Did you buy more timeshare weeks/points just prior to or early in retirement?

[Bxian]

My husband is already retired, and I am a year and a half away (hopefully). We currently own 2 weeks at one of the HGVC South Florida resorts. We initially bought one week with the idea of alternating use and trading-but we ended up loving the resort so much that we bought a second week to trade. This year, we decided to do 2 weeks back to back at our home resort (and loved that as well). As a result, I am mulling over whether or not to explore the purchase of a few more weeks. Financially, we would be able to handle the additional maintenance fees in retirement, and being good Tuggers we would only buy resale for cash.

I am curious as to whether or not any of you purchased additional weeks at the pre-retirement or retirement stage. If so, how has it worked out for you?

Possible purchases (1) an EOY Hyatt, with the thought that quality would be as nice or nicer than HGVC; (2) Starwood Vistana Villages (Bella or Key West) for trading within Starwood-we'd love to use to visit WKORV, where we have stayed in the past-but would be OK with staying in VV and visiting Disney as well-not sure how well these trade in RCI; (3) Worldmark points, since we would love to spend more time out West (we are East Coast based); or (4) an independent-thinking of a Maine resort (Harbor Ridge) that is an independent and appears to trade well in II or Powell Place in San Francisco (we have stayed there and loved it-would expect maintenance fees to be high). EOY would be an option for any of these if available.

 

[WinniWoman]

We have owned ours for almost 20 years (2 separate weeks at the same resort- one fixed and one pre-assigned floater- drive to's) and just a few years ago we snapped another one (for free) (fixed) up at a different resort and this allows us to have 2 consecutive weeks with the other one. We drive the 2 hours from one to the other. They are in 2 different states. Our son (only child) lives 1/2 hour from the one we just acquired. We are in our early 60's and not yet retired, but wish we were! LOL!. We hope to retire one day near where our son lives. And the original timeshare we own at is at least closer to get to by car from there than from where we live now in NY.

We can't afford a second home so this is our way of having "one". Same units, same weeks. I think if you can afford the fees and can make use of what you own for years to come, it is fine to acquire a few more- but not to overdo it. I personally like owning where I want to go and not into the points or exchange game. I like to keep it simple- even more so as we will be getting on in years.

 

[vacationhopeful]

You are definitely too much in love with ALL THINGS timeshare. K.I.S.S. is how you should look at the timeshare world .. or be swamped with TOO many different sets of rules, booking windows, resorts near and FAR ... and travel requirements.

You put down that you live in NJ. Flying and renting cars gets expensive ... plus as you get up in years, the rental car companies get "funny". Your timeshare ownership might not care if you are 85yo .. But the rental car company will. And travelling 1000 miles to Florida and then another 10 driving hours to Key West will wear you out.... plus the expenses of 3 nights of lodging each way... save any money doing that ride or just wear yourself out by driving 3+ days?

I live in NJ and go down to the Ft Lauderdale area timesahares. I can fly nonstop to FLL and take either the public bus or a shared van to the resort. I do NOT near a vehicle once there and USUALLY take the BCT Bus while in the area ($1 cash each leg of the trip .. 1 bus, $1; change buses, another $1 ... ride all day, $4 each). And going back to the airport, I also take the public bus (2 legs, $2). Senior rate.

Disney area is OVERBUILT ... you can trade into or rent via TUG or Extra Holidays .. except for the BIGGER holiday seasons ,,,like Xmas or Spring Break. Want to take the Grandkids or see the decorations for Christmas ... get a small DVC point package .. go every 2 or 3 years. OR just RENT. But owning DVC is another TS points system.

Worldmark is WESTERN US. Rent or use via exchanging. Deciding IF you LOVE and will go there for multiple weeks EACH year. Then rebalance your ownerships. SELL first, buy replacements AFTER you dump the stuff/times you will NOT be using in future years.

Buying to trade? Some resorts ONLY? Trading is fun when you do it for a week each summer; trading your "TRADER WEEK" or 2 weeks or your lesser loved places (dump those lesser loved units) ... now you added MFs being paid and HAVING to find and GO someplace NEW .. for each trade. Here is my advice .... "RENT a stay" instead of owning to trade. Last minute, planned ahead, not committed for YEARs. RENTING makes more sense.

