Timeshare Point products: Good & Bad

The most recent timeshare product addition has been the evolution of the point system. Many timeshare resorts have “upgraded” from the old traditional product of fixed or floating ownership to points.

Although points was touted as the newest feature, there are some major drawbacks that accompany its touted flexibility. Developers and points administrators like II and RCI have been “converting” many resorts under their affiliations. Simply, the old ownership (one week or seven days) was given a “point value” based on a recipe for a resort’s unit given value. The location, size of unit, demand of week, resort amenities all figure into how much point value the point administrator figured to assign to each point package it sells to consumers.

Today more than half the resorts sell a points type product. If you’re going to buy a timeshare and are trying to decide whether or not to purchase a points-based product, consider the following:

The Good

The positive thing about a points based resort product is this:

Flexibility. Points allow the owner to divide up the time used at a particular resort location. Rather than the old standard 7-day vacation, an owner can divide up the time and stay a night or two, then utilize the remaining points somewhere else. Hypothetically, an owner could spend 7 one-night stands (no pun intended) at seven different locations. Of course, point considerations fluctuate wildly based on demand, size of unit, location and so on. For example, a one night stay at a 3 bedroom unit a Disney on Christmas day may cost the same amount of points as 4 weeks at a 1-bedroom unit in Iowa. Hey, they got resorts in Iowa!

More Flexibility - Points also allowed owners to trade them for other non-accommodation items like meals, airline tickets, dry cleaning and anything else that happens to be on the point menu. That’s a nice feature.

The Bad

Cost - You are paying for the cost of the administration of the product. Expect to pay a hefty premium for a points package that would be equal to one vacation week (compared to a vacation week at a fixed week resort where you would have to take the 7-day vacation)

Maintenance Fees - Comparatively, maintenance fees at points-based resorts are MUCH higher than at traditional, non-point resorts.

Exchanging - This is complicated, so pay attention. When the developers of the points system started selling it, either someone knew what they were doing, or it was the biggest scam ever invented. Before points came along, all resorts sold a fix or float ownership product. When RCI and II created the “exchanging” or trading system for owners, it was an ingenious concept. The advent of the exchange allowed owners to trade virtually anywhere within a 3-year window of the week’s tradabilityworthiness. (I made that word up, but you timeshare people know what I mean) Keep in mind the trading systems these two companies operated always traded a WEEK for a WEEK. This concept is fairly easy to audit and easy to track.

When points came along it added the extra flexibility feature of exchanging for shorter durations of time, but the sad and scary thing it did was virtually eliminate trackability of a given week. Since the weeks were given a value, almost similar to currency, there was no way to track an owner’s ownership. Someone may own 25,000 points at Marriott, but it’s not tied to any one week. Want some proof? Try asking owners of point-based resorts how difficult it is to secure a reservation. Those resorts are renting the xxxx out of available inventory, because the ownership is tied to basically nothing. You find that many resorts are having huge increases in rentals because they can. They just tell the owners they don’t have any space, and then the reservationist says “Oh, but we have some time available for you in early December!” Not when you have shelled out 35 grand and pay $1250 annually on maintenance fees. Anybody shaking their head?

Inflation - The other BAD thing about points ownership is inflation. In the good old days, a week was a week, and you could count on that every year. Now, (unless it’s in the resort plan) the administrator begins to (Nurse) ratchet up the amount of points it takes to render services. Now, that 25,000 Marriott package is now only getting you 6 nights, not 7, like when you originally bought it. It makes the resort developers happy when owners have to purchase more points to maintain their vacationing habits. And gee whiz, more points means more maintenance fees! Wow, that’s a neat idea!

So that’s my spiel on points everybody. My resume includes 10 years in the residential real estate business (7 as a broker) in central Indiana, and 5 years as an employee of RCI (where I wrote and edited its business trade publication that went out to the resort developers, management and marketing companies). Feel free to ask any questions, but I thought it was my duty to inform the general public about this. eBay Ole!

How to buy an Unpatented Gold Mine

without loosing your shirt

Many people are interested in purchasing a Unpatented gold mine. This is a great way to inexpensively purchase gold locked in the earths vault. My purpose in writing this guide is to help you not get scalped by the people who do business in this arena.

If you will follow these simple guidelines you will be assured of a valid purchase of a possibly gold bearing property. Only possibly because you or I cannot actually prove that the persons that are selling the claim have actually visited the property and sampled it with good result!

