Want to buy a resale in South East

1) Where do you want your home resort to be?

Within 6 hours drive of Birmingham, AL

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?

trade more than half the time

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

Alabama Gulf Coast, FL Panhandle, South FL, SC, TN

4) How many people do you usually travel with?

5 adults

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?

any time until 2018

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?

yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?

yes

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?

4

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?

$3500

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year?

$1000

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?

yes

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do?

yes

So 2 br and mostly ocean front. From what you have there I would look at Wyndham points (somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000) to see if they would work for you. You can pay the MF's monthly. It's within your price range and star quality. You should probably be able to get a full week and a partial week for that amount of MF's, more or less depending on the size location and season you travel.

A 2/2 lockoff at the Ft Lauderdale Beach Resort. MFs are around $875 year. Trades in RCI and II along with VRI. Within a block of beach in Ft Lauderdale.

The 1bdr side sleeps 6 (King in bdr; sofabed & murphy bed in LR) plus the studio has a 2nd KING bed. Get a good winter or summer PRIME week when you might use it some of the time; plan your trades (RCI deposit each side separately & combine TPUs; II trade like for like on searches 2bdr for 2bdr).

PS May not fully be 4 Star but location is just about perfect.

Yes, I am a fan ... like it better for location & area than the 3 beachy Wyndham resorts in Pompano HANDS DOWN! And I own at all those Wyndham resorts, too.

JeffWill is giving some away free in Hilton Head. Check his posts.

My brother got a 3 bedroom which is great! FREE

Thank you. we were considering Wyndham since they have a fairly new property in Destin, FL. The points guidance is a great help

Sandy said:

JeffWill is giving some away free in Hilton Head. Check his posts.

My brother got a 3 bedroom which is great! FREE

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I'm new to the site, should I be looking in a thread post or the marketplace?

probably listed in both places, but for posts they likely mean here...all the timeshares posted in this forum are free

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=55

points vs weeks

Is there a thread that compares points verses deeded weeks.
If for 18 years we would be restricted to traveling during peak time of school schedules does it make any sense to buy any weeks outside of that time?

Buy a fixed OceanFront unit prime summer week and your in!

needhelp said:

Is there a thread that compares points verses deeded weeks.
If for 18 years we would be restricted to traveling during peak time of school schedules does it make any sense to buy any weeks outside of that time?

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No buy where you plan to go most often. If you buy points buy the deed at a resort you want to go to and enough points for a prime week so you get ARP. As mentioned, a fixed summer oceanfront week would work for you. Keep in mind if you want to trade it, rent it, or sell it in the future more people want to go to the beach (in the areas you are looking for)in July than January...

steering only slightly sideways, has anyone had any really good stays on the panhandle/alabama coast WEST of Destin/Panama? We really would love to buy a condo on Perdido (Pensacola, just east of the Alabama Gulfshore), but the cost is prohibitive now.

Thanks. (OP also asked about the AL. gulfshore/FL panhandle, so I'm not really hijacking am I?)

There is no need for you to buy a TS given your preferred travel area. We are originally from the Alabama coast area and have rented very nice condos at reasonable prices for years in this area..

Love the Perdido Key area, near the Alabama line. A lot depends on the size unit you want and your budget. I have found condos in this area reasonable compared to other coastal areas in the U.S.. I would contact a good realtor in this region.

taterhed said:

steering only slightly sideways, has anyone had any really good stays on the panhandle/alabama coast WEST of Destin/Panama? We really would love to buy a condo on Perdido (Pensacola, just east of the Alabama Gulfshore), but the cost is prohibitive now.

Thanks. (OP also asked about the AL. gulfshore/FL panhandle, so I'm not really hijacking am I?)

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lizap said:

Love the Perdido Key area, near the Alabama line. A lot depends on the size unit you want and your budget. I have found condos in this area reasonable compared to other coastal areas in the U.S.. I would contact a good realtor in this region.

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Sorry, I didn't say that well. One day, I think we will buy a condo in this area. For now, we just want to find a really nice TIMESHARE in the Perdido (general) area. Destin and Panama B are just too built up.
thanks again.

Advice for Future New Owner

Based upon the information you provided I encourage you to consider buying a timeshare unit week on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I have owned there for many years and it is a wonderful place to vacation. Also, most of the timeshare weeks on Hilton Head island have good a trading value. Consistent with your interests is a resort named the Royal Dunes. It is located about a block from the beach and is a wonderful family friendly resort and all units have three bedrooms and three bathrooms. It is an RCI Gold Crown resort and has good trading power. Current annual maint4enance fee is $835. Very good value for the money.

Weeks vs points

needhelp said:

Is there a thread that compares points verses deeded weeks.
If for 18 years we would be restricted to traveling during peak time of school schedules does it make any sense to buy any weeks outside of that time?

Click to expand...

We bought at the Royals in Cancun and were told that we just lost our two weeks when a hurricane hit. They told us it was like having your own place and that since we couldn't go there then we just lost those two weeks. It didn't matter to them that the Royal Caribbean was shut down. That was our property that Mexico shut down for those two weeks. I could see their point but they were very callous about it. They make a lot of money off the members and decided to ease up on their hard stand but what a hassle having a week versus points.

One thing you might look at is the rental value of your property (timeshare). Often the location rents out owner's units. You might find the rental value quite different and it may affect which unit you buy. You may also want to look at how rentable your unit is. Some periods there is much interest. You may also want to avoid hurricane season etc. Also in the fall the seas were too rough to enjoy swimming and snorkeling (murky water) and the undertow was dangerous. You might like the off-season because the crowds are less but there may be some attractions that aren't open. Flight connections and cheap airline connections may also be important for location accessibility. Some periods during the year the airlines offer cheaper airfares as when there is more competition between carriers. Do you want at RTU vs. ownership. A RTU means you get it for x number of years then loose it or in some cases there is a residual value when it is sold. The concept of using your week elsewhere is a bit more complicated than it appears. There are preferences given and several different strategies you must employ to get what you want. Since half the time you are going to be at the same location plan on liking doing the same activities many years. The most disturbing thing about timeshares are the constant increases in dues. They could double in just a few years. At any rate be schooled well before assuming you know how trading your timeshare works.