Westgate resale restrictions

[DrQ]

This has issue has come up in another thread and I thought that I would take the points of how Westgate eviscerates the rights of buyers of Westgate Properties on resale.

Fees
Westgate has a three tier fee system. One for Developer Purchased Online(Retail), Developer Purchased Agent(Retail) and One for Non Developer Purchased (Resale).
For the most part, Online and Agent assisted transactions are the same cost.

2018-2019 Fees:

As you can see, there is a hefty increase of fees to a resale buyer!

Seasons
If you are considering buying a fixed or floating Westgate Week, keep in mind the Season. This is very important.

In general, there are three Seasons with the exception of Park City Resort & Spa and Myrtle Beach (Building 2000).

These Seasons are:

• Value
• All
• Fixed Event

For Park City Resort & Spa the Seasons are:

• Value
• All
• Fixed Event
• Ski

For Myrtle Beach (Building 2000) the Seasons are:

• Value
• Select
• All
• Fixed Event

For resale owner it is important to remember that you are locked into your Season (or lesser)!
Retail owners can pay to upgrade seasons:

Note that resale (Non-Developer Sold Timeshare Interests) has NO ability for a Seasonal Upgrade.

Myrtle Beach Unit Upgrades
With Myrtle Beach you have the ability to upgrade your unit, if you are a retail owner:

Again note: This option is not available to the resale buyer.

Park City Resort & Spa upgrades
As with Myrtle Beach, during ski season, there are premium upcharges for room upgrades:

As with the other upgrades, these are not available to resale owners.

Conclusion
The upshot of purchasing Westgate resale is to make sure you have the size, location and season you want because you will most likely not be able to upgrade as retail (Developer) purchasers can. Confirm that Westgate will not downgrade the Season of a floating week when they do the transfer.

 

[HudsHut]

Bump. Definitely worth reminding potential buyers.

Question:
Can the WorldMark TravelShare workaround be used on Westgate?

in other words:
Resale buyer is added on to title...Wait a couple months...then have seller remove himself from title?

 

[Cal_florida]

That’s good to know as I’m looking at a Westgate resale in Kissimmee, I’m really put off if there are any resale restrictions and the thought that your account will be ‘flagged’ because my family would love to be westgate owners

 

[dioxide45]

With so many other great timeshare systems, I simply don't see any reason to ever buy Westgate.

 

[LannyPC]

With so many other great timeshare systems, I simply don't see any reason to ever buy Westgate.

That would be a great line to use for someone who happens to be at a Westgate sales presentation.

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

Another good timeshare in Orlando is Holiday Inn Club Vacations (formerly known as Orange Lake, although their premier resort is still called that). You can buy a points-based resale at Gatlinburg or Lake Geneva or South Beach (aka Myrtle Beach) and be able to use those points at any HICV resort. Or, you can buy a deeded week at Orange Lake (there are 4 "villages") for less than $200 when factoring in the transfer and closing costs. Yearly Maintenance Fees are around $1000 (give or take $100). OL is a huge property, they have a shuttle that takes people anywhere they need to be within the resort. There are also 2 or 3 golf courses, a mini-golf course, lots of pools, lots of stuff to do, a Publix (grocery) and Target right outside the gates, and plenty of places to eat.

I would know, my in-laws own HICV and we've stayed with them at the resort. They also have a 4-day trial package for less than $400, which requires a 2-hour sales presentation (don't buy but at least you see what the resort is all about).

TS

 

[Mongoose]

I'm actually shocked how bad Westgate is with Resales. They appear to be nearly useless except for your fixed week.

 

[TamaraQT]

So....whats the difference between RESALE and DEED TRANSFER. If I purchased from DEVELOPER and decided to transfer my deed to a relative will they consider that RESALE? I walked away from my DEED/RESALE and prepared to take the negative credit report hit. Funny thing is, it NEVER showed on my credit report. Then I can't remember sharing my SSN# with them when I bought it on the resale market. Must be why they still send mail to try to get me to deed it back to them but I no longer respond. Its been over 8 years that I haven't paid maintenance fees and they still attempt to want to work out a solution. Not on my credit report and I wont sign anything to acknowledge the debt. GOOD RIDDANCE!!! I rent from owners now whenever I want to go back.

