when I gave up my Grandview.
They took about 5 years to take it back and nothing ever mentioned on my credit report either.
Just a year or two initially of credit agencies trying to collect by phone.
Grandview wasn't willing to take it back either.

Massanutten has never been managed by Daily Management. It was an “affiliate” with Vacation Village but has long been managed by Great Eastern.