Did you buy more timeshare weeks/points just prior to or early in retirement?

[Former Cruiser]

Why buy when you can rent for the maintenance fee or less? Then you have no obligation after you're too old or some other reason you can no longer travel? There are many websites, including TUG, where you can rent.

 

[Free2Roam]

Why buy when you can rent for the maintenance fee or less? Then you have no obligation after you're too old or some other reason you can no longer travel? There are many websites, including TUG, where you can rent.

Because you can't always rent for maintenance fees or less... except maybe off-season. Personally I'd rather have control over where and when I travel. And I get better prices thru my ownerships (even with RCI exchanges.) And when I rent out what I own, it's rarely (if ever) just for maintenance fees. I get enough to cover maintenance fees plus some extra to put towards my own vacations.

 

[chriskre]

I bought with retirement in mind in my 40's.
Bought fixed weeks at the beach on the ground floor of my favorite little resort here locally.
Bought DVC points, Wyndham, Hilton points to use in the club for my favorite beach resorts
and bought a mega trader that gets me multiple weeks a year to exchange with and rent out.
I own a few EOY units to have more options without the high expense of yearlies.

The plan was working great until at 48 I got very sick.
Traveling became very difficult for me and I was paying MF's on units that I wasn't really enjoying.
It's been a rough 5 years and I had to take early retirement, but I live in FL so at least it wasn't
a total loss since I can drive to many TS's here on just a half tank of gas.
I'm glad I did most of my Foreign travel in my 30's and 40's.

I'm getting stronger now and am starting to travel again.
I'm glad I didn't panic and sell everything off.
As a matter of fact I actually bought Poly DVC points a few years ago and
am excited to be staying for my first trip next month.
DVC is definitely a good handicap friendly system.

 

[chriskre]

I have never heard someone say DVC is the most senior friendly timeshare. Can you say more about that? What makes DVC senior friendly?

I agree that DVC is my most handicap or senior friendly system.
I've taken my 80 year old Mom and 90 year old Auntie to Disney several times.
They go out of their way to accommodate you.

They will bring the golf carts for you to take you around the resorts,
they have valet parking that is free for handicap in all the deluxe resorts,
you can book a guaranteed ADA room or Florida accessible room that is
extra wide for scooters or a hearing impaired room.

The pools are all zero entry so you don't need to use that stupid swinging chair.
The bellhops will receive your scooter rental for you and hold your grocery
delivery, they will move all your luggage for you from resort to resort.
They of course have Magical Express where you won't even need a car if
you are flying in.

I'm sure there are other things that Disney does for seniors or handicap.
I learn something new on every trip.

I'm 53 and I plan on visiting the mouse well into my 70's and possibly 80's
if I am still able. I know friends who did just that and were original owners
at OKW resort.

I stay at a lot of Marriots, Hiltons and Wyndhams and very few of them have
the kind of senior or handicap friendly services that Disney provides.
Those TS's are just as expensive retail as Disney yet I find that I've got to
practically beg to get help at many of those brands. I understand that TS's
are supposed to feel like they are your home, but given the clientele at many
of these resorts you'd think they'd consider that most of these seniors need
a little help at least checking in and out and with groceries.

 

[WackyLucy]

Why buy when you can rent for the maintenance fee or less? Then you have no obligation after you're too old or some other reason you can no longer travel? There are many websites, including TUG, where you can rent.

Sure, but availability always prevails over everything else. No matter how many web sites you search, the rule of supply and demand determines whether you will find a rental exactly where and exactly when you want to travel. Ownership (particularly fixed week / unit ownership) eliminates any and all such uncertainty.

In high demand / low supply times and places, you are highly unlikely to be able to rent "for maintenance fees or less" except in occasional and unusual or last minute circumstances.

 

[1st Class]

I agree that DVC is my most handicap or senior friendly system.
I've taken my 80 year old Mom and 90 year old Auntie to Disney several times.
They go out of their way to accommodate you.

They will bring the golf carts for you to take you around the resorts,
they have valet parking that is free for handicap in all the deluxe resorts,
you can book a guaranteed ADA room or Florida accessible room that is
extra wide for scooters or a hearing impaired room.

The pools are all zero entry so you don't need to use that stupid swinging chair.
The bellhops will receive your scooter rental for you and hold your grocery
delivery, they will move all your luggage for you from resort to resort.
They of course have Magical Express where you won't even need a car if
you are flying in.

I'm sure there are other things that Disney does for seniors or handicap.
I learn something new on every trip.

I'm 53 and I plan on visiting the mouse well into my 70's and possibly 80's
if I am still able. I know friends who did just that and were original owners
at OKW resort.

