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Is it time for me to buy?

iwanttoflyaway

TUG Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2018
Messages
91
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1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?

Sort of - we would LOVE to stay in Daytona Beach for a few nights frequently, and would be very interested in either a few nights or whole weeks anywhere in Florida. Otherwise, we enjoy those three nights pretty much anywhere, and rarely repeat trips. Well, that's not true, we find ourselves visiting places we enjoy multiple times, but with no amount of consistency whatsoever. As an example, we love Las Vegas, but somehow never managed to visit in the two years we were living 'nearby' in Idaho - now we're back in Florida and Vegas seems so far to travel for just a few nights.


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?

Unless we found an ownership in Daytona Beach with great maintenance fees, I don't imagine us staying at a 'home resort' even a quarter of the time. From what I've found, this would have to be a PFD thing and I'd still have to purchase an RCI points ownership first.


3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

We're spectacularly unpicky. Aside from frequent 'local' trips to Daytona Beach and elsewhere in Florida, we like everywhere. The Southeast/MidAtlantic regions are appealing, because they're such an easy flight out of Fort Lauderdale. Basically we'd be happy with literally anything that has nature stuff (hiking, fishing, and the like) onsite, or anywhere in a city with plenty to eat and drink. Proximity to an airport serviced by Southwest is a perk, because our trips are short and having to drive more than a few hours after we land or check out isn't terribly appealing.


4) How many people do you usually travel with?

It's been just the two of us for years, but our friends are finally getting to the time in life where they can travel with us a little more frequently, if I find them good deals. As such, we don't care much about unit size - if it's a studio/hotel, we'd go alone, if it's larger we'd ask around and see if anyone could get away to join us.


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

We can travel year round, and actually much prefer shoulder and off season over peak season. There are few events that make it worth dealing with crowds - like St. Paddy's day in Daytona Beach or Savannah - otherwise we mostly try to stay away from popular times in popular destinations.


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

Well, we can, but we usually only pick one week that we book in advance (this year, Munich for Oktoberfest!) and the rest are last minute trips dictated by airfare and accommodation deals.


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

Rarely - once a year at most. That said, for a great deal, paying for a week and only using four days is not a bad option for us. Especially if it's vaguely local, and we can perhaps let friends make use of the remainder of the week.


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

We are spectacularly unpicky here, too - I don't think there is a single resort that is worse than some of the hotels we've stayed at. I play the points game with hotels fiercely, mostly with Wyndham and Choice, so there are some really skeezy motel/hotels in our history. I'm going to say 2-5 stars, but I suspect that a 1* timeshare would still suit us just fine.


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

We have a large amount of disposable income - hard to put a number on it, but we spent about $10k on hotels, airfare, and admissions last year. I'd be able, but likely unwilling, to easily spend that much on up front costs on ownerships that bought us into exceptional long term value. I believe (hopefully accurately!) that our up front costs will be significantly lower if I can have the tiniest bit of patience.


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?

I'd be willing to spend perhaps half our annual vacation budget, which was 10k last year and will be more like $15k this year. Actually, let's call that a third, because we intend to cruise semi-frequently and the exchanges for cruises look awful, so the timeshare wouldn't be able to touch that expense. So $5,000 a year would be our max, though I'd prefer to end up with several properties that don't add up to close to that number.

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?

Sort of. I'm a points freak in hotels and airline miles, so I choose our sale flights and promo stays very carefully. On the trip itself, not so much - we MIGHT have a certain event (concert, festival) that we have to attend at a certain time, but otherwise we just do what feels like fun at any given time.


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?

Yep. That's why I'm being so DAMNED picky with what, where, and when I buy. I refuse to buy RCI points unless the maintenance fees are under a penny a point, and while I'm still a bit up in the air re: their TPUs, I wouldn't pay more than $15 apiece. That's why I'm willing to pay a little something up front if I have to, to increase the chances that I'd always be able to dispose of them by paying maintenance fees early, reserving a prime week, and giving them away.



I should have done this last week ago, before I bid on (and then won!) a triennial Grandview points membership. It's 16,333 points for $140 a year, plus RCI fees. I'm 95% sure I'm going to go ahead and buy it, but my original intent was for that to be a cornerstone of a larger property collection, and the whole idea seems daunting this morning.