Buying any timeshare will commit your income (those FIXED payments of your retirement years) ... might work well the first year or 3, but what happens if one spouse passes on. Or has a stroke? Or heart attack?. Alone will the othe spouse be tavelling 1200-1500 miles each way to Florida? Staying 8+ weeks alone in a timeshare unit; eating out alone; packing each week and travelling to another resort, 85-100 miles away. Getting lost with the new construction & road layouts .. or just because, your eyesight is a bit worst? So what is your ESCAPE (from TS ownership) plan?

My dad owned a condo in Vero Beach Fl for a couple of years. Sold that for a lost and brought a Winter house, near by sister in Delray Beach. M mother got dementia but my dad managed to spend 6 months each winter in Delray for 2+ years. My sister then took a job in Houston... and moved to TX. My dad realized the Delray FL house was not worth the travelling & staying with the wife WORTH the effort ... she was just "too scare/fearful/restless" due to travel and confusion plus NO ONE to help him. He sold the Delray house for a lost. 5 winters in South Florida ... in&out of 2 real esatate ownerships ... etc.

And that is why I planned a differnet course ... buy fixed weeks VERY near the beach in an older resort via eBay. Mostly under $100 each with some closing costs. Ft Lauderdale has a MAJOR airport for flights by multiple airline to/fro. I do NOT need or rent a car when in the area ... as the public bus service & routes for that area is VERY GOOD. And i decided to buy mostly LOCKOFF units ... so I can cover my condo stays by renting the larger 1bdr side and use the basic STUDIO side. I do enjoy most dinners out (or take out from the same places), lazy breakfasts in the condo, pool time and can use the resort gym if the weather is bad. Or I could rent out my week and take a cruise for a week or two.

PS I haved owned these South Florida weeks for 10+ years. eBay might not have the selling market of years past. My resort does have a listing broker service ... with asking prices of $2500 minumum (broker's fee) and UP over $6500. And winter weeks do get sold ... on the higher end of that range.

 

[aandmrun]

We have owned our Marriott timeshare for over 20 years. This allowed us to travel to many fabulous places on our vacations when we were working. Shortly after retiring (2004 (me) 2006(my husband), we decided to buy more weeks since we could now travel more often. It is one of the best things we have done. We bought where we wanted to go and just occasionally trade. We also got them practically free on ebay. We purchased smaller resorts managed by Trading Places and have been able to timeshare 5 to 6 weeks a year now. We are loving it! Many of our timeshares come with free bonus weeks also, just by paying maintenance fees early, etc. Our maintenance fees are very much under control. Of course, the Marriott is the most expensive, but we go there every year and usually take guests or family since it is a 2 bedroom lock-off. I have two daughters and each has shown an interest in at least one timeshare for their future when they retire. The other two will probably be given away when we feel the need to slow down. So far, planning the vacations and going on them has kept us very happy in retirement. Also, it keeps us active since we hike and golf on our trips.

 

[shorts]

We bought sight unseen a poolside studio at Morritts Tortuga Club back in 1994 at a presentation in Indianapolis when we younger and “less informed” (dumber) . But we fell in love with the place and have moved on to larger ocean front units. Over the years we decided part of our retirement plan would be to spend a good part of each winter here so we began to accumulate weeks over the years.

While still working we could not get away any longer than 2 weeks at a time. But it was easy to rent out the extra weeks. I had regular yearly renters who were disappointed when DH retired and we started using all 9 of our weeks! Typing this while looking at the ocean now ! We haven’t exchanged in years.

 

[Free2Roam]

I am curious as to whether or not any of you purchased additional weeks at the pre-retirement or retirement stage. If so, how has it worked out for you?

I'm 5+ years from retirement. We started timesharing with Wyndham (when it was Fairfield) 20 yrs ago. In the past 7 years we've added RCI & Bluegreen Points and more fixed weeks than we can use... mostly summer weeks at beaches we like to visit. The plan is to use them all in retirement. Until then, I list most of the fixed weeks for rent and use (or gift to the kids) what doesn't rent. Most are usually rented 4+ months in advance.

As I get closer to retirement, the travel portfolio may be adjusted a bit though.

