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New Timeshare price?

boyblue

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I havent been to many TS presintations but I've seen prices Ranging from $7,500.00 (Westgate 2br EOY) up to $38,000.00 (Harborside 2Br).

What should a developer sell a 2Br unit for in Florida? What should a 2Br TS sell for in the Caribbean. Would you buy from a developer at any price or would you expect that the price is inflated?
 

TUGBrian

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the most recent study showed the average retail price is somewhere north of 18,000 dollars.

any retail price is of course inflated, this is because upwards of 50% or more of the purchase price is used to cover the marketing expense of generating the sale...thus even in a perfect world (assuming there were no other expenses)...you are paying 2x as much as your timeshare is actually worth.

with the resale market the way it is, the fact that you can buy timeshares for pennies on the dollar from existing owners on the resale market makes retail even more unappealing.

you just have to research your purchase to see if:

1. there is any difference at all between resale and retail in terms of benefits

and

2. if any exist, are they worth paying 99% more for.


westgate is a great example, as that 7,500 2br eoy would likely have to be given away for nothing to attract a buyer in the resale market....or fork out 2500 bucks to deed it back to westgate.
 

alexadeparis

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Depending on what you are looking for, I have seen quoted retail prices pushing $150k (for event week, ocean front, fixed unit, etc)
 

boyblue

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westgate is a great example, as that 7,500 2br eoy would likely have to be given away for nothing to attract a buyer in the resale market....or fork out 2500 bucks to deed it back to westgate.

You're absolutely right. I paid $9,600.00 for a 3Br eoy that I deeded back for $2,500.00. But Westgate owes TUG a debt of gratitude because I had planned to walk away from the obligation (Here in the Bahamas I would not have been affected by any collection efforts) but you Tuggers talked me into doing the right thing :)

In addition, in terms of TS pricing, the fact is Ebay determines the value. Cool!

I'm trying to think of reasons why a developer's selling price would be justifiably higher. The only two things I can come up with is you get to pick your week and your actual unit. Is there more?
 
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Ty1on

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The only two things I can come up with is you get to pick your week and your actual unit. Is there more?

I think what you really mean is "Developer has a resort/unit/week that is highly sought after and is absolutely unavailable on the resale market." Most cases of fixed unit/week, even premium ones, are still less than the developer, though they are substantially more than pennies on the dollar.
 

boyblue

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I think what you really mean is "Developer has a resort/unit/week that is highly sought after and is absolutely unavailable on the resale market." Most cases of fixed unit/week, even premium ones, are still less than the developer, though they are substantially more than pennies on the dollar.

I wasn't really referring to those universally sought after dates. I meant like if you're looking for a week 36 at that particular location, you could be searching Ebay forever. The developer sales office on the other hand could let you know right away what's available.
 

Ty1on

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I wasn't really referring to those universally sought after dates. I meant like if you're looking for a week 36 at that particular location, you could be searching Ebay forever. The developer sales office on the other hand could let you know right away what's available.

That, and financing, are imo the two main reasons folks buy retail when they know about the alternatives.
 

boyblue

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That, and financing, are imo the two main reasons folks buy retail when they know about the alternatives.

And I guess the comfort of buying from the source.
 

TUGBrian

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im not actually aware of any difference between resale and retail for westgate in terms of ownership.

are there any at all?
 

theo

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im not actually aware of any difference between resale and retail for westgate in terms of ownership.

are there any at all?

Others have reported anecdotally that Westgate has internal reservation practices which considerably complicate and devalue resale purchases, but I don't personally know (or need or want to know) the applicable details.

To me, the value of a Westgate timeshare is zero (or less), whether purchased retail or resale. :shrug:
 

DeniseM

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im not actually aware of any difference between resale and retail for westgate in terms of ownership.

are there any at all?

It has been reported that there are higher fees and more restrictions for resale owners - for instance, when exchanging.
 

scootr5

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According to this thread, among them is $450 charge for internal exchanges for resale owners versus $150 for developer purchased, as well as limiting resale owners to booking float weeks 60 days out versus 11 months for a developer purchased contract.
 

