Enrollment Offer for Quarter Share at Grand Residence

[COSkier1]

Hi All - I've read lots of the threads here about quarter shares at the Tahoe Grand Residence and am thinking about moving forward with an offer & enrollment option, but want to get people's thoughts on the current offer and what my plans would be for it...

The offer I received today when inquiring from MVC is as follows up:
- Must purchase 5k destination points to enroll the quarter share, there are currently no developer resale inventory available that would allow enrollment with a 1 week purchase (e.g. a week 52-st. kitts), it would require two weeks purchases thus negating the savings on the maintenance fees (as I was told)
- Depending on paying cash vs. financing, it's either $46k or $51k for the 5k pts (so either ~$9.2-10.2/pt) - seems a bit lower than what the offers were a few months back, with 15k bonus pts either way (although with the financing you only get the last 5k after the completion of the payback).
- An additional 5k cost to enroll the quarter share.
- Based on the unit I'm looking at, all-in cost would be $90-95k.
- Average points per year is ~24k for grand residence studio (varying between 21-27 I think), + 5k pts = 29k pts/year
- Maintenance fees would be $8k for the GR, and $3k for the 5k pts, so $11k total
- Purchase price for the ~29k pts is $3.1-$3.3/pt, and maintenance fees would be 38 cents/pt.

Anything I am missing here? My thought in purchasing this (I'm not a current owner, but have stayed at plenty of MVC clubs across Hawaii, Florida, Colorado, etc. via Bonvoy points from work travel), would be to (obviously once things recover from COVID sometime next year) reserve a few (maybe 2, or 3) prime weeks (e.g. in Hawaii) that I could rent to recover a good portion of the maintenance fees (maybe consuming ~half of the 29k pts), then using the remainder of the pts for 3-4 weeks of vacation per year, 1 week in hawaii, 1 in florida, 1 in arizona or california...also, since we live in Colorado and can be somewhat flexible with short notice travel, take advantage of <60 day offers at 30% off pts to spend a few days in the mountains in Breck, Vail, etc.

I have looked at purchasing a Ritz Carlton resale in Aspen off and on for the last few years, but was really concerned with the high maintenance fees ($17k/year for about the same amount of points as the grand residents) and not being able to recoup the fees as easily. However, the major benefit that I am still struggling with letting go is the per-diem option where < 60 days you can go to the Ritz in Vail or Aspen for $200-$300/nt for a 2-4 bedroom (go with a few families, split the cost, etc.). I'm assuming this is not an option even with the highest level of MVC ownership?

What do you guys think? I appreciate the feedback and guidance!!

 

[bnoble]

I know people do it, but I am usually skeptical of plans that involve buying with a purpose of renting to defer personal use costs.

Buying to use makes sense. Buying to start a side business renting is a lot of work, but I can see it. You are talking about something in the middle. You won’t be spending enough time on the rental part to really learn the ins and outs, but you will still be subject to travel demand risk. Seeing what’s happening right now is an extreme example of that, but we are coming up on a half year where Hawaii rentals are worthless, and counting.

 

[Dean]

Hi All - I've read lots of the threads here about quarter shares at the Tahoe Grand Residence and am thinking about moving forward with an offer & enrollment option, but want to get people's thoughts on the current offer and what my plans would be for it...

The offer I received today when inquiring from MVC is as follows up:
- Must purchase 5k destination points to enroll the quarter share, there are currently no developer resale inventory available that would allow enrollment with a 1 week purchase (e.g. a week 52-st. kitts), it would require two weeks purchases thus negating the savings on the maintenance fees (as I was told)
- Depending on paying cash vs. financing, it's either $46k or $51k for the 5k pts (so either ~$9.2-10.2/pt) - seems a bit lower than what the offers were a few months back, with 15k bonus pts either way (although with the financing you only get the last 5k after the completion of the payback).
- An additional 5k cost to enroll the quarter share.
- Based on the unit I'm looking at, all-in cost would be $90-95k.
- Average points per year is ~24k for grand residence studio (varying between 21-27 I think), + 5k pts = 29k pts/year
- Maintenance fees would be $8k for the GR, and $3k for the 5k pts, so $11k total
- Purchase price for the ~29k pts is $3.1-$3.3/pt, and maintenance fees would be 38 cents/pt.

Anything I am missing here? My thought in purchasing this (I'm not a current owner, but have stayed at plenty of MVC clubs across Hawaii, Florida, Colorado, etc. via Bonvoy points from work travel), would be to (obviously once things recover from COVID sometime next year) reserve a few (maybe 2, or 3) prime weeks (e.g. in Hawaii) that I could rent to recover a good portion of the maintenance fees (maybe consuming ~half of the 29k pts), then using the remainder of the pts for 3-4 weeks of vacation per year, 1 week in hawaii, 1 in florida, 1 in arizona or california...also, since we live in Colorado and can be somewhat flexible with short notice travel, take advantage of <60 day offers at 30% off pts to spend a few days in the mountains in Breck, Vail, etc.