 

[Bailey#1]

Since my wife and I will most likely live in Vermont the rest of our lives. Our retirement years (2-3 yrs) we will probably be time sharing for 6-8 weeks during the winter months. Right now we are slowing buying resale DVC to allow us to stay there 4 weeks a year (1BR). We find that DVC is the most senior friendly timeshare in the business, so we would be able to travel there well into our 80's, health depending. We also have a good rci (wks) trader that allows us to trade our 1 week into 2 weeks using RCI. This trader also gives us a bonus week if we chose to.

As for the last two weeks, we will either rent someone's timeshare or use RCI's last call or extra vacations. This is our plan but it could change....

 

[swditz]

DW and I also live in Vermont and plan to stay here and time share in Florida during part of the winter. We have 2 weeks we currently use and as subsequent weeks become available at the resort we go to we will pick them up. We have @ 7 years before we will be fully retired and hope to have 4-5 weeks lined up. This is plenty for us as we actually like winter here. It is nice to get a break though so we are looking to accumulate mid February to late march

 

[Bailey#1]

DW and I also live in Vermont and plan to stay here and time share in Florida during part of the winter. We have 2 weeks we currently use and as subsequent weeks become available at the resort we go to we will pick them up. We have @ 7 years before we will be fully retired and hope to have 4-5 weeks lined up. This is plenty for us as we actually like winter here. It is nice to get a break though so we are looking to accumulate mid February to late march

Good thing about Vermont we don't need to go on vacation anywhere else from May - Oct.

 

[WinniWoman]

Good thing about Vermont we don't need to go on vacation anywhere else from May - Oct.

People say that about the Hudson Valley, NY where we live. But we still prefer Vermont and New Hampshire in late spring, summer and fall and want to move to one of them when we retire- prefer VT, but NH wins with taxes.

We don't like to leave our home in winter for extended periods. Too many things can go wrong and so we just prod along with work and hunker in. Nothing wrong with some snow, a fire, and wine to enjoy- especially on the weekends when we don't have to go out. Didn't have enough snow this year for snow shoeing unfortunately.

I am a bit scared to acquire more than the 3 weeks of timeshares we own as we go into retirement because once owned it is hard to get rid of them as circumstances change, though I admit I have been considering a 4th fixed week. We use our timeshares at our home resorts and we usually like to go somewhere else and be flexile on a fourth week, and we usually will rent for that one. I don't want to buy a fourth week and then be stuck with trying to rent it or exchange it until we retire either.

 

[Bailey#1]

People say that about the Hudson Valley, NY where we live. But we still prefer Vermont and New Hampshire in late spring, summer and fall and want to move to one of them when we retire- prefer VT, but NH wins with taxes.

We don't like to leave our home in winter for extended periods. Too many things can go wrong and so we just prod along with work and hunker in. Nothing wrong with some snow, a fire, and wine to enjoy- especially on the weekends when we don't have to go out. Didn't have enough snow this year for snow shoeing unfortunately.

I am a bit scared to acquire more than the 3 weeks of timeshares we own as we go into retirement because once owned it is hard to get rid of them as circumstances change, though I admit I have been considering a 4th fixed week. We use our timeshares at our home resorts and we usually like to go somewhere else and be flexile on a fourth week, and we usually will rent for that one. I don't want to buy a fourth week and then be stuck with trying to rent it or exchange it until we retire either.

In the 80's I used to live in Warwick, NY, but left because taxes was crazy, when I left in 1991 I was paying taxes of $6600 on a house that was worth $175,000, I could only imagine what it is today.

If I were to move again to start a new life, I would probably pick an area within 30 minutes of Hanover/Dartmouth on the NH side because of taxes and health care. But with grand-kids around us that will never happen.

I know what you mean about leaving your house in the winter months, what I did was renovate a house (barn actually) to be super insulated
so that it would minimize any danger of pipes breaking during winter months. I was in construction for many years so even if things break I would be able to fix things myself.

As of timeshares, we are adding to our Disney's Vacation Club timeshares with the thought that they are more easier to get rid of if we have to. As well as Disney being so "senior friendly", and our kids and GK love it. We own one other timeshare that is not Disney, while it has been very useful, I don't think we will add any more for fear of not being able to dispose of them. Renting other timeshares I think would be the way to go.

