First time buyer at Smuggs needs help

[pzqrc]

Me and my family rented a timeshare at smugglers notch last year and was considering renting again wen I came accross one for sale that looks too good to be true. Its a 3 bedroom unit at Tamaracks VI, fixed week in July and one floating week. The owner says he never used the floating week and does not know how it works, he thinks its in the fall. Any info on Tamaracks VI and experiences with floating weeks would be appreciated. Also does anyone know what resort privlidges (Free smuggs pass for example) a resale buyer would recieve from the resort. I have 3 boys ages 6, 8 and 11, so I would expect to get at least seven good years at Smuggs before I even considered trading out of the fixed week/ Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[WinniWoman]

We own in Sycamores. We have a fixed summer week and a float week. The float week varies every year - it's always different and always on the "off season". When our son was little (he's now 24), we always exchanged our float week through RCI and went other places either on spring break or an additional summer week, etc. - like Williamsburg, Florida, etc. Once we were able to do a second week right after our Smuggs week in New Hampshire with the float week - so we had 2 weeks vacation in a row (what a concept!)

Now that we are older and our son is grown - we actually use our float weeks at Smuggs and he even comes to visit/stay us while we are there -(He lives about 3 hours away in new Hampshire)

As for the passes - you will need to purchase them through the resort - call to find out pricing - it would be a one time purchase - good for "X" amount of years.

PS We have only traded our fix week once since we have owned (since 1999) and that was combining it with our float to go to Hawaii. We like it there that much! Good luck!

 

[pzqrc]

Thanks that helps!

 

[AKE]

Also make sure of the maintenance fees as well as any past or possible future special assessments. If someone is selling something that is too good to be true then there may be a catch somewhere. Sometimes a resale week does not have all the benefits of a developer week... Are there maintenace fees from previous years still due? Does the person have legal title to what they are selling? Are they selling it because of a divorce and the property could be jointly held? etc etc I don't want to scare you but make sure that you know what you are buying.

 

[mbh]

Floating Weeks

We have owned at smuggs for 18 years - one fixed week in the summer and a float. The float week varies each year. It is always in the off season. We have never used our float week to stay at Smuggs and have always traded it. We have gotten good trades, especially when my daughter was out of the school vacation years. However, the quality and availability of trades has gone noticeably gone down since RCI switched to points lite so if you would never use the float week, I would not buy.

 

[WinniWoman]

Thanks that helps!

One other thing about the floats - the resort should be able to give you a 20 year calender so you can see all the float weeks connected to your fixed week and plan ahead. I believe Smuggs has it on their website also.

 

[tschwa2]

According to this thread from 2010, it would cost $10,000 to add the benefits package for a family of four onto a resale purchase.

You might also want to look into the possibility of purchasing Wyndham Club Access Points or just regular points to get access to Smuggler's notch when you want it. I have no idea how much inventory they added into the Club Access trust but they are currently including the Smugs pass with stays through Wyndham points.

 

[pzqrc]

Thanks to all. Good info