Bought a Timeshare; What Documents to Expect? [Vacation Village at Williamsburg, VA]

[lastdayx52]

I bought a timeshare on eBay a few months ago (4 bedroom, week 20, Vacation Village at Williamsburg, VA for $1 bid). About two months after I signed the agreement of sale, I got an e-mail saying that my deed for the timeshare has been recorded, with a digital scanned copy of the recorded deed.

I expected some more paperwork to be honest (this was scarily easy)... but besides that, I also expected more paperwork sent to me, like a paper copy of the deed and a contract or some other legal documents from the timeshare itself that tells me how I can use my timeshare, member ID number, etc., but got nothing. Is this normal? Am I now the owner, and I can just call VV as the owner, sign up for RCI, etc.? If not, what more documents should I be expecting / should I ask the closing company to send me?

 

[BJRSanDiego]

I bought my first timeshare on ebay 15 years ago and bought my last TS on ebay maybe 2-1/2 years ago.

I recall only getting a scanned or electronic copy of the deed. Then I made contact with the underlying TS organization (in one case it was Soleil and in another it was Marriott). They each set me up with a member number. For the first timeshare, I then called Interval and paid to get set up as a member and have the resort added to my account. For the last timeshare I called ii and paid to have them add my latest TS added to my existing account. After that was done, I made a reservation with my home resort and then deposited it into ii.

I recall that after the deed was recorded that the underlying resort company needed to acknowledge that they've accepted me as an owner and put me into their system. I don't recall whether I got any help from the closing company but I don't think that I did.

Perhaps your closing company could assist you. It wouldn't hurt to ask your same questions with them. Perhaps they might be able to send you paper copies of the deed and perhaps a copy of the Vacation Village timeshare legal paperwork. But, if they can't assist you, then you can do it on your own.

 

[DeniseM]

One thing to keep in mind: When you buy resale, you do not get the same Docs from the resort Mgmat. that you would with a developer purchase. However, you don't buy from the developer for $1 either, so you are far a head with a resale.

 

[lastdayx52]

I bought my first timeshare on ebay 15 years ago and bought my last TS on ebay maybe 2-1/2 years ago.

I recall only getting a scanned or electronic copy of the deed. Then I made contact with the underlying TS organization (in one case it was Soleil and in another it was Marriott). They each set me up with a member number. For the first timeshare, I then called Interval and paid to get set up as a member and have the resort added to my account. For the last timeshare I called ii and paid to have them add my latest TS added to my existing account. After that was done, I made a reservation with my home resort and then deposited it into ii.

I recall that after the deed was recorded that the underlying resort company needed to acknowledge that they've accepted me as an owner and put me into their system. I don't recall whether I got any help from the closing company but I don't think that I did.

Perhaps your closing company could assist you. It wouldn't hurt to ask your same questions with them. Perhaps they might be able to send you paper copies of the deed and perhaps a copy of the Vacation Village timeshare legal paperwork. But, if they can't assist you, then you can do it on your own.

Gotcha. I didn't know what to even ask, so I figured I ask here first. I called VV, and they told me that for the contract number that I have, the transfer of ownership has not been issued on their system. I told them the closing company should have sent a letter along with the check for the transfer fee back in March 2nd, and they told me it's normal for it to take a few months for the transfer to be recorded. Guess I just have to wait...

One thing to keep in mind: When you buy resale, you do not get the same Docs from the resort Mgmat. that you would with a developer purchase. However, you don't buy from the developer for $1 either, so you are far a head with a resale.

Understood. I wanted some instructions, like how do I pay maintenance fees next year, how do I even sign up for RCI, can I split up my A/B units, etc... lol

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Gotcha. I didn't know what to even ask, so I figured I ask here first. I called VV, and they told me that for the contract number that I have, the transfer of ownership has not been issued on their system. I told them the closing company should have sent a letter along with the check for the transfer fee back in March 2nd, and they told me it's normal for it to take a few months for the transfer to be recorded. Guess I just have to wait...



Understood. I wanted some instructions, like how do I pay maintenance fees next year, how do I even sign up for RCI, can I split up my A/B units, etc... lol

Once you are in the VV system, they'll send you the bill for the MF for next year. Also, if there is a separate tax bill that will be sent to you. I recall that after my deeds were filed that it took several weeks for the resort to get me added to their system. Signing up for RCI? When you do that, they'll contact VV and have them confirm that you are an owner of record. So, you still need to wait for VV.

If you bought a 2 (or more) BR unit) as a lockoff that can be split, the way to do the lock-ff is when you reserve your VV unit.

If there are VV-unique issues, I'm hoping that another VV owner will opine.

BTW, I checked the Interval Intl directory and see that VV-Williamsburg is listed. So, it would appear that you could either join ii or RCI ... or both. In broad terms, ii has higher quality resorts (Westin, Hyatt, Sheraton, Marriott) but the total number of resorts is less. RCI has fewer high-quality resorts but has more resorts in total.