Katelyn Michaud
It’s not hard to fall in love with the RiverWalk Resort once you walk into the lobby. With spacious suites with high-end appliances and fixtures, incredible hotel amenities, and great partners like Seven Birches Winery, Solstice North Day Spa, and La Vista, the RiverWalk Resort is indeed one of New Hampshire’s finest grand hotels.
This blog post is part of “The RiverWalk Guide to Ownership” blog series
In March 2015, Tim and Deb Draper and their friends, Peter and Kathy Langton, rented a condo near Loon Mountain. Before the two families started their three-hour drive from Rhode Island up I-93, Tim saw an advertisement for the new RiverWalk Resort in the Providence Journal. He made a mental note to check out the construction of the new resort if they had time.
After several days of skiing, the Draper and Langton families stopped by the Sales trailer on their way home to check out the construction. The two families met with Carol who offered to take them through the building as she talked about Dennis Ducharme’s vision for the resort. The Draper and Langton families both fell in love with the one model unit that was completed at the time. While both families weren’t looking to buy at the time, Tim asked if Carol would send them some information on the fractional ownership and pricing.
During the car ride home, both Tim and Peter received emails from Carol. As Deb and Kathy started reading the information, everyone started thinking “what if?” Once the seed was planted, there was no turning back; the RiverWalk Resort was the perfect fit for them.
Since both families were ready to invest in a unit, they decided it made more sense to split one fraction. They could afford a larger unit and split the eight weeks in half. Since the Draper and Langton families purchased a fractional share during the construction phase, they knew it came with a little risk. However, as Tim put it, “we could see Dennis’ vision for the resort, and we knew we wanted to be part of it.”
Currently, the RiverWalk Resort is in phase I of construction with phase II starting in the coming years. For the Draper and Langton families, they look forward to the future expansion, but they love all the modern amenities offered by the resort, like the high-end fitness center, in-house Solstice North Day Spa (which Deb uses every time she visits the RiverWalk!), and the pools. For Tim, “Seven Birches was a big selling point for us. We love wine, especially Seven Birches.”
Both Tim and Deb grew up in Rhode Island but spent time in the White Mountains growing up. For years, the Draper family had a camper in the North Conway area but soon grew tired of the traffic and commercialization of the area. They found that the “other side of the Kanc” to be much quieter and slower pace of living. Plus, from Rhode Island, Lincoln is an easy drive up I-93.
As fractional owners, the Draper and Langton families have access to their unit every sixth week throughout the year. Both families almost always go up to the RiverWalk Resort together, even if it’s for just a weekend. On the weeks that they can’t be in their unit, they often offer their unit as a rental in the RiverWalk Resort rental program.
Both the Draper and Langton families have fallen in love with the Lincoln area and always try to something new in the area every year. In the previous years since owning a fractional share, the Draper family have done the Café Lafayette Dinner Train, snowmobiled in the North Country, and taken road trips on the Kancamgus Highway to North Conway for a little shopping. As Tim said, “It’s a great area. We love the Gypsy Café, which is a short walk from the RiverWalk, and the One Love Brewery for the great pub food and atmosphere. La Vista has awesome pizza, and we love Seven Birches.”
The Draper and Langton families were one of the first families to co-own a fractional share at the RiverWalk Resort. “Forming a partnership made the lending and purchasing process a little harder, but we were lucky that we had the help of Carol from the Sales Office and the local bank,” said Tim. Now that the process has been completed several times by RiverWalk Resort owners, the process is much easier to go through for new owners.
Owning a small piece of the RiverWalk Resort is a unique experience and not something that the Draper and Langton families would have typically done, but after seeing the property for the first time and hearing Dennis’ vision for the future of the property really sold the two families. Tim recommends that if you have the opportunity to meet Dennis, his people and hear his vision; then you should absolutely take advantage. Throughout the year, the RiverWalk Resort hosts several Owner’s events where you can meet other Owners. The Draper and Langton families were able to meet a couple of their unit’s fractional owners, and it was a great experience. As Tim said, “we were all very comfortable with each other.”
Tim and the rest of the Draper and Langton families are excited about the future of the resort. “We’ve seen the plans in the Sales office, and it’s quite exciting to see the expansion come to fruition in the near future,” said Tim. Continuing, he said, “we just love the Lincoln area, and we can’t wait to spend more time here over the years.”
This blog post is part of “The RiverWalk Guide to Ownership” blog series
Are you interested in learning more about fractional real estate opportunities at RiverWalk? There are several options for potential owners at RiverWalk Resort.