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Re: "Deed" or not?? (by Jeffrey W.):

While I wouldn't call the offer to "upgrade" a scam, it is clearly an attempt to read monetize the fractional ownerships. Once the resort sells out of fractional ownerships they have nothing more to sell. But if they get you to give up your fractional ownership and by these points they can continue to monetize the property by selling unlimited number of points (just like a a time-share). Also, as you will see from the rest of this post-the management is very keen on taking out of circulation older fractional ownership unit owners who have a significantly lower maintenance fee than newer owners.

We are fractional owners in Montecristo, phase I. (We bought our fractional ownership on the secondary market from one of the original owners for less than half of what the resort was charging.because new owner step into the shoes of existing owners, we pay one of the lowest maintenance fees for these properties).

Therefore, we negotiated a deal for "premium" points (at a significantly reduced price) but kept our fractional ownership. The salesman was desperate for us to "exchange" our fractional ownership or points. We simply kept our fractional ownership and bought the points for a very low price. Even during this process, there were promises made which were not accurate. What we did is require the salesperson to put in writing right then and there every promise that he was making to us and every perk that we demanded, (which he did) In this way we have the best of both worlds: We can rent or exchange of our two weeks a fractional ownership and then use our points for one week in phase 2 of Montecristo, which we prefer. In so doing, we make a profit on are two weeks and pay the maintenance on the points stay.

This so-called upgraded membership doesn't really offer you very much when you read the fine print.

All in all we find Montecristo to be a beautiful property and welcome all of the improvements that they have put in. But the best way to enjoy the property is either to rent from an owner or maintain your fractional ownership