One thing for sure, these TUG boards, are a life changer.

 

[bogey21]

I am curious as to whether or not any of you purchased additional weeks at the pre-retirement or retirement stage. If so, how has it worked out for you?

I bought 6 carefully selected Fixed Week/Fixed Unit Weeks at 6 different HOA controlled Independent Resorts in 6 different cities just prior to retirement. Total cost of the six was between $6k and $8k. I made sure only to buy where MFs were reasonable. I used them for 7 or 8 years then divested and received next to nothing for them. All in all I am happy how it worked out.

George

 

[WinniWoman]

In the 80's I used to live in Warwick, NY, but left because taxes was crazy, when I left in 1991 I was paying taxes of $6600 on a house that was worth $175,000, I could only imagine what it is today.

If I were to move again to start a new life, I would probably pick an area within 30 minutes of Hanover/Dartmouth on the NH side because of taxes and health care. But with grand-kids around us that will never happen.

I know what you mean about leaving your house in the winter months, what I did was renovate a house (barn actually) to be super insulated
so that it would minimize any danger of pipes breaking during winter months. I was in construction for many years so even if things break I would be able to fix things myself.

As of timeshares, we are adding to our Disney's Vacation Club timeshares with the thought that they are more easier to get rid of if we have to. As well as Disney being so "senior friendly", and our kids and GK love it. We own one other timeshare that is not Disney, while it has been very useful, I don't think we will add any more for fear of not being able to dispose of them. Renting other timeshares I think would be the way to go.

One thing for sure, these TUG boards, are a life changer.

Wow! Small world. Yes- our property and school taxes are out of control- almost $10,000 on a house with a market value of like $250,000 (much less assessed value- like $179,000). We live in Walker Valley/Pine Bush area- Mamakating (Sullivan County property taxes with Orange County school taxes).

I, too like the Hanover/Dartmouth area- but it seems to be too expensive. We need a condo/townhouse, one floor. Really want to be in a community type housing situation with a pool, gym, clubhouse, activities, etc. Easy to get to stores and so on. Thinking about our old age and don't want to move again after this last one. But I don't know where we can go that has all this in NH and that we can afford. Plus we need something updated, not old. Not going to be easy.

Yes- I get the Disney ownership for sure. Good deal. And yes- thank goodness for TUG!

 

[VacationForever]

We owned a single 2BR Vistana Lockoff since 1996 and exchanged them in RCI for about 13 years, and then found TUG. We swiched to II and bought more timeshare (Marriott, Vistana and Worldmark) and sold some, re-balancing through the past 7 years. We retired 2 years ago and did a significant purchase with Marriott 5 months ago and sold our Worldmark after the purchase. We are done with our acquisition and re-balancing. We foresee we will deedback or sell all timeshare in about 10 to 15 years.

Finding TUG has been both a blessing and a curse!

 

[theo]

I am curious as to whether or not any of you purchased additional weeks at the pre-retirement or retirement stage. If so, how has it worked out for you?

I acquired an additional handful of (resale) timeshare weeks shortly before retiring to supplement those few already owned, apparently (in retrospect) in euphoric anticipation of having increased opportunity to escape New England winters for a longer period of time each year.

Truth to tell, between family, community and home obligations, commitments and concerns, it turned out that we didn't really want to be "away" for much longer than we had been in "pre-retirement" after all. Those "extra" weeks I had acquired have all been sold off (a "wash" financially; all were "bought right" and sold for just about the same amounts or a bit more with relative ease). We kept and still use the original weeks, but we do not plan to acquire any more timeshares.

Planning and anticipation are great fun, but plans can change in the face of reality and altered family circumstances.

 

[Almond123]

Two years before I retired we were in Atlantic City and low and behold I attended a presentation and since I knew we were both retiring in 2 years and we wanted to travel I purchased from the developer. Well, of course after that I found TUG and learned what I had and how to use it.

We have never stayed in Atlantic City since and we did previously go once every year. I learned how to exchange what I owned and that first year of ownership exchanged for a week in Hawaii. After that we knew that was where we wanted to go a lot. Last year, now retired for two years, I picked up a week in the Bargain Bin for a Bay Club week every other year.

