Just bought @ Ocean Tower, Waikoloa Village, thinking of rescinding

[00dave]

After reading through a ton of posts on tugbbs, I feel like I am one of those suckers born every minute.

We travel a fair amount (15-25 nights/year) and HVG made some sense when we were presented last week at Ocean Tower on The Big Island and we bought. After doing now what I should have done before (research) I feel like we should rescind and buy on the reseller market. Here are our details:

Ocean Tower
Studio
Platinum Season
5,440 points/year starting in 2024
11,200 bonus points (some carried over from the stay we were redeeming)
$1,092.80 annual maintenance fee
+ $299 annual HGV Max Club Dues
= $1,391.80 total annual MF
$24,295 purchase price (and this was discounted about $10k because we were rolled back to 2023 prices and the $1600-ish we spent on the week at Ocean Tower was credited)

If we rescind we'll lose the bonus points and I believe the Max Club options. Would we also lose access to "Open Season" reservations?

I like the idea of those bonus points but it seems that they're difficult or impossible to combine with regular points to make one single reservation and it appears that with money we'd save on the resell market those bonus points can be made up very quickly.

I've pretty much talked myself into rescinding but I'd love to hear any opposing opinions or additional advice. Is there even one single reason to not rescind?

We liked the property and will likely return but may avoid Ocean Tower. It's a far walk to the car and the self-parking is $48/night when there are two other properties with free parking. But it seems like buying in Vegas may be a better option. While we usually don't enjoy Vegas that much the MF is lower and getting a place in Waikoloa Village doesn't seem too difficult at the 9-month mark, based on comments I've seen on tugbbs.

I wish we got immediate access to the system so we could play around with options before our 7-day right-of-recision expires. We also like the idea of Europe but one video we watched didn't show that many properties in the system for Europe, but that was a couple of years ago. Maybe that's changed.

Okay... light me up for how stupid of a decision this was. I can take it.

 

[SmithOp]

Just rescind and all is forgiven

Open season works for resale too, that is a common lie they tell.

Vegas is a good choice, Waikoloa resorts are an easy get at 9 months.

 

[GT75]

You have already answered your own questions. You are correct, I wouldn't buy HGVC for trying to use in Europe. There are a few. A couple of things that you probably didn't know is that 5440 pts isn't enough pts and certainly not enough for 15-25 nights. You didn't tell us what size of room or how many people will be going with you.

 

[HuskerATL]

If you are hesitant, rescind. That retail deal will always be there so, if you decide later that you want it, go back and they will sell it to you. For comparison though, we only paid about $26k for about 100k points.. On The resale market.

Another comparison, we have weeks that are 7680 points and only cost us about $800 in annual MFs.

 

[geist1223]

Losing MAX with rescinding is not a big deal. If you can afford it buy a 1 or 2 bedroom Platinum week resell in Las Vegas. The Maintenance Fees are determined by size of Unit not Season but you get more Points with a Platinum Week.

 

[jp10558]

As everyone else says, you should rescind. There is no reason to pay $1,100 for 5440 when you can get 11,200pts for $1,700 MFs all day long on resale in mediocre units like in Orlando. You can get 11,200pts for the same MFs in Vegas and Craig lodges in Scotland. For the $24,000 you can easily buy resale, heck you can likely get pretty in demand deeds for max $10,000, just have to find the thing for sale. Craig goes for ~5,000 GBP 2 BR Platinum at their online sales desk.

If you really want to go to Europe a lot in the cities like I would want to do, you have to check out Hapimag. It's a little different from most American timeshares where you buy weeks or points to use each year and pay a small booking fee at most to use in the system. Instead you do buy points / credits, but you can accumulate for up to 5 years, you can "rent" a number of credits once you own if you need to, so you can realistically pay a small MF each year, accumulate to a bunch of points in 3-4 years and then use each ~4 years, or you can rent to make up if needed when you want to go. So you don't have to lock in to 2BR MF and commit to use each year or you lose money. You can commit to every 5 years instead. However, when you do redeem the credits, there's always a local management fee (think of it like an exchange fee) that's noticeable, usually around 500 euros. You can look around the site for free, and you can do "trial runs" up to 3 times for cash prices.

 

[HuskerATL]

$1,100 for 5440

They are paying $24k for 5,440 pts....ugh. Not a good deal.

There are HGV properties, like Vegas, that have very good MF/pt and there are affiliates that allow you to exchange outside HGVC so it broadens your options.

I look at total purchase price/pt and MF/pt with the most options. I try to stay at 0.10 or less MF/pt and our last three resale were 0.24 total purchase price/pt but that was Craig Lodges where there is very low closing costs and prices.

