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Trying to decide whether to buy a timeshare or rent one as needed

S

SharShar

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Hi - I have been going back and forth on whether my husband and I should buy a timeshare with HGVC. We bought one in Hawaii for $45,000 for 8,400 points, but cancelled it within the ten days allowed by Florida. Part of the reason we cancelled was this website and we realized we would probably never use the home club advantage since we live in Florida. Why not buy a timeshare in Orlando, driving distance for us? We decided to buy a resale through a licensed real estate broker and looked at Marriott and hilton. Marriott has more resorts, but it confuses the heck out of me, so we are looking at the sea world international hilton at 8400 points for $12,000.

But then I found out about renting timeshare locations and became more torn. We need the space of a timeshare since we have 4 kids, but there always seems to be something available in Orlando. My husbands favorite place to go is the panhandle beaches but there are not any hilton resorts there except San destin. Can we use points to get hilton hotels on the gulf coast? Ideally we would use points for 3 night stays at the beach through the spring and summer (he goes fishing so we don't all always go, so don't always need a condo) and then rent on the open market for the family vacation in October/early November (when Orlando is much less crowded). Is that possible and would it be with the maintenance fees. I checked into renting houses/condos for a week on the gulf coast and that is outrageous pricing (over the cost of maintenance fees for a timeshare). Any thoughts or opinions are appreciated.
 
Have you thought about buying weeks and not points? Resale weeks will save you possibly tens of thousands of dollars.

For example, a platinum week at Marriott Grande vista would be considerably cheaper than points. Many of the units there are members of the Florida club which allow reservations at other marriott Florida resorts. It also has lock off units.

If you join II as a gold member, it will also allow you to book split week stays.
 
I think you should look around on the TUG marketplace forum and try and stay in the company you're interested in ultimately getting. Rent a HGVC or a Marriott timeshare for your next vacation just to get a feel for the properties. You can also stay in one Orlando area property and visit another one to compare the differences.

Take your time with your decision. Those great buys that you see on eBay will crop up again and again if you're patient.

Spend some time reading the Marriott and Hilton threads to see what people like or don't like about each of these chains of properties. You were right to cancel. With a bit of upfront research, you'll spend 1/10th of the money, but still get all your pleasure of your educated decision.
 
If you really want the panhandle of Florida you might want to check out what Wyndham has to offer. They have locations in the panhandle and Orlando. Not as consistent as Hilton's or Marriott's but they have locations where you want to go and you can reserve for 3 or more nights with their point system as a resale owner. If you are interested the Wyndham forum has lots of info.

The HGVC system is great but if it won't meet all your needs maybe another system fits better.

The benefit of buying HGVC in Orlando is that you get access to their system which includes Orlando but lots of other places as well including Hawaii and the MF are low in Orlando. As you have found out renting in Orlando is easy and cheap.

Ian
 
Renting is an excellent way to learn more about timeshares without making a risky investment in them. I think it's an excellent idea for you to do that while you're learning what you really want. Then, once you know what you do and don't like, you'll be in a much better position to make a well-educated purchase.
 
Michael is absolutely right! Try it before you buy it because once you own it you’re stuck with ever increasing maintenance fees and the dreaded occasional special assessment. If you follow the discussions here on TUG you’ll realize that a few savvy long time timeshare owners have gotten rid of their timeshares and become timeshare renters rather than owners. There are a lot of rentals out there on Redweek, TUG Marketplace, Craigs List, and other places just for the asking. Unlike you, many of us found TUG too late in our timeshare adventure so we’re stuck with making the best use of our very expensive investment. If after you’ve rented for awhile you’ll know what works best for you and if you decide to own, definitely buy resale. Although you may feel more comfortable buying through a licensed reseller, you can get the same thing far cheaper buying directly from an owner – just be sure to use a qualified closing agent. I doubt very much that you’re going to be missing out by waiting to buy. If anything changes its more likely that there will be more and better deals for timeshares as us older owners pass on and our kids decide to avoid the long term commitment of timeshare ownership. By renting you can get an idea of which resorts and resort systems best suits your needs. Since you mentioned Marriott and Hilton it appears that you’re looking for the higher end resorts but you shouldn’t overlook Wyndham, especially the Presidential units at Bonnet Creek. They are stunning and fairly easy to get into during the off season when you’d be taking the family vacation. As for the Panhandle-Gulf Coast resorts, Wyndham has several options from Panama City to Destin and the Wyndham system does accommodate short stays – we do 2 or 3 night stays all the time.
 
