Post reply

RTU Redux... (by KC):

lancec13 wrote:

peterg218 wrote:

What is RTU and how is it different from a Deed?

The previous posters have given you a great explanation. I would just add that RTUs are usually in countries where foreigners are restricted to some degree of owning deeded property. So to circumvent that, the developer will sell an RTU contract where the "owner" will feel like he owns vacation property but really just owns a contract to use property owned by someone else.

Generally correct, but I respectfully submit that there are also RTU's right here in the U.S.A. I actually had one for a number of years myself (Perennial Vacation Club, based in Nevada). No deed, no ownership, just a open-ended contract which provided RTU reservation access (one week per year) from among about a half dozen different PVC owned property options located in different parts of the U.S. (plus one in the Dominican Republic) for a single reasonable annual maintenance fee. I acquired that RTU contract (resale, of course) for peanuts, sold it for even fewer peanuts about 5 years later. It worked well for us for those 5 years, largely because of the near-zero acquisition cost, but most "vacation clubs" (except Marriott, Hyatt, Disney, of course) are of little or no real value. Most have great difficulty reserving anything in desirable places and / or seasons. Most "no name" vacation clubs are, in fact, just a complete waste of time and money; they can (and sometimes do) just suddenly "disappear" into thin air without ANY advance warning. Poof --- GONE!