Every other year Maui. Is it worth it?

[Lb0456]

We have a presentation today with DIR. We already know we aren't buying. But we are thinking of buying resale. We come every other winter for whales.Would it be worth it? We would be paying maintenance fees every year and going every other year.. And we've timeshares before, but not in Maui, and could never get MauiM no matter when we tried. Thanks

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I don't know much about DIR but would recommend that you research the different brands and properties on Maui before buying. We are closing on Westin Kaanapali North Every other Year resale because we weren't sure if we would make it every year and did not want to hassle with renting or trading non-use years. If we want more time, we will purchase or rent another EOY.

Syed Sarmaad is a well respected agent on Maui who specializes in resale. He can help you decide on an appropriate property and brand - go resale and save $$$.

 

[slip]

I have an every other year Maui Schooner that I have been thinking about getting rid of but the every other year works for us. We go to Kauai every year but next year will do both Maui and Kauai.

Paying maintenance fees every year isn’t big deal because the fees are split in half. I only pay $500 a year for the one bedroom Maui Schooner unit.

I’ve owned it for quite a few years and have had no problem renting it when I don’t use it.

 

[Mosescan]

Depending on the TS system you buy eoy units will either pay maintenance fees eoy or you will pay 1/2 ey. Either way it should not be too much of a problem.

 

[rickandcindy23]

So are you saying you have not been able to exchange into Maui for whale season? That is not unusual. We rarely got exchanges, and we could not get two exchanges back-to-back, when we were able to get one. This is why we bought and actually own 3 weeks at one resort, the same unit view.

We bought resale. We bought on eBay, and believe me, we are thrilled with our purchases because we can get to Maui during whale season, but you cannot call four months ahead to get the whale watching weeks. You really have to call at exactly a year out to get a week at our particular resort.

We are on Maui now. We are staying here for two weeks and are at the end of our second week. While we were here, we had to call at precisely 8:00 AM Pacific Time last year to get the same weeks next year. We own at a small resort of 27 units, and it took 12 years to get the units I wanted on eBay, in the unit type we wanted to own (oceanfront units are rare to see because there are only four units out of 27 with oceanfront views).

My message is buy what you will love and won't mind paying fees to own. Don't buy something you will regret later on and cannot be sold. In other words, get the oceanfront view guarantee.

I will post a picture today of my view from our bedroom.

Our buy-in price was about $3,000 per week with closing costs and $550 per week transfer costs included.

 

[rickandcindy23]

 

[rickandcindy23]

How do you usually stay on Maui? Hotels? Those can be pricey.

 

[Luanne]

How do you usually stay on Maui? Hotels? Those can be pricey.

I know I'm not the one you asked, but when we can't get a trade we have used vrbo to rent back into Maui Hill.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I know I'm not the one you asked, but when we can't get a trade we have used vrbo to rent back into Maui Hill.

Yes, well we don't have too many problems getting our Maui weeks. I have been a little late with my call a time or two and couldn't get the exact dates I want. If I get one week and cannot get the next week because whale season is the most popular time of year, I have to book the next week and try for two consecutive weeks. Even if I call on the dot of 8 AM Pacific Time, I can be too far back into the phone queue to get my week reserved. It's a game we play each year.

I have Rick on one phone, while I am on the other, and we redial over and over again right at opening time for the phone bank at Soleil management. February is toughest, then March, but later March has actually been fairly easy. I really want February, because our friends are here at that time of year.

 

[Jayco29D]

I think EOY on the various Hawaiian Islands is great. I would not want to visit the same timeshare location every year so I either buy EOY weeks or points programs. We have an EOY MKO 2 bedroom ocean view and an EOY WKOVR-N 2 bedroom oceanfront. Our other timeshares are either EOY or points programs.

 

[mjm1]

As others have said, Maui is hard to trade into, so owning there is a great idea if you want to vacation there either EOY or every year. We love Maui and bought resale into Marriott's Maui Ocean Club- Lahaina & Napili towers (the newer towers).

Syed is an outstanding resource on Maui. He is very knowledgeable and respected in the timeshare resale industry. If you have a chance while you are still on the island I would try to meet with him. His office is in the shopping center where Safeway is located in Lahaina. His phone number is 808-268-3826. We met with him a couple of years ago, but ended up buying a unit that was listed on redweek.com.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[Lb0456]

How do you usually stay on Maui? Hotels? Those can be pricey.

We've stayed at condos the last two times, hotels before thattthat a cruise

 

[Lb0456]

Are fixed weeks on maui possible?
Linda

 

[MOXJO7282]

The calculation for me is what can the unit be rented for on the open market. If you're paying $3500 to buy but can rent for $500 over MFs that it would take 7 usages to cover your investment. For an EOY that is 14 years. The other thing is ease of sale if you need to. When I first started buying Marriott resale units to rent the one element I needed every TS to have was it could be sold easily at 60% of what I bought it for. This way I was limiting my risk. That is why I exclusively buy, rent and sell only Marriotts because of this.

In this case the money is question isn't that much that the risk is that big but still you want a positive ROI because otherwise buying wouldn't make sense over renting but this is how I make my decisions on buying a Marriott unit for my rent/use portfolio.

 

[vacationtime1]

Are fixed weeks on maui possible?
Linda

There are a few -- not many -- at WKORV. Marriott sold much of the Napili and Lahaina Towers as fixed weeks. Hyatt sold many fixed weeks in its new development. It varies resort by resort. This is a place where I would work with an experienced, local broker.