I stay at a lot of Marriots, Hiltons and Wyndhams and very few of them have
the kind of senior or handicap friendly services that Disney provides.
Those TS's are just as expensive retail as Disney yet I find that I've got to
practically beg to get help at many of those brands. I understand that TS's
are supposed to feel like they are your home, but given the clientele at many
of these resorts you'd think they'd consider that most of these seniors need
a little help at least checking in and out and with groceries.

Good to know that as a rule Disney accommodates those who need it. However, I witnessed something a few years ago while at Epcot that runs counter to your experience. There was a woman in line for an attraction whose scooter quit working and Disney cast members refused to help her because she had rented the scooter off property. It was pretty distressing to see until strangers came to the woman's aid and were able to help get the scooter going again.

 

[forestgump14]

I do not understand your comment.

What I am saying is many resorts can be booked for less than the maintenance fees. Between Airbnb, TUGG, getaways, CC points unless you are booking in prime time, it sure seems like its much more effective in retirement.

 

[forestgump14]

I think it means do not buy and pay money and high maintenance fees and use getaways and rentals as a less costly way to vacation.

For me that does not work. I have my favorite places to go and want to be guaranteed I get to go to the resorts I want during weeks I want.

Isn't that the advantage of being retired? You are more flexible with travel plans. Of course you can still plan ahead with Air bnb, and redweek, ebay timeshare weeks.

Heck in some places like Aruba, South America, Europe you can rent places for a month very cheap. The last thing I want when I retire is more timeshares lol.

i can book almost any place I want with what I have now, Air BNB, Tugg, Redweek, and ever increasing is credit card points, which i easily earn 200,000 per year for nothing.

Of course if you have places you want to go every year it makes sense to own where you want to go every year. I am just commenting on buying more.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I believe there is no right answer. People will fall in 2 categories based on how they perceive risk:

1) Some view owning a TS as high risk so they don't own, but are comfortable with the risks of renting such as getting scammed/losing deposit (or no rental when you get there at midnight in a foreign locale), a dumpy rental, plus the time to research the rental, and risk that the rental will not be available for the prime week desired.

2) Some are comfortable with owning a TS but don't like the risks of renting.

Neither option is risk free

 

[Steve Fatula]

What I am saying is many resorts can be booked for less than the maintenance fees. Between Airbnb, TUGG, getaways, CC points unless you are booking in prime time, it sure seems like its much more effective in retirement.

This is true depending on season, etc. I always tend to price out though. On my 4 week Australia trip last year, renting would have put me more than $5,000 more expensive than the MF, so it depends where you go, when, etc. Many people regularly rent their TS for more than the MF, so, obviously far from always. Where I go each Feb, it is way more to rent.

I get that some people either don't like their TS, or see it as a hassle, or, have narrow uses. Not everyone is that way. I can just as easily pick on other things in life, some of which people spend more on than buying a TS from developer direct! For some reason, the TS purchase is bad, but other purchases seem ok. Pet peeves that come to mind - cell phones and plans, new cars. We see so many people who feel the "need" for the new phone, and, get locked into contracts paying ridiculous amounts. I currently pay just over $3/mo for unlimited Sprint and own my phone. That's more than I paid 13 months ago. I've paid $0 for 5 years for my tablet cell plans. New cars, so many finance $25k, $40k cars, pickups, whatever and then pay for the low mileage vehicle's gas. And they repeat every few years. For me, that is far most wasteful than a TS purchase, even direct from a developer (except for the super expensive ones). I'd rather own a $30k timeshare than a $30k vehicle (and associated fuel, insurance costs) given a choice. Of course, I'd prefer a lower cost resale timeshare even better in general. TS will last a lifetime, cars fall apart. And used properly, far more life experiences and enjoyment of the TS vs "stuff".

And just being in the system gets me II getaways, amazing values generally cheaper than renting.

 

[donnaval]

We had a plan for retirement - had a boatload of Fairfield points and planned to use 28k deposits (which were considered blue studios) that would be upgraded to blue one-bedrooms, and travel half the year on those points. Well, Wyndham acquired Fairfield, the 28k upgraded deposits went bye bye, they took away our ability to deposit actual units into RCI....there went the main portion our retirement travel plan. We also had a nice selection of low MF but good trading units. Over the intervening years, there were more takeovers by companies we had no interest in doing business with (Fiesta, Diamond), coupled with big increases in maintenance fees after the takeovers, then big jumps in exchange fees, point/tpu creep, unit-size upgrade fees etc.. We still find the occasional great deal and travel a fair amount but it's nothing like what we had planned. And who knows what further changes will occur to our detriment, beyond our control.

