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Wrote take back letter to DRI

Chas&HensNona

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Well, Im disappointed after reading others who have written to DRI and then heard back from them within days. I only received the first email stating that someone would be in touch with me. But its been 7 days now. So bummed.:(
 

timesharejunkie4

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It took about two weeks for me to receive the paperwork after I sent my email. I never heard anything via email beyond the automatic one saying someone will be in touch. Good luck!
 

donnaval

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I only received the first email too, and was waiting for IIRC almost two weeks when I took the suggestion to send a follow-up email. I did so, replying to the email they had sent that had the case # on it, and I almost instantly got an email from them saying the deedback had been approved and the papers would be coming soon. Likewise, after everything was returned and time had passed with our account still showing an active ownership, I emailed again and almost instantly heard that the transfer had been recorded, and they were just a little behind in canceling the account online. I think sometimes they just "forget" to send a status report to you.
 

Chas&HensNona

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I only received the first email too, and was waiting for IIRC almost two weeks when I took the suggestion to send a follow-up email. I did so, replying to the email they had sent that had the case # on it, and I almost instantly got an email from them saying the deedback had been approved and the papers would be coming soon. Likewise, after everything was returned and time had passed with our account still showing an active ownership, I emailed again and almost instantly heard that the transfer had been recorded, and they were just a little behind in canceling the account online. I think sometimes they just "forget" to send a status report to you.

May I ask what your letter said? I was denied. We're you current on payments? Did you own points? I own 3500 points. Just trying to figure out the best way to do this. What my letter should state etc.
Thanks for your help.
 

Chas&HensNona

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We sent an email to Lossmitigation@diamondresorts.com labor day weekend and got a reply stating we have a ticket and would receive a reply in 2 working days. We did and they said we qualify and we are now waiting for the paperwork.

Trying to figure out what makes you eligible. I own points. I just bought them in Feb. And I'm wondering if it needs to be paid off before they will Yale it back. I'm on a payment plan. So frustrating. Dumbest thing I ever did.
 

tschwa2

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Yes, it needs to be completely paid off for the deed back option they are offering.
 

Kozman

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I e-mailed them about taking back my two Diamond properties and heard back the next day. They will be sending a deed package in the mail for me to process and return with $250 processing fee. I will gladly pay this to rid myself of almost 3000 in maintenance fees. Fees have gone up by a factor of 4 since I bought and most was after Diamond took over. I have my fingers crossed. Time sharing is not the deal it was in past years.
 
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Kozman

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I suspect they are willing to take back good weeks to help support their points sales where they can make $$$$ on unsuspecting folks.
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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I suspect they are willing to take back good weeks to help support their points sales where they can make $$$$ on unsuspecting folks.
Of course they are.

The big mystery is why more companies aren't doing the same thing. They can get title to a unit for a pittance - $2000 at most - then sell that for $30,000 or more. Why pay good money to buy/build inventory when you can get it for nothing.
 

nuwermj

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Diamond discusses this strategy in their financial documents. In particular they emphasis the importance of "inventory recovery" whereby Diamond pays the cost of recovering points from members who fail to pay their annual maintenance fees or assessments. They estimate the net cost of recovering a one week interval is $1,500. As a comparison, Diamond is paying $630,000 per unit at their new Kona resort; divided by 52 is $12,115 per week.

The downside of inventory recovery (and voluntary surrenders) is the carrying cost of the unsold inventory. Diamond tells their stock holders they want to recover 2-5% of the total outstanding VOIs in any given year. In 2013, however, approximately 12.2% of VOI owners in the U.S. were delinquent on the payment of annual maintenance fees or assessments (they don't report this figure for 2014).

Interestingly, Diamond's agreements with the HOAs grant them full use of the defaulted inventory for rental and marketing purposes. Even the inventory they choose not to recover.
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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The downside of inventory recovery (and voluntary surrenders) is the carrying cost of the unsold inventory. Diamond tells their stock holders they want to recover 2-5% of the total outstanding VOIs in any given year. In 2013, however, approximately 12.2% of VOI owners in the U.S. were delinquent on the payment of annual maintenance fees or assessments (they don't report this figure for 2014).

They also have carrying cost on inventory from properties that they build or acquire as well.

The carrying cost is a function of how much inventory they hold, not how they acquired the inventory.
 

nuwermj

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They also have carrying cost on inventory from properties that they build or acquire as well.

The carrying cost is a function of how much inventory they hold, not how they acquired the inventory.


Maybe, but only if the cost of capital is ignored. Shouldn't purchased units have a higher carrying cost than recovered units because of higher interest costs? I think this is what Diamond means by a "capital-efficient" or "capital-light" business model.

Be that as it may, my previous post wasn't offering an explanation of carrying cost. Instead my point was that Diamond does not take back all points in default and it does not offer voluntary surrenders as a permanent option because those points have a carrying cost. Sorry I wasn't more clear about this point.
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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Maybe, but only if the cost of capital is ignored. Shouldn't purchased units have a higher carrying cost than recovered units because of higher interest costs? I think this is what Diamond means by a "capital-efficient" or "capital-light" business model.

Be that as it may, my previous post wasn't offering an explanation of carrying cost. Instead my point was that Diamond does not take back all points in default and it does not offer voluntary surrenders as a permanent option because those points have a carrying cost. Sorry I wasn't more clear about this point.

Yup - which makes accepting deedbacks an even more profitable. As I've said repeatedly, and not just in this thread, I'm surprised that most large developers don't have deedback programs. They can throttle the program, if necessary, to avoid being inundated. But that's really easy money. And as you point out, it doesn't require much capital.
 

Kozman

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I'm all in for deeding my units back to DRI. I'm surprised the delinquency rate is only !2.2%. On my 4 br lockout I paid $485 annually when I purchased in around 2005 and now the fees have increase to $1600 annually or over a triple increase. One year the fees leaped 23%. Regardless of the reason there comes a breaking point where the fees to own become financially burdensome versus renting. RCI has made the problem for owners worse since they can undercut the owners rental price every time since they get their rental inventory for almost nothing.
 

Kozman

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Yup - which makes accepting deedbacks an even more profitable. As I've said repeatedly, and not just in this thread, I'm surprised that most large developers don't have deedback programs. They can throttle the program, if necessary, to avoid being inundated. But that's really easy money. And as you point out, it doesn't require much capital.

Yes getting deeded property back allows them to convert them to points to sell since even points in a trust have to have a physical unit to back the number of points. I'd say this is like being on the gold standard versus being on the Fed standard where they can print money backed by good faith. I guess I'm repeating myself. So it's a win-win for a lot of people.
 
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Kozman

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Take Back Approved

As an update, I received the take back deeds in the mail to process. I am very happy they are taking the ownership back. I will be shedding $3000 yearly in maintenance fees that were more like $1000 when I purchased. If you want to unload your deeds I suggest you act fast. This may be a limited offer. BTW....the 2 properties were Greensprings 4br/lo. and Powhatan 3br/lo. The latter is only recognized as a 2br/lo with RCI since it has a loft bedroom.
 

jeffox

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DRI take-back

I sent my request to DRI after hearing about the success others where having giving their weeks back for $250. It took about a month to get the transfer paperwork and I mailed it right away. I noticed the check has cleared so let's hope this is the last I hear from DRI.
 
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