Did I pay too much?

[AmyL4408]

As you have probably read in my other posts.... We purchased 1 week at the Grande Vista in April 2005. The week rotates a 3BR Gold and 2BR Platinum.

Our purchase price was approximately $23,000

We did get 100,000 Marriott points with our purchase, and the ability to trade our week for Marriott points.

I looked at the completed transactions on Ebay, and found a 2BR Gold sold for $9000.

What is the resale market like right now for Grande Vista? I am not planning on selling.......... I plan to use my timeshare and enjoy it! I am keeping a running total at this point on a spreadsheet showing the loan payments I have made, fees I paid, down payment, etc... and so far with the exchanges that I have made I have come out ahead by my calculations.

Don't worry about hurting my feelings...

Thanks!
Amy

 

[gmarine]

As you have probably read in my other posts.... We purchased 1 week at the Grande Vista in April 2005. The week rotates a 3BR Gold and 2BR Platinum.

Our purchase price was approximately $23,000

We did get 100,000 Marriott points with our purchase, and the ability to trade our week for Marriott points.

I looked at the completed transactions on Ebay, and found a 2BR Gold sold for $9000.

What is the resale market like right now for Grande Vista? I am not planning on selling.......... I plan to use my timeshare and enjoy it! I am keeping a running total at this point on a spreadsheet showing the loan payments I have made, fees I paid, down payment, etc... and so far with the exchanges that I have made I have come out ahead by my calculations.

Don't worry about hurting my feelings...

Thanks!
Amy

You can usually pick up a two bedroom GV platinum for under $10,000. Gold around 7-8K.

Biggest concern I would have with your purchase is that you have a loan on it. Financing a timeshare isnt a good idea. If you financed it through Marriott then it is even a worse decision. Your interest rate in that case is probably around 9-10% which is likely going to make the price of your timeshare over $30,000 by the time your payments are finished.

If it is financed through Marriott you should look to take out a home equity line of credit to lower your interest rate and payments.

 

[Spence]

As you have probably read in my other posts.... We purchased 1 week at the Grande Vista in April 2005. The week rotates a 3BR Gold and 2BR Platinum. Our purchase price was approximately $23,000
We did get 100,000 Marriott points with our purchase, and the ability to trade our week for Marriott points.
I looked at the completed transactions on Ebay, and found a 2BR Gold sold for $9000.
What is the resale market like right now for Grande Vista? I am not planning on selling.......... I plan to use my timeshare and enjoy it! I am keeping a running total at this point on a spreadsheet showing the loan payments I have made, fees I paid, down payment, etc... and so far with the exchanges that I have made I have come out ahead by my calculations.
Don't worry about hurting my feelings...Thanks! Amy

Yes, you already know you paid too much and if you had to finance it through Marriott you are really paying too much, you should think about refinancing through a home equity loan, lower interest and tax deductible. We'd all love to understand how your spreadsheet shows you ahead, it just doesn't work that way buying retail when compared to resale. You must really value those 100K Marriott points and the ability to cash in for Marriott points very highly, is it really worth $13K to you?

All that being said, you have bought into a quality timeshare and now have the flexibility of the Marriott points if you go that route, ENJOY!

 

[AmyL4408]

I appreciate your honest feedback gmarine!

We purchased during our annual trip to florida which happened to be the first week of April 2005. We did purchase with the Marriott loan, with the intention of refinancing or paying it off completely in the next couple months.

Life doesn't always go the way you plan. April 27,2005 my husband had a mild stroke and was suddenly unable to work for the next 6 months. The financial strain of that on top of our loosing our home to a fire in November 2004, left us in a not so good financial place.

I also feel that if I hadn't listened to Marriotts speal and purchased from them, I would have never bought a timeshare. I was one of the many americans who thought the whole timeshare business was just a scam. I would have never been interested in a resale. Is $13,000 too much for that life changing lesson?

When our financial recovery of our housefire and my husbands illness happens.... (hopefully soon). I definitely will be looking on the resale market for any additional timeshares I purchase.

Thanks again!
Amy

 

[JimC]

Amy,

You bought at a great resort and into a quality program. Marriott has a great reputation for maintaining their properties, for high quality and for consistency in both product and service. They are not perfect, but no one else is either.

You paid more than you might have. However, purchase price is the not the significant portion of timeshare ownership -- annual maintenance fees over many years are. I second others who advise to refinance the Marriott loan as soon as you can.

Now spend a lot of time on TUG as this is a great resource to learn about using your timeshare effectively to leverage what you paid. There are also many MR points folks here who will gladly answer questions about using those points to get the best value.

 

[gmarine]

I appreciate your honest feedback gmarine!