 

[Mongoose]

So....whats the difference between RESALE and DEED TRANSFER. If I purchased from DEVELOPER and decided to transfer my deed to a relative will they consider that RESALE? I walked away from my DEED/RESALE and prepared to take the negative credit report hit. Funny thing is, it NEVER showed on my credit report. Then I can't remember sharing my SSN# with them when I bought it on the resale market. Must be why they still send mail to try to get me to deed it back to them but I no longer respond. Its been over 8 years that I haven't paid maintenance fees and they still attempt to want to work out a solution. Not on my credit report and I wont sign anything to acknowledge the debt. GOOD RIDDANCE!!! I rent from owners now whenever I want to go back.

You would have to check their rules about gifting. I have heard with some companies you can gift your unit without losing benefits. But I don't know with Westgate. They sound horrible.

 

[TamaraQT]

You would have to check their rules about gifting. I have heard with some companies you can gift your unit without losing benefits. But I don't know with Westgate. They sound horrible.

The sales tactics are horrible, but I do enjoy the resorts and the amenities. The point I was making above is whether they consider "re-deeding" the same as a "resale". I have no interest in "gifting". They wouldn't let me "gift" a timeshare that I haven't paid maintenance fees on for almost 10 years!!! But if a person buys on resale market but sends re-deeding paperwork to Westgate then it shouldn't be considered resale unless the transfer was handled by a resale/marketing company. A deed transfer should honor the same perks as a developer purchase. Isn't that what they tell their victims in the presentation? You can deed the timeshare to a friend or relative and they get the same benefits and privileges as the original owner.

 

[Mongoose]

The sales tactics are horrible, but I do enjoy the resorts and the amenities. The point I was making above is whether they consider "re-deeding" the same as a "resale". I have no interest in "gifting". They wouldn't let me "gift" a timeshare that I haven't paid maintenance fees on for almost 10 years!!! But if a person buys on resale market but sends re-deeding paperwork to Westgate then it shouldn't be considered resale unless the transfer was handled by a resale/marketing company. A deed transfer should honor the same perks as a developer purchase. Isn't that what they tell their victims in the presentation? You can deed the timeshare to a friend or relative and they get the same benefits and privileges as the original owner.

Just wondering, is it currently deeded in your name? Hard to believe they let 10 years of MF go.

 

[TamaraQT]

Just wondering, is it currently deeded in your name? Hard to believe they let 10 years of MF go.

Yes it is deeded in my name from resale to me by a previous owner. They didn't let 10 years of maintenance fees go...they still contact me by mail wanting to work out a plan/options. However, somewhere in the transfer of deed process my SSN# was never recorded and it has NEVER shown on my credit report. Since I never had a loan/mortgage their oversight of not having my number to report to credit bureau falls on them. When they contacted me by phone I denied knowing anything they were speaking of or talking about. In other words I got amnesia the same way they do when the promise things that they don't deliver on. They have no RECORDED conversation of me acknowledging maintenance fee debt. Maybe I just got lucky. But...who cares. I was fortunate not to suffer their wrath and shady business practices.

 

[Lowbud]

Has anyone been able to get around the 60 day booking window with resale westgate contracts? I picked up a 3br odd year contract and while I never plan to bank, trade, exchange, westgate is telling my I have to wait until 60 days of travel to book.. which means there's nothing left, especially in the summer.

 

[Lowbud]

Anyone??

 

[TamaraQT]

If you bought resale they are going to do everything possible to make it difficult and miserable. That is just typical Westgate practices. They are going to give resale owners less preferences and options. Its just the way they operate. I hope that someday they will be bought or merge with another timeshare corporation. I really think that is the only way for them to recover from their bad reputation.

