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"What to Buy" Questions for Newbies

tduane

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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?
A: I LIVE IN MICHIGAN AND MY MOM LIVES IN KNOXVILLE. I WOULD LIKE A PLACE THATS CLOSE ENOUGH TO DRIVE FOR A SHORT GETAWAY. SMOKEY MOUTAINS IN TN, CHICAGO ETC.

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?
A: I LIKE THE IDEA OF BEING ABLE TO GO TO NEW PLACES EACH YEAR. I ONLY HAVE 2 WEEKS OF VACA so I would like to do a couple 4 day weekends and 1 week vaca.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
A:Disney, TN, Ireland, myrtle beach, Charleston

4) How many people do you usually travel with? 2 adults and 3 kids. But would be nice to bring my or my husbands parents with us sometimes.

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
A: It's better for us to travel within the school year. 2 of my boys sees their bio dad during the summer. But I more than likely wouldn't go during school breaks.

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
A: For the 7 day vacation yes.

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
A: 1 WEEK OF THE YEAR YES


8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
A:3.5 TO 5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
A: 1200.00

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?
A:1200

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
A: FOR THE MOST PART

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?
A:YES

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Passepartout

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Easy peasy. Answers to questions 9- and 10 clinches it. You can't afford to timeshare. Oh,you can get into a giveaway TS, but $1200 MF won't cover a 3.5 to 5 star TS week big enough to accommodate your family during school holidays. I'd advise renting. No buy-in cost, and since TS rents are so competitive, and largely based on underlying maintenance fee cost, and there is no exchange fee or exchange membership cost (the dirty little secret of 'trading around'). And no long term commitment of the heartbreak down the road of getting rid of it.

Good luck.

Jim
 

DeniseM

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tduane - I recommend that you do some timeshare rentals first, and spend at least 6 months exploring your options.

Wyndham seems like a possible choice for you, because you want the ability to reserve short stays. Wyndham is one of the better systems for that, because it's a point system. So I recommend that you start by reading and asking questions on the Wyndham Forum: https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?forums/wyndham-vacation-resorts.47/

One issue is that you are on a tight budget, and you are unlikely to be able to afford enought points for 2 weeks of vacations a year in a 2 bdm. So I would start out with something more modest, that you can affort to pay cash for with no financing, and try it out, before you make a bigger commitment. You can always add points later, as your income goes up, but you do not want to finance a timeshare - that is how people get into financial trouble.

One of the main questions you want to explore on the Wyndham forum is what you can afford to buy with your budget, and what you can reserve with that number of points.

Another good option for you would be to buy a modest timeshare in a drive-to location with a low maintenance fee as your home resort. This would be the least expensive option for you, because fly-to timeshares are much more expensive to own, because you have to pay for airfare. If you join TUG ($15) you will have access to our Timeshare Ratings and Reviews, where you will be able to explore the resorts in drive-to locations - that would be really helpful for you.

RENTALS: On this forum, all the rentals are $700 or less per week: https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?forums/timeshare-rentals-offered.45/
 

tduane

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tduane - I recommend that you do some timeshare rentals first, and spend at least 6 months exploring your options.

Wyndham seems like a possible choice for you, because you want the ability to reserve short stays. Wyndham is one of the better systems for that, because it's a point system. So I recommend that you start by reading and asking questions on the Wyndham Forum: https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?forums/wyndham-vacation-resorts.47/

One issue is that you are on a tight budget, and you are unlikely to be able to afford enought points for 2 weeks of vacations a year in a 2 bdm. So I would start out with something more modest, that you can affort to pay cash for with no financing, and try it out, before you make a bigger commitment. You can always add points later, as your income goes up, but you do not want to finance a timeshare - that is how people get into financial trouble.

One of the main questions you want to explore on the Wyndham forum is what you can afford to buy with your budget, and what you can reserve with that number of points.

Another good option for you would be to buy a modest timeshare in a drive-to location with a low maintenance fee as your home resort. This would be the least expensive option for you, because fly-to timeshares are much more expensive to own, because you have to pay for airfare. If you join TUG ($15) you will have access to our Timeshare Ratings and Reviews, where you will be able to explore the resorts in drive-to locations - that would be really helpful for you.

RENTALS: On this forum, all the rentals are $700 or less per week: https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?forums/timeshare-rentals-offered.45/
We can afford 300 a month easily. I guess I was just hoping to keep the MF the same as the smokey mountain wyndham resort as i fell in love with it and that was 800 and change (thought it was below 6).

Most of travels won't happen during school breaks but long weekends or we will take the kids out of school. Breaks such as spring break my x has 2 of the boys. And he has them the whole summer and 1/2 of winter. So we don't need prime time as much as other people


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tduane

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We can afford 300 a month easily. I guess I was just hoping to keep the MF the same as the smokey mountain wyndham resort as i fell in love with it and that was 800 and change (thought it was below 6).