 

[chriskre]

What I am saying is many resorts can be booked for less than the maintenance fees. Between Airbnb, TUGG, getaways, CC points unless you are booking in prime time, it sure seems like its much more effective in retirement.

Just because you are retired doesn't mean that those you travel with are too.
My family is still working but I travel with them every summer for several trips.

If I had to rent my same week from the resort that I pay $650 a week MFs for,
I'd pay $1200 to rent my week. I own the only 2 bedroom on the first floor
that is oceanfront in the little resort that faces the beach. There are 2 other
units facing the ocean but they are up the stairs.

The resort next door which is not a timeshare, rents their 2 bedrooms for $250
a night plus 10% tax. That would cost me $1925 for the same stretch of beach.
So until I decide that I will only travel by myself, I will need to do it with
timeshares as it's the only way I can afford to do it with the ones I love.

I believe there is no right answer. People will fall in 2 categories based on how they perceive risk:

1) Some view owning a TS as high risk so they don't own, but are comfortable with the risks of renting such as getting scammed/losing deposit (or no rental when you get there at midnight in a foreign locale), a dumpy rental, plus the time to research the rental, and risk that the rental will not be available for the prime week desired.

2) Some are comfortable with owning a TS but don't like the risks of renting.

Neither option is risk free

And there are those risks of renting but privacy is also an issue with private rentals.
I have a friend who rented a house on Airbnb and found cameras hidden in the home.
The owners were also controlling the temperature and resetting the AC with them in the house!

In this day and age it's just too easy for an owner to do this sort of thing.
You may never discover the cameras and who knows what can be done with those pictures.
That's reason enough for me not to be comfortable renting a private home from anyone I don't know.
Shoot even from people I know. My brothers home is full of cameras. He spies on his own family. LOL.

We had a plan for retirement - had a boatload of Fairfield points and planned to use 28k deposits (which were considered blue studios) that would be upgraded to blue one-bedrooms, and travel half the year on those points. Well, Wyndham acquired Fairfield, the 28k upgraded deposits went bye bye, they took away our ability to deposit actual units into RCI....there went the main portion our retirement travel plan. We also had a nice selection of low MF but good trading units. Over the intervening years, there were more takeovers by companies we had no interest in doing business with (Fiesta, Diamond), coupled with big increases in maintenance fees after the takeovers, then big jumps in exchange fees, point/tpu creep, unit-size upgrade fees etc.. We still find the occasional great deal and travel a fair amount but it's nothing like what we had planned. And who knows what further changes will occur to our detriment, beyond our control.

That does truly suck and is the danger with trying to game the system and rely on things other than what you purchased.
That's why I like my fixed weeks I use and the mini-systems and just use those points within those systems.
I still do alot of exchanges with my fixed weeks, but like you it's getting more expensive than it was when
I started, but then again so is everything else in life. It's still cheaper than trying to own all these extra weeks but
certainly not exactly what I signed up for. Although the costs have gone up so has my pickiness. I won't just
accept any exchange anymore. Since it is costing me more, then it's gotta be something worth my MF's and
all associated fees. I am still getting relatively good value, hopefully it continues.

 

[1user2]

Thanks for all of the feedback. One of the things that got me thinking about this was the fact that a number of people at our HGVC timeshare own anywhere from 3 to 17 weeks. A number of people come down for most of the winter. I think that concerns about getting older and not being able to drive are certainly valid (although if our health remains good, I think we'll be driving for at least 20 plus more years based on family health histories as well as our own-not guaranteed, I know). As far as our home timeshare is concerned, we can walk to multiple restaurants, the movies and mini golf, and have the beach outside of our door. If we were to buy a Hyatt, the one that I would buy is about 45 minutes from our existing timeshare and has a number of on-site amenities-so we could probably coordinate stays between HGVC and Hyatt to save on plane fare/driving costs. I too look at resale timeshares as an alternative to having a second home. Of course, Last Calls and other bargains may be useful as well-our friends Mike and Edie of of the blog fulltimetimeshare.com (whom we are blessed to know in real life) have used these to great advantage in their retirement travels. Decisions, decisions!

We have a weeks timeshare that we bought while we were working & used it for vacations several times a year. Now that we are retired we invested in a points program also so we can take 2-4 day trips also. So far this has worked out wonderfully for us. We use the weeks for family/ places further away from home trips & points for trips closer to home (several states away)

 

[silentg]

As of today, we have 5 timeshare weeks. All different places, a couple were at resorts we had trouble trading into so those will be the last ones to give up. We still trade thru RCI and have 5 upcoming vacations booked between now and May 2019. In fact we are on a timeshare vacation this week. I will do a review at the end of the week!
Silentg

 

[elaine]

I thought that I would want to buy more for retirement. We had dvc, eoy rci points, 2 fixed summer beach weeks and a floating cabin week. We downsized two of these and bought more dvc. We had lots of great trades-no complaints.
But, I am tiring of the rci trading. Will still trade for 2 weeks/year. Will cruise or pay cash and have more flex. Plus we plan to travel to Europe and it’s hard to find TS in european cities. Sil Airbnb all over Europe and loved it. Plus all the mergers and changes to systems have turned me off.

