Your honest opinion about my timeshare purchase

[Jarth319]

[DELETED: Renting/selling/advertising/soliciting are strictly forbidden in the discussion forums.]

 

[SunandFun83]

You are also the only person that replied and is flat out rude and condescending. Everyone else provided opinions without tearing me apart. I appreciated the other comments. Not yours.

You know, each person is an expert in whatever craft they choose to study or partake in. I am not an expert in timeshare sales, and didn't even know the "resale market" was a thing. At least, I had the common sense to look at a website like this and pose the question within the rescind period. I'm guessing you don't have a lot of common sense. These boards are supposed to be about providing assistance and creating a community. Why don't you try that?

I have to commend you for asking on TUG and rescinding your purchase. How did you find TUG after you bought, but not before? Did you search for help or were you directed here by someone else. Whatever brought you to TUG, at least you accepted the advice and saved a lot of money.

I am at Westin Lagunamar this week. Sat next to a woman at the pool who bought points the day before. she bought 67,500 EOY for $16,000. I showed her Kierland ad for 88,100 every year for $9,000 and explained she must rescind within 5 days. Probably best to do it today while at the resort. She said she would think about it.

I was surprised you could be on TUG and still buy retail. I was disappointed that when presented with the facts that her purchase was terrible she still wanted to make that mistake.

My advice remains, Rent five - six times before you ever consider a purchase. Avoid the timeshare tours and the risk of impulse purchases. Expect that the timeshare salesperson knows more about selling, and lying than you know about saying no.

 

[SunandFun83]

I have to commend you for asking on TUG and rescinding your purchase. How did you find TUG after you bought, but not before? Did you search for help or were you directed here by someone else. Whatever brought you to TUG, at least you accepted the advice and saved a lot of money.

I am at Westin Lagunamar this week. Sat next to a woman at the pool who bought points the day before. she bought 67,500 EOY for $16,000. I showed her Kierland ad for 88,100 every year for $9,000 and explained she must rescind within 5 days. Probably best to do it today while at the resort. She said she would think about it.

I was surprised you could be on TUG and still buy retail. I was disappointed that when presented with the facts that her purchase was terrible she still wanted to make that mistake.

My advice remains, Rent five - six times before you ever consider a purchase. Avoid the timeshare tours and the risk of impulse purchases. Expect that the timeshare salesperson knows more about selling, and lying than you know about saying no.

here is some more advice: do not rush to buy a timeshare. You say that each person is an expert at something. Why not admit that you know absolutely nothing about timeshares. Read the links here about how to rent a timeshare vacation. Visit 5-6 properties. Learn about 3 different brands. I have been to more than 30 properties, and, am writing to you from my rented vacation at Westin Lagunamar. I know a lot about Marriott and Hyatt, a little about Westin. All I know about Hilton is that I can exchange into Las Vegas for 48 weeks a year using a low demand week or even an accommodation certificate. I also know that converting your timeshare week for hotel points is a terrible value in every system I have review.

You saved $15,000 here on TUG and you are not sure about spending $15 a year to support the sight. TUG Brian and all the volunteers here depend on people paying the tiny membership fees to support this sight. The least you can do after saving $15,000 is say thank you and join.

How long will it take for you to be a "Timeshare Expert" I think you are at least 2-3 years away from just average. Do not rush out to buy a timeshare sale now. Take the time to learn more about the various brands and locations. If you want sunny vacations, consider Marriott for Phoenix, Las Vegas, Palm Desert. Consider Westin, they have the best studios I have seen. Hyatt has great ski properties. You have a lot to learn before you buy.

Ask all these kind people on TUG if they ever had a friend who could not get out. A timeshare can be a lifetime burden with maintenance fees if you buy wrong.

Well that is all the free advice for now. Get a second opinion here, ask the TUGGERS "Do I have to buy a resale right away, or, is learning a good thing first"

 

[frankyip]

I'm the few lucky ones that didn't buy from the developer when attending their sale presentation. A week after researching on TUG and on the web to understand the benefit and limitation of the systems, I am in process of getting a resell for Elara 1br platinum season (every year 4800pts) for $2,000 (still waiting on the news on whether it will get past the ROFR).

Here's how I ”price” the timeshare.

Cost per point = ((Cost of purchase + Transaction Cost) / 10)+ (out of pocket fees every year)) / points

The 10 in the formula is how long I want to amortize the initial ’investment’. For some people, it could be 5, 15, or 20 but I feel that 10 is a reasonable number to use). In this formula I also assume the resale value to be 0.

So when I look into this resale that I'm getting, it was $0.30 per point.

Then say for Elara, the platinum season 1br cost 4800 pts. That means it would cost me $1,440 for 7 nights or $206 per night. For studio in platinum season it would be $95 a night as it cost 2,200 a week.

I also did the same calculation for other HGVC resorts that I would go to.

Those pricing make sense to me and I went ahead with the resale.

Hope that will help you later on.