Most of travels won't happen during school breaks but long weekends or we will take the kids out of school. Breaks such as spring break my x has 2 of the boys. And he has them the whole summer and 1/2 of winter. So we don't need prime time as much as other people


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We were able to do 400 easily when we bought from wyndham direct. I was just hoping to buy a lower price MF.

I think renting a couple and see how we like wyndham is a good idea.

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tschwa2

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A few in S and VA, a single resort in NC, MD, PA, and UT, plus Jamaica and the Bahamas
And you are not just asking for 2 weeks- you are asking for 1 full week and 4 -four night weekends. The two weekend nights often cost as much as 4 weekday nights so asking for 4 four night weekends cost about 6/7 of a full week so you are looking at the equivalent of 4 full weeks.

The fact that you can travel off season is a big plus but needing to sleep 5 will almost always mean 2 bedrooms. Your best bet would probably be to continue to rent from Wyndham owners.
 

DeniseM

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If you can easily afford $300 per month, you need to find out how many Wyndham points that will buy (in terms of maintenance fees.) And how many nights it will reserve, in a 2 bdm.

And can you really afford $300 per month? That is $3,600 per year - in your survey, you wrote $1,200. You don't want stretch your budget for this - you want to start out with something that is easily affordable for you.
 

tduane

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And you are not just asking for 2 weeks- you are asking for 1 full week and 4 -four night weekends. The two weekend nights often cost as much as 4 weekday nights so asking for 4 four night weekends cost about 6/7 of a full week so you are looking at the equivalent of 4 full weeks.

The fact that you can travel off season is a big plus but needing to sleep 5 will almost always mean 2 bedrooms. Your best bet would probably be to continue to rent from Wyndham owners.
Oh no I might have misstated.
I want to do only a couple of 4 day weekends. Maybe 2 a year if that.
Honestly. 1 long weekend. And 1 week vaca would probably be more than enough.

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tduane

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If you can easily afford $300 per month, you need to find out how many Wyndham points that will buy (in terms of maintenance fees.) And how many nights it will reserve, in a 2 bdm.
The one kid is a baby 13 weeks old. Then 11 and 8. All boys.
The baby will probably be with us for a while. A 2 bedroom is probably all we need.
Not sure how many points 154000 would get us except for the sales pitch which now we know wasn't probably honest.
I did see some on ebay for 800 free closing 299 fee and less than 1200 a year MF.

After reading the whole car ride home we were thinking to do around 180,000 and add on later.
Most traveling won't be done while the baby is so little anyway.

And I'm more of a driving a family of 5 then a flyer.

If we ever go to Ireland that would just be the hubby and I

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tduane

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If you can easily afford $300 per month, you need to find out how many Wyndham points that will buy (in terms of maintenance fees.) And how many nights it will reserve, in a 2 bdm.

And can you really afford $300 per month? That is $3,600 per year - in your survey, you wrote $1,200. You don't want stretch your budget for this - you want to start out with something that is easily affordable for you.
Ya, we can afford more then that. I just thought 1200 for maintenance fees were enough.

Besides our 1 disney trip I see us doing most of our trips within 8 hour travel time.

I just want to do cheap as I can.

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DeniseM

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$1,200 may be enough for you - and that's fine. Just don't be tempted to buy something that is more expensive than you really want to budget for. Start out modest to try it out - you can always add more later.
 

Braindead

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Ya, we can afford more then that. I just thought 1200 for maintenance fees were enough.

Besides our 1 disney trip I see us doing most of our trips within 8 hour travel time.

I just want to do cheap as I can.

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Just remember maintenance fees vary by resort and are very important when purchasing. You pay MFs for as long as your an owner.
Purchase price is only paid ounce.
Example on MF difference going by the 2017 pink sticky thread at the top of the Wyndham forum-
Panama City 200K points at $4.10 per thousand points is $820.00 per year
Great Smokies Lodge 200k points at $4.62 per thousand points is $924.00 per year
Nashville. 200k points at $6.67 per thousand points is $1,334.00 per year

As you can see someone gives a Nashville contract. It’s free but you will pay $500,00 more every year you own it and it will be hard to get rid of it someday if you want out. The Panama City contract today pays for itself in less than 6 years of ownership due to lower MFs every year.

Wyndham is a very good product east of Mississippi River. We also have enjoyed our stays out west and Hawaii also
 

DeniseM

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This is where I would start - go to the Wyndham Forum and post this:

We recently visited the Smokey Mountain Wyndham resort and fell in love with it. We are interested in buying enough points there for one week in a 2 bedroom during high season every year:

-How much would it cost to buy resale?
-How much would the maintenance fee be?

That will give you a base line to compare other timeshare to.
 
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