Shortly after that I found again in the bargain bin a annual week in Maui which I convinced my wife would be good to have. We have gone to Hawaii every year since and my wife says no more weeks for us but I am happy with what I have and its all thanks to TUG.

 

[Bxian]

Thanks for all of the feedback. One of the things that got me thinking about this was the fact that a number of people at our HGVC timeshare own anywhere from 3 to 17 weeks. A number of people come down for most of the winter. I think that concerns about getting older and not being able to drive are certainly valid (although if our health remains good, I think we'll be driving for at least 20 plus more years based on family health histories as well as our own-not guaranteed, I know). As far as our home timeshare is concerned, we can walk to multiple restaurants, the movies and mini golf, and have the beach outside of our door. If we were to buy a Hyatt, the one that I would buy is about 45 minutes from our existing timeshare and has a number of on-site amenities-so we could probably coordinate stays between HGVC and Hyatt to save on plane fare/driving costs. I too look at resale timeshares as an alternative to having a second home. Of course, Last Calls and other bargains may be useful as well-our friends Mike and Edie of of the blog fulltimetimeshare.com (whom we are blessed to know in real life) have used these to great advantage in their retirement travels. Decisions, decisions!

 

[silentg]

We are not retired fully. We have 7 timeshares, places we like to stay. We exchange thru RCI, II and VRI.
We have had some successful TUG exchanges also.
We are not going to add anymore weeks to our timeshare ownership. Two of our weeks are RTU and will give those up when they expire. The other 5 we will use as long as possible. We will give them away since all but one was practically free.
Silentg

 

[Suesue1738]

I have been retired almost 2 years. I was concerned about having too many maintenance fees to pay, and if my teacher retirement pension could really handle all 6 of my timeshares. So, just before retirement I got rid of 2 of my most expensive/least trade power weeks. Now, we have 4 timeshares where the maintenance fees are reasonable, the trade power is good, and I can still go vacation when I want to. DH retires in 3 years, and we may add some more then, but for now, we have down-sized to 4.

 

[Jayco29D]

Since my wife and I will most likely live in Vermont the rest of our lives. Our retirement years (2-3 yrs) we will probably be time sharing for 6-8 weeks during the winter months. Right now we are slowing buying resale DVC to allow us to stay there 4 weeks a year (1BR). We find that DVC is the most senior friendly timeshare in the business, so we would be able to travel there well into our 80's, health depending. We also have a good rci (wks) trader that allows us to trade our 1 week into 2 weeks using RCI. This trader also gives us a bonus week if we chose to.

As for the last two weeks, we will either rent someone's timeshare or use RCI's last call or extra vacations. This is our plan but it could change....

I have never heard someone say DVC is the most senior friendly timeshare. Can you say more about that? What makes DVC senior friendly?

 

[Steve Fatula]

We have owned for 20 years, A couple years before I retired, I did enroll my week and bought a minimum number of points. Just before I retired, I then purchased a bunch more resale points, and now am trying to purchase a resale week and that should be it for us. We've travelled the world on our timeshare for 20 years, so many trips! Several Australia, S. America, Spain soon, Thailand next year, and so on. We can definitely afford more MF as retirees. If something happened and we needed to get out, we will. But, the money we have spent has been the best time of our lives. If I can't drive anymore, then, I'll take a taxi or Uber. Being away in winter is especially good, I get cold now that I am older. In Ohio, I used to go out in shorts and t-shirt at 40 degrees. Now, in a warmer climate, if it's below 70 by much, I am cold. So, we like to travel especially in winter now so it's nice to be able to spend quite a few weeks away during that time, using Getaways in II, etc. I would do it again if I could go back in time, no doubt about it. While a timeshare can certainly be expensive obviously!, it can also not be, depends how you use. On our recent 4 week Australia trip, the cost of that would have been 5 figures without our timeshare (we ran the numbers, looked for rental deals at places we stayed, etc.). We got to go to Melbourne, Perth, Busselton, and Surfers Paradise and visit a dear old friend. It was very little MF for the exchanges, II cert, and 4 days hotel (though in my friends town), free flight thanks to presentations, etc. We always go to Marriott presentations (and don't buy), earning over 700,000 points over the years, these pay for flights, a few nights hotel here and there to go along with free flights for overseas trips to supplement our miles we get from charging everything. Just that one trip paid for our purchase 20 years ago.