 

[Chris-ATX]

Solid advice above.

Just be sure to get your rescind documented within the time window.

Good luck!

 

[GT75]

Is there even one single reason to not rescind?

Yes, for some reason that you need to spend $25K which you should be able to get on the resale market for free. Seriously, if you did choose to continue with this purchase, please understand that it will be very hard to unload it when the time comes that you want to sell it. You will probably need to pay someone to take it.

 

[TUGBrian]

grats on discovering the truth and saving yourself 25k!

 

[WaikikiFirst]

After reading through a ton of posts on tugbbs, I feel like I am one of those suckers born every minute.

My 1st reaction of "It never ends" is hugely augmented after reading the post with "Boy, somebody did much great research in a short span."
I'll just never understand why people don't default to "I should do a bunch of great research on this BEFORE plunking down $20 K or $40 K or more" ... and then sometimes financing it. Inconceivable the guy said.

 

[yodaDaenerys]

if you really want to log in to put your mind at ease, i could help you see it from my MAX side. but just rescind. i did no research into resale before getting looped into MAX. knowing what i know now, i wouldn't pay $1,000 for MAX. rescind away, glad you had better sense than me and checked in here for advice...

 

[yodaDaenerys]

My 1st reaction of "It never ends" is hugely augmented after reading the post with "Boy, somebody did much great research in a short span."
I'll just never understand why people don't default to "I should do a bunch of great research on this BEFORE plunking down $20 K or $40 K or more" ... and then sometimes financing it. Inconceivable the guy said.

not defending my stupidity, but the sales shpeal is 'if you don't do this now, you'll never get such a good deal again'. i come from a sales background where telling the truth is part of the package, and customer's can hold you accountable. not so much in the timeshare world...

now do you understand why? lol

 

[HuskerATL]

not defending my stupidity, but the sales shpeal is 'if you don't do this now, you'll never get such a good deal again'. i come from a sales background where telling the truth is part of the package, and customer's can hold you accountable. not so much in the timeshare world...

now do you understand why? lol

Yeah, these folks have the ability to openly lie with no recourse

 

[Yzfguy06]

Rescind. Too much money for too little points. You can have hell of a portfolio for that amount of money on the resale market. IMO.

 

[Chris-ATX]

please understand that it will be very hard to unload it when the time comes that you want to sell it. You will probably need to pay someone to take it.

^^^
This. Right. Here.

Lots of focus on the upfront payment issue. but this is the real critical piece: with what was specified (5440 points), you might find yourself stuck with this without an out (well, you could default and deal with credit issues for walking the MF's). But imagine at the end having to /pay/ someone to take it off your hands!

 

[letsgobobby]

This is a bad deed and worth almost nothing on resale. You are overpaying by about $20,000 even including the free points.

Rescind immediately and buy resale.

 

[pedro47]

grats on discovering the truth and saving yourself 25k!

Rescind immediately and buy resale.
You just saved 25k..plus finance charges.

 

[00dave]

They are paying $24k for 5,440 pts....ugh. Not a good deal.

There are HGV properties, like Vegas, that have very good MF/pt and there are affiliates that allow you to exchange outside HGVC so it broadens your options.

I look at total purchase price/pt and MF/pt with the most options. I try to stay at 0.10 or less MF/pt and our last three resale were 0.24 total purchase price/pt but that was Craig Lodges where there is very low closing costs and prices.

Thanks for sharing your parameters to buy. So doing the math on my "deal" I was at:

$4.47/pt on purchase ($4.23 higher than what you got on your last three)
$.26/pt on MF ($0.16 higher than what you shoot for)

Am I interpreting that correctly based on my details below?

5,440 points/year

$1,092.80 annual maintenance fee
+ $299 annual HGV Max Club Dues
= $1,391.80 total annual MF

$24,295 purchase price

BTW, I faxed over my rescission last night per their instruction page and got the confirmation email. Sigh of relief...

 

[HuskerATL]

Thanks for sharing your parameters to buy. So doing the math on my "deal" I was at:

$4.47/pt on purchase ($4.23 higher than what you got on your last three)
$.26/pt on MF ($0.16 higher than what you shoot for)

Am I interpreting that correctly based on my details below?

5,440 points/year

$1,092.80 annual maintenance fee
+ $299 annual HGV Max Club Dues
= $1,391.80 total annual MF

$24,295 purchase price

BTW, I faxed over my rescission last night per their instruction page and got the confirmation email. Sigh of relief...

