Entry into Timeshare - Best deal for a family starting in Timeshare

[DRH90277]

We are older and own an abundance of points and weeks. But we started in timeshares in 2006 by buying a Newport Coast week, so we could have a great vacation close to home every year. We lived in So Cal at the time. Yes, we did buy it from the developer as we didn't know about resales at the time - that was a costly mistake but ok at the time.

My thought then, is how would I do this if I were starting again to provide a great vacation for our family at the time (six children) every year without traveling a great distance and spending $80,000 plus maintenance fees for enough points to do this. Obviously, I'm thinking best value for the money. So, here are my suggestions for someone living in So. California or North Carolina, our current residence.

So. California - I'd buy a "Platinum resale week" at Newport Coast for about $10,000 with annual maintenance fees and property taxes of $1,800. The initial outlay can be recovered if resold later. Maintenance fees $257 per night for a great 2 bdrm villa. Also, this is a high value trade through Interval and great rental.

No. Carolina - I'd buy a "Platinum resale week" at OceanWatch for about $12,000 for an Ocean Side with annual maintenance fees of $1,632. The initial outlay can be recovered if resold later. Maintenance fees $233 per night for 2 bdrm villa. One special advantage of OceanWatch is the Platinum season is short with only weeks 20 to 32, excluding 4th of July week (mid-May to mid-August) - so you are assured of a great summer week. Also, this is a high value trade through Interval and a great rental.

Keep in mind that once bought in both cases, the cost per night is about $250 for a 2 bdrm villa with full resort privileges/activities, beach, etc. These are both highly rated resorts.

Sorry, I'm most familiar with these two resorts as we own multiple weeks at both locations for our 6 kids and now 20 grandchildren. For those in other states, I'm sure someone on this forum would know of similar resale options there.

 

[larryallen]

I'd rent on redweek.

 

[DRH90277]

I'd rent on redweek.

Good thought and avoids the initial cash outlay. Both of these prime platinum beach weeks would rent for $3,100 or more per week. Cash payback is about 7 years and you then still have the residual value of the week.

 

[Dean]

We are older and own an abundance of points and weeks. But we started in timeshares in 2006 by buying a Newport Coast week, so we could have a great vacation close to home every year. We lived in So Cal at the time. Yes, we did buy it from the developer as we didn't know about resales at the time - that was a costly mistake but ok at the time.

My thought then, is how would I do this if I were starting again to provide a great vacation for our family at the time (six children) every year without traveling a great distance and spending $80,000 plus maintenance fees for enough points to do this. Obviously, I'm thinking best value for the money. So, here are my suggestions for someone living in So. California or North Carolina, our current residence.

So. California - I'd buy a "Platinum resale week" at Newport Coast for about $10,000 with annual maintenance fees and property taxes of $1,800. The initial outlay can be recovered if resold later. Maintenance fees $257 per night for a great 2 bdrm villa. Also, this is a high value trade through Interval and great rental.

No. Carolina - I'd buy a "Platinum resale week" at OceanWatch for about $12,000 for an Ocean Side with annual maintenance fees of $1,632. The initial outlay can be recovered if resold later. Maintenance fees $233 per night for 2 bdrm villa. One special advantage of OceanWatch is the Platinum season is short with only weeks 20 to 32, excluding 4th of July week (mid-May to mid-August) - so you are assured of a great summer week. Also, this is a high value trade through Interval and a great rental.

Keep in mind that once bought in both cases, the cost per night is about $250 for a 2 bdrm villa with full resort privileges/activities, beach, etc. These are both highly rated resorts.

Sorry, I'm most familiar with these two resorts as we own multiple weeks at both locations for our 6 kids and now 20 grandchildren. For those in other states, I'm sure someone on this forum would know of similar resale options there.