TUGBrian

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so 300 bucks more per exchange...i could do alot of exchanging and still come out ahead vs buying retail! =)

that large float window is pretty substantial though...one could feasibly see value in that...unless they were buying just to stay at the home resort.

good info....im going to make a fun little video about resale vs retail pricing using westgate as an example.
 

tschwa2

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There are 2 other restrictions that I have heard but don't know if they are enforced. The biggest being that float owners can only reserve 60 days in advance while retail owners can reserve 12 months in advance. My understanding is this is part of the CC&R at Park City. I haven't been able to confirm if it was written into the offerings anywhere else. I have heard it mentioned in reference to Myrtle Beach and Gatlinburg but I haven't had any resale owners confirm that this is the case.

The other restriction (and this is here say as well possibly started by salesfolk) is that Westgate triples the lock off fee for resale owner.

The 3rd isn't really a restriction but, I have heard that unlike most systems where the reservation and unit assignment department couldn't care less whether an owner bought retail or resale, WG does give the nicer views to retail owners. I have also heard that perks like free wifi, activity discounts, etc don't apply to resale owners. None of this makes me want to buy retail, it just makes me want to stay away from WG- although I admit I am sometime tempted and would probably own a resale unit or two or three had it not been for the restrictions or threat of restrictions.
 

BocaBoy

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In addition, in terms of TS pricing, the fact is Ebay determines the value. Cool!

I'm trying to think of reasons why a developer's selling price would be justifiably higher. The only two things I can come up with is you get to pick your week and your actual unit. Is there more?

EBay is one determinant of value, but to say it "determines the value" is, in my experience, a gross overstatement. As a seller I would never use EBay unless I had a worthless timeshare I was willing to just give away. Other channels can often net sellers much more. As a buyer, EBay is indeed where you might get a "steal," especially on less than prime weeks. It is where the more desperate sellers tend to list.

I think the biggest reason why developer prices are so much higher than resale prices is to cover their sales and marketing costs in selling their product. These can easily double the retail price of a timeshare week. This is totally justifiable from a business perspective, but it does not mean that a buyer should pay it.
 

ctrob

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You're absolutely right. I paid $9,600.00 for a 3Br eoy that I deeded back for $2,500.00. But Westgate owes TUG a debt of gratitude because I had planned to walk away from the obligation (Here in the Bahamas I would not have been affected by any collection efforts) but you Tuggers talked me into doing the right thing :)

Where was the unit? I tried this several times with Westgate (Lakes), in person, over the phone and eventually confirmed in writing that they didn't buy back units.

The funniest thing thing was the rep claiming that it would a 'conflict of interest' for them to buy units while selling them, although they'd happily part exchange my unit for a more expensive one.

I decided to sell mine for a dollar, and that went through a couple of months back.

I had it for 16 years (also eoy) and got a good amount of use out of it but it's tougher to use from the EU. We stayed at it a couple of times and were very happy, plus we had some good swaps via Interval International. With the lock-out originally we would get two quality week's swap in EU for about $500.

In the end it got too expensive to fly the family out to the States for it and it's actually very hard to get II swaps in Europe. I would phone and there would be, say, no swaps in France what-so-ever in the summer at all. This year we actually paid for a holiday to go where we want to go rather than be limited to II availability - plus with package deals it's not much more expensive. We also had a nice II week in Cornwall over Easter so not all bad but it's likely our final swap week will go unused.

My other concern is the lock-in: that you can't give up the ownership without finding someone else to take it over. Combine this with the lack of control over the maintenance/service charges (which have almost trebled in my case since 2000) and you've more or less signed a blank cheque...

I don't know how Westgate treats resale differently - I'm not really sure how they can? (If you own the deed you're an owner! - there are no classes of owner?) They are fairly aggressive about further sales when you stay there. I've heard this is particularly bad for people who go there on cheap/freebie deals and there being dreadful treatment of people who don't cooperate with the sales process... On our two stays, the first year we went to a breakfast, which culminated in us trying to get them to buy ours back (to no avail). The second yearI said we wouldn't be attending and they left us alone.
 
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