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Original Message:

Westgate "Legacy" program... (by Robert C.):

ken1193 wrote:
robertc1852 wrote:
I think Westgate established the legacy program because of so much bad press on their unwillingness to help folks depart. I think this will help their sales going forward.

I respectfully disagree. Historically, Westgate couldn't possibly care less about bad press and their retail sales are going just fine and are actually up for the year, for reasons that I cannot even begin to comprehend.

My own opinion is that Wastegate has belatedly adopted the Legacy program for their own convenience and profit. Foreclosure, although not at all difficult for them, still takes a little time and money to accomplish and finalize. Collecting $950 instead to willingly take back the deed easily, quickly and cleanly is plainly in Wastegate's own self-interest (and is profitable to boot).

Also, a deedback program helps Wastegate (and / or any other developer) avoid having to untangle the legal mess created when people foolishly pay (lots more than $950) to phony "Viking Ship" and / or bogus "exit / release" operations which only muddy the waters without a clean and / or valid transfer of ownership.

I agree with what you say. Yes, no doubt it is easier for Westgate to just collect a fee to buy the property back than to go through the collection effort. At first, we were willing to deal with the collection ride after Westgate said "no" to our first attempt to exit. But we made one last attempt and they said "yes". For our situation, it was worth getting the asset out of a trust we wanted to close.

I suppose we could debate the motives behind Westgate's change of heart, but I still think they are affected greatly by the number of exit companies. Publicly, they, along with several other companies, have cited these companies as a contributing factor to a much higher default rate. From Wyndham's financial statements, they are very vocal about this. Their provision for defaults now is over 20%! That means that they don't expect to collect 20 cents of every dollar loaned out. That's crazy! They also say that their marketing costs are skyrocketing. The biggest component I saw in the price of a new timeshare is the cost of convincing someone to buy it — nearly 60% of the price of a timeshare is driven by sales and marketing costs. While timeshare companies have cleaned up some of their sales practices, they still rely on intensive marketing and impulse buys by consumers who are often already on vacation. I have also seen studies that say 85% of the folks that buy a timeshare later regret it. I don't know where you live, but in our area, there are many commercials EVERYDAY about exit companies. This HAS to have some impact on sales. Wyndham, who is public, has said as much. For what it is worth, our parents also had property with Wyndham but they were very reasonable to deal with. Westgate was horrible which makes me think that all the things troubling Wyndham applies to Westgate times two given their relative difficulty to deal with as a consumer.

So yes, sales are up. But much of that is driven by 1) a strong economy, 2) much stronger armed sales tactics, and 3) more stupid people who now have extra money and don't know how to put pen to paper before spending their hard earned money.