We purchased during our annual trip to florida which happened to be the first week of April 2005. We did purchase with the Marriott loan, with the intention of refinancing or paying it off completely in the next couple months.

Life doesn't always go the way you plan. April 27,2005 my husband had a mild stroke and was suddenly unable to work for the next 6 months. The financial strain of that on top of our loosing our home to a fire in November 2004, left us in a not so good financial place.

I also feel that if I hadn't listened to Marriotts speal and purchased from them, I would have never bought a timeshare. I was one of the many americans who thought the whole timeshare business was just a scam. I would have never been interested in a resale. Is $13,000 too much for that life changing lesson?

When our financial recovery of our housefire and my husbands illness happens.... (hopefully soon). I definitely will be looking on the resale market for any additional timeshares I purchase.

Thanks again!
Amy

I hope things get better for you. In the meantime enjoy your resort, it is a quality resort as Jim said. Good luck to you.

 

[Emi]

Buying big ticket items are very emotional. Sometimes you need to do something out of the ordinary to signify hope for positives things to come. You'll probably look back at this purchase as something you needed to do at the time and a turning point after a very stressful year. Don't worry about it and enjoy planning for the great places you will get to go to with the exchanges you made already.Most of us have purchased direct from Marriott for one reason or another.

We own at both the Aruba Ocean Club and Surf Club. We have been to many of the Caribbean Islands and Aruba is one of our favorite. It feels somewhat American, friendly people and very safe (in spite of recent news in the media). It's not a theme park like DisneyWorld but I think you will enjoy it.

 

[stevens397]

Amy-

When I look at the bad financial things I did in my life (not that there were so many!), in most of them, I paid $X and ended up with nothing. Overpaying can be annoying but is rarely a tragedy. And I have made out okay with my Marriott points.

Most of the people I see on these boards may have strong opionions of resale versus developer purchases, but as I read the posts, most of them bought their first timeshare from a developer! In the long scheme, it's just a few bucks. As others have said, now's the time to concentrate on all of the great vacations you'll have with friends and family.

 

[englishowner]

Amy- sometimes its best to just with your heart

Amy

Back in 2001 we went as a family, as Marriott virgins, to Ocean Pointe, my husband did the sales pitch 'thing' I wouldn't, thought there would be too much high pressure selling, my husband wanted to buy and the incentives were great, round the world family air tickets, I talked him out of it, we then went to Mallorca and bought what we could afford, nowhere near as good incentives, then traded to Desert Springs, once again husband wanted to buy at Shadowridge, and I stopped him, now our circumstances have changed substantially, something I don't really want to go into, suffice to say, seize the day, you never know what's around the corner and how that can change your life. I know that buying into Marriott was one one of the best decisions we made in our lives and although it has its drawbacks, it's basically an excellent product and you will rarely regret owning, however you may regret not making that first decision, now you've got your foot in the door and you are aware of TUG etc you can enhance what you've already bought and add to it whichever way you see fit, hope this helps
Lynne

 

[laxmom]

The best thing about timeshare!

We bought our Grande Vista (EOY) and on our first trade to Hilton Head, bought there to complement our eoy in Florida. Yea, we paid too much but we now take annual vacations. Up unitl we purchased, in 15 years of marriage, we had taken 2 trips with our kids. Now we go at least 1x per year and have the memories, which are priceless. Last summer, our oldest took his girlfriend with us and propsed on the beach. This year, we are taking off the week after the wedding for rest and relaxation. We have been to the Carribean, Newport Coast, Florida and Hilton Head. (every other year) With one son heading out on his own, these memories are worth so much more to me than the cost of our timeshare. Our hopes are to continue vacationing with (and without) him and his soon to be wife and future kids for as long as we are able and they can stand us.

Life is too short for regrets. If I have one, it would be that we didn't buy sooner. Enjoy the memories you are going to have and think of putting a price tag on that. You can't.

Susan

 

[spottie]

I was in the same boat...

I bought Mountainside directly from Marriott last January, taking a loan as well. That's before I found TUG and we knew very little about timeshare. We had been a priceline traveler before this purchase and just like you, if not for this timeshare presentation, we probably would not buy a timeshare at all, since we had a really bad experience with timeshare presentations before.

After I found TUG, I did initially had regrets that if I bought resale, I would not need to take a loan at all. However, since I could not change what we already did, I decided to concentrate on getting the most out of what we had. With the help of so many wonderful people here at TUG, I learned a ton. I know I will make wise decision the next time when I am ready to buy another week.