Here are the 3 keys for proof

1. A number issued by the Bureau of Land Management for Oregon it would be ORMC123456 with the serial number following the letters. California CAMC123456 etc. You should find this number on the Notice of Location filed by the Locator of the mining claim

2. Also on the Notice of Location should be a time date stamped from the BLM documenting their reception of this document.

3. PLUS on the same document if properly filed in Oregon on Oregon Mines, you will find the County recording stamp either at the top or the bottom of the Notice of Location. Oregon Law requires the Locator to file for recordation, first with the county within 30 days of locating the mining claim then within 90 days with the BLM.

I show these in my pictures area when I sell a mine. I want my customers to know I am Legitimate. When there is any question you can call the BLM office in the state the claim is located in and check on the Claim Number or the Locators Name.

Another thing is whether the claim has been adjudicated or not.

Many people that are staking the mining claims and quickly selling them are leaving the purchasers high and dry because they havent waited to have their claims adjudicated by the paralegals at the BLM office. Adjudication is what the paralegals do to see if the claim is located in open territory. Like, not in a wilderness zone or staking over land owned by the government.

Once I staked a claim of 160 acres over what I thought was open territory. I found out after adjudication that 20 acres of what I had staked was a Recreational Mining Area. The BLM sent me a letter saying my Mining Claim was decreased by 20 acres but the rest of the claim was ok.

One guy has staked a 160 acre claim only to find that two non adjacent quarters were unstakable. Which ment that the buyer of that claim would have to choose between one of the other two 40 acre parcels, because they became the owner of the claim prior to the adjuducation. Now they only own 40 acres instead of 160 acres. These facts are true and not ment to malign, only to be an example of what not to do.

This is one he is selling now Dec 29 2007 and doesn’t supply any of the 3 keys of proof. These three proofs are only seen in a scan of the original document. Put 162258 or 110208309151 into the search bar and check the box “Search title and description”. Check it out!

I have taught myself to read not only the Master Title Plat Maps but also the Mineral Title Plat Maps. There are distinct differences.

I am more assured than most in my Mining Claims passing the adjudication process. I have learned in the school of hard knocks.

Requiring proof in the form of scanned original documents will keep you from loosing your shirt. If the property has been legally filed on, you will find all three elements. You may get them stamped on a couple of different papers. You just need to be reassured that they are all there on your future documents

Dan Calebhearted

Well the people who try and tell you that they are selling you Beautiful Undeveloped Florida Land are at it again. I read an article with a lot of mis-statements. First off, River Ranch was started by the Rosen’s in 1967. The Rosen’s where a couple of circus pitman before they made their fortune selling a hair creme that claimed to grow hair in the 1950’s.

According to Dennis Covington, in his Book “Redneck Rivera”, the County Commission of Polk County met with Gulf America Corporation, the Rosen’s company, at John’s restaurant in Bartow. The commission was pitched the idea for a 440,000 unit subdivision. The commission quickly dismissed it an said there was no way they could maintain the roads and infrastructure in a subdivision that size. Gulf America Corp. quickly told them that we aren’t selling a subdivision, we are selling a Dream of a subdivision. The commissioners were told that they weren’t putting in roads and that the land owners would have to worry about roads in the future. The county commission realized that they would be able to tax this worthless swampland and never have to provide services. Then the paper subdivisions in Polk county were born.

If you see a DOR use code of 9910, DO NOT EXPECT IT TO BE AN INVESTMENT! In the case of River Ranch the land owners have started the POA where you get a permanent campsite if you pay the dues of a little over $100 per year. Beware though, the new scam is to cut up a parcel in .33 acre parcels which will not allow you to have a permanent campsite. In the 1970’s when these lots were sold they sold for $3000 on up. There are very few lots, with a 9910 designation, if any worth that money today. Investment? Yes it is a great investment if you can pick up a lot for $300 and sell it for $800 to $1000 to a local for a hunt camp. The Hunt camp is becoming popular and in time you might be able to find someone to purchase it, but these people on e-bay that try and convince you the land is worth $3000 to $5000 per lot? That is nuts and the only investment will be the family fun.

A couple other points to address, if you google river ranch on the maps you will see that it is mainly swamp land, let your eyes be the judge on the guides to see who to trust. Remember, I am writing these guide as a service to the e-bay community and have nothing to gain by convincing you of something. One thing to remember though, if you buy River Ranch, the state could at any time condemn and buy your land for taxable value, $625 per 1.25 acres. A new law was put in place that will allow the state at anytime to take this land over as conservation land, So don’t think of this as a long term investment. If you look you can see the taxable value on this land has been going down over the past 10 years or so, that is because the state is about to start closing these places down and buying them. That is a theory of mine, but I feel well founded. So maybe that is the same thing that the sellers on e-bay are thinking and trying to dump before they are stuck with land they paid more then $625 to buy.