While some prefer hotel rooms, we do not. We have a few medical issues, and, the ability to cook in rooms is a virtual requirement for us, it's too difficult to eat out with the medical issues. Makes us feel more at home too, and cheaper as well to not eat out all the time.

 

[Lisa P]

I have never heard someone say DVC is the most senior friendly timeshare. Can you say more about that? What makes DVC senior friendly?

Resorts located at WDW currently provide transportation from/to MCO (airport) as well as transportation between resorts and theme parks, most of which can accommodate wheelchairs and mobility scooters. Restaurants at WDW are very accommodating to dietary restrictions as well. The costs of these things are incorporated in prices. Not guaranteed to continue but likely.

I'm not sure I would consider DVC particularly senior friendly, unless one truly wants to vacation at WDW regularly during the retirement years and/or mobility is a major issue. Many seniors watch their commitment to long term expenses, such as the high timeshare MFs with DVC, pretty closely. Some seniors don't care to have so many overly tired children (unless they are their own grandchildren) making noise in the restaurants, splashing at the pools, and/or running in the floor above them on each vacation. Golf at WDW is higher priced than other options in the area. Visiting non-Disney attractions, restaurants, outlet shopping, or grocery stores requires the same transportation arrangement as for people staying elsewhere in the region, and these options are plentiful for everyone.

DVC resorts in Vero Beach and Hilton Head Island are not particularly senior friendly. There are limited restaurant options nearby at Vero and most rooms at HHI require a walk up a flight of stairs. Vero, HHI, Anaheim, and Hawaii DVC resorts are no more convenient to airports than any other timeshare resorts in those destinations. The Vero and Hawaii locations seem more isolated (from area attractions and services) than many other beach resorts, but still attract many families with children. Depending on what you like or need, DVC may or may not be a good fit for seniors.

 

[geist1223]

We did buy more shortly before and shortly after retirement in Worldmark. We went from 20K to 40K just before retirement; and, then to 67K after retirement. We have added 22K resell Points. We are still always borrowing from next Year's allotment.

At the time we were buying Worldmark Points from the Developer (Wyndham) they were highly over stocked due to all the foreclosures during the Recession. So for example we would buy 20K - half of those Points would be at the retail rate and half would be for 50 to 60 cents per Point.

 

[hjsweet2002]

We bought our Wyndham timeshares in 2011 prior to my husbands retirement. He is 65 and semi retired. He works about 20 hours a week. I am still employed full time as a teachers aide in a Catholic school. We wanted to travel and we didn't know what the future held. Both our parents told us to travel when you can as sickness, death and other unforeseen issues may prevent you from traveling together in the future. We have followed their advice. We plan to both fully retire in 2020 and travel more.

 

[Bailey#1]

I have never heard someone say DVC is the most senior friendly timeshare. Can you say more about that? What makes DVC senior friendly?

What Disney does is make travelling very easy.
First, Disney sends you luggage tickets, you put it on your luggage, check them with your airline, luggage will be in your room the next time you see it. (no cost).
Second, Disney has the Magic Express, just go to their bus location at the airport and they will bring you to your resort. (no cost).
Third, Once you step off the bus, their customer service is outstanding you may have to ask for extra help, but help will always be there.
Fourth, They have a very organized way of getting groceries to you.
Fifth, Disney's resorts are very safe and full of life, if you have a medical condition their are people that can help.
Sixth, if you need scooters, etc... they have them.
Seventh, You don't need a car, travelling around by bus, monorail, boat is very easy. (no cost)
Eighth, There are many options even if you don't go to the theme parks.
Ninth, There are many restaurants to choose from, if you choose to eat out.
Tenth, when it is time to leave, just call bell services they will pick you and your luggage up, your luggage will go straight to the airline checkin desk, then the next time you see your luggage it will be at your home airport.

I can see wife and myself being able to travel to Disney well into our 80's. All the other timeshares that I have used I can not say I would be able to do that.