For me personally I'd buy MVC resale weeks at MGO & trading weeks then enroll them with a retail purchase (might require 2 purchases) and I'd likely buy a fractional in Tahoe and enroll that hopefully with only 2 total retail purchases. I'd probably wouldn't buy DVC or Bluegreen due to the price of DVC and the limitation on resale BG purchase that were not in place when I purchased. If I could magically rework everything and keep the same options/benefits, I'd only make a couple of minor changes in my MVC portfolio.

If I didn't need volume and were more flexible, as I hope to be in retirement, I'd just buy resale anything I wanted to use plus a couple of trading units and likely never enroll them. The reality is that the options are so much different now than when I started in timesharing I 1994 through 2010.

 

[Big Matt]

I would rent vacation properties. You have ultimate flexibility on location and time of year without buying anything or having to pay maintenance fees. If the family gets bigger, get a bigger house. Some don't want to come every year, get a smaller one. Simple.

 

[DRH90277]

My motivation in initiating this post was to provide a cost effective alternative for a new participant in timeshare - There is a perception promoted by timeshare sales personnel that people can spend $25,000 for 1,500 points and have a meaningful vacation. However, that 1,500 points just won't get you much. With points, a person needs 5,000 points for a good prime vacation week and those points cost $80,000 with much higher maintenance fees. So, I tried to provide a couple of $10,000 timeshare resale week purchase examples which would provide a great weeklong vacation and substantially lower maintenance fees.

I agree that renting is a good alternative, but it simply is not as "cost effective" as owning a good resale week. Renting does offer other benefits such as no up-front cash outlay, ultimate flexibility for many locations, and no commitment beyond the rental.

 

[noreenkate]

If I didn't need volume and were more flexible, as I hope to be in retirement, I'd just buy resale anything I wanted to use plus a couple of trading units and likely never enroll them.

That’s pretty much me…now that I am retired and kids are grown I have been picking up a mixed variety of resales here in there- some weeks some points, some specific resorts that I plan I visiting annually (resorts close to where my kids live ) and some low mf traders. Everything I have picked up is either an adoption from tug bargains or eBay resale so my outlay has been negligible.

My goal is at least one holiday week with all of us together, a week for each of my sons so they can choose a location, and 2 weeks for me & the fiancé.

At this point its almost sorted & it’s working out pretty well so far for me between using what I have picked up and supplementing with getaways and last calls.

 

[MikeM132]

Call timeshare salesman John Oliver for advice.

 

[GoodTimes]

deleted

 

[AlmostRetired]

First 20 grandchild, you are truly blessed.

I re-swizzled my portfolio three times adjusting to my changing family vacation needs.
In 1995, I purchase a fixed week Monarch and a Resort World of Orlando, both resale. Hilton Head was our go to vacation spot with the kids. Resort World was a great trader and it allowed me to trade into the Monarch allowing me to get Marriott Reward points for my Monarch week (130,000 points every year). Back then, Marriott had a package, 2 weeks hotel stay and 4 round trip tickets anywhere American flew in the world for 420,000 points. A lot of changes from 1995 to 2015. Kids wanting to go to camp with friends, HS sports. college, grad school, law school, jobs so my needs changed. Marriott Points program value also went to crap. We also traveled much more outside of timeshares then within timeshares. and towards 2008 and beyond, my wife and i did so without kids (outside of timeshares).

in 2015, I gave away my Resort week, purchased another summer Monarch week and purchased an EOY Grand Chateau. The Monarch summer week was 5K and the GC 1800. I rented one Monarch week, used the other and got two vacations out of the GC, usually Aruba and another vacation spot. Kids started enjoying vacationing with us again and the Monarch is too small for two adults boys so we traded one Monarch week to the Grande Ocean, renting the other and still using GC as a trader. Over the next 6 years, girlfriends turned into wives so now I have 4 careers I need to balance vacations around, my wife retired, Covid allowed me to work from wherever I was.

