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Buying new timeshare at Smugglers Notch, Vermont

eajeff

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My son, his wife have three kids, ages 8,6 and 4. They went there over this weekend and loved it. They told me they were going to the timeshare presentation, and they knew very little about timeshares. I cautioned them against buying and, although I am not expert, I suggested that if they were going to go the timeshare route, they consider the secondary market because from what i have read it would be less expensive. They did not listen to my advice and bought the new timeshare today. I have yet to hear the details and remain skeptical of their plan. I am sure they will get use out of it at Smugglers, at least while their kids are still young. For those of you experienced with timeshare, what are some of the opinions of buying new like this?
 

silentg

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Advise them to rescind. They can rent or buy on the secondary market. Talk to them soon, because they only have a few days to rescind.
Don’t you wish our kids would listen to us? Our DS bought from a developer too and we helped him give it away. After we advised him not to buy. Ugh.
Good Luck!
Silentg
 

eajeff

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Advise them to rescind. They can rent or buy on the secondary market. Talk to them soon, because they only have a few days to rescind.
Don’t you wish our kids would listen to us? Our DS bought from a developer too and we helped him give it away. After we advised him not to buy. Ugh.
Good Luck!
Silentg
Can you give me some "ammunition" to give to them to tell them why they should rescind.
 

missyrcrews

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They can search on sumday.com...a reseller of timeshares...there are some smugglers' notch places there for far less than they are probably spending.

We haven't had a ton of trouble trading IN to Smuggs. I've been at least once a year for the past few years. And I sure don't pay what they charge in MF's...even after the RCI exchange fee, I still get off cheaper.

Good luck!
 

silentg

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Look at the resales or rental prices for the resort, I’m sure they paid much more for the same timeshare.
There are other TUG members who own at Smuggs. That can weigh in on this?
We stayed there last year in May on an RCI exchange. It’s a nice resort and I’m sure they think they got a good deal.
But if they rescind and look on eBay, Sumday or TUG marketplace they will find a better deal.
Silentg
 

Passepartout

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And remind them that there is no such thing as a 'NEW' timeshare. They are all used. Someone sat in the chairs, slept in the bed, ate on the dishes the day before you arrive and someone else will use the place tomorrow. So the key is to simply pay less for the privilege.

BUY RE$ALE, $AVE THOU$AND$!

Jim
 

eajeff

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So I emailed my kids and my daughter-in-law writes back: " If you buy in the secondary marker some of the perks don’t transfer because when they upgrade they take the benefits with them" sigh......
 

Passepartout

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So I emailed my kids and my daughter-in-law writes back: " If you buy in the secondary marker some of the perks don’t transfer because when they upgrade they take the benefits with them" sigh......
In some cases this is true. But (other than Wastegate) the perks that don't transfer are not worth paying 10X the price. It sounds like the daughter has been fed a heaping helping of the Kool-Aid. We see it often. But we try to show that stuff like bonus weeks and being invited to a coffee with the manager are just fluff, but some people are more interested in the sizzle than the steak.

We tried.

Jim
 

chemteach

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It is true that the benefits don't transfer, but are the benefits worth the purchase price... My week 26 2 bedroom was purchased for $1 on ebay. I pay yearly fees, and can pay for the benefits when I go to Smuggs. If they rescind, they can always buy later! They will always be able to buy, but they can't rescind after a few days have gone by. They should at least go for a few years renting via Redweek or just paying for the rental. They will likely see that it is cost effective to just rent from owners or directly from Smuggs for a few years than to spend 10s of thousands of dollars up front.
 

missyrcrews

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The Smuggs Pass cost me not quite $400 for a sleeps 6 1 BR this year. (This is part of the "benefits" she's talking about...access to all the pools and such.) I got the week via RCI extra vacations for $450. We were there for the first week of summer ops...a time that we love to go, because of the Summer Solstice activities. (Fireworks and such.)

We did not pay for the kid's camps. I also want my children WITH me for vacation...so that's not a benefit that I've ever felt slighted about.

At any rate, though this week came in over my target of $100/night...it was STILL way cheaper than owning there. Next year, we traded in...we'll have a 3 BR. I used odds and ends of TPUs I had to come up with the 22 required. Again, even after we pay for the Smuggs Pass, and considering it is a "splurge type vacation" for us...it will be less expensive than purchasing a week from the developer.

As I tell my girls...some people buy their American Eagle jeans from the "real store." We buy them at Goodwill. And they look just as good. :) I hope you can talk them around!
 

