Complete Guide to Understanding Schooner Landing Timeshare Ownership
What is “timeshare”
(also known as “vacation ownership”)?
A timeshare or vacation ownership is the right to use specific weeks at a resort during a specific time period. It can also be described as the pre-purchasing of future vacation weeks. Timeshare units are typically more deluxe than hotel accommodations and are usually condominium-style or townhouse units featuring completely furnished kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms.
Vacation ownership is to be enjoyed and used year after year and can be considered an investment in quality lifestyle but not a financial investment. Ownership of a timeshare is very similar to ownership of a condominium except your rights are limited to certain weeks or seasons during the calendar year.
Schooner Landing ownership is deeded which means it is an interest that is owned outright forever. It is an absolute right that can be sold, leased or willed to your heirs. Schooner Landing timeshares UNITS are “floating” which means you own a style of unit, not a specific unit, (either a one bedroom TYPE II or two bedroom TYPE I). Although Schooner owners can check in on any day of the week except Saturday, MOST owners check in on Friday.
Schooner Landing WEEKS (intervals) are also “floating” which means you have the right to select any available week within the season you own.
What are the different “seasons” of ownership?
There are THREE seasons of ownership at Schooner Landing. YEAR AROUND which allows the owner to reserve available units anytime within the calendar year. WHITE TIME which allows owners to reserve available units from mid October to mid May. RED TIME which allows owners to reserve available units from mid May to mid October. There are no “fixed” units or “fixed” weeks at Schooner Landing.
If you own a YEAR AROUND week (interval) it is more difficult (and competitive) to find availability during peak times (such as school-out dates). Red and White time owners may ONLY reserve in the season they own.
What are the Pro’s and Con’s of Owning Timeshare?
Low Resale Price
Timeshare intervals at Schooner Landing are only available for purchase on the secondary resale market. This is a plus because the sale price on the resale market is significantly reduced compared to the original purchase price. This is due to the high cost of initial property development and marketing. It is not uncommon for a timeshare to be resold at a reduction of 50% to 60% of the original sales price. This is good news for a buyer today.
Flexibility
Vacation owners must be flexible regarding reservations of the week they desire when owning a timeshare at a “floating” property. Since there are no “fixed” intervals at Schooner Landing, owners must use a reservation system to request the dates and units they desire and may be required to accept reservation dates other than their first choice.
Activities
Schooner Landing currently offers its visiting owners and guests a number of weekly activities like Saturday pancake breakfast, movie night, billiards tournaments and holiday festivities like pumpkin carving. The resort service personnel at Schooner Landing have earned the reputation of being the friendliest on the coast! There is a strong feeling of “family” at Schooner Landing.
Communication
Schooner Landing owners also receive a quarterly newsletter called the “Ship’s Log” which is an excellent communication tool. The Ship’s Log is mailed to each owner’s address on record in the resort data base and is also available on the internet website.
Use
If you do not reserve and use your time at Schooner Landing during the given year, owners will lose the time. It cannot be carried over to the following year. However, if an owner reserves their time, they may deposit the week with an approved exchange company like RCI and travel to another destination at a later time. For information about RCI and how exchanging works, you can call toll free 1-888-338-7777 or visit their website at: www.rci.com
How do I get my reservation each year?
Schooner Landing uses a “Bulk Booking Lottery-style” reservation system. To participate you must fill out a reservation request form and make sure that we receive the form by the January 15th deadline each year for date requests in the following year. The reservation request forms are shuffled in a large bin and drawn one at a time until they are all processed. Owner accounts must be current in order to participate.
What is Bonus Time?
At Schooner Landing owners may use additional time called Bonus Time. Bonus Time is sold at discounted rates to owners and/or their guests. Bonus Time can only be reserved a maximum of 45 days in advance of the desired arrival date. Use of this time is NOT based in any way on the timeshare interval you own. Since Bonus Time results from unused regular reservation time, it is inconsistently available and limited during peak demand periods, like summer.
How does the Owner Rental Program work?
Schooner Landing offers another great benefit for owners. If an owner finds he cannot use his time during a particular year, or perhaps has to cut his week short, he may place his unusable time into the rental program. The resort reservations coordinator and front desk staff attempt to rent your time to the general public. If successful, the owner association pays you, the owner, 60% of every rent dollar collected. The remaining 40% is kept by the Association for costs involved in providing daily cleaning, credit card processing and rental processing.
What fees can I expect to pay to maintain my ownership of timeshare?