 

[DancingWaters]

I bought with retirement in mind in my 40's.
Bought fixed weeks at the beach on the ground floor of my favorite little resort here locally.
Bought DVC points, Wyndham, Hilton points to use in the club for my favorite beach resorts
and bought a mega trader that gets me multiple weeks a year to exchange with and rent out.
I own a few EOY units to have more options without the high expense of yearlies.

The plan was working great until at 48 I got very sick.
Traveling became very difficult for me and I was paying MF's on units that I wasn't really enjoying.
It's been a rough 5 years and I had to take early retirement, but I live in FL so at least it wasn't
a total loss since I can drive to many TS's here on just a half tank of gas.
I'm glad I did most of my Foreign travel in my 30's and 40's.

I'm getting stronger now and am starting to travel again.
I'm glad I didn't panic and sell everything off.
As a matter of fact I actually bought Poly DVC points a few years ago and
am excited to be staying for my first trip next month.
DVC is definitely a good handicap friendly system.

Glad to hear you are doing better. You posted a lot years ago when I first joined. Your Mickie Mouse necklace always caught my interest since I am Disney fan also. Like you, I had to retire earlier than I wanted because of health reasons. Unfortunately, I loved my job, so it’s been an adjustment. I’m much better physically too but plenty bored.

 

[Panina]

Glad to hear you are doing better. You posted a lot years ago when I first joined. Your Mickie Mouse necklace always caught my interest since I am Disney fan also. Like you, I had to retire earlier than I wanted because of health reasons. Unfortunately, I loved my job, so it’s been an adjustment. I’m much better physically too but plenty bored.

I loved my job too but when I retired never looked back and have enjoyed every moment.

I have explored new and previous passions. Just started writing and hope to publish one day.

I have a friend who was also bored when he retired. Now he loves it. Found his passion, plays pool a couple of times a week with other retirees.

 

[WinniWoman]

Heck- I prefer to do nothing rather than my job. Just regular activities of living would keep me busy.

And I have a lot of dreaming to do.

 

[Steve Fatula]

My goal since I was 21 years old was to not work. I achieved that goal this year at last at 58. I would rather do anything, including nothing, than work. Bored? I find that impossible! I have billions of things to do. Travel being one of them. I guess we are all different, boredom is simply a totally foreign concept to me that I do not understand.

VERY partial list of things to do:

Vacation
Visit Family, which we could rarely do when working, out of state
Visit friends
Volunteer
Gardening
All house maintenance
Gym
TUG
Reading
Video Games
War Games
Movies
Hiking / Walking
Scanning millions of pictures
Find more ways to save money
Manage investments
Scan in all non digital photos
Programming for home theater control and make things easy for the wife
Take a Spanish class
Get will in order
Throwing stuff out we no longer need
Complete patio
Tax planning
Make a website war memorial for my dad
Programming to auto download a bunch of videos for the wife on a regular basis and give her easy access
Some open source projects
Help neighbors
Convert all our video collections, whether tape, dvd, bluray, whatever, to on disk server

That's a minor list off of the top of my head, I have way more stuff to do than that.

 

[VacationForever]

I love working but now that we are retired, we wonder how did we have time to do all the basic necessities in life while we were working. These are the things that take up our time:
- Daily workout at the gym, plus driving range a couple of days a week
- A round of golf once a week, on this day we skip the gym
- Doctors appointments
- Taking care of the cats
- Travel - timesharing and cruising, visiting friends and relatives. Away from home about 25% to 30% of the year.
- TUG alot
- Cruisecritic a little
- House cleaning and laundry
- Cooking and clean up
- Check mail and pay bills
- Lots of reading stuff on the web like online news and e-Books for my husband
- Rarely any TV

 

[DancingWaters]

I am still working 15 hours a week in a school, and babysitting 30 hours a week but I guess for me it’s not enough. I have always taught school, babysit grandkids and updated our rental properties every week. I guess my husband and myself are workaholics and it’s hard to break away from that. As a teacher I loved my job and my coworkers. I loved being part of a daily group all working together with the students. Thankfully, we have a vacation home at the lake and a condo to help fill some of my weekends. And of course, I miss the paycheck. Lol

 

[Bxian]

So many things that I want to do and places that I want to go! I can't ever imagine being bored once I retire.