Some advice please

[pavlovsdog00]

First off...great website.

Second...like most I went through the HGVC sales pitch. Not only was it high pressure, but after the salesperson realized I wasn't going to plop down 6k down payment they tried to push me into something I knew was a bad idea (3400 points odd years). The fact that they thought I was naive enough to pay 1k a year maintenance for essentially a 3 day vacation every other year frankly made me

...but here's the thing. I like HGVC. I would love to have this for my family. I do realize, though, it would probably take me 7000 points a year to make it worthwhile.

So some help please. Let's be realistic....what should I expect on the resale market? Sure I see the $2,000 resale on ebay...but I know that would never go through ROFR. Can I get this for under 10k? Are there sites I should avoid?

I know this probably has been covered a million times, but it is a lot to go through....thanks in advance!

 

[pavlovsdog00]

I should also mention I did purchase the 7000 point 18 month preview for 1695. Seemed like a good deal..no obligation (beyond another sales pitch :hysterical: ) Thinking about 5 days in NYC.

 

[RX8]

I should also mention I did purchase the 7000 point 18 month preview for 1695. Seemed like a good deal..no obligation (beyond another sales pitch :hysterical: ) Thinking about 5 days in NYC.

I did the same thing with the VIP membership. I got MANY days worth of vacations, some already taken and some scheduled for later this year. Based on how many days I got, I think I got my money's worth. A recommendation to stretch your points is to avoid the weekends and travel during the gold season.

Since you have vacation to take the next 18 months, take your time with a purchase as there is no need to rush. Read the many threads here to make sure a TS is for you and that the TS should be HGVC. After a number of months, you will have a better idea of what is best for you.

 

[Passepartout]

There is a resale broker or 2 that frequent TUG. They probably don't beat the eBay prices, but pass ROFR and (I understand) are dealt with in a professional manner without hassles, lies and runaround. Check the TUG BBB in the Buying, Selling, Renting Forum or search for HGVC Resales.

Jim

 

[Tamaradarann]

There is a resale broker or 2 that frequent TUG. They probably don't beat the eBay prices, but pass ROFR and (I understand) are dealt with in a professional manner without hassles, lies and runaround. Check the TUG BBB in the Buying, Selling, Renting Forum or search for HGVC Resales.

Jim

I have purchased a few resale timeshares from Seth Noch and he is reliable and will get the sale thru ROFR. If you like the system why not but resale and get into the system. it is much less expensive than buying from the developer. From the outside it is impossible to really know what you can do and what you are getting yourself into. We purchased one in 2006 and have now purchased six and have 34600 points. We vacation for about 17 weeks a year in places we never dreamed of before. If you can afford the resales buy them and have fun.

 

[Remy]

HGVC is a great system and worth the time to research before making a purchase.

If I were making a purchase tomorrow, it would be at the LV Strip for 7,000 platinum points. The developer will attempt to sell them for a little over $40,000 while ROFR will land somewhere around $13,000. It's a chunk of change, but comes with a very low annual fee.

You could also go with a property with no ROFR, but most of those folks have figured out there's demand to avoid ROFR and get pretty close to it anyway (I'm looking at you Flamingo).

 

[RX8]

If I were making a purchase tomorrow, it would be at the LV Strip for 7,000 platinum points... but comes with a very low annual fee.

Do you know if the Las Vegas Strip MF is currently subsidized by the developer?

 

[Talent312]

If I were buying today, I'd use one of these brokers who specialize in HGVC.
They have stellar reps among the Hilton posters and post helpful information:

Judy Koz... -- http://judikoz.com/
Seth Nock --- http://www.sellingtimeshares.net/

Judy has been involved in helping clean up the resale scammers.

 

[dvc_john]

they tried to push me into something I knew was a bad idea (3400 points odd years). The fact that they thought I was naive enough to pay 1k a year maintenance for essentially a 3 day vacation every other year frankly made me

I'm not trying to defend a salesman, but just about everything in that statement is incorrect.
3400 EOY is a 1br gold, and mf's (at Tuscany) run about $700 every other year, not 1K/year. And 3400 EOY points gets you a week every other year, not 3 days every other year. And depending on how you use the points, you could get 5 days one year, and 4 days the next (all in a 1br gold season).

 

[pavlovsdog00]

I'm not trying to defend a salesman, but just about everything in that statement is incorrect.
3400 EOY is a 1br gold, and mf's (at Tuscany) run about $700 every other year, not 1K/year. And 3400 EOY points gets you a week every other year, not 3 days every other year. And depending on how you use the points, you could get 5 days one year, and 4 days the next (all in a 1br gold season).

Yes you are partly correct (I wrote my original post right after getting back from a long week at Disney :zzz: ). The property was actually Myrtle Beach so the MF's were 960 every OTHER year. 3400 points does get you a week every other year as long as you can manage to travel during the gold season (which is possible in Orlando and Vegas, but it seems to me is really difficult in Hawaii or New York).

Bottom line, though, is that their numbers don't work for me. For the sake of math let's call it 500 a year in MFs...122 a month for the deed (9500 financed for 10 years at a ridiculous interest rate)...that is essentially 2000 a year. So if I do indeed get a week every other year, that week's vacation cost me 4000. Yes after a while you pay off the deed, but to me this program isn't worth considering under 5000 points a year, but preferably 7000.

Thanks for all of the input so far....keep it coming....again I really do like HGVC just not the numbers that were thrown at me during the sales pitch!

 

[Gophesjo]

Anderson Ocean Club HGVC Myrtle Beach

The property was actually Myrtle Beach so the MF's were 960 every OTHER year.