My basic plan was to buy into points and pay for RCI, and see if points work for us. We'll have 32,666 points to play with our first year, so hopefully a couple last minute weeks and a few short offseason points stays. If it does, then I want to buy either larger points ownerships, or weeks ownerships that I can PFD - both would have to hit that penny a point mark, preferably more like .8c/p because I can redeem via points partners for that. It looks like I'm going to be looking at larger lockoffs (more points/tpus per $mf that way, in many cases) for peak weeks - just so I could always rent to recoup our fees if we were unable to travel for some reason.

Sorry for being so wordy! I don't know how to write any other way =p All advice is much appreciated!
 

Mosescan

TUG Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2018
Messages
362
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Points
103
Location
Canada
Resorts Owned
HGVC - Vegas Blvd, Craigendarroch lodges x 2
I would suggest that you just stick to your first purchase for this year. Once it is all set up, take a look at the RCI last minute deals. I'm guessing you could keep your travel bug satisfied with a bunch of those deals for all of the travel you can drive to, especially if as you said, you're not picky. For $300 you can get a week long getaway. Even if you only use 4 nights, that's still much cheaper than hotels. That's my plan for next year once I move back east.
Start low, go slow. You can always add more to your portfolio as you gain experience and see what you like and what will work for you. But if you go hard and fast at the beginning and buy a bunch of stuff you can't use or take advantage of then you will waste a lot of money and not really have any fun.

Good luck
 

iwanttoflyaway

TUG Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2018
Messages
91
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Points
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I would suggest that you just stick to your first purchase for this year. Once it is all set up, take a look at the RCI last minute deals. I'm guessing you could keep your travel bug satisfied with a bunch of those deals for all of the travel you can drive to, especially if as you said, you're not picky. For $300 you can get a week long getaway. Even if you only use 4 nights, that's still much cheaper than hotels. That's my plan for next year once I move back east.
Start low, go slow. You can always add more to your portfolio as you gain experience and see what you like and what will work for you. But if you go hard and fast at the beginning and buy a bunch of stuff you can't use or take advantage of then you will waste a lot of money and not really have any fun.

Good luck

Many thanks for the advice! I will try my darnedest to abide by it =p I do suspect I'm going to purchase a VV weeks property sometime soonish, just so I can have access to the reduced exchange fee on last minute low TPU sales at affiliated properties. I think I can keep my desire for more down to a dull roar, at least until I'm sure that RCI will work for our travel habits. The luck is appreciated, though, I'm not known for my patience!
 

vacationhopeful

TUG Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
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Sep 11, 2007
Messages
12,760
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Location
Northeast USA
First off, you brought a week that was converted to RCI Points. A tri-annual ... I believe the number of points is LOW and your first usage is actually 6 years of MFs for those 32000 points. I have RCI points and I get 66K per year per week for $880MFs. Plus then I have to pay an exchanges fees and RCI membership fees. You might need MORE RCI points.

Second, exchanging gets old and is expensive. You should think about a mini-system. You should look for WHERE and HOW many resorts are in the mini-system. You seem to perfer short stays (mostly weekends?). Those are ALWAYS the most expensive nights to book in all mini-systems.. weekends. And some systems, charges more fees for those short stays. You should consider a system with resorts or areas you would go to .. to pick a mini-system with under 5 resorts YOU would vacation at might be TOO SMALL for your longterm usage.

Third, look at how your vacation plans will change ... schools for kids, travel with friends or family .... plus, top 2 locations NOW and then, top locations in 5 years and then again, top locations, 15+ years from now. Your life changes will effect WHERE you want to vacation and the number of people travelling with you. School schedules, warm in the winter, summer with kids at the beach, city vacations, beach vacations, city vacations, holiday seasonal events have demands on your time off and your budget.

Buy SLOWLY .. do NOT buy more than for stays for 30-35% of your vacation time. Do not plan on using your timeshares points or vacation weeks for cruises or airplane flights or theme park tickets.

I have taken my nieces and nephews on week long vacations ... Walt Disney World and summer beach weeks in South Florida. I took my sister on several vacations after her husband died without warning. And all of my siblings, every 5 years I invite them to my birthday party week... after our parents had passed away (they lived thru out the US).

