Westgate--Quit Claim or ROFR

[llmc]

We own at Westgate and want to move on from our timeshare. I have someone (not a family member) who wants it. We contacted Westgate, they said we have to do a ROFR with them, but wondering why we cant just do a quit claim deed to the new owner? We received the timeshare from my FIL who quit claimed it to us, so why cant we do the same to a new owner?
Anyone have any experience with this? No money is changing hands.

 

[Passepartout]

We own at Westgate and want to move on from our timeshare. I have someone (not a family member) who wants it. We contacted Westgate, they said we have to do a ROFR with them, but wondering why we cant just do a quit claim deed to the new owner? We received the timeshare from my FIL who quit claimed it to us, so why cant we do the same to a new owner?
Anyone have any experience with this? No money is changing hands.

You won't find many Wastegate fans here, but you asked a question. Here's my take. You can certainly prepare a quit claim deed, send it with it's attendant fee to the county where the TS is located, and the county will register it in the name of the new owner. But then when it gets submitted to Wastegate, what do you do if they refuse to transfer the membership and benefits to the new owner? Wastegate is famous (or is it infamous?) for stripping benefits from resale acquired intervals. They disallow resale owners from internal exchanges, or for reserving floating weeks other than their deeded week, forcing owners who want to exchange to simply deposit the deeded week into the exchange company (RCI or II).

Congratulations on finding a potential new owner and divesting yourself from their clutches, but transferring the ownership will require some cooperation on Wastegate's part.

If you want to have a transfer agent assist with re-deeding the interval, many TUGgers use www.LTTransfers.com They are TUGgers and offer their services at reasonable cost. Good Luck!

Jim

 

[llmc]

Thanks, Jim....Does the LT process follow along with the redeed process that Westgate prefers?

 

[RX8]

And if you are wanting to transfer your Westgate to a friend expect them to be an ex-friend once they find out that they didn’t get what you had. As @Passepartout pointed out Westgate strips a lot of benefits for resale owners. Two of those include higher internal exchange fees and reduced booking timelines to ensure resale owners get the leftover floating weeks.

Since you got this from a parent you kept the full benefits. That won’t happen when you give yours away to a non-family member.

 

[dioxide45]

Definitely use a service like LT Transfers. They will veryify that ROFR is applicable. Westgate is also notorious for saying they have ROFR when they don't. In either case, if Westgate takes it or your "buyer" gets it, you are done with it. Who actually gets the week isn't your problem.

 

[swditz]

We own at Westgate and want to move on from our timeshare. I have someone (not a family member) who wants it. We contacted Westgate, they said we have to do a ROFR with them, but wondering why we cant just do a quit claim deed to the new owner? We received the timeshare from my FIL who quit claimed it to us, so why cant we do the same to a new owner?
Anyone have any experience with this? No money is changing hands.

Just a thought. Would you consider just letting your friend pay the yearly maintenance fees and use the time share themselves? As Jim pointed out Westgate is hard on resale owners,but for retail owners they are great. They have many really nice properties and provide excellent service. This would provide a way to loose the fees and keep the good owner benefits for your friend. Otherwise the options are you unload a stripped time share on your friend or keep a time share you will have difficulty unloading. Granted you eventually may need to get rid of it yourself but for now you would be out from under the fees.

 

[llmc]

And if you are wanting to transfer your Westgate to a friend expect them to be an ex-friend once they find out that they didn’t get what you had. As @Passepartout pointed out Westgate strips a lot of benefits for resale owners. Two of those include higher internal exchange fees and reduced booking timelines to ensure resale owners get the leftover floating weeks.

Since you got this from a parent you kept the full benefits. That won’t happen when you give yours away to a non-family member.

I'm just wondering about this, because the buyer is actually already a Westgate owner herself, so she is just wanting to add to her collection of timeshares she already owns in a relatively cheaper way.

 

[llmc]

Just a thought. Would you consider just letting your friend pay the yearly maintenance fees and use the time share themselves? As Jim pointed out Westgate is hard on resale owners,but for retail owners they are great. They have many really nice properties and provide excellent service. This would provide a way to loose the fees and keep the good owner benefits for your friend. Otherwise the options are you unload a stripped time share on your friend or keep a time share you will have difficulty unloading. Granted you eventually may need to get rid of it yourself but for now you would be out from under the fees.