 

[dioxide45]

Has anyone been able to get around the 60 day booking window with resale westgate contracts? I picked up a 3br odd year contract and while I never plan to bank, trade, exchange, westgate is telling my I have to wait until 60 days of travel to book.. which means there's nothing left, especially in the summer.

You may need to look in the resort CC&R documents. These are recorded at the county and are the legal documents for the resort. Something tells me that they are blowing smoke and they should be challenged on this. If floating weeks are written in to the CC&R documents, then you should have the same rights as any other floating week owner; resale or not.

 

[WORLD TRAVELER]

How good does Westgate trade in Interval International? Are there exorbitant fees for exchanging through Interval?

 

[Juanjuanhijo]

Has anyone been able to get around the 60 day booking window with resale westgate contracts? I picked up a 3br odd year contract and while I never plan to bank, trade, exchange, westgate is telling my I have to wait until 60 days of travel to book.. which means there's nothing left, especially in the summer.

Did you determine if the 60 day window was legit? Have you been able to book outside of that?

 

[Nowaker]

somewhere in the transfer of deed process my SSN# was never recorded and it has NEVER shown on my credit report.

You keep repeating this but SSN isn't needed to report a delinquency on one's credit record. DOB and name are enough. If they didn't report you, it's because they chose to, not because they couldn't.

 

[TamaraQT]

You keep repeating this but SSN isn't needed to report a delinquency on one's credit record. DOB and name are enough. If they didn't report you, it's because they chose to, not because they couldn't.

What do I keep repeating? How old was that comment? 2009 vs. 2021?? I am sure some things have changed since YOU became a member. So keep in mind what WAS applicable THEN and what lessons they learned and applied NOW. I am certain that my tune would be a whole lot different today than it was back then. However, even if they sent it to a collections agency I would not be under contract with that agency. Like I said, the process THEN and process NOW may be totally different. And if you knew WESTGATE the way that many others do, you will KNOW that they don't just willingly let ANYTHING go.
ETA: I am VERY aware of what is on my credit report. And if it were, considering the fact that it has been well over 7 years, it can be deleted EASILY.

 

[TamaraQT]

You keep repeating this but SSN isn't needed to report a delinquency on one's credit record. DOB and name are enough. If they didn't report you, it's because they chose to, not because they couldn't.

One more thing....the topic of this thread was about how Westgate now has restrictions on resales. Those restrictions came about well AFTER my resale purchase. Therefore that restriction language was not in the deed of the previous owner I purchased from. Therefore, they didnt apply them to me. New deeds contain language with restrictions upon ownership transfers. Now WESTGATE refuses to give NEW resale owners the same benefits as owners who purchased directly from Westgate. Typical WESTGATE practices.

 

[noreenkate]

Has anyone been able to get around the 60 day booking window with resale westgate contracts? I picked up a 3br odd year contract and while I never plan to bank, trade, exchange, westgate is telling my I have to wait until 60 days of travel to book.. which means there's nothing left, especially in the summer.

Curious how does that 60 day window work with fixed weeks?

 

[Nowaker]

What do I keep repeating? How old was that comment? 2009 vs. 2021?? I am sure some things have changed since YOU became a member. So keep in mind what WAS applicable THEN and what lessons they learned and applied NOW. I am certain that my tune would be a whole lot different today than it was back then. However, even if they sent it to a collections agency I would not be under contract with that agency. Like I said, the process THEN and process NOW may be totally different. And if you knew WESTGATE the way that many others do, you will KNOW that they don't just willingly let ANYTHING go.
ETA: I am VERY aware of what is on my credit report. And if it were, considering the fact that it has been well over 7 years, it can be deleted EASILY.

YOU don't NEED to BOLD me. I'm NOT afraid of YOU, not a single BIT!

 

[TamaraQT]

YOU don't NEED to BOLD me. I'm NOT afraid of YOU, not a single BIT!

Who said I want you to be afraid of me? With that statement, I have considered the source and moved on....

 

[DeniseM]

Thread closed - childish bickering.