I think it's a bad idea to buy just to get a good MF/TPU ratio. Suppose RCI changes its system (again), or decides an area is over-valued?
I've always wanted to have at least two uses for every timeshare I buy -- for example, it had to trade well in both II and RCI, or be a good deal (for the MFs) both in RCI and a small exchange company. However, in 2008 I became quite ill (I am still recovering) and learned the risks of buying just to exchange. I wasn't well enough to travel, and I had all these weeks on deposit with the exchange companies! I gave some weeks to friends/family and donated some exchanges to charity, but I still had a few weeks expire.
My current strategy is that I don't buy weeks just for trading. I want each week I own to be "rentable" for the MFs, so I don't get stuck paying MFs on weeks I can't use. In this economy, it has taken me a while to offload the "non-rentable" weeks, but I have made a lot of progress adjusting my portfolio.
OK, now that I've warned you, let me try to answer your questions.
Over the years, Tuggers have gotten a lot quieter about their best deals. So, until you've "been around" TUG for a while and made some friendships, you may not get a lot of people volunteering information.
One thing you may want to do is go on RCI and search for resorts that cost 33 TPUs or more. That will give you some idea where these resorts are located. You will find that there is one East Coast beach city that gets really high TPUs in the summer. However, I feel that this area is overvalued by RCI and that buying there is risky.
Vacation Village at Parkway (Orlando) has a lot of TUG owners. Peak-season lock-off weeks there have good ratios of MFs to TPUs (and the peak-season Vacation Village at Parkway weeks that have been converted to RCI Points have excellent ratios of MFs to RCI Points.) However, a lot of TUG members feel this resort is overvalued, including me.
I feel a safer area is the Southern California Coast. A number of resorts there give very good MF/TPU ratios for summer weeks. Fixed summer weeks can be hard to find, but weeks that float year-round (or almost year-round) are much cheapers. Be prepared to fight with other owners for those prime July weeks! (Sometimes literally -- apparently, a fistfight broke out a couple of years ago at one of the resorts were I own, between people standing in line to reserve July 4th.) At most resorts, you can reserve summer weeks, but you have to call the moment reservations open, and maybe try for several weeks in a row.
If you want a lot of TPUs, like more than 200 a year (or if you can use 100 pr so TPUs a year and are also willing to rent out some weeks), then I feel the best deal out there is the fractional "UDI" ownership at Christmas Mountain Village in Wisconsin. There is a thread about this resort on the Bargain Board.
