Whoa! Humongous UDI On eBay That Seller Says OK To Use In Club SunTerra

[AwayWeGo]

I came away from a developer sales presentation at Cypress Pointe Grandevillas 1 time with the distinct & very strong impression that I cannot get into Club SunTerra by resale or 3rd-party purchase -- that I have to buy into the club direct from SunTerra even if I buy UDI (SunTerra points) ownership at 1 of their resorts. Otherwise, I can use resale or 3rd party points only at that 1 resort, & not at any others in the SunTerra group.

Am I wrong? (If so, it wouldn't be the 1st time a timeshare developer sales rep told me a stretcher.)

Now somebody's offering on eBay (with no reserve) a Grandevillas UDI that works out to the equivalent at least of 2 or 3 weeks in a 3BR resort condo -- judging by the stated annual maintenance fee in comparison with the same resort's annual fee for a straight 3BR lock-off. It's described as 49,000 deeded Club SunTerra SunOptions -- with a bonus of 39,500 more points to use this year without paying any maintenance fees. Shucks, if that's true the value of those paid-for points could turn out to be more than the eBay sale price, depending on whether it goes high, low, or somewhere in the middle.

The seller says the auction winner will get to use all those points at any of the over 90 SunTerra resorts out there. I don't think that statement is correct, but this might be an eBay bargain eagerly to be snapped up anyway -- for somebody willing to pay big annual fees ($2,110.00) for a big Grandevillas UDI.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[timeos2]

Despite multiple attempts to get a straight answer to your question, including one time when I also had a shot at a "deal" for CPGV, no one at Sunterra has ever given me the same answer twice regarding resale Club options. Adding the new trust based club only adds to the confusion. From everything I could establish both with local sales at the resorts and with calls to corporate at the very least you would have to pay to rejoin Club Sunterra to regain use of those options, at a cost of around $2900. If you don't as far as I can tell the use is limited to the designated UDI resort. All in all I gave up as I just couldn't be sure of what I would end up with and at what cost to get it useful in Club Sunterra.

 

[BocaBum99]

Despite multiple attempts to get a straight answer to your question, including one time when I also had a shot at a "deal" for CPGV, no one at Sunterra has ever given me the same answer twice regarding resale Club options. Adding the new trust based club only adds to the confusion. From everything I could establish both with local sales at the resorts and with calls to corporate at the very least you would have to pay to rejoin Club Sunterra to regain use of those options, at a cost of around $2900. If you don't as far as I can tell the use is limited to the designated UDI resort. All in all I gave up as I just couldn't be sure of what I would end up with and at what cost to get it useful in Club Sunterra.

I read the Club Sunterra trust agreement for the new UDI points. It clearly states that UDI points are transferrable, but such transfer must be approved by Sunterra and the new owner must become a member of the club, the fees of which are at the discretion of the Club operators. This last clause is not in the document, but it is the clear implication since the bylaws are mute on the club fees. I believe the Club membership fee is $2995.

In addition, it also says that owners only need to have ONE and only ONE membership. This is unambiguous and it is clear to me that if you are already a Club Sunterra UDI owner and you buy resale, that you must jump through a hoop or two, but you should NOT have to pay another club membership fee. If you put this in writing to the SVP of Sales (or any officer of the club) at Sunterra and make a generous offer to name him in a lawsuit, you would win because it is in the trust documents and he doesn't want to go to jail. Well, in the case of Sunterra, maybe they view going to jail as a badge of honor.

What I just stated is clearly not the operational practice of the club. And, you cannot get the same answer twice from any organization. That's why I am not a Club Sunterra owner today even though I want to be. It's just too difficult to get a straight answer out of them. There are many on this board who have had great luck with Club Sunterra. Even they have trouble with such issues.

 

[Spence]

I think that the seller is wrong, you must pay to rejoin Club Sunterra, otherwise as described this is not a 'Trust' property it is deeded at CPGV and could only be used there.

 

[girard]

I'd be pretty cautious on this one. Things just don't add up for me.

