In the exploratory/maybe stage...found a week 43 (gets 30 TPUs when deposited with RCI) that has low mf's. Anything I should know that would keep you from buying here again? This would be a trader only for now. I live 50 miles from there...so might use it someday when I'm not still in the school system. Thanks for your wisdom!
A few observations as a Samoset owner / user follow. Some may be less relevant than others for right now if you are only intending to "trade" instead of "use", but offered fwiw anyhow, for when your future schedule flexibility changes and you then perhaps consider shifting from "trading" to "using".
1. All weeks in Buildings I and II are "Friday to Friday". All weeks in Building III are "Saturday to Saturday". No exceptions. 1BR units are relatively small, but just fine for 2 people (like us). If the exchange companies assert that 1BR units at Samoset "sleep 4", just know in advance that (IMnsHO) it would certainly be quite cramped for 4 adults in the smaller 1BR units with the sofa bed taking up much of the living room area when opened up.
2. These are all wooden buildings, in which noise transmits quite well (...too well). Top floor units are much more quiet, not being subject to the transmitted noise of track meets, stampedes, furniture rearrangement. etc. directly above you --- sometimes sounding like the "event" might be ready to come right through the ceiling from the floor above.
3. There are 3 floors in each building, no elevators (I have never been in Building III, but have no reason to believe that it's much if any different from the other two). Entry to each building from the parking lot accesses the middle floor (for which no stairs are required). The bottom floor is actually below "street" level. I don't exchange, but I hope that the exchange companies make known to exchangers that for people with mobility issues, there is no alternative to using the stairs to access the top and / or bottom floor.
4. I would buy at Samoset again, if the week and price were both "right". In fact, I always keep an eye peeled for an additional week (looking only for the week immediately preceding our one remaining unit / week, within the same building and still on the top floor). Have not actually seen one available fitting that bill during at least the past decade or longer. The whole place is well managed and well maintained, with spectacular ocean views from most units (ocean
view, not ocean
front (there are golf course fairways and greens between the timeshare buildings and the coast shoreline). Like all of us, the buildings are not getting any younger but everything seems to be reasonably well maintained. Maintenance fees are low (real estate taxes are billed separately by the town of Rockport) and I do not recall having ever received a surprise "special assessment" -- and not much can beat so easily watching the sun rise up out of the Atlantic Ocean in the morning right from your unit (weather permitting, of course).
5. Kitchens are small, but entirely serviceable. There is a dishwasher beneath the stovetop (i.e., there is no oven compartment). I'm told that this arrangement somehow translates into Samoset units being regarded as having only a "partial kitchen" in the eyes of the exchange companies (which frankly baffles me). However, if you already know (and are satisfied with) RCI's TPU allocation for the week that you're looking at, then maybe that particular alleged "shortcoming" is of no real concern to you.
6. Week 43 is
late October. Being a Mainer, you already know that fall foliage is pretty much "done" by then. The schooner trips in Camden and Rockport are also "done" for the season by then, as they either prepare to "winterize" or sail southward to warmer climes. However, Rockland and Rockport and Camden are really not "tourist towns" anyhow, so most everything else stays alive and well and open and fully functional then, with the exception of a few ice cream shops here and there.
Don't know that any of this actually qualifies as "wisdom", but it's at least based upon a fair number of years of direct, first hand observation. I hope that some of it helps you.
Good luck if you decide to "pull the trigger" on the Samoset week that you are contemplating!