No interest in that, we just want to be done with it. We have tried that avenue, and it just isnt consistent with people changing their minds before money changes hand, etc. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

 

[llmc]

But once a quit claim deed is done, its done, correct? Even if Westgate is hard on resale owners, there is nothing that can be done to come back on us? The new owner would need to take that up with Westgate, correct?

 

[dioxide45]

But once a quit claim deed is done, its done, correct? Even if Westgate is hard on resale owners, there is nothing that can be done to come back on us? The new owner would need to take that up with Westgate, correct?

If the Quit Claim deed is done without the ROFR, it may cause issues. So you can't try to just shortcut the ROFR process. But once it is done, it is done. You are out.

 

[RX8]

I'm just wondering about this, because the buyer is actually already a Westgate owner herself, so she is just wanting to add to her collection of timeshares she already owns in a relatively cheaper way.

Here is an older TUG link that lists some of the resale restrictions. This is from 2018/2019 so fees may be higher today (since you are a Westgate owner you should have access to the current fee schedule). Where it states "Non-Developer Sold Timeshare Interests" would be any resale obtained timeshare deed. Note that an internal exchange greater than 90 days out would cost $600 for the resale buyer (free to developer purchaser). Want to lock off your week? Resale owners will pay $600 (versus $80). These restrictions are prohibitive to any ownership value which is why many here are against Westgate.

Westgate resale restrictions | Timeshare Users Group Discussion Forums (tugbbs.com)

As to your question, I do not know if an existing retail (developer sold) timeshare owner would have full benefits for any subsequent resale purchase. Being Westgate I would say no. They have these restrictions in place for only one purpose - to strip the value of a resale purchase so much that the buyer would instead consider a developer purchase. Being Westgate, they could care less that their original developer purchaser now has a timeshare that has less than zero worth if they decide to sell because of those restrictions. I've used this analogy before - it is akin to buying a V8 Mustang GT with 420 HP from the manufacturer. Great for you but when you decide to sell it Ford does a software update which results in your resale buyer actually getting a V4 Mustang with 99 HP, no power steering, navigation removed, and only two functioning speakers with AM only. Oh, and if you want warranty work it goes from free to $600 per service.

Either you or the potential buyer would need to review the Westgate rulebook or call them to know what this resale purchase means to your buyer.

 

[Passepartout]

The fact that the potential new owner is already a Wastegate owner, one assumes hers was purchased from Wastegate. This might change how the subsequent acquisition at resale might be dealt with. I think she should be the one to reach out to their 'Owner Services' department to find out how they deal with such transfers. It might be different than someone who just buys a resale from eBay without an ongoing relationship.

 

[Ty1on]

But once a quit claim deed is done, its done, correct? Even if Westgate is hard on resale owners, there is nothing that can be done to come back on us? The new owner would need to take that up with Westgate, correct?

See comment above about making a friend an ex-friend. You are understandably focused at getting rid of the timeshare. I feel like you are glossing over the ownership benefits your future ex-friend will lose once this is transferred to her.

 

[dioxide45]

The fact that the potential new owner is already a Wastegate owner, one assumes hers was purchased from Wastegate. This might change how the subsequent acquisition at resale might be dealt with. I think she should be the one to reach out to their 'Owner Services' department to find out how they deal with such transfers. It might be different than someone who just buys a resale from eBay without an ongoing relationship.

I don't think it should really be on the seller to make sure the owner here is properly educated on what they are buying. If the buyer wants the timeshare and they already own Westgate, it is up to them to know what they are buying and any restrictions that may be in place on what they buy.

 

[bogey21]

The fact that the potential new owner is already a Wastegate owner, one assumes hers was purchased from Wastegate. This might change how the subsequent acquisition at resale might be dealt with. I think she should be the one to reach out to their 'Owner Services' department to find out how they deal with such transfers. It might be different than someone who just buys a resale from eBay without an ongoing relationship.

This makes sense to me. Call Westgate and find out how this will play out. Only they really know...

George

 

[llmc]

See comment above about making a friend an ex-friend. You are understandably focused at getting rid of the timeshare. I feel like you are glossing over the ownership benefits your future ex-friend will lose once this is transferred to her.

She's already an owner and I'm not glossing over anything....trying to find out for the both of us.