There are many positive things to mention as we enter into our spring and summer season at Peppertree Maggie Valley Resort. The Club has completed renovations and all amenities are open for our owners’ use and enjoyment.

We continue to renovate phase one units and have learned much from your letters and surveys. We continue to question business as usual and look openly into new and better ways to improve the resort. The renovations are moving slower than predicted. Our hope is to correct problems and eliminate them in the future.

I know that many of you are concerned about the two hundred dollar reserve contribution. I can assure you that the board will not take spending this fund lightly. This is the first assessment of this kind, despite the fact that we are entering into the next twenty-five year period for our resort. We have challenged Joe to exercise all options to get the best quality of renovation for our dollar.

The “No Smoking” policy has been received very positively by our owners and guests. This in itself will help with day-to-day upkeep. I ask that all owners please complete their survey and return it before traveling home at the completion of your stay. Your input and feedback is very important to us.

Pete J. Santora, Jr.
President

From the Management Office

The refurbishment of buildings five and six has been completed and we in the Property Management Office wish to thank all our owners that were inconvenienced during this process. We hope you are pleased with your newly renovated unit. A great deal of thought and preparation (not to speak of expense) went into the work on these units. Your Board of Directors and I are continuing to look at all refurbishment options to give you our owners the “biggest bang for the buck” we can.

I just returned form the annual meeting of the American Resort Development Association where 3800 timeshare professionals get together to exchange ideas and information helpful to the timeshare industry. There I learned (among other things) that the average maintenance fee for all timeshare resorts in the United States is $602.00 and the average special assessment is $1000.00 plus. To have had only one special assessment for $200.00 in 25 years of operation is pretty amazing! Also, your maintenance fee of $453.00 including membership in the Maggie Valley Club where you can play all the golf you want during your week and use all the other facilities is one of the best deals going in the timeshare industry. Golf at most resorts is an “extra” and can cost as much per person per week as your maintenance fee by itself. Please try to keep these facts in mind when you got those bills each year. I know they are hard to pay sometimes. I have to pay them myself (yes, I’m an owner here too).

I’d like to “ditto” something Nancy mentioned in her notes; if you have a problem paying your fees on time, please give us a call or email. We can work with you if you just stay in contact with us, but if we don’t hear from you we have no recourse but to go through the procedure she outlined.

You can contact the Property Management Office by phone at: 828/926-3761 Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, email us at: contact@peppertreemv.com, or write to us at: Peppertree Maggie Valley, P.O. Box 760, Maggie Valley, NC 28751 Attn: Board of Directors.

Joe Moody
Resort Manager

Important items to remember:

Broker's Corner

Spring has sprung on another year at Peppertree. We are always in awe of the beauty that surrounds us here in Maggie Valley. The flowering cherry trees seem to be exceptional this year, or, is it that I’m just thankful to have survived another winter. It is hard to criticize those who spend their winters in warmer climes such as Florida; my toboggan is off to you.

It is with a heavy heart that I write of the tragic loss of my sister in January. Judie Kirtley was assistant property manager here at Maggie in 1988 and Property manager at Peppertree Country Club Villas Myrtle Beach in 1989 before returning to her career with the University of Texas, San Marcos, Texas. For those of you that had heard, thank you for your condolences. Upon the death of my father last year, I wrote of the vacation memories that I had growing up. Our times at the beach in Thailand in the 50’s will remain some of the most memorable. A Shangri La, a place of eternal summer, beach and ocean wrote her childhood friend.

On a lighter note, it seems that many of you are not reading your newsletter. When one of my owners mentioned that they had never heard anything about the assessment last year, I remarked that Gary had written about it in the newsletter and they should take the time to read it. They responded that they did read the newsletter, but only the Broker Corner. I’m surprised that they even saw it in the last issue, the type was reduced in order to fit the paper and the article was quite small. Please take the time to read the entire newsletter, you need to stay informed about your resort and be active.

Please be aware of the scams that try to get you to sign over your deed. The pitch is: your time share is no longer worth anything and they will take it off your hands, either at a cost to you, or as credit for joining a new club. Folks, your timeshare might not be worth what they were selling for twenty-five years ago, but it still has great value. Even rentals in the off-season are bringing in $750 a week and prime time rentals $950 a week. Many owners I have talked to over the last twenty-two years believe that the benefit of their ownership has greatly outweighed their overall cost. Enjoy, and I look forward to seeing each and every one of you here at Maggie.

Steve Fogg,
Broker

Your Maintenance Department

Keith Sooy is our new Assistant Executive Housekeeper. He came to us from the Hospitality Industry in California. Keith moved to the mountains of western North Carolina with his family. He loves to snowboard and fish. Keep your eyes open: you might see Keith casting in the creek when not on the clock!

Keith and our Executive Housekeeper, Pat Holub, work very well together. They both have a dedication to cleanliness and order. They along with the rest of the staff will do their best to make your stay an enjoyable one!

Tips from the Pro

As winter starts to turn to spring I would like to offer a few tips to help everyone get back into the SWING of things.

• If the cold weather has kept you off the course for awhile, start stretching and exercising as soon as possible before playing again.
• Try to hit range balls before heading to the first tee to establish your tempo.
• While you warm up at the range, pay attention to shot patterns and how your body feels.
• Once you reach the practice green, spend 5 minutes hitting putts of 20 to 25 feet to get the feel of the speed of the greens that day.
• Spend the last 5 minutes on the practice green putting 3 to 4 foot putts so you can see the ball going in the hole. This will help you mind gain confidence before you tee off.
• The last bit of advice I can give you for your first couple of rounds for 2008 is to ENJOY your time on the golf course. Take time to appreciate the beautiful views, clean air, peaceful surroundings and enjoy the time with your playing companions.

Steve DeWitt, P.G.A.
PGA Head Golf Professional

Notes from Nancy

Spring is upon us here in the Valley. Once again Mother Nature is providing quite the colorful display of blooms and blossoms! The golf course is green and quite inviting! The cart paths are being re-paved as I type this.

I thought I would take this opportunity to acquaint everyone with the billing procedure that is used here at the resort. Our yearly maintenance fees are mailed out in mid-December. All payments for the upcoming year paid before the invoices go out are automatically put in the drawing for usage of an HOA week (subject to availability). The fees are considered due January 1st and past due February 1st. If payment has not been made by February 15th a 10% delinquent fee is added to the outstanding account. At the first of March 1.5% interest is added. The interest is added again on April 1st. Unpaid accounts are sent to an outside collection agency on April 15th. When accounts go to collection an automatic 20% is added to the outstanding balance. The agency works the account for three months and if still unpaid, it is sent on to our attorney for the foreclosure process to begin on July 15th. If there is ever a problem with payment of fees please be sure to contact us! We can’t help if you don’t call us.

The lucky winners of this year’s drawing for usage of a free week are Bill and Jean Horne. They live in Prattville, Alabama and are owners of 20B/44. They will be coming up to spend an extra week with us in August.

Please don’t give up on the cookbook! Marcia and I are still working on it. We have been busy doing our regular duties and still have a few to enter into the program we are using. Hopefully we will have it complete and ready to go to the publisher before too long.

Reminder: Check-in is at 4pm. As the resort gets busy during Spring and Summer, the staff needs adequate time to get the villas prepared for your arrival. You may come by the office to pick up your golf passes and get set up at the pro-shop for the week.

Ghost Town in the Sky re-opens on May 2nd. We will have adult and children’s tickets available at a discount. We continue to carry discount Biltmore Estate and Wheels Through Time tickets.

Nancy Blanton,
Office Manager

Area Events Calendar