I have looked at purchasing a Ritz Carlton resale in Aspen off and on for the last few years, but was really concerned with the high maintenance fees ($17k/year for about the same amount of points as the grand residents) and not being able to recoup the fees as easily. However, the major benefit that I am still struggling with letting go is the per-diem option where < 60 days you can go to the Ritz in Vail or Aspen for $200-$300/nt for a 2-4 bedroom (go with a few families, split the cost, etc.). I'm assuming this is not an option even with the highest level of MVC ownership?

What do you guys think? I appreciate the feedback and guidance!!

If you need that many points and using points alone is the best way for you to participate, this is the best way to do so. I would not buy where renting were required to use up the points and/or to afford the ownership. I would not finance, pay cash or don't do it. If you decide to proceed you should be able to enroll with the purchase of a week, I know they had inventory for Aruba and St. Kitt's that should make it happen. If you purchase the fractional and do intend to enroll, get back with them ready to put money down and I suspect you'll have more choices than they gave you with a general inquiry. It's likely they have the inventory to make it happen with a week but they will likely have to get it approved to do this type of deal I'm sure. You may want to consider buying "trading weeks", locking off and using those to exchange. Based on your level of knowledge and obvious flexibility that is likely less risky for you than for most. Using that format you could buy in for likely under $3K or 2 for 2 weeks, get 4 exchange slots which will add another $1K a year in various fees and have yearly fees of $3200 or so. IF you are thinking of enrolling later then pay attention to the resorts/weeks you buy if you go this route as well in terms of points and fees per point. WR is likely the best value for weeks trading but it sucks for points at 1850 for a Platinum 2 BR, LV is likely the best choice for both sides of the isle.

I would absolute not buy anything expecting others who travel with you to pay part of your costs, that's a bad plan. I can give further details on why it's a bad plan if needed.

 

[BigDawgTUG]

I bought a quarter interest in Grand Residence last year with St. Kitts as the qualifying enrollment. Best thing I've ever done with my MVC ownership. Low cost to acquire nearly 40,000 points, and very low maintenance fees. My goal, which has worked for 2019 and 2020, has been to rent enough to cover all of my maintenance fees and to essentially vacation for free. It does, however, take some work so not for the faint of heart.

 

[csalter2]

I bought a quarter interest in Grand Residence last year with St. Kitts as the qualifying enrollment. Best thing I've ever done with my MVC ownership. Low cost to acquire nearly 40,000 points, and very low maintenance fees. My goal, which has worked for 2019 and 2020, has been to rent enough to cover all of my maintenance fees and to essentially vacation for free. It does, however, take some work so not for the faint of heart.

just how much work are we talking? How much time needs to be committed?

 

[BigDawgTUG]

It really depends on how much energy you want to put into it and how fast you want to rent points. For example, you can be fairly passive and just list on https://vacationpointexchange.com/, where I am a verified seller. The lower the cost of your maintenance fees, the lower you can afford to rent points. If you are the lowest priced seller, they should move quickly, but you don't need to give them away. I've rented most of my points for at least $0.63. In the alternative, you can book desirable weeks with points and then list them as rentals on TUG, Redweek or other listing sites. Also, with Grand Residence, you don't need to convert all to points and you can rent our the more desirable weeks. You can retain a broker if you like to do that for you. For whatever you do, you'll need to be responsive to inquiries as it is a competitive market. I work in front of a computer all day, so easy for me to be responsive. For others, it may be too much trouble.

 

[csalter2]

It really depends on how much energy you want to put into it and how fast you want to rent points. For example, you can be fairly passive and just list on https://vacationpointexchange.com/, where I am a verified seller. The lower the cost of your maintenance fees, the lower you can afford to rent points. If you are the lowest priced seller, they should move quickly, but you don't need to give them away. I've rented most of my points for at least $0.63. In the alternative, you can book desirable weeks with points and then list them as rentals on TUG, Redweek or other listing sites. Also, with Grand Residence, you don't need to convert all to points and you can rent our the more desirable weeks. You can retain a broker if you like to do that for you. For whatever you do, you'll need to be responsive to inquiries as it is a competitive market. I work in front of a computer all day, so easy for me to be responsive. For others, it may be too much trouble.

Thank you. I just wanted the OP to be aware of what’s involved with renting. It’s not always so easy and if you’re waiting to rent to pay maintenance fees, you get stuck. Not everyone rents all the weeks or points they want every year even if they price them low.

 

[Fgaini]

I bought a quarter interest in Grand Residence last year with St. Kitts as the qualifying enrollment. Best thing I've ever done with my MVC ownership. Low cost to acquire nearly 40,000 points, and very low maintenance fees. My goal, which has worked for 2019 and 2020, has been to rent enough to cover all of my maintenance fees and to essentially vacation for free. It does, however, take some work so not for the faint of heart.

How did you proceed with the purchase? First the quarter interest and then after closing you went to a MVC sales rep? Can you recommend a contact to do the same? I would like to do something similar...

 

[BigDawgTUG]

I sent you a PM