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Re: Can someone explain the weeks for me? (by KC):

jayjay has stated /asked, quoted verbatim:

>> It looks to me as though these resorts save weeks 5-15 to rent out at astronomically high rerntal rates or they push seliing fixed weeks at an astronomical price, which I can go along with .... nothing wrong with that if people are willing to pay what they're asking for a fixed week. My problem is why they would have floating weeks at all if one can't reserve weeks 5-15? I'd also be curious to know what a fixed week 5-15 costs at these resorts?<< =======================================

My own observation, after 20+ years of ownership at these particular resorts, is that none of the weeks 5-15 are actually "saved", per se, since all were long since sold out and any which come up for resale are usually quickly resold without so much as any public advertising (more often than not to another current owner who wants an additional week). Rentals are generally (but not always) handled and accomplished directly by the unit / week owner, not by the "house". If the "house" handles the rental to the public on behalf of an owner, the rates are indeed "astronomical" (and the house then takes 30% off the top as commission as well).

As far as the "why have floating weeks at all", clearly many people don't feel that they HAVE to be able to go there ONLY in the dead of winter (although I personally am NOT among that group). Excluding those specific 11 weeks from "float" reservation still leaves another 41 weeks of the year in which to reserve a week. As I stated previously, I don't know the origins of the rule (and I never did). As a fixed week owner who usually just uses what he owns every year, without much interest in or concern for for rental value or "trading power", I haven't honestly cared much about those float week ownership restrictions. My view of the restrictions has largely been "if you find the float restrictions to be unacceptable, then don't buy the float week there." That said, I certainly do believe that folks should ALWAYS clearly know *BEFORE PURCHASE* that those restrictions do indeed exist and that they cannot ever be circumvented or avoided after purchase.

I also think some folks buy float weeks here (just as they do elsewhere) mostly to try "trade" (exchange) with them, since they can be purchased so inexpensively in the first place.

You asked about pricing. I don't follow the pricing regularly or routinely, but weeks 5-15 at these particular resorts, when they do come up for sale, are generally in the range of $8k -- $14k (actual selling price, with the "peak" of that pricing bell curve clearly being weeks 7, 8, and 9 and decreasing a bit during the 4 weeks before and after those particular three weeks). Floating weeks, on the other hand, can be purchased for not much more than about $1k. In short, I think that people pretty much get the value of what they pay for. I don't see any inequity or unfairness --- the resale market tends to find its own value and people decide on their own whether or not they are willing to pay that cost.