What and how to buy las vegas/California?

[Susan Sosa]

Hi there!! Newbie thrifty mom here, needing to save $ but want to spend precious time with my kids. Thinking about buying in Vegas since we live in los Angeles and we have 2 small children so I've been looking at grand view, holiday inn, and Tahiti village. I'm confused, am I able to trade my week I purchase for rci points, to use elsewhere? I've been looking at the bargain buys, but some dont list if they come with rci points or how many available? How do I know if tahiti or grandview or holiday inn is tradable with rci?

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
Las vegas, California
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?
Home resort for now, maybe trade in a couple years
3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
Orlando, hawaii, New York, california,mexico
4) How many people do you usually travel with?
4 to 6
5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
Mostly school schedule
6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance
Yes
7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
Yes
8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
3
9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
$3k
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?
<$1k
11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
Yes
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?
Yes

 

[buzglyd]

You could also consider some of the Grand Pacific resorts since you’re in LA. Some of them include day use and they have bonus time rates meaning you could pay cash and visit for a few nights. GPX also has its own exchange company with access to many resorts.

 

[Passepartout]

Susan, Odd as it seems, RCI & RCI Points are really 2 different critters. They're both exchanges, but one basically exchanges time, while the Points put some 'value' on the time and one can use the points as currency to make shorter or different exchanges. It doesn't always benefit the owner.

You have much reading to do to determine which (or none) is best for you.

Of the ones you've mentioned, I think a good 'starter' for you would be either Grandview L.V. that has already been converted to RCI Points, or Tahiti Village- which (to me) has more of a 'resorty' feel. Both offer pretty reasonable MFs and there are enough of them out there to keep the buy-in pretty cheap.

 

[RX8]

You could also consider some of the Grand Pacific resorts since you’re in LA. Some of them include day use and they have bonus time rates meaning you could pay cash and visit for a few nights. GPX also has its own exchange company with access to many resorts.

Second this ^

Grand Pacific Palisades in Carlsbad is perfect for families. Great kids splash area, kid only pool, activity center, close to Legoland, close to shopping and restaurants. As Buzz mentions, day use too. From LA, could even make a day trip to spend the day at the pool.

 

[SteelerGal]

No to Las Vegas. You can rent for cheap.
We went the Carlsbad route. HGVC.
You can also look into the Arizona TS as well and trade back into CA. This is what we will ultimately do once we sell our SD TS.

 

[HudsHut]

Susan:
Welcome to TUG.
Thank you for telling us where you live. That question is not in the survey, and I think it's a very important one.

WorldMark is a timeshare system that has many timeshares. No trading required. You buy a number of credits (e.g. 10,000) and you spend them for any resort / days / unit size that is available. That means flexibility. You are not tied to a weeklong vacation when you want to get away for a 3 day weekend.
Near you there are:
Anaheim & Dolphin's Cove
Solvang
Oceanside
Mission Valley/ Inn at the Park / Balboa Park
Palm Springs / Cathedral City / Indio (has a lazy river)
Las Vegas has 3 separate resorts, one with a lazy river.

See all locations here:
https://www.worldmarktheclub.com/resorts/
The red dots are WorldMark (when you click on any area)
Blue dots are Wyndham, which some owners can trade into via Club Pass. Ignore those for now.