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What do you mean by "I used odds and ends of TPUs I had to come up with the 22 required". I am knew to the lingo but I see that TPU is trade power units but what is 22 referring to? Please explain
 

missyrcrews

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In RCI, each deposit is allotted so many TPUs. When an exchange is made, sometimes the trade you're getting "costs" less TPUs than your deposit. You get "change" in the form of a deposit credit. I had several of those deposit credits left over...3 tpus, 7 tpus, and so on. RCI lets you combine those (for a fee, of course!) and then you're back in business to do another larger exchange that "costs more."

The Smuggs exchange that I did for next summer was 22 TPUs. You can see how much each available exchange "costs" in RCI. Then you can decide to combine, if it costs more than the individual deposits you have, or to pass.
 

eajeff

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In RCI, each deposit is allotted so many TPUs. When an exchange is made, sometimes the trade you're getting "costs" less TPUs than your deposit. You get "change" in the form of a deposit credit. I had several of those deposit credits left over...3 tpus, 7 tpus, and so on. RCI lets you combine those (for a fee, of course!) and then you're back in business to do another larger exchange that "costs more."

The Smuggs exchange that I did for next summer was 22 TPUs. You can see how much each available exchange "costs" in RCI. Then you can decide to combine, if it costs more than the individual deposits you have, or to pass.

Thanks so much for the explanation. I am a total newbie on this and want to learn more how all this is done. Besides this board which is a wealth of information, are there any books/articles you can point me to in order to learn how all this works as my wife and I want to get into timeshares now that we are approaching retirement?
 

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My best advice to you is to keep your eye on TUG, and consider first renting prior to purchasing at any particular location.

Although you can always do trades, it is best to buy where you most wish to occupy yourself (yourselves) so that you will never be really stuck if you can't trade, rent or sell.

Welcome to TUG and best of luck!




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bluehende

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As others have said. Remind them that at some point they will want to sell. If all these valuable perks are removed and no one should buy resale, then how do they sell it? Run the numbers with getting zero back on the original cost and the vacations become expensive. With young kids your vacation needs will change when they get to teen mode. Many life factors can change your needs. No one knows what the future holds. I am sure a lot here could get even more specific if we knew exactly what they bought for how much.

Also tell them that they have no contract on those benefits I would imagine. Those perks can change.

I have no idea how to get this across to them but if they are falling for the perks line they need to learn a lot more about timesharing before buying.

Edited to say. Give them the link to this thread
 

WinniWoman

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What they did was purchase a Wyndham points ownership there (the only way they are sold now by the resort) and probably spent a fortune! They should rescind immediately and look for deeded RCI points or fixed weeks ownerships resale.

If it was the Wyndham points that attracted them, they can also purchase those resale and visit Smuggs using them.

They can look on Sumday, Ebay, TUG, Redweek, Timeshare Nation, etc. There is even a Smugglers Notch Facebook page for specifically owners, renters and exchangers they can search on.

They can always buy the "benefits' separately after buying their resale and enjoy everything the people who paid full freight do.

It is a great place for families to own at. We have owned 2 weeks (a fixed with an attached floater) for 20 years and love it! Our 31 year old son still visits with us for a few days when we are there. He has a lot of memories and is very sentimental about the place.
 
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eajeff

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What they did was purchase a Wyndham points ownership there (the only way they are sold now by the resort) and probably spent a fortune! They should rescind immediately and look for deeded RCI points or fixed weeks ownerships resale.

If it was the Wyndham points that attracted them, they can also purchase those resale and visit Smuggs using them.

They can look on Sumday, Ebay, TUG, Redweek, Timeshare Nation, etc. There is even a Smugglers Notch Facebook page for specifically owners, renters and exchangers they can search on.

They can always buy the "benefits' separately after buying their resale and enjoy everything the people who paid full freight do.

It is a great place for families to own at. We have owned 2 weeks (a fixed with an attached floater) for 20 years and love it! Our 31 year old son still visits with us for a few days when we are there. He has a lot of memories and is very sentimental about the place.
I am trying to learn the lingo since I am new at this. What is a "a fixed with an attached floater"?
 

WinniWoman

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I am trying to learn the lingo since I am new at this. What is a "a fixed with an attached floater"?

We own a fixed, deeded week- it is week 30 every single year (essentially the last week of July) and it is in the same condo unit every year, so it feels like a second home to us. We always go that week because we love it there and we like that week and our condo with the view we have and so forth. However, if we wanted to, we could trade it to go a different week (which would be a different condo unit as well- whatever is available) or even to go to another resort at even another time of year.

The attached floater is part the way Smuggs use to sell the timeshares to people who wanted to come to the resort every year (instead of every other year, etc.). If you wanted to come every year you also would have to take on a second week- which is off season- spring/fall. In this case- at Smuggs- the floating week is preassigned to you by the resort and is always different every year. The nice thing is, they give you like a 20 year schedule so you always know way ahead of time what the floating weeks will be each year.

