interested in possibly buying

[rgalarza22]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? = Orlando FL

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time? = Visit home mostly

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Branson, MO - Wisconsin Dells, WI - anywhere Tenn - anywhere AZ - ?

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? = 4

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? School schedule

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 4 stars and above

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? $1000

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year? = $1000-1500

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Yes

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do? Yes

 

[byeloe]

I think that you may need to up your budget.
Also since you want to go to Orlando you may be better off renting and not get locked in to maintenance fees

 

[jp10558]

Well, the good news is it's easy to get Orlando cause it's massively overbuilt. Branson is also pretty easy to get, so is Tenn, and I've seen some AZ. Wisconsin Dells I haven't really explored.

The bad news is 4 star is basically MVC and HGVC though I wonder about Wyndham Bonnet Creek. And those don't have as many locations and are the most expensive. Probably way outside your price range. IDK what size units you are considering, but if 2BR, buy in is likely starting at $4,000 with closing costs as a good deal to get the premium season that I think you need to work with the school schedule. And MFs are going to start at $1,400 if you get the best MFs today. But they go up every year. And to get that MF number I think you're looking at $6,000 or more purchase price in many cases. There are some MVC tricks you could maybe do, but then you're into II exchanges (well, you would be anyway I guess) which add ~$200. RCI would add $300 plus resort fees on the MFs.

I don't think your budget supports this - instead, look for 3 star and rent.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

IMHO, items 8, 9 and 10 are in conflict with each other.

I think that it would be challenging to find a 4 star + timeshare that costs $1K and has an annual MF of only $1K to $1.5K. Maybe it can be done.

If you were willing to buy a 3 star resort, you'll find quite a few that can be bought more cheaply and whose MF's are in your target range. But when you go to eventually dispose of it, you may have a challenge.

4 star (plus) resorts are typically groups like Marriott, Westin, Hilton, Sheraton, and Hyatt, etc..

Being restricted to a school schedule is another challenge because of the high demand for those school-related weeks. Could you pull your children out of school for a week?

 

[rickandcindy23]

A two bedroom at Bonnet Creek, MF's at $7.00/ 1,000 can be anywhere from 112K to 224K, depending on season. A one bedroom is a bit less. It's a nice resort, probably one of the top 10 in Orlando.

I don't know what you mean by Tennessee. Smokies, Wyndham has it covered. Nashville, Wyndham has it too. AZ, Wyndham has Flagstaff and Sedona.

Dells is Wyndham as well.

Wyndham seems like a good fit but maintenance fees are going to be higher than you want.

Also, I have to say that most Wyndhams are not four star or above. Bonnet Creek, yes, maybe, but Marriott is more 4 star.

It is not Motel 6 prices to stay in a timeshare.

 

[rgalarza22]

Hi all,
Thank you for the info... I guess I didn't know what 4 stars really meant.. I have stayed at the Westgate Vacation Villas as a regular rental (with their sales pitch) and like them. So, I am not sure how many stars that would be, but that is the scale of hotels that would suffice. As for Maint fees, I would say 1500 would be good to start (knowing of the yearly increase).
Regarding the upfront amount, I was hoping to find something here that would be under $1000 (I guess I'm looking for someone who wants out of theirs at a low price). With this info, what system/or whatever it's called would you recommend? Thank you in advance for any help

 

[SmithOp]

Hi all,
Thank you for the info... I guess I didn't know what 4 stars really meant.. I have stayed at the Westgate Vacation Villas as a regular rental (with their sales pitch) and like them. So, I am not sure how many stars that would be, but that is the scale of hotels that would suffice. As for Maint fees, I would say 1500 would be good to start (knowing of the yearly increase).
Regarding the upfront amount, I was hoping to find something here that would be under $1000 (I guess I'm looking for someone who wants out of theirs at a low price). With this info, what system/or whatever it's called would you recommend? Thank you in advance for any help

Take your time, monitor the free timeshares forum here. If you get one with RCI or Interval exchange companies it's easy to get exchanges or cash stays in Orlando.

