A few thoughts. As you are finding out, “free” is not always a good deal. It might not be a bad deal though. One way to think about an acquisition is to take the purchase price plus the maintenance fees (or projected maintenance fees) for the time period you would like to hold the property, add up the total number of points for the number of years, then divide the total cost by the number of points. For example, if you owned the 1400 point free unit for two years, that would be apx $3200 / 2800 points = $1.14 per point. Let’s say you find a 2200 point unit with a purchase price of $5000, intend to hold for a decade, that would be $5000 purchase plus $16000 maintenance fees (assuming zero inflation, which we all know is unrealistic, but trying to make a simple example) = $21000 / 22000 points = 95¢ per point. That is a better value. However, let’s say you hold both for two years, then it‘s ($5000+$3200)/4400= $1.86 per point, a much worse deal. So, length of time you hold the property has a big impact on your decision. You mentioned that your kiddos will soon be out of the house. Will you and your spouse travel more (requiring more points)? Will you want to have your adult kiddos join you… with their families as life happens (requiring larger units / more points)?
There is also the possibility you might like another property in the system, or a specific event week. I am a big proponent of buying where you want to stay. Some properties are harder to get into, particularly during specific weeks. For example, week 52 at a ski property, you will probably need to own that. To a lesser extent, Fantasy Fest week… you might be able to trade in with advanced planning, or if you know you want to be there that specific week for that event, you might consider buying it. Easier to trade the desirable week into points for use elsewhere than to turn points into the desirable week.
Last, due to specific fiscal actions combined with some geopolitical events, our economy is going into some disruptive times (inflation, recession, stagflation). Maintenance fees will increase, when looking at family finances a timeshare is a luxury item easily dispensed, I believe we will see more unit weeks for sale and reduced prices for these units over the next two years… starting when folks start receiving this years maintenance fees.
I can only speak for myself when I was in your position. We bought our first unit/week and then spent two years learning the Hyatt system. Over that time learned how things work and stayed at multiple properties, and looked for a really good deal. We decided to buy another unit at a different property with higher maintenance fees than our first unit because we liked that property, specific unit, and specific week.
Good luck and Welcome to Hyatt and TUG. This place is a massive resource with lots of very helpful folks.