In 2021, I sold the two Monarchs, and EOY 2 Bedroom GC and purchased a Grande Ocean, an annual 3 bedroom GC and an EOY 3 Bedroom GC. This allows me to average 4 units every year. This years I did 3 weeks at the Grande Ocean allowing my kids (and one grandchild) the flexibility on when they can join us. The other week my wife and I are going to St Thomas.

I really believe to get to where I am now, I needed to start how I started. If I started where I am now, I would have bitched about the years my kids did not travel with us because I wouldn't have needed to average 4 weeks and my wife was tied to a school schedule. I expect this is not the last change with my timeshare ownership.

 

[Fallenone]

A new comer ourselves, we bought 4000 points retail in Dec 2020 at around $9.5/point (not including the cash cost for the Encore package during which we bought in). We have a 3 yo and 1.5 then and one of our parents frequently stay with us. As a result our travels are often at least 5 people. It has been working out really well for us and we do regret not buying in earlier/more points then. My wife and my work allows very flexible schedules so we usually book the non-holiday weekdays that are quite cheap. We sometime book nearby hotels either with cash or points to supplement the vacation when the price is better at the hotels.

 

[PhilaMom]

I just stumbled across this post and love it! After years of reading TUG, we finally pulled the trigger and are closing on a 3BR GV, mostly for trading but also to visit. Our kids range in age from 10-17, so the time is right and we have retirement to look forward to in 10-12 years. I love the posts about how your portfolios have shifted over the years with family and life changes. We’re in the “kids sports and activities” time of life, not to mention jobs, and so don't have a ton of vacation time, but still dream about good resort vacations. I can definitely see us adding on eventually, maybe GO or OW properties to stay or rent. Even thinking points, but perhaps one of the other systems as Marriott points seem very pricey.

 

[Steve A]

South Carolina, not North Carolina.

 

[b2bailey]

We are older and own an abundance of points and weeks. But we started in timeshares in 2006 by buying a Newport Coast week, so we could have a great vacation close to home every year. We lived in So Cal at the time. Yes, we did buy it from the developer as we didn't know about resales at the time - that was a costly mistake but ok at the time.

My thought then, is how would I do this if I were starting again to provide a great vacation for our family at the time (six children) every year without traveling a great distance and spending $80,000 plus maintenance fees for enough points to do this. Obviously, I'm thinking best value for the money. So, here are my suggestions for someone living in So. California or North Carolina, our current residence.

So. California - I'd buy a "Platinum resale week" at Newport Coast for about $10,000 with annual maintenance fees and property taxes of $1,800. The initial outlay can be recovered if resold later. Maintenance fees $257 per night for a great 2 bdrm villa. Also, this is a high value trade through Interval and great rental.

No. Carolina - I'd buy a "Platinum resale week" at OceanWatch for about $12,000 for an Ocean Side with annual maintenance fees of $1,632. The initial outlay can be recovered if resold later. Maintenance fees $233 per night for 2 bdrm villa. One special advantage of OceanWatch is the Platinum season is short with only weeks 20 to 32, excluding 4th of July week (mid-May to mid-August) - so you are assured of a great summer week. Also, this is a high value trade through Interval and a great rental.

Keep in mind that once bought in both cases, the cost per night is about $250 for a 2 bdrm villa with full resort privileges/activities, beach, etc. These are both highly rated resorts.

Sorry, I'm most familiar with these two resorts as we own multiple weeks at both locations for our 6 kids and now 20 grandchildren. For those in other states, I'm sure someone on this forum would know of similar resale options there.

As a fellow Newport Coast owner, I am wondering whether you ran into problems booking summer weeks.

 

[bizaro86]

I think buying an inexpensive trading unit is a good deal for those starting out who can be somewhat flexible. My first TS was a Sheraton Desert Oasis 2 bedroom lockout. Cost was <$1k upfront, and maintenance is very reasonable. Locks off I to 2x one bedroom units, which is very good for trading power in II. We've gotten great trades over the years with this.