Free Timeshares

Timeshare ownerships offered completely free by owners! Rehome an unwanted timeshare at no cost! Timeshares listed here must be offered completely free!

tugbbs.com

 

[jabberwocky]

You could probably pick up a Sheraton Vistana Resort 2BR for free or next to free. MF would be under $1400 but you’d need to add on a few hundred to trade it through interval. It’s not at the pinnacle of the MVC/Vistana resorts in the Orlando area, but you would have Vistana and MVC preference through interval as well as discounted trade fees.

I’ve only traded ours through II twice and was happy with the exchanges both times. Our most recent one was for a Christmas week at an MVC resort in Palm Springs.

 

[Hindsite]

If you buy a week in the Orlando area you will not be able to exchange it into DVC Orlando, if you ever wanted to. Exchanging into Orlando is easy from other locations, so if you want to have the DVC Orlando option, choose a resort that is outside of the Orlando area and uses II as an exchange platform.

Avoid buying Westgate resale, as you say their resorts can be nice, but they treat their resale customers terribly with lots of restrictions and additional fees.

Also remember that the ability to exchange is a discretionary benefit that can be degraded or take away completely, so have an exit strategy if things don't go how you hope. Its a relatively infrequent occurrence, but it does happen.

 

[jp10558]

Personally I'll also suggest don't make my mistake and buy in Orlando cause everyone wants to get out. FL is raising MFs quickly with their "fully funded reserve" law, and while Orlando isn't directly destroyed yet by Hurricanes, all the other FL hurricanes is killing insurance prices etc. I didn't know all the Wyndham locations (I own some Wyndham but they aren't 4* so I wasn't thinking that).

If I were you, I would also seriously consider Wyndham, buy somewhere with low MFs but at a buy in you can stomach. If you can take higher MFs, CWA is basically free on ebay in many cases. Wyndham also gets you RCI "for free" - not useful really for exchanges, but for Orlando etc their cash deals are often really good. 2BR for less than $900 all in are very common, and if you are lucky with a last call it can be more like $500. RCI also has a lot of coverage for Branson, Smoky Mountains, AZ, etc. They're 90% more like 3 stars in my star rating, but very easy to find shoulder season and some locations just about anything but holiday weeks specifically and very inexpensive IME. And again Orlando pretty much always has something cause it's got SO many timeshares.

 

[JohnnyO]

A two bedroom at Bonnet Creek, MF's at $7.00/ 1,000 can be anywhere from 112K to 224K, depending on season. A one bedroom is a bit less. It's a nice resort, probably one of the top 10 in Orlando.

I don't know what you mean by Tennessee. Smokies, Wyndham has it covered. Nashville, Wyndham has it too. AZ, Wyndham has Flagstaff and Sedona.

Dells is Wyndham as well.

Wyndham seems like a good fit but maintenance fees are going to be higher than you want.

Also, I have to say that most Wyndhams are not four star or above. Bonnet Creek, yes, maybe, but Marriott is more 4 star.

It is not Motel 6 prices to stay in a timeshare.

Wyndham also has Phoenix area covered as well. And I would think Wyndham Oceanside Pier is 4 Star.

 

[andre10056]

Without reading the entire thread, just be careful. It's one thing to buy a timeshare when you have absolutely nothing scheduled during the entire year. You don't go to work. You have no kids. Etc.

It's yet another thing when you have kids in school, you work, sports leagues, things come up, you have a life.

Then, more often than not, you can't go (or at least shouldn't go) that week you "have" to go.

You'll wish you didn't have that timeshare anchor around your neck, particularly if the timeshare maintenance fees keep rising so they're not much different than "spur of the moment" rental rates. Having complete flexibility is oftentimes (most times) worth more than 4 star accommodations.