feistymama
newbie
Hi!
I'm new to this forum and I appreciate any help anyone can offer. I apologize in advance if I ask questions that have been answered elsewhere; I've read through a few pages of posts on this forum and still have some questions that I didn't see addressed.
My parents had a timeshare through Fairfield when I was a kid and although it wasn't a universally positive experience, we were able to travel across the USA - taking a vacation almost every summer on two teachers' salaries - with the timeshare for many years.
My parents had chosen their home resort very close to our home - within a 2-hour drive - and in years when money was tight we would just spend the whole vacation at the home resort, which was always great. My parents retired to the city where our home resort was and now coincidentally live less than 1000 yards from the old resort
My husband and I are now interested in purchasing a timeshare or two on the resale market (eBay). While I am interested in trading some, we have a small son and I know that making travel plans for long-distance trips is going to be dicey for some time. We can generally make it to Vegas (1 1/2 hour n/s flight from where we live) in a year, and we can generally do a driving vacation. My husband has plenty of vacation time through his job and I am a freelancer/SAHM so getting time off isn't a problem.
I've been watching eBay auctions for a couple of months and there seem to be a lot of Wyndham auctions for resorts close to us (Arizona, Utah, NM, Colorado, Nevada) at very low costs. I understand now from reading posts why prices are so low on some of these higher-point auctions - problems with Wyndham + high maintenance fees. Still, we would really like to stick with resorts closer to home - especially because I've been reading that people are having a great deal of difficulty trading through RCI?
Am I mistaken in thinking that we should buy at resorts that are easy for us to get to? I see a lot of people own timeshares in South Africa or other places very far from the U.S. I've been researching the Wyndham resorts we're interested in (Sedona, Pagosa Springs, Angel Fire, etc.) and they seem like they're being maintained but of course, I don't know. I have personally stayed at Angel Fire and Pagosa Springs (although that was some time ago) and my parents recently stayed at Wyndham Sedona and loved it. I understand, though, that these may not be the highest-demand resorts.
In all honesty - while we'd love to be able to trade out vacations - we are outdoorsy types and would be fine being at our home resorts and not trading out very often. On the other hand, I don't want to be stuck with worthless points we can't ever trade if we wanted to.
So - should I forget about regional resorts and just try to go for high points/low fees regardless of location? We don't see this as any kind of long-term financial investment - only in an investment in time together as a family - but we would like that time together to be as fun as possible.
Thanks for your advice before I plunge into bidding
I'm new to this forum and I appreciate any help anyone can offer. I apologize in advance if I ask questions that have been answered elsewhere; I've read through a few pages of posts on this forum and still have some questions that I didn't see addressed.
My parents had a timeshare through Fairfield when I was a kid and although it wasn't a universally positive experience, we were able to travel across the USA - taking a vacation almost every summer on two teachers' salaries - with the timeshare for many years.
My parents had chosen their home resort very close to our home - within a 2-hour drive - and in years when money was tight we would just spend the whole vacation at the home resort, which was always great. My parents retired to the city where our home resort was and now coincidentally live less than 1000 yards from the old resort
My husband and I are now interested in purchasing a timeshare or two on the resale market (eBay). While I am interested in trading some, we have a small son and I know that making travel plans for long-distance trips is going to be dicey for some time. We can generally make it to Vegas (1 1/2 hour n/s flight from where we live) in a year, and we can generally do a driving vacation. My husband has plenty of vacation time through his job and I am a freelancer/SAHM so getting time off isn't a problem.
I've been watching eBay auctions for a couple of months and there seem to be a lot of Wyndham auctions for resorts close to us (Arizona, Utah, NM, Colorado, Nevada) at very low costs. I understand now from reading posts why prices are so low on some of these higher-point auctions - problems with Wyndham + high maintenance fees. Still, we would really like to stick with resorts closer to home - especially because I've been reading that people are having a great deal of difficulty trading through RCI?
Am I mistaken in thinking that we should buy at resorts that are easy for us to get to? I see a lot of people own timeshares in South Africa or other places very far from the U.S. I've been researching the Wyndham resorts we're interested in (Sedona, Pagosa Springs, Angel Fire, etc.) and they seem like they're being maintained but of course, I don't know. I have personally stayed at Angel Fire and Pagosa Springs (although that was some time ago) and my parents recently stayed at Wyndham Sedona and loved it. I understand, though, that these may not be the highest-demand resorts.
In all honesty - while we'd love to be able to trade out vacations - we are outdoorsy types and would be fine being at our home resorts and not trading out very often. On the other hand, I don't want to be stuck with worthless points we can't ever trade if we wanted to.
So - should I forget about regional resorts and just try to go for high points/low fees regardless of location? We don't see this as any kind of long-term financial investment - only in an investment in time together as a family - but we would like that time together to be as fun as possible.
Thanks for your advice before I plunge into bidding