Please list any U.S. timeshares still under development, or brand new

[eakhat]

Construction workers at Westin Desert Willow in Desert Palm, CA are currently building in Phase 2.

 

[marciaheitz]

are there any new timeshares being built

Disney is in the middle of building it's new timeshare on Oahu....first part opened last year, 2nd phase this year, and 3rd phase next year.

It's a pun...

 

[dmharris]

That was a rumor, from the ever reliable sales weasels, over a year ago. Since then the whole spinoff of timeshare from the real Marriott occurred and any future investments put on hold or cancelled. The new operator has no cash, no funding and is unlikely to build anything. In all likelihood the whole new company is set up to fail and write off debt - then operate as a management only organization if it survives long term at all. It is not a healthy thing and was hyped as best as they could to make bacon from sows ears. They got it done but the long term outlook isn't good. They certainly aren't looking to add inventory any time soon if ever.

John, are you speaking of the Las Vegas property or all of Marriott timeshares?

 

[dmharris]

Even if they were able to reel in more people the current unwillingness of banks to provide financing for almost any type of real estate loans remains a significant barrier.

Over the weekend I was visiting with family members in Portland who have been in business for 15 years building custom homes. They are among the 10% of home construction companies in the area that are still in business as compared with eight years ago, and they are 10% of their former size.

Everything they do is now owner-financed construction; their clients simply cannot loans from banks to build a house no matter how well-qualified the person is. The message from banks is that at this time they are making almost no real estate development loans, and those they are making have extremely restrictive conditions.

Okay, so now is this political: it is the banks holding the keys to the construction industry's ability to rebound out of the recession? If yes, it ticks me off and I wish I had a way to bank without a bank (no credit union available for self-employed that I know of).

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Okay, so now is this political: it is the banks holding the keys to the construction industry's ability to rebound out of the recession? If yes, it ticks me off and I wish I had a way to bank without a bank (no credit union available for self-employed that I know of).

I'm simply reporting facts of what was told me. I don't think that is political.

It would be political if one were to speculate as to why that is happening or whether or not that is part of some plot or nefarious design. And I specifically did not go there because of that.

 

[nshugg]

Diamond Purchase

In a couple more weeks Diamond Intl. will take over all of the unsold inventory of Monarch Grand Vacations. With the exception of Cabo Azul and Cancun in Vegas, none of the other properties appear to be on the level of the normal Diamond resort. What they will have is over a 100,000 MGV owners to start trying to sell conversions to..

Or the approach of DRI, to acquire for pennies on the dollar, the assets of developers and projects that are in trouble.

BTW - rumors are (caveat: salesman's mouth, moving lips) Diamond is in serious discussions to acquire two existing properties in Hawaii - one on O'ahu and one near Hilo on the Big Island, both of which would be added to the Hawaii collection. These are currently built non-timeshare properties that DRI would convert.

*****

Returning to the general topic of the thread, I don't see much reason for developers to start constrution of new projects, when most areas of the country that are desirable locations still have depressed real estate markets. Why build when you can buy more cheaply?

One evident change is that what inventory is being added by developers is in areas that have more sustained year round demand - it doesn't seem that inventory is being added any longer in areas that only have a singe strong demand season, with Worldmark (as noted below) being the only exception that I'm aware of.

I also wonder what the situation is with Worldmark/Trendwest regarding new development? As long as they sell points they need to create more inventory to support the points being sold. It seemed as though Trendwest had resorted to opening resorts in cheaper to build and more seasonal locations, such as Iowa since that is a lot more profitable for Trendwest than building resorts in areas where the demand by Worldmark members is highest.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

In a couple more weeks Diamond Intl. will take over all of the unsold inventory of Monarch Grand Vacations. With the exception of Cabo Azul and Cancun in Vegas, none of the other properties appear to be on the level of the normal Diamond resort. What they will have is over a 100,000 MGV owners to start trying to sell conversions to..

Mexico has been a big hole in the DRI portfolio from some time. They actually thought they had it plugged with the acquisition of Raintree (an excellent fit geographically and a company with management that could graciously be described as pedestrian at best). But that fell through when the credit markets collapsed, so most of what they have for Mexico is some inventory swaps with Raintree. And the cost for those resorts in DRI points is grossly inflated.

 

[Rumpled]

We stayed in the new building at Vino Bello in May. Forgot the name of it already - will have to look it up.
We stayed in a studio as we typically do - it was noticeably smaller than the studios in the other buildings. Probably 3-4 shorter in length and width.
Only one sink instead of two in the bathroom. I don't think it was unique to our unit, I think the whole building has smaller units. One way to keep costs of construction down. Comparing pics on the SVC website the central cabinet section was "missing" one cabinet/drawer section. That's probably about thirty inches right there. Missing that amount of square footage in a ~400 sq ft studio is noticeable.


We missed the opening of the new bar and bowling alley at the adjacent Meritage Hotel by only a few days. They had opened a few quest rooms, but not the whole building.