Annual Assessment (dues)
Shared ownership at Schooner Landing is a perfect way to have your own place on the Oregon coast without the management hassle or high cost of whole ownership. Schooner Landing owners pay annual dues that cover the cost of resort management and operations, on-site service personnel, maintenance, reserve fund, property, casualty and liability insurance and property taxes. Be sure to review the covenants, conditions and restrictions (CCR’s) for Schooner Landing prior to making a purchase of timeshare. Current annual dues are $685.00 and may increase incrementally as necessary to cover operational costs.
Special Assessment
Every timeshare resort CCR’s and/or ByLaws allow for special assessments. There are very strict provisions regarding what a special assessment is to be used for and how much the assessment can be. Special assessments are never popular and are not arbitrarily applied. Special assessments in excess of 5% of the annual dues amount MUST be approved by at least 50% of the total membership. There have been two special assessment in the history of the resort, one in February 2000 in the amount of $250.00 per interval owned and the second one January 2007 in the amount of $700.00 per interval owned.
What was the $250.00 special assessment used for in February 2000?
Property along the central Oregon coast from the Yaquina Bay Light House north to approximately Beverly Beach is considered to be a “high erosion” area. Since the opening of the resort in 1983, maintenance dealing with erosion and settling issues has been a part of the life of the resort. By vote of the ownership, in February 2000, each owner was assessed $250.00 per interval owned to raise approximately $500,000 to stabilize settling that was affecting the clubhouse and building five (the most westerly building) on the property. A 40’ deep, 100’ wide retaining wall was installed underground due west of the clubhouse and attempts at foundation stabilization were performed under Building 5. The Board utilized what it believed to be the most reasonable and cost efficient plan to accomplish stabilization. A portion of those funds remain and are being utilized for related land stabilization issues. The property is continuing to experience movement related to erosion and settling issues and additional repairs and related expenses may be required in the future.
What was the $700.00 special assessment used for in January 2007?
By the July 31,2006 Board meeting, PBS engineering had completed their analysis and presented a series of optional solutions, the land stabilization committee had reviewed and recommended certain of these options as being the most cost/benefit effective, and the Board had approved the committee’s recommended plan. Primarily, the plan is a four-step program with two parts for the first step. The goal is to lower the water table under the constructed portion of the property to a point that when the torrential rains fall, the water table level will remain below the level that creates an equilibrium unbalance and precipitates the soil movement and settlement.
Option 1a calls for the immediate installation of six horizontal drains representing some 300 lineal feet and placed 15 feet deep within the main grabens on our property. Five of these will be placed on the north side of our property, one between Buildings 3&4 and one between Buildings 4&5 and one in the main “fault line” immediately west of the Building 5 parking lot. The other drain will be placed in the main “fault line” on the south side. Option 1b consists of removing all vegetation from the four-acre toe (land west of the main graben), then re-grade and roll the area at a constant slope to eliminate cracks and minimize water infiltration from rains, and finally replant the area with an appropriate groundcover that minimizes water absorption.
The advantages of this portion are low construction costs, minimal disturbance to facilities, low long-term maintenance on the drains, minimizes rainwater infiltration, and involves minor environmental impact. The disadvantages are long term maintenance on the toe area (re-grading to eliminate cracks), permitting may be required for part b, significant disturbance to existing vegetation, the south drain needs to be funneled away from the RV Resort, the factor of safety improvement (degree of effectiveness) is low unless combined with other treatments, and effectiveness is severely degraded if cracks are not repaired (re-grading).
Option 1a and 1b should be implemented prior to our winter rains, i.e., as soon as possible. An approved assessment, although not funded until January 2007, may provide some funding options to allow completion before year-end.
Option 2, which included extending the H-Pile retaining wall and installing four more upslope drains, was rejected by the Stabilization Committee and the Board as too expensive for the benefit to be derived. As you may recall, extending the retaining wall was previously considered a viable option until the testing results indicated its limited worth compared to the other options available.
Option 3 currently provides for the installation of six vertical pumping wells, three additional wells (one was already installed for analysis purposes) upslope of the retaining wall and three wells within the main graben west of the retaining wall. This is done to maximize the pumping effectiveness, but because of the more active movement on the west side, it is estimated that we might have to replace one west side well per year.
The advantages are minimal disturbance to the buildings, optimum placement of dewatering points, reasonable stability improvement, moderate initial construction costs, and minor environmental impact. The disadvantages are high maintenance and replacement cost, more wells may be needed to achieve desired effectiveness, several years of drainage may be required to achieve full effectiveness, and there would be continuous electricity costs to operate the wells.