As to any other paper subdivision in Polk County, Groveland Estates, Orlando Pines, Waverly Growers, Aspen Meadows, Imperial Acres, just to name a very few, are pretty much worthless in value. So if you can buy this land for less then $625 and pay the nominal taxes and hope the state buys up the land before you spent too much money in taxes, I say it is a good investment. I guess worthless is a strong word, there are some people who have access lots and run cows and are looking to buy some of these lots that I talk to every now and then, but most of the time they just run there cows on this land and keep you out with a gun.

So if you inherited some land in Polk County that is DOR 9910, if you have any questions I will be more then happy to help you and if the land is in a subdivision near where someone is buying, I will let you know, but if you are buying land, Beware of DOR use code 9910 and sellers who have guides telling you that these properties are investments.

I am trying to do some stuff to change the laws in Polk County to avenge the people who were scammed years ago, some of this land is good useable land, just no access. Most of it, including river ranch is exactly what www POLKPA.ORG, the official Polk County government property appraiser web site for Polk County, calls it Inaccessible River Ranch/ Green Swamp.

People were suckered into buying these lots years ago because they were deeded half interest in oil, gas and mineral rights. Well even though there is no oil that I know of in Florida, they were made to believe this was a great deal. Well most land you buy in Florida, has 100% interest in all those rights, so when that is in the legal description in Florida, beware. So as people try to polish up a pile of manure, it is still manure. Please, Do your Due Diligence and research this stuff before you buy, and if you need any help looking this up, getting pictures, please e-mail me and I will do my best to assist you. Ask questions like has this land been surveyed, ever, and are these lots outside the 100 year flood plain.

If you inherited some property in one of these subdivisions and you have the original paperwork, I would be really interested in seeing it or getting it from you, because I am thinking of writing a book and I would like some of these for research and maybe put in the book. I will also help you to locate information on your land, where it is and maybe get you some sattilite photos of your property so at least you might know where the property is and if it might be marketable.

Here is a good article about River Ranch and Imperial Acres from the Orlando Buisness Journal

www orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2006/07/10/story15.htm

Do you want to know the advantages of owning timeshares? Ask the salesperson when you take that timeshare tour. Then ask them the disadvantages. Don’t expect much of an answer.

Even though you will not realize it at the time of purchase, maintenance fees are a big disadvantage. Do they ever go down? These fees are essential to the property but there comes a time for many owners when it’s just too much. And the housekeepers are still underpaid! Watch out for those special assessment fees also.

Be especially careful when you buy a pre-sell where they are selling weeks before the resort starts construction. You may pay a small amount and then it jumps to a much larger amount in 2 or 3 years.

Another disadvantage is exchanging. Millions of weeks are exchanged each year. In fact, exchanging is also an advantage but many owners end up at their 3rd choice resort just because they want to use their week. Some resorts are almost impossible to get even when it is an “internal exchange”. Here’s a tip: if the week you want at your desired resort is not available through your internal exchange, check the external exchange company that you are a member of.

The biggest disadvantage is the price. Every week that you buy from a developer is overpriced. Try buying a resale like those listed on eBay. Keep in mind that you will still pay the same maintenance fees like everyone else. The only time it may make sense to buy from the developer is when a new resort is first offered for sale. It will be hard to find resales for those for a few years. And the resale price could actually be higher than the pre-sell price.

Some people may want to consider buying a condo-hotel. Many are being built especially in Orlando. You may also consider a travel or membership club. These operate differently and are associated with different resorts, including many timeshare resorts. One that is very popular now has a reasonable lifetime membership fee and no maintenance fees. After the membership fee, you still have to pay a small amount for each vacation. However, the savings can be significant.

A disadvantage that should also be mentioned is the pushy salespersons and their managers. Some companies have a good reputation for top sales people who treat the tour with respect but the fact is, they have to sell and even the nicest ones, will get aggressive when their jobs are on the line. If you have to buy from a developer, then deal with those that have a “telesales” department where the you control the process. This way you don’t have to rush into a purchase.

Owning is timeshare is beneficial is many waysbut there are too many disadvantages. There are better alternatives such as membership clubs.

