What should I buy?

[New2timeshare2]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? Branson, MO

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

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Gatlinburg, TN; Orlando/Kissimee, FL; Hawaii; Southern CA

4) How many people do you usually travel with? 2 (me + 1)

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

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? The higher the better, but open to suggestions.

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? $3,000

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? Prefer $600 or less

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Me-yes; husband-no

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

 

[Panina]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? Branson, MO

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

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Gatlinburg, TN; Orlando/Kissimee, FL; Hawaii; Southern CA

4) How many people do you usually travel with? 2 (me + 1)

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

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? The higher the better, but open to suggestions.

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? $3,000

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? Prefer $600 or less

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Me-yes; husband-no

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

The red flag with your answers is that you prefer annual maintenance fees $600 or less. There are timeshares that do have that, I own a few good ones, but they are the exception not the norm. I am not familiar with Branson, MO so I can’t tell you if any meet your maintenance fee criteria. Others might be able to tell you or you can look at the interval and RCI resort directories, available online, and call the different resorts to find out their maintenance fees.

Be aware you will have a yearly membership fee if you join companies such as Interval or RCI to trade elsewhere plus a trade fee that runs a couple of hundred dollars which will bring your annual expenses up.

 

[New2timeshare2]

Thanks for the advise, Panina, but is it a red flag because it's too high or too low?

 

[taterhed]

Too low.

You should plan on spending $800-1000 in annual fees... Maybe a bit less, but you get into trade power issues and/or not enough points to book. Maybe someone can give you some super budget ideas.

Could you book a hotel in Branson for $600 a week.?


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[Panina]

Thanks for the advise, Panina, but is it a red flag because it's too high or too low?

Because you are setting it too low. If your mf amount is because you can only afford that much I wouldn’t buy a timeshare. If are having expectations of having a great trading timeshare that is maintained well in a higher demand time with maintenance fees under $600 you might be setting yourself up for disappointment.

You have to be very careful in buying where maintenance fees are very low that the resort is being maintained properly otherwise assessments could occur that wipe out that lower maintenance fee.

If financially you can I would up the maintenance fee to $1000 and check out the resorts that fit that price point and chose the one you like best. Being you are going use your home based timeshare more then half the time, opening up your yearly mf budget will give you more options. Ultimately you might like the lowest mf option available.

These are not where you want but for others, I own three properties that I have 1 bedrooms with maintenance fees under $600 that are maintained well; Jade Tree Cove in Myrtle Beach SC, Chetola in Blowing Rock NC and Blue Ridge Village in Banner Elk NC. I visited them and learned about each of them before buying them.

 

[taterhed]

Exactly.

@Panina said it well: MF's that low probably won't result in something that will trade well for 'Hawaii.'

Now, if you were to visit a timeshare, plan to occupy the unit and enjoy the very, very low MF's (<$800) etc... then that's something different.
I would personally get a good handle on the state of the reserves and property (HOA) before signing up for something that could cost you big in the long (or short) run.

Just for kicks...

I just searched a 1 week rental in Branson.

For late September (shoulder/off season) there were rentals in the $400-$1000 range. The low end was no-tell motels and the higher end was Worldmark, Spinnaker etc.... There were definitely timeshares (studio?) for $600 a week. Of course, there may have been another $200 in fees (tax, housekeeping etc...). I just didn't go that far.

In early August (in season) these same rentals were $800-$1200.

For these low rental prices, I'm not seeing any reason to buy in Branson....MF's may be higher than rentals. ???

In any case....if you find a resort here with dirt-cheap MF's... visit the resort and check the finances. Might be for you. Just don't plan on trading it for much.