So far, with the info I learned from TUG, I had been able to turn my 1 week lockoff into 3 weeks of vacation. We visited Aruba last September staying in 2-bedroom Surf Club (Airfare was paid for using the Marriott reward points we got with the purchase). We are going to our home resort Mountainside April 2, again staying in 2 bedrooms. We are going to spend a week in Oahu Ko Olina's Marriott resort late August, using the hotel certificate we got with Marriott points. We have still have a 1 bedroom pending request with II right now and I just reserved my 2007 week recently, which will give me another 3 more vacation opportunities I can play with for the next year.

Timeshare from developer is a lot of money, but Marriott do have quality product. Just like laxmom pointed out, the memories are priceless.

 

[Quilter]

Amy, my heart really went out to you when I read the circumstances about your purchase. Fortunately, you bought a quality product and as some have encouraged, if you can get the high interest loan out of the way that would be great.

One of the posters had a good point that we often spend $$ and later have nothing to show for it. This is not the case you will have with the Grande Vista purchase.

Just think if you bought a car for $23K. And put $25 of gas in it every week for a total of $1,300 a year (maintenance fee). In 10 years what would you have?

Suzzanne

 

[KDD]

We did the same and do not regret...

Amy, my husband and I about 8-9 years ago at the age of 50 listened to a presentation of Marriott Newport Coast before it was built and bought 2 weeks. Although we had concerns about time shares in general, we loved the idea of having 2 weeks a year at the coast, our favorite place to visit when we could afford to. Our decision was reinforced by past quality family reunion dinners at Marriot and the incentive of a week anywhere in the world, and round trip tickets for 2 anywhere in the world.

But the night we bought, we couldn't sleep! How could we pay for this! We talked to people. We went back to Marriott thinking we should renig. We came back from the meeting, figuring we actually could pay off the weeks in about a year with savings and a second on our house. And we did. (Of course, we found TUG several weeks after the purchase, and suffered buyers remorse all over again!) HOWEVER, may I echo the others who wrote, each year we have been so glad we seized the day. I am only sorry we weren't younger when we bought. And I think the cost even spurred us on to make sure we got our monies worth!

Who can say how long we have to enjoy travel and each other, but if something happens to either one of us, we know that we have given each other a special gift: we truly have made dreams come true. My husband is such a history buff, and not only have we special memories at a special place each year, but memories of wonderful places we have traveled to.

 

[AmyL4408]

Thank you all !

Thank you to the encouragement!

It is true that you never know how much time you have left, so you might as well make the most of what you do have. As Tim McGraw sings, "Live like you were dying!"

My husband and I love to travel. This timeshare will allow us to exchange and travel to places we never would have went. We enjoy travelling with our daughter, and also just the two of us. Our daughter (10 yrs old) is going to Aruba this year with us, and next year to Mexico. I think that is awesome that she will have experienced these different countries so early in life. I did not have the opportunity to travel Internationally until I was 24!

I have learned so much from this board, in just the 2 days since I have found it!


Amy

 

[stevens397]

this is the nicest thread I have seen in my two years on TUG. Period.

 

[ilisao]

Amy, we bought through Marriott last year at the Grand Chateau in Vegas. We paid a small fortune for it. And, we don't regret it one bit. The points we got from the sale paid for our vacations to Florida and California last year. We traded our unit for Marbella last month, and in June are going to Orlando. Our kids are 4 and 7 and we see it as the gift of travel. Without the timeshare, it never would have occurred to us to go to Spain with them. Enjoy your timeshare. Happy travels!

 

[Cruiser Too]

We bought our Grande Vista (EOY) and on our first trade to Hilton Head, bought there to complement our eoy in Florida. Yea, we paid too much but we now take annual vacations. Up unitl we purchased, in 15 years of marriage, we had taken 2 trips with our kids. Now we go at least 1x per year and have the memories, which are priceless. Last summer, our oldest took his girlfriend with us and propsed on the beach. This year, we are taking off the week after the wedding for rest and relaxation. We have been to the Carribean, Newport Coast, Florida and Hilton Head. (every other year) With one son heading out on his own, these memories are worth so much more to me than the cost of our timeshare. Our hopes are to continue vacationing with (and without) him and his soon to be wife and future kids for as long as we are able and they can stand us...... Life is too short for regrets. If I have one, it would be that we didn't buy sooner. Enjoy the memories you are going to have and think of putting a price tag on that. You can't.

My sentiments EXACTLY !!!

 

[MOXJO7282]

So many people have made the same mistake that you did. I would classify yours as a minor one, because at least you bought into the Marriott program, which will bring you great value, if you plan well with it. If you can, split and do your best to manage the LO, that can bring you additional value as well.

The people I really feel bad for, are the ones that bought from developers like Westgate. I don't know how a company like that stays in business. With Marriott at least you know you are going to get a certain high level of quality and service.

Good luck with everything, especially your husband's health.

Regards.
Joe