 

[DRH90277]

Newport Coast - Yes, it is difficult to book week reservations during the summer "school out" period. This is because the Platinum season runs from Week 23 (early June) all the way through Week 51 (Christmas week). This focuses heightened demand from lots of owners on the school out weeks. The good news is that the resort is large and there are lots of weeks. I usually get the weeks we want but I pay careful attention to release dates and booking concurrent or sequential weeks at 13 months (Chairman's Club). It seems those able to book as far out as possible have the best results throughout the MVC system. I should mention the 4th of July week is a fixed week and excluded from the Platinum week sequence.

Don't let sales convince you the points program overcomes this problem. It is equally difficult, and the points required for a whole week is extraordinary. Five-day reservations, cking in Sunday and cking out Friday, are a pretty good deal - think about spending Friday and Saturday nights at a hotel near something special you want to visit.

Ultimately, timeshare ownership requires a willingness to learn the system, advanced planning, and attention to detail. Unfortunately, we all learn this at our own pace, but we do tend to get better at it each year.

 

[superfriend620]

First 20 grandchild, you are truly blessed.

I re-swizzled my portfolio three times adjusting to my changing family vacation needs.
In 1995, I purchase a fixed week Monarch and a Resort World of Orlando, both resale. Hilton Head was our go to vacation spot with the kids. Resort World was a great trader and it allowed me to trade into the Monarch allowing me to get Marriott Reward points for my Monarch week (130,000 points every year). Back then, Marriott had a package, 2 weeks hotel stay and 4 round trip tickets anywhere American flew in the world for 420,000 points. A lot of changes from 1995 to 2015. Kids wanting to go to camp with friends, HS sports. college, grad school, law school, jobs so my needs changed. Marriott Points program value also went to crap. We also traveled much more outside of timeshares then within timeshares. and towards 2008 and beyond, my wife and i did so without kids (outside of timeshares).

in 2015, I gave away my Resort week, purchased another summer Monarch week and purchased an EOY Grand Chateau. The Monarch summer week was 5K and the GC 1800. I rented one Monarch week, used the other and got two vacations out of the GC, usually Aruba and another vacation spot. Kids started enjoying vacationing with us again and the Monarch is too small for two adults boys so we traded one Monarch week to the Grande Ocean, renting the other and still using GC as a trader. Over the next 6 years, girlfriends turned into wives so now I have 4 careers I need to balance vacations around, my wife retired, Covid allowed me to work from wherever I was.

In 2021, I sold the two Monarchs, and EOY 2 Bedroom GC and purchased a Grande Ocean, an annual 3 bedroom GC and an EOY 3 Bedroom GC. This allows me to average 4 units every year. This years I did 3 weeks at the Grande Ocean allowing my kids (and one grandchild) the flexibility on when they can join us. The other week my wife and I are going to St Thomas.

I really believe to get to where I am now, I needed to start how I started. If I started where I am now, I would have bitched about the years my kids did not travel with us because I wouldn't have needed to average 4 weeks and my wife was tied to a school schedule. I expect this is not the last change with my timeshare ownership.

Thank you for detailing this. My mom has been trying to figure out how to get the family all to one place and now we need 2 units min 5 bedrooms - when the kids are bigger and won't share beds we will need 3 units 6 bedrooms. Investing in the GC 3 bedrooms to get the 4 units in trade i hadn't considered! I don't think I am immediately picking up why the annual and then the EOY - the annual gets 2 and then the every other year gets 2?

 

[DRH90277]

I think the great secret of timeshare is how much you can do with "resale" weeks and how cost effective it is.

 

[Quadmaniac]

I think buying an inexpensive trading unit is a good deal for those starting out who can be somewhat flexible. My first TS was a Sheraton Desert Oasis 2 bedroom lockout. Cost was <$1k upfront, and maintenance is very reasonable. Locks off I to 2x one bedroom units, which is very good for trading power in II. We've gotten great trades over the years with this.

This is what I would do as I used to own SDO as well, but if you're looking at Marriott that has Marriott priority in II, I would go Grand Chateau or Willow Ridge as the lowest MF and they basically all trade the same.