Where to Find Mobile Home Parks to Buy:
By Dave Reynolds, MobileHomeParkStore.com, LLC

When starting your search to buy a mobile home park there are several ways to do this. I would suggest trying each of these as they will all give you a different perspective and comparables to evaluate. Then when you find the park that seems to fit, you will have the knowledge and be able to move quickly. If you wait too long, you will most likely find out it is under contact. So it is best to be ready when the time comes.

When you are searching for a mobile home park to purchase, it is often the park or deal that is least advertised that may represent the best deals.

Here are a few potential ways to find properties:

1. MobileHomeParkStore.com: on average we are adding over 80 new properties for sale to the website each and every month. Of these new listings, I would estimate that about 20% of them are reasonably priced and will sell quickly. About 30% are of the listings are borderline and may sit on the site for a few months but will sell within 6 months to a year. The other 50% are overpriced and/or not currently viable projects due to a bad local market or other factors. It is the first 20% that most of you will be looking for. The best way to stay updated on new properties for sale is to join our early investor list. You receive all the new listings by email 48 hours before they hit the site. As soon as I receive the listing, it is immediately sent out to this list of investors.

The benefits of being on this list is twofold: one you get emailed all the listings and you start seeing what parks are listed for and can usually tell which parks are worth following up on quickly. The other benefit is that you will see the listings 48 hours before the general public and are able to get a conversation going with the Seller before he is inundated with all those calls once it is posted on the site.

2. Other Websites: Loopnet.com, CIMLS.com, Real Estate Company Websites, Business Brokerage Websites, and numerous other similar sites: I purchased a mobile home park in 2006 that was listed on a Business For Sale web site that had been on there for 6 months. I know that if it had been on mobilehomeparkstore.com or loopnet.com it would have been sold long before that. It is worth checking out some of these other websites that do not have a big mobile home park investor following.

3. Google Web Searches: We are always doing these searches looking for new parks for sale to promote mobilehomeparkstore.com to. Every once in a while there will be a good potential deal listed for sale down about 20 or 30 pages in the search results.

4. Contact Real Estate Brokers that specialize in selling Mobile Home Parks. These are the professionals that are out there every day trying to get parks listed for sale and will often have pocket listings or listings that they cannot otherwise advertise. I would contact any broker that does business in areas you are looking and be very specific about what you are looking for. It is good to stay in touch with them on a regular basis so when they get a new listing they will think about you if it meets your criteria.

5. Contact other Real Estate Brokers that are in areas that you are looking for properties. It is amazing how many mobile home parks are listed by brokers that have no idea how to value a park, how to market a park for sale, and where to find a buyer for the park. If you are looking for a mobile home park for sale in a certain state or city, I would find all the brokers you can in these areas and send them an email asking them if they have any mobile home parks for sale or if they know of any. The ones that reply to you with an offer to keep an eye out for you will be the ones that you will follow up with on a regular basis.

6. Direct Mail: I have been using this method in various forms over the years and have purchased many parks this way. In setting up your direct mail campaign, you will want to set yourself apart from the other companies and individuals that send out massive amounts of mail to the park owners/managers. Here are just a few ideas that I have used in the past:

a. Make your mailing piece stand out from the rest of the competitors.
b. Identify yourself as a real person, not some LLC without an identity.
c. Incorporate useful information in the mailing so that it will be retained by the owner. I continue to get calls from mailings I sent out several years ago from owners that kept my postcard.
d. Possibly include magnets, notepads, or other useful gadgets with your phone number on them that will be right in front of the owner when they decide to sell.

In addition, any direct mail campaign should include more than one contact to each recipient. Anywhere from 3-5 contacts per year should be made in order to keep you and your company in front of the potential sellers. I like to switch it up by varying the mailings to include different letters, postcards, etc so it is not the same piece each and every time.

Another important part of the direct mail process is that you have to get a good list of prospects with which to mail to. The best way to do this is to purchase an existing list like the one we have on our site or with a list service such as infousa.com and then work on building it to fit your needs.

7. Cold Calling: Basically you can go to our website, MHPS.com and go to the park directory and start making phone calls to parks that are in the areas you are looking. I have found it best to identify yourself as someone that is looking to purchase a mobile home park in that area and were wondering if this park is for sale or if they know of one for sale. You will get hang-ups and occasionally even be yelled at, but for the most part people will be sociable. Many times these owners/managers will know of other parks for sale in the area. It is often good to follow up by mail with anyone that seems to be a potential prospect in the future.