When our son was little and in school we always exchanged these weeks (through RCI- an exchange company) to go other places during the times school was out. We went all over the country with these. But we always used our fixed week 30 to go to Smuggs.

Now that we are older, we usually use the floaters at Smuggs as well. We like the off seasons as they are quieter.

Actually, this year our floater falls during Thanksgiving week so we are looking forward to using it there for the holiday. Last September we had decided to exchange a floater to go to Cape Cod. (we used a different exchange company for that one- we no longer belong to RCI- but I don't want to confuse you even more with that info.! LOL!)
 
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eajeff

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We own a fixed, deeded week- it is week 30 every single year (essentially the last week of July) and it is in the same condo unit every year, so it feels like a second home to us. We always go that week because we love it there and we like that week and our condo with the view we have and so forth. However, if we wanted to, we could trade it to go a different week (which would be a different condo unit as well- whatever is available) or even to go to another resort at even another time of year.

The attached floater is part the way Smuggs use to sell the timeshares to people who wanted to come to the resort every year (instead of every other year, etc.). If you wanted to come every year you also would have to take on a second week- which is off season- spring/fall. In this case- at Smuggs- the floating week is preassigned to you by the resort and is always different every year. The nice thing is, they give you like a 20 year schedule so you always know way ahead of time what the floating weeks will be each year.

When our son was little and in school we always exchange these weeks (through RCI- an exchange company) to go other places during the times school was out. We went all over the country with these. But we always used our fixed week 30 to go to Smuggs.

Now that we are older, we usually use the floaters at Smuggs as well. We like the off seasons as they are quieter.

Actually, this year our floater falls during Thanksgiving week so we are looking forward to using it there for the holiday. Last September we had decided to exchange it to go to Cape Cod. (we used a different exchange company for that one- we no longer belong to RCI- but I don't want to confuse you even more with that info.! LOL!)

Now I understand Mary Ann. thanks for clarifying. I understand some about exchange companies as I have been reading up today. What is the other exchange company you used for Cape Cod? I can handle it without getting confused----I think LOL
 

WinniWoman

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Now I understand Mary Ann. thanks for clarifying. I understand some about exchange companies as I have been reading up today. What is the other exchange company you used for Cape Cod? I can handle it without getting confused----I think LOL

Trading Places International. Now we just use the small independent exchange companies for the few times we might exchange. There is no annual membership fee, unless you want to upgrade to a premier membership. Same with DAE, Platinum Interchange, RTX, and some others. They all have limited inventory, however.

We have also used Trading Places to exchange a Smuggs floater to go into our other resort (where we own week 31 and visit right after our week 30 Smuggs week each summer) that we got for free on Timeshare Nation. That is Innseason Pollard Brook in NH. We used the Smuggs floater to go there in Sept. so we could attend the Scottish Highland Games.

RCI has a mandatory annual membership fee and higher exchange fees. Because we rarely exchange, we decided to terminate our membership with them. That said- they, along with II, have the largest inventory.
 

eajeff

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Trading Places International. Now we just use the small independent exchange companies for the few times we might exchange. There is no annual membership fee, unless you want to upgrade to a premier membership. Same with DAE, Platinum Interchange, RTX, and some others. They all have limited inventory, however.

We have also used Trading Places to exchange a Smuggs floater to go into our other resort (where we own week 31 and visit right after our week 30 Smuggs week each summer) that we got for free on Timeshare Nation. That is Innseason Pollard Brook in NH. We used the Smuggs floater to go there in Sept. so we could attend the Scottish Highland Games.

RCI has a mandatory annual membership fee and higher exchange fees. Because we rarely exchange, we decided to terminate our membership with them. That said- they, along with II, have the largest inventory.
II stands for Interval International, correct? See I am catching on. HA!
 

WinniWoman

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II stands for Interval International, correct? See I am catching on. HA!

LOL! That's correct! Smuggs is not in II, but it is in RCI and, of course, Wyndham (which owns RCI).

Our other resort is in both RCI and II, but is VRI managed, which is or was affiliated with Trading Places, so Trading Places usually has more New England inventory (though odd season) (including our resort- Pollard Brook) than the other smaller, independent companies.
 

silentg

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There is also VRI . Lots of Cape Resorts affiliated with Vacation Resorts International.
We used to own a week at Holly Tree Resort in Yarmouth.
Silentg
 

WinniWoman

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There is also VRI . Lots of Cape Resorts affiliated with Vacation Resorts International.
We used to own a week at Holly Tree Resort in Yarmouth.
Silentg

You have to go through Trading Places for an exchange I believe now, though there are rentals that come through with VRI. I get the VRI emails and that is how we went up to Pollard Brook for 2 days in may when we were looking for a home.
 
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