First, I talked to the seller and he refused to give me any information to confirm with Sunterra, yet in his ad he says he expects the buyer to do their "due diligence"!

Second, I can't help but wonder why the maintenance would be $2110 for 49,000 points. That amount would be about $703 a week for 3 weeks, but even in the holiday season a 3 bedroom goes for 12,500. The math just doesn't seem to work out. I would expect the maintenance to be quite a bit higher for that number of points.

Third, I'm cautious because in my experience there's always an extra charge per UDI point, which is probably not being disclosed.

I don't mean that I think the seller is being deceitful. I just don't think he understands the Sunterra system, and I'm confused as to why he wouldn't let Sunterra confirm what he states in his ad.

I hope if a TUGGER wins this auction that they'll share with us how it goes.

 

[maiwah]

I looked into getting Sunterra last year. The seller originally thought that her membership will be transferred automatically. I believe she did not mean to lie. I checked with Sunterra, couple of real estate agencies. All of them told me that membership is not transferable. Sunterra told me conversion fee depends on the property I bought. After I told her which property, she quote me $2,995 for conversion fee for the week.

 

[fnewman]

Something seems to be wrong with the numbers in this deal. First of all, I find it pretty strange that anyone could or would amass that many SunOptions without having a very good knowledge of the Sunterra system and how it works. Perhaps there is accidentially an extra "0" added to the number of UDI points! On the other hand if the numebrs are correct, who cares if you have to pay an additional $2995 - it could still be quite a bargain.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Something seems to be wrong with the numbers in this deal. First of all, I find it pretty strange that anyone could or would amass that many SunOptions without having a very good knowledge of the Sunterra system and how it works. Perhaps there is accidentially an extra "0" added to the number of UDI points! On the other hand if the numebrs are correct, who cares if you have to pay an additional $2995 - it could still be quite a bargain.

It's also strange seeing a Cypress Pointe Grandevillas unit listed as 4BR-4BA.

All the timeshare condos over there are 3BR lock-offs.

Grandevillas ownerships are available as 3BR, 2BR, 1BR, & various UDIs -- but no 4BRs any way you shake it.

Using the eBay "ask seller a question" feature, I tried to get clarification about the 4BR-4BA issue, also about using the SunOptions at other SunTerra resorts without paying extra to join Club SunTerra. No response yet. So it goes.

I won't be bidding.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[fnewman]

I also asked the seller for more information which has not been received in spite of the fact that the listing says that most requests are answered in "20 minutes or less". Perhaps we should all provide this person with some much- needed negative feedback !!

 

[CaliDave]

Wow.. sold for $14K

I wouldn't have bought it with all questions surrounding the ownership and lack of answers.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Whatever It Was, It Undersold The Developer Price.

Wow.. sold for $14K

Still cheaper than what they're offering full-freight at the "owner updates" & other on-site timeshare sales presentations.

The eBay buyer got it resale.

Maybe he or she will sign up with TUG 1 of these days & join in the fun.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Spence]

Re: Whatever It Was, It Undersold The Developer Price.

Amazing, another TUGger asked me what it should be worth back when the bids were at $1000. I said $14K..... probably retails for at least $75K

 

[martinus_scriblerus]

Well I bid the 14 grand and was outbid. If you check out the feedback of the winning bidder you will see that he has been renting timeshare weeks at Cypress Pointe and two other Sunterra resorts on eBay so I bet he had a pretty decent idea what he could do with it.

I would have been pretty happy buying it, paying the $2995 a la Spence to ensure use of all the resorts and have nearly 50,000 points in one fell swoop. Maintenance fee would have been 4.3 cents per point. Seven weeks at 7,000 points a week Spence tells me for a two bedroom in St. Maarten. Let's see - that's about $300 bucks per week. I'd take that in a heartbeat.

That's twice in the last two weeks I've been beat. Lost a week 52 Powhatan that went for $2550. I bid $2500 with 10 seconds left and the bid at 2 grand or so. This sniper got outsniped.

Next!!! Good thing with eBay - there's always another.

Thanks Spence, for your continuing sage advice.