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Thousand Trails Membership

G

GreggC

newbie
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Apr 16, 2013
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Location
CA
Hi.

My mother-in-law has had a good Thousand Trails Membership for a long time. She is now 97 yo. She is thinking of transferring or willing the membership to us. While thinking about what to do, she was contacted by Resort Members Association about a program that would eliminate maintenance fees. I participated in one of their conference calls hosted by Right Choice Transfers. Their deal is that they will take the membership off your hands for a hefty fee, beginning in the $3000 range and going up. Their claim is that timeshares are a thing of the past, that they are a financial burden to owners and there is no resale market.

Now I'm reconsidering taking on this burden. Fees are $330 annually-frozen for her but would go up each year once we had the membership. We hope to use the membership and perhaps one day pass it on to our kids or sell it (we are 56 & 63 yo).

Is this a good idea? Is such a membership worth anything today? Is there a resale market?

Any information and guidance are most welcome.

Thanks.

Gregg
 
SCAM!

Keys to this being a SCAM are:
They want $3000 or more $$ from you all.
Promise that you will eliminate YOUR MFs.
Timeshares are a thing of the PAST!

Keep reading here - all those phrases are signs of a scam.

If this is just a membership club (and not a deeded piece of property), just resign or NOT PAY the yearly MFs.


And at 97yo, why does your mother give a rat's ass about her credit score? She need to buy a new car, new house, get a credit card to travel the world?

The $3K just needs to stay in her bank account, IMHO.
 
Thousand Trails was a camping membership club when I was a member. The maintenance fees they mention were the annual fees you pay to belong to the organization. It gives you the option to use their facilities when you want, at whichever member parks are listed on the membership.

I gave up my membership when the maintenance fees went up more than 10% per year two years in a row. The usage I would have gotten was greatly reduced because I wasn't available to travel freely, which left me limited to only use the parks in my immediate area. The per-night cost was much too high for the quality of the parks, so it wasn't worth it anymore.

There was no deed to anything, and all I did was notify them I was resigning the membership effective on the anniversary date of the contract. That was that.

The company you were contacted by sounds like the same kind that take advantage of timeshare owners who may want to get out of their ownerships. So yes, it is definitely a scam to you, since you don't own anything, unless Thousand Trails has become something more than a camping club. If the membership your mother owns is like what I owned, a simple letter is all she should need to send in to notify them she's resigning. Certainly not worth spending $3K to get out of.

But before you do that, check into the resale market for TT memberships. They were selling "new" memberships in the neighborhood of $5K last I knew, so there may be a market in your area for resale of what your mother has. Check Craigslist and similar to see if any are selling around you. I've seen them on Ebay as well.

Hope this helps.

Dave
 
I'm not so quick to scream scam about something the OP's mother has had for some time, but I do agree that the Resort Members Association is likely up to no good.

I don't know anything about Thousand Trails, tho, so hard to say if it is worth anything. While it may have no resale value, that doesn't mean that it wouldn't provide wonderful vacations for you.

That's where I'd start - figure out what the thing is and how it works before deciding if you want to take it on.

meanwhile, beware anyone calling you to 'help you out' and please do not pay anyone anything on this matter. If you inherit it, you do not have to accept it, so have no need for the quick-sale-scam-artists.
 
Right Choice Transfers, Resort Members Association

in checking this out it seem this is more geared to RV's not really timeshare ownership..


don't get sucked in to paying some scam outfit like Resort Members Association or Right choice transfers..

like dave was saying it a camping/rv deal.. just ignore the MF dues request and they will go away at some point.. or tell them you will give it back and they will not request dues..
 
First thing I would do is figure out what it is she owns. Is she locked in forever contractually or can she just terminate her membership? Can it be transferred to you with the same terms and conditions? Then figure out if you would use whatever it is and, based on what you know about it, do you want it in your name. After that a decision as to what to do should be easy.

George
 
As others have said, I believe this is an RV or camping 'club' membership. To the best of my knowledge, it has no underlying real estate ownership.

If you want it, and are OK with the ever increasing annual fee, transfer it into your name. But don't pay anyone anything to take it out of your Mom's name. Once you (or she) quit paying the annual nut, the membership effectively ends.

If you want to explore selling it, put it on the Craigslist nearest to the location of the facility. I bought a private RV park membership that way. It will cost you nothing to run an ad and refresh it every 3 days or so and see if the membership generates interest. If not, and you don't want it, walk. At 97, it's hard to see how Mom's credit could suffer.

The membership isn't a scam, but any entity wanting upfront cash to relieve you/her of it likely is.

Best wishes.

Jim
 
As others have said, Thousand Trails is a camping "club". You pay membership fees to use THEIR facilities. You own NOTHING. There is nothing to sell. If you want you use it (with an RV) it can make sense depending on your needs. But you can also just walk away from it, no problem. You can also join at just about any time. They always have "specials".
 
The one thing TT was doing back in the day, was offering different levels of memberships. Some were "every park in the system" kinds of memberships, which might appeal to a potential buyer/camper. So that may be something to try and sell. Other memberships were restricted to a certain number of parks, and sold for a lot less money. If the membership your Mom has is only for a few parks, or for a poor season, you may not get the use from it you would want.

Chances are, if your Mom bought a long time ago, she has one of the better memberships. But if the annual fees are frozen for your Mom, but would increase for subsequent owners, it may not be such a good deal.

One thing, if you decide you want to take over ownership, would be for your Mom to add you onto the membership while she is still the owner. That may allow the frozen fees to grandfather over to you when she no longer needs the ownership. When it's the right time, you could have her name removed from the account, and you'd be the sole owner. I'm not sure if this can be done, but it's one way to gain the great deal she has, and save yourself a LOT of money. That is, IF you want to own a camping membership. if you don't, as I said earlier, just tell them you're not renewing the membership.

Dave
 
It really doesn't look like you need to pay anyone to take it off of her hands. Call Thousand Trails and ask if she can just stop paying.
 
Some of these back in the day were sold as UDI so there could be a deed.

If you think you can get use out of it, take it over.

DON'T pay anyone three grand. Tell them you'll meet them in person with the money and then punch them in the face.
 
Thank you!

Thanks to all of you who took the time to share your wisdom with me. It has helped me to decide what I need to do.

Gregg
 
good luck and don't be a stranger here.. Timeshare is a great product in knowledgeable hands.. :cool:

carl
timeshareing since '99
 
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