I personally would never buy points as I think they're still too expensive even at resale with no guarantee of actually being able to book what you want depending on how popular a place is (while most get what they want, some places are still unattainable with lots of points).

Buying a cheap resale week is very little investment and very high returns for places you can trade into. Been doing it for 13 years and biggest bang for my buck with very little risk, investment or downside. I would not advise anyone to buy anything with a large cash outlay till they are familiar with the system, know what they want/like and want something more than what they can get right now on II. Personally I've been able to travel to every where I've wanted using traders, so why use a rocket ship to go around the corner for more money ? Doesn't make sense to me, I can afford it if I want, but why spend more than you need to, to get the same thing ?

 

[Quadmaniac]

I think the great secret of timeshare is how much you can do with "resale" weeks and how cost effective it is.

I've done wonders and it is way more cost effective than points and owning some of the weeks outright. I own 5 holiday weeks in Ko Olina, which I rent out, but I trade into Ko Olina for less than half the cost of the MF, sometimes during holiday weeks as well. If I didn't use my weeks as rentals, I would just use resale cheap traders to go everywhere as it's the best value with so little downside. I've been to Hawaii so many times for less than $1000 per week in a 2 or 3 br unit, why pay more ?

 

[PhilaMom]

I’m excited to start with my first trader, see how we do with it, and learn the ropes, and then get some more as we will likely want more vacation time at some point. It’s great to hear your point of view.

 

[MattyNorCal]

This is a great post for someone starting out like myself. I have done hotels and AirBNB for years and honestly, I really love resorts (so do my wife and kids). We live in Northern California and my strategy is to get a Lake Tahoe resale, thinking Hyatt Residence Club in Incline, to use and trade. Can get a gold week for $2-5K. Also a Hawaii (Kauai) resale at a top resort but not necessarily a brand name (currently in the process). This will allow a week in Hawaii or Tahoe every year (which are my favorite places), and strong trading ability if needed. MFs would be around $3k, but I will guarantee $200-$250/night 2 bedroom condos in amazing places. I am somewhat restricted to school vacations, but my schedule is super flexible. I think my plan is solid, but please shoot holes in it if you see issues.

 

[AlmostRetired]

Thank you for detailing this. My mom has been trying to figure out how to get the family all to one place and now we need 2 units min 5 bedrooms - when the kids are bigger and won't share beds we will need 3 units 6 bedrooms. Investing in the GC 3 bedrooms to get the 4 units in trade i hadn't considered! I don't think I am immediately picking up why the annual and then the EOY - the annual gets 2 and then the every other year gets 2?

I have the Grande Ocean (1 week) , Annual 3 bedroom GC (2 weeks) and EYO 3 bedroom (2 weeks allowing for 1 every year) so this averages 4 vacations a year.

 

[Dean]

This is a great post for someone starting out like myself. I have done hotels and AirBNB for years and honestly, I really love resorts (so do my wife and kids). We live in Northern California and my strategy is to get a Lake Tahoe resale, thinking Hyatt Residence Club in Incline, to use and trade. Can get a gold week for $2-5K. Also a Hawaii (Kauai) resale at a top resort but not necessarily a brand name (currently in the process). This will allow a week in Hawaii or Tahoe every year (which are my favorite places), and strong trading ability if needed. MFs would be around $3k, but I will guarantee $200-$250/night 2 bedroom condos in amazing places. I am somewhat restricted to school vacations, but my schedule is super flexible. I think my plan is solid, but please shoot holes in it if you see issues.

I don't think we have enough information to make recommendations other than in general. If you travel those areas routinely and you mainly want to go to Tahoe and Kauai, that is not a bad plan in principal. I would say that being flexible and being tied to school calendars are somewhat contradictory. I generally recommend trying a timeshare in the system you're looking at prior to buying. There are limitations of timeshare that may not be evident to those that are new. There are some similarities to Air BnB's and some advantages for routine vacations though one of the differences is needing to plan well ahead, like a full year and to commit to a full week in most cases.