8. Major Newspapers and Manufactured Home Magazines. Just like staying on top of listings on MobileHomeParkStore.com you will need to stay on top of these classified ads to be sure you don鈥檛 miss potential deals that will be snatched up by other investors. Many of the larger newspapers have an online service that will allow you to sign up to be emailed listings that match particular criteria.

9. An indirect way to find Mobile Home Park deals is to look for mobile homes for sale and then call on these homes. By talking with the owners of the mobile homes for sale you can often find out a great deal about the community and who owns it, what the rents are, the size of it, how many vacancies and such. If it seems to fit into what you are looking for, then you have another prospect and you can start contacting the owner on a regular basis.

10. Driving through potential parks: If you see a park that looks interesting, take a drive through, write down some phone numbers of homes for sale, stop and talk to the owner/manager, leave your card, and if it seems to be a good fit, follow up on a regular basis. Don鈥檛 bother the residents though as you will often upset the manager and owner and they will not be open to talking with you.

11. Visit Manufactured Home Trade Shows, Mobile Home Park Investment Seminars, and other industry events. You will make many great contacts with other investors and industry professionals, and will start to develop a network of people that will help you in your search and management of your mobile home park investment.

12. Subscribe to RSS feeds or Google Alerts to get news on mobile home parks that are in the news. You will be looking for parks and park owners that are in trouble. Many times, the owner is not in compliance, behind on bills, or is doing something to stir up a ruckus with the residents. This is a great way to find motivated sellers especially if you have a solution to their problem. Make sure that you have a good solution to the problem so you don鈥檛 end up in the same boat as the seller.

13. County Tax Records: most counties have a listing of the mobile home parks in the county and some information in regards to the owners, etc. By searching the country records you might also be able to see what the park was last sold at, is currently valued at by the county(which is often quite low) and whether the taxes are paid. If the taxes are not paid, this may indicate a motivated seller.

14. Contact appraisers, banks, title companies, friends, relatives and let them know what you are looking for and to keep their eye open. Offer them a finders fee if they find something that you end up purchasing.

I had a friend that knew I bought mobile home parks and he passed me on to an awesome deal in Texas. He had done some concrete work for the owner and the owner told him it was for sale. He told me about it and I purchased it about a month later. I sold it a few months after that for a profit of over $100K and wrote my friend a check for $25,000. He has been keeping his eye open ever since.

In another instance I was having my oil changed at Wal Mart in Nebraska. The service guy asked me what I was doing there from Colorado. One thing led to another and he told me about a mobile home park that he lived in that was for sale. I went straight to the park and talked with the owner and purchased it a couple of months later. It was a park of about 45 units but was mismanaged and priced right. I sold the park about 6 months later at a profit of over $75,000. I call this the best Oil Change ever!

15. Heirs: another great place to buy a park. They usually want cash not a mobile home park to manage.

16. Make Unsolicited Offers: In the past, I have collected information on certain mobile home parks, number of spaces, lot rents, occupancy, who pays water, sewer, and trash and then plugged this into a basic valuation formula and generated offers. I would prepare a purchase and sale contract with all the standard provisions with the price I was willing to pay and mail these out to the owners. I received a much higher response rate doing this than any other type of direct mail. However, I received many irate owners calling or writing back asking me if I was on drugs or plumb crazy because their park was worth much more than I offered. On the flip side, I had several owners sign the contract and send it back. I purchased about 5 parks using this strategy.

People ask me all the time, “How do I know I can trust you?” when they are shopping for land on Ebay. I am a trusted real estate seller and have been since 2004. I could give you all kinds of answers to this; get to know the seller, read feedback, ask for references, understand their buying process thoroughly before buying, consult an attorney, form a paper trail when paying, etc. This is all good advice. HOWEVER, even with all of these steps complete, you could still end up owning something you wont be happy with. THE BEST ADVICE ANYONE CAN GIVE YOU ON BUYING REAL ESTATE ON EBAY IS; RESEARCH THE PROPERTY THOROUGHLY YOURSELF PRIOR TO BUYING!! I cannot stress this enough! Visit the property! Visit the couty clerks’ office! Visit the appraisal district! Visit the zonig department to learn about access or flood plains! Find the answers to your questions yourself. Chances are, you’ll learn all about what you’re buying and then you’ll know whether or not you can trust your seller!! Good luck to everyone! Remember, do your own investigating!