I will tell you, my nieces and nephews light up when we are together. And my favorite sibling evaluation was the phone call a few days after the 16yo California niece was back home from New Year week trip to Ft Lauderdale. Her mother wanted to know what I did to her. She had graduated high school at 15yo and was taking local college classes. Seems I made her THINK as to what to do .... to make a decisions about ANYTHING ... on a week long vacation. Plus my older brother decided she needed to go to Key West for NYE on that trip. Her upper middle class home and genuis HS classes did not prepare her for the 'real world' or Key West on NYE. She is now married, addressed as "Dr Shrink" and just GRINS large whenever she sees me.
 

iwanttoflyaway

TUG Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2018
Messages
91
Reaction score
36
Points
78
First off, you brought a week that was converted to RCI Points. A tri-annual ... I believe the number of points is LOW and your first usage is actually 6 years of MFs for those 32000 points. I have RCI points and I get 66K per year per week for $880MFs. Plus then I have to pay an exchanges fees and RCI membership fees. You might need MORE RCI points.

Second, exchanging gets old and is expensive. You should think about a mini-system. You should look for WHERE and HOW many resorts are in the mini-system. You seem to perfer short stays (mostly weekends?). Those are ALWAYS the most expensive nights to book in all mini-systems.. weekends. And some systems, charges more fees for those short stays. You should consider a system with resorts or areas you would go to .. to pick a mini-system with under 5 resorts YOU would vacation at might be TOO SMALL for your longterm usage.

Third, look at how your vacation plans will change ... schools for kids, travel with friends or family .... plus, top 2 locations NOW and then, top locations in 5 years and then again, top locations, 15+ years from now. Your life changes will effect WHERE you want to vacation and the number of people travelling with you. School schedules, warm in the winter, summer with kids at the beach, city vacations, beach vacations, city vacations, holiday seasonal events have demands on your time off and your budget.

Buy SLOWLY .. do NOT buy more than for stays for 30-35% of your vacation time. Do not plan on using your timeshares points or vacation weeks for cruises or airplane flights or theme park tickets.

I have taken my nieces and nephews on week long vacations ... Walt Disney World and summer beach weeks in South Florida. I took my sister on several vacations after her husband died without warning. And all of my siblings, every 5 years I invite them to my birthday party week... after our parents had passed away (they lived thru out the US).

I will tell you, my nieces and nephews light up when we are together. And my favorite sibling evaluation was the phone call a few days after the 16yo California niece was back home from New Year week trip to Ft Lauderdale. Her mother wanted to know what I did to her. She had graduated high school at 15yo and was taking local college classes. Seems I made her THINK as to what to do .... to make a decisions about ANYTHING ... on a week long vacation. Plus my older brother decided she needed to go to Key West for NYE on that trip. Her upper middle class home and genuis HS classes did not prepare her for the 'real world' or Key West on NYE. She is now married, addressed as "Dr Shrink" and just GRINS large whenever she sees me.

I FULLY expect to pretty much immediately want more points - the package only includes 16333 points per year for ~140 bucks, not counting the membership cost That's pretty much why I posted here, everything in me wants to set up eBay notifications for every <1c/pt mf ownership I've discovered. I do realize I need to play around with the system before I pour real money into it, but it's so hard to be patient!!

We are tied to my SO's schedule, which currently allows us Wed-Sat nights, which should cost us 44% of a week, plus $99, plus any housekeeping costs Wed-Thur nights should be 24% of a week, plus $69, plus any housekeeping costs. If I keep my costs at less than 1c of mfs per point, that's very much in line with what we spend for cheap hotels. His schedule will fortunately never include more than one weekend night off so we're looking at 36%-44% per week in points costs, given current numbers.

We will never have to worry about kids schedules for our own part, thankfully, but we do enjoy traveling with our friends/family who DO have to take such things into consideration. We've always been the travel encouragers, mostly because I'm a points freak with the hotel chains and can usually find a way to get us all somewhere for a good price. This fall I have us (menfolk and me, anyway) all booked in Munich for Oktoberfest for $100 a night per room, but family friendly vacations are becoming far more important now that the babies are becoming small people. We'd very much like to have the kind of experiences that you have had with our 'extended family.' We'll never have kids, but the kids in that 'family' are very important to us.

Anyway, I've decided that I'm not allowed to buy any more points ownerships until this one closes and I've seen what availability looks like. If one of a small handful of weeks ownerships I've identified pops up, I'm 'allowed' to buy those on a biennial or triennial basis - for the right price, of course.
 
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