What did you think of the Myrtle Beach property? I am going to be there this weekend and have been thinking about going to see it. Thank you,

Joe

 

[dvc_john]

I visited the Myrtle Beach property last week, and had rather mixed feelings about it. I didn't do a sales tour, just stopped by to see the units. It was nice enough, but I was staying at Marriott's Ocean Watch Villas at the time, and IMHO the Marriott was much much nicer.

I would be interested to hear other's opinions of it though.

I do have concerns about the future direction of HGVC using conversions rather than purpose built. It seems to me that conversions are almost always never as nice as purpose built timeshare resorts.

 

[amycurl]

The pics on the website look amazing, and it really has me thinking about HGVC as our second timeshare....

 

[pavlovsdog00]

Sorry I didn't actually visit Myrtle Beach...that was just the property they tried to sell me because it "best fit my needs and had the best promotions" (which may mean it is the property they have the most inventory to unload if you want to be cynical about it)

 

[itradehilton]

We started with 7000 HGVC points too and took many wonderful vacations and 4 years later bought another 7000 points. The only thing I would do different is start with a resale purchase.

 

[linsj]

And depending on how you use the points, you could get 5 days one year, and 4 days the next (all in a 1br gold season).

Or two weeks in a studio in Oahu during gold season with 200 points left.

 

[Remy]

Do you know if the Las Vegas Strip MF is currently subsidized by the developer?

The low MFs all around in Vegas lead me to believe they are not heavily subsidized, if at all. One could easily choose the Karen property or the Flamingo if that's a long-term concern. The MF is roughly $100 a year more at those locations.

Trust that long-term the lower maintenance fee will have you feeling better about your purchase than the lower entry fee at some locations that have $1,000-plus MFs assaulting you annually (I'm looking at you Bay Club). Those can also be more difficult to eventually sell with lower demand and the potential of the broker fee being higher than the sales price (before I get crucified by Bay Club enthusiasts: depending on the season and unit size chosen, which can also be the case at other resorts).

I agree that using Judi or Seth is your best bet in resale. I've not purchased from either, but have sold a unit through Seth. He is very easy to work with.

 

[PigsDad]

I do have concerns about the future direction of HGVC using conversions rather than purpose built. It seems to me that conversions are almost always never as nice as purpose built timeshare resorts.

I share that concern with you. I think that so far they have done a pretty good job of only adding properties that compare decently to the existing purpose built properties, but if they start adding junk, that would bring down the value of the whole HGVC system.

Kurt

 

[pavlovsdog00]

Thank you everyone for the advice.

After much thought I've decided to cancel my VIP membership, and use the 1695 towards closing costs on a HGVC resale through Judy or Seth (thanks talent).

So after scouring old messages on this site would the general consensus still be just buy into the cheapest MFs? I noticed the Sea World property and the Flamingo tend to hover around 750. Should I pay a little extra money for the Flamingo just to have the piece of mind of no ROFR? I'm staying away from the high dollar properties (like Hawaii) because resale doesn't mean quite as much to me if I get in cheap, and I definitely would not be one to just use a week at my home property.

...I've decided 5000 points is right for me, but I'm also open to starting a little lower (maybe 3500), and then adding on in the future.

Advice is appreciated

 

[RX8]

Thank you everyone for the advice.

After much thought I've decided to cancel my VIP membership, and use the 1695 towards closing costs on a HGVC resale through Judy or Seth (thanks talent).

So after scouring old messages on this site would the general consensus still be just buy into the cheapest MFs? I noticed the Sea World property and the Flamingo tend to hover around 750. Should I pay a little extra money for the Flamingo just to have the piece of mind of no ROFR? I'm staying away from the high dollar properties (like Hawaii) because resale doesn't mean quite as much to me if I get in cheap, and I definitely would not be one to just use a week at my home property.

...I've decided 5000 points is right for me, but I'm also open to starting a little lower (maybe 3500), and then adding on in the future.

Advice is appreciated

Regarding your points, if 5000 is right for you then you should look to purchase that in lieu of starting lower. There is no way to simply add points to your existing contract. If you purchase 3500 points now and want more later, your options are to buy another week (now TWO maintenance fees) or to sell the 3500 point contract and buy another higher point contract.

However, if you are don't mind reserving late, you could have a 3500 point contract and use the open season option to fill out your additional vacation needs. If you plan on using the Florida locations often, since that is where you live, the open season might work well for you as there is usually availability due to the over supply.

 

[pavlovsdog00]

Regarding your points, if 5000 is right for you then you should look to purchase that in lieu of starting lower. There is no way to simply add points to your existing contract. If you purchase 3500 points now and want more later, your options are to buy another week (now TWO maintenance fees) or to sell the 3500 point contract and buy another higher point contract.

However, if you are don't mind reserving late, you could have a 3500 point contract and use the open season option to fill out your additional vacation needs. If you plan on using the Florida locations often, since that is where you live, the open season might work well for you as there is usually availability due to the over supply.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. At the sales pitch they told me "you can always add points later", and with all the BS they were feeding me I should've realized that wasn't that easy.

...and you're right...living in Tampa means Open Season would be fine for me for Orlando (I visit Parc Soleil typically 5-10 days a year spread out), and 3500 points could probably get me 7 days in a 1br suite (either in off peak season or in somewhere like Vegas).

 

[hvacrsteve]

Save yourself the trouble, don't buy HGVC, the fees will be more the hotel cost in the long run!

 

[Remy]

Save yourself the trouble, don't buy HGVC, the fees will be more the hotel cost in the long run!

The rates I "pay" on a two bedroom are less than nights in many Hampton Inns.

 

[pavlovsdog00]

Anyone have an opinion on this auction (assuming it went for the opening bid price)?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5000-HGVC-P...=Timeshares&hash=item53eb9cbaaa#ht_3706wt_872

 

[gnorth16]

Just be aware that the transfer fee is $995....Not so with regular HGVC's, which I believe is $399.