If you want a full week a year Spring Break &/or summer in those locations for 2 weeks every year, I'd likely look at one system to do both. For exchanging, I'm not sure either of those you mention is a good option. The way the seasonal chart is for that Hyatt makes it difficult for you to pick a week since Gold ends in June and spring break is likely Silver season at least part of the time. Specific to Marriott, you could look at a cheaper unit and exchange Marriot to Marriott for Tahoe and likely for Kauai as well esp if your spring break tends to be late March and you are OK with the possibility of missing the mid summer in HI part of the time.

You mentioned top resort but not necessarily a Name Brand but in reality I don't think there are any top resorts on Kauai that aren't tied to a name brand system though there are some decent resorts. Hilton and MVC will cover both locations. You might also look at Wyndham which is a points based system or its close cousin, Worldmark. Wyndham tends to be a little lower quality than Hyatt or MVC (Hyatt slightly above MVC), they have some good to very good resorts, are cheap to get into and has a very flexible points system.

Just make sure you spend a few months investigating both the resorts and then the systems you're looking at to avoid as many gotcha's as possible. Once you do, the best choices will become more clear. Don't try to cheap out without being sure the option is a good one, for example, I'm not sure the Hyatt Gold week will be sufficient based on what you've shared.

Good luck and keep reading and asking questions.

 

[Lakeshore]

We are older and own an abundance of points and weeks. But we started in timeshares in 2006 by buying a Newport Coast week, so we could have a great vacation close to home every year. We lived in So Cal at the time. Yes, we did buy it from the developer as we didn't know about resales at the time - that was a costly mistake but ok at the time.

My thought then, is how would I do this if I were starting again to provide a great vacation for our family at the time (six children) every year without traveling a great distance and spending $80,000 plus maintenance fees for enough points to do this. Obviously, I'm thinking best value for the money. So, here are my suggestions for someone living in So. California or North Carolina, our current residence.

So. California - I'd buy a "Platinum resale week" at Newport Coast for about $10,000 with annual maintenance fees and property taxes of $1,800. The initial outlay can be recovered if resold later. Maintenance fees $257 per night for a great 2 bdrm villa. Also, this is a high value trade through Interval and great rental.

No. Carolina - I'd buy a "Platinum resale week" at OceanWatch for about $12,000 for an Ocean Side with annual maintenance fees of $1,632. The initial outlay can be recovered if resold later. Maintenance fees $233 per night for 2 bdrm villa. One special advantage of OceanWatch is the Platinum season is short with only weeks 20 to 32, excluding 4th of July week (mid-May to mid-August) - so you are assured of a great summer week. Also, this is a high value trade through Interval and a great rental.

Keep in mind that once bought in both cases, the cost per night is about $250 for a 2 bdrm villa with full resort privileges/activities, beach, etc. These are both highly rated resorts.

Sorry, I'm most familiar with these two resorts as we own multiple weeks at both locations for our 6 kids and now 20 grandchildren. For those in other states, I'm sure someone on this forum would know of similar resale options there.

That is wonderful! How many total weeks at NCV do you own now to hold your whole family at once? We purchased NCV in 2005, when we just had two children and they were 2 and 4 years old. The villa seemed HUGE back then! Since then, we’ve had another child(who is 14 years old now) and a daughter-in-law and our first grandchild is due in a few months! All so wonderful, but when we all went to NCV for spring break this last March, the villa was crazy tight! So we purchased another platinum week and also two gold weeks to get out of the cold in the winter. And now with baby coming, I will book our weeks at the same time so everyone can have enough space. Now I need to figure out how to book both summer weeks at the same time…it was hard enough to secure one summer week, let alone two. I’m also thinking we will probably need more weeks as the others get married and families grow! Or I could get them now and then have a month at NCV until I have to start booking weeks at the same time.