Is this a bad Bluegreen strategy?

[jojo777]

I'm looking to buy Bluegreen for use at 2 resorts that we are able to drive to. The Soundings on Cape Cod, Dennisport MA and The South Mountain Resort in NH. I'd like to get bonus time because we are older now and we can kind of travel on short notice here and there. I also have college age kids who may use the points for weekends etc. My traditional timeshares, except disney, require a week.

If I were to buy at 2 resorts to secure bonus time, it seems after what I have read, the pitfalls would be to make sure that I buy the same Trust and Sales type. Do those trusts exisit for every location meaning does each loaction have contracts in all trusts or would one location be in one trust and one in another.

Are there an downfalls to doing this as long as I stay in the same trust and sales type? Its hard to find this information when looking at resales. They don't seem to offer it upfront.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank You!

 

[fredmotola]

I'm looking to buy Bluegreen for use at 2 resorts that we are able to drive to. The Soundings on Cape Cod, Dennisport MA and The South Mountain Resort in NH. I'd like to get bonus time because we are older now and we can kind of travel on short notice here and there. I also have college age kids who may use the points for weekends etc. My traditional timeshares, except disney, require a week.

If I were to buy at 2 resorts to secure bonus time, it seems after what I have read, the pitfalls would be to make sure that I buy the same Trust and Sales type. Do those trusts exisit for every location meaning does each loaction have contracts in all trusts or would one location be in one trust and one in another.

Are there an downfalls to doing this as long as I stay in the same trust and sales type? Its hard to find this information when looking at resales. They don't seem to offer it upfront.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank You!

If your goal is just BT at Soundings and South Mountain, then it is not a bad approach. As for your kids using points on weekends, points reservations for weekends tends to be more costly than just booking BT, but you'll have to look at points charts to be sure. My point here is maybe add your kids to the deeds so that they can also book BT at the cheaper rate, if they are willing to take the risk of owning a timeshare.

90% of the deeds in the club reside in Trust Fund E, which can contain all the different resorts, so you probably will not have to make a decision. But if you do, the other prominent trust fund is D and break even for maintenance fees TF D being cheaper than TF E currently sits at about 9800 points - so if you plan to own less than 9800 points in total, cheaper to buy deeds that already reside in TF D. If you cannot find, buy and are confident that you'll pass ROFR for both deeds, you are probably safer to stick with TF E, since mixing the two will probably cost you more in the long run.

While I quite understand the desire to buy resale at both locations to secure the BT benefit at low cost, you may consider picking up the tiniest possible charter point deed from Pinnacle to enable BT at all the resorts. It is one transaction and generally avoids ROFR. The lowest current listing looks to be $6000 plus about $750 in closing and have MF on 2000 points (the listing is 4000 biennial) at about $700 (this year) - So weigh that against what you see on the resale market, where you may be picking up deeds of say 5000 points each for free or at the very least $500 transfer fee, but will have to support 10000 points in MF, which will run $1370 (this year). Save $5750 now, but spend $670 in MF extra forever - a $12000 annuity at 5% ... of course, buy two small deeds if you can find them and recude the total MF is also possible.

 

[jojo777]

Thank You. This is great information. I do actually need 10k-14k points for a yearly girls trip we do. What I am hearing everyone say is to stick to trust fund E if you buy one in trust fund E, make sure they are both in trust fund E. Have you ever heard of sales type F? Is the sales type being different a dealbreaker? I pay my dues early each year and book ahead.

 

[fredmotola]

Thank You. This is great information. I do actually need 10k-14k points for a yearly girls trip we do. What I am hearing everyone say is to stick to trust fund E if you buy one in trust fund E, make sure they are both in trust fund E. Have you ever heard of sales type F? Is the sales type being different a dealbreaker? I pay my dues early each year and book ahead.

No, I think you may be referring to Trust Fund F - which is listed in the BG filings, but has yet to be implemented and I have not seen any indication it will be in the future. For Trust Fund E, there are two sales types (which determine your billing month). Y - where you are billed in Oct or A - where you are billed the month before the earn date of your deed (the first sales type A deed you purchase). If you happen to own a Y deed and subseqently purchase an A deed, your billing month will change from Oct to whatever date is determined by the A deed .... and then BG will perform some voodoo financial practice and charge you a one time prorate fee to move your original Oct billing to that of the A deed. They will perform the same voodoo on every subsequent deed you buy, regardless of it being sales type A or Y. To answer your question, no the sales types being different is not a deal breaker, you just need to understand how the resale or those two differnt sales types alters your account or causes you one time fees so that you are not surprised.

As for needing the points, ya that is up to you. But if you are along for the trip, it can always be done with BT if there is constant availablity.

 

[jojo777]

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your knowledge. I wish I could just bonus time, but its not guaranteed. This is a planned trip every year that I rent from an owner.