This second phase (Option 3) should also be implemented as soon as possible, but because of its higher engineering and construction costs (compared to Options 1a and 1b), will probably not be started until after January 1st. This phase also complements the first phase and in conjunction with the first phase provides the most instantaneous cost/benefit results. Since the winter rainstorms will most likely have ceased by the completion of this phase, the third phase has been budgeted for late 2007 or early 2008 depending on the necessity and/or the availability of funds.
Option 4 is the third and final phase of the total solution consists of installing horizontal drains in the reverse direction, i.e., from the top down rather than drilling from the beach area. These drains would be running east to west at a depth below the failure surface to limit damage from landslides and would extend below the sand line at the beach to limit damage from the surf. The drains would be installed in two arrays consisting of four to six drains in each array. One array would originate between Buildings 1 & 2 and the other array between Buildings 3 & 4 with each drain being about 1,000 feet in length. This is considered a slower long-range solution and should be used in conjunction with the other selected options for maximum effectiveness.
The advantages are relatively low construction costs, minimal disturbance to buildings, easy maintenance, minor environmental impact, and high stability improvement. The disadvantages are that it may take too long to become effective if not used in conjunction with other treatments, and it may require permits to drain on the beach.
The Fourth Step, which may become the third step if steps one and two are highly successful on their own, is the remodeling of the Sport Court areas to remedy damage to the existing slab foundation and strengthen the internal structural integrity of that portion of the Clubhouse by adding internal support beams and creating a second floor off of the main Clubhouse section that will add additional space for extra and improved amenities plus the opportunity to redesign the administrative functions within the Clubhouse. This particular item has been on the drawing board since 2004 waiting for funding, but will take a back seat until the successful dewatering of the property has been determined.
Cleaning Fees
All condos are clean and ready for occupancy on the check in date for each owner. The housekeeping department is open daily for exchange of linens. However, your condo will not be cleaned during your visit unless you request and schedule the cleaning and pay the additional cleaning fee.
Can I split up the seven nights I own or do I have to use them all together?
Owners may split up their seven nights of ownership into two or three visits. However, the owner will be charged a cleaning fee on the second and third visits. Also, owners may only reserve ONE weekend per interval owned. A weekend is defined as a Friday and Saturday night stay.
Who Manages Schooner Landing?
Schooner Landing is managed by its owners. There is a six-member board of directors elected by the Schooner owners. Each Schooner board member must also be a Schooner Landing timeshare owner. The board of directors approves final decisions regarding the resort and its overall operation and budgeting. However, the CCR’s require there to be a “managing agent” for the resort to oversee the day to day operations and perform most corporate administrative and financial reporting functions . Sun Bow Management, Inc., located in Newport has been the managing agent for Schooner Landing since 1993, and works closely with the board of directors.
Is there an annual meeting of the owners?
Yes, the annual meeting of the Schooner Landing Share Holders Association is held the third Sunday in October. All owners are invited to attend, however, proxy by mail is also used for those not in attendance. Minutes of the meeting are published in the quarterly newsletter and a videotape of the meeting can be borrowed from the front desk for viewing during your next visit to the resort.
Am I required to purchase Titled Insurance?
Sellers, and especially buyers, should give serious consideration to purchasing title insurance in conjunction with a transfer of ownership of a share in the resort. Basically, title insurance will guarantee that the current owners are “in title” and capable of conveying their ownership interest in the property to the purchaser. In addition, it will guarantee that the ownership interest being transferred and conveyed will be free of liens and encumbrances.
Throughout the history of Schooner Landing Resort, during the early development and sale phases, ownership interests were purchased either by deed or contract. If purchased by deed many of the lenders have either merged or disappeared and if the underlying encumbrance has been signed off, it is extremely difficult to clear title of that lien. Many of the contracts have been assigned to entities which also have “disappeared” and in some cases, while the owner may believe they “own” title to the property; their ownership is not complete until a deed has been issued. According to our legal counsel, the incident of problems with regard to title occurs more frequently with the resort than one might normally expect. Therefore, it is an excellent idea for the parties contemplating a sale and purchase to purchase title insurance in conjunction with the transfer to insure and protect both parties’ interests. First American Title Insurance Company in Newport, Oregon, is actively involved in issuing title insurance on the sale and purchase of Schooner landing shares and the cost of such insurance is approximately $200.