That is great news....you will thank us later when you buy a good resale at a fraction of that price. Feel free to bounce thoughts off of this group or send a private message. There are good deals to be had but do some research and be patient. You may need to sacrifice a goat in your backyard like @GT75 must do...since he is good at finding bargains and some how bought an Ocean Oak OF unit via the resale market....which is near impossible since Strand takes them via ROFR...especially OF units...they are like $90k on the retail market. I am not sure who he paid off.

Yes, you math is correct if that includes the closing costs. My figure is total purchase price which includes closing, transfer, and activation fee. Since yours is retail, that might include all of that. When you buy resale, the closing won't include the activation fee since HGV sends that bill directly to you later. Mine calculation included it though at 0.24 but that is a very low closing cost since it is Craig lodges and the it has a very low closing cost.

That is correct for your MF/pt...that is terrible. There are Orlando properties, like Parc/Tuscany and others that are basically free and have lower MF/pt....still higher than I like but much lower than your deal. Heck, there are free 5440 pt Blvds that would be much better but still 0.14...you really need more than 5440 points. I would shoot for a 11200 pt resale deed...like at Blvd, Paradise, or Flamingo.

https://www.tug2.com/timesharemarke...rtId=15022&ForSale=True&PriceMin=0&PriceMax=1

 

[00dave]

That is great news....you will thank us later when you buy a good resale at a fraction of that price. Feel free to bounce thoughts off of this group or send a private message. There are good deals to be had but do some research and be patient. You may need to sacrifice a goat in your backyard like @GT75 must do...since he is good at finding bargains and some how bought an Ocean Oak OF unit via the resale market....which is near impossible since Strand takes them via ROFR...especially OF units...they are like $90k on the retail market. I am not sure who he paid off.

Yes, you math is correct if that includes the closing costs. My figure is total purchase price which includes closing, transfer, and activation fee. Since yours is retail, that might include all of that. When you buy resale, the closing won't include the activation fee since HGV sends that bill directly to you later. Mine calculation included it though at 0.24 but that is a very low closing cost since it is Craig lodges and the it has a very low closing cost.

That is correct for your MF/pt...that is terrible. There are Orlando properties, like Parc/Tuscany and others that are basically free and have lower MF/pt....still higher than I like but much lower than your deal. Heck, there are free 5440 pt Blvds that would be much better but still 0.14...you really need more than 5440 points. I would shoot for a 11200 pt resale deed...like at Blvd, Paradise, or Flamingo.

https://www.tug2.com/timesharemarke...rtId=15022&ForSale=True&PriceMin=0&PriceMax=1

View attachment 96507

This is great. Thanks.

I've always run away from buying a timeshare but like the idea more as we get older and are traveling more but like it even more with the additional understanding from this board and avoiding the, "Oh... I think we just got screwed," feeling.

 

[HuskerATL]

This is great. Thanks.

I've always run away from buying a timeshare but like the idea more as we get older and are traveling more but like it even more with the additional understanding from this board and avoiding the, "Oh... I think we just got screwed," feeling.

We like the system and have owned for over 20 years. It is a game...and addictive to find the best deals (MF/pt) or best traders (if you want to exchange in other systems). It becomes a game of finding the best deals that lead to more vacation time...like using the Amex cards to get the benefits, looking for point sales, using your HGV expenses to get HH deals, leveraging weekday stays that use less points, booking at midnight 9 months ahead of a desired stay at a high demand location where you don't own, etc....it can be a time consuming hobby...

 

[GT75]

BTW, I faxed over my rescission last night per their instruction page and got the confirmation email. Sigh of relief...

Congratulations. Now you can relax.

but like the idea more as we get older and are traveling more but like it even more with the additional understanding from this board and avoiding the, "Oh... I think we just got screwed," feeling.

Take your time and do your research on resale before buying. There are several different TS systems which are good. Each have their pros and cons. I don't know if any of them are "the best" because it all depends upon what you are looking for. There isn't a rush to purchase because resale will be available the next day also.

 

[rc51]

Another way to frame this (that I think is pretty positive) is that, to you, the deal made sense at the price you paid. Given that, imagine how much you'll love it when you find the same deal for a tiny fraction of what you thought made sense!

 

[HuskerATL]

Another way to frame this (that I think is pretty positive) is that, to you, the deal made sense at the price you paid. Given that, imagine how much you'll love it when you find the same deal for a tiny fraction of what you thought made sense!

But, even before our input, they were questioning it, however, you are right though, if the system made sense to them enough to go for it, then it will be even better by spending a fraction of the cost for it.