Best Advice For Newbies : Do Not Buy a Timeshare - Just Rent

If you know enough to know that you are a newbie, then do not buy a timeshare. I think it is way better to rent. Rent to try different chains, Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt. Rent to try locations. Rent to see what you need and where you want to go. Rent most of all because you can decide just sixty days ahead of time that you want to go and you can get ten great TUGGERS on these pages showing you rentals for very close to maintenance fees.

The biggest failure of newbies (IMHO) is that they have no idea how to plan thirteen months ahead to get the best reservatins. They waste their weeks by failing to plan in time to get the best weeks. Why not just rent what you want when you know?

The other big failure is they buy what they can afford and think they can exchange for what they want. Never confuse yourself by thinking you can buy EOY Silver at a pig farm in Iowa and trade for Christmas week Ocean Front in Hawaii. Just Rent. pay what you can afford this year, pay more in a good year or splurge on a big occassion like a birthday or anniversary. Avoid the drag of every year maintenance fees.

After you rent for five or six timeshare vacations, then you will have time to learn about timesharing and be able to make a smart timeshare purchase. The idea of Newbie and Smart Timeshare Purchase is just an oxymoron.

The next thing you know is you write on TUG "Help, I bought a timeshare for a $1 and now I cannot use it and I still have $800 every year in maintenace fees that I cannot afford. I tried to sell it and cannot, help!" :wall:
 
Best Advice for Newbies - Just Rent

[Duplicate posts are not permitted on TUG.]
 
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SunandFun83 said:
If you know enough to know that you are a newbie, then do not buy a timeshare. I think it is way better to rent. Rent to try different chains, Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt. Rent to try locations. Rent to see what you need and where you want to go. Rent most of all because you can decide just sixty days ahead of time that you want to go and you can get ten great TUGGERS on these pages showing you rentals for very close to maintenance fees.

The biggest failure of newbies (IMHO) is that they have no idea how to plan thirteen months ahead to get the best reservatins. They waste their weeks by failing to plan in time to get the best weeks. Why not just rent what you want when you know?

The other big failure is they buy what they can afford and think they can exchange for what they want. Never confuse yourself by thinking you can buy EOY Silver at a pig farm in Iowa and trade for Christmas week Ocean Front in Hawaii. Just Rent. pay what you can afford this year, pay more in a good year or splurge on a big occassion like a birthday or anniversary. Avoid the drag of every year maintenance fees.

After you rent for five or six timeshare vacations, then you will have time to learn about timesharing and be able to make a smart timeshare purchase. The idea of Newbie and Smart Timeshare Purchase is just an oxymoron.

The next thing you know is you write on TUG "Help, I bought a timeshare for a $1 and now I cannot use it and I still have $800 every year in maintenace fees that I cannot afford. I tried to sell it and cannot, help!" :wall:
Click to expand...


Concur!

If cheap rentals should vaporize then may need to rethink!
 

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Agree it's a good idea to give it a test drive before jumping in with the investment. It breaks my heart when TUG newbies post they have owned a timeshare for years but have never used it or tried to exchange and couldn't find anything when they call RCI or Interval. There are so many options by renting out a week you can't use or putting in an ongoing request and waiting for a match. Hopefully someone will learn from your post and save the time and money.
 
A thought...

SunandFun83 said:
If you know enough to know that you are a newbie, then do not buy a timeshare. I think it is way better to rent. Rent to try different chains, Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt. <snip>
Click to expand...

I don't disagree at all with your comments. I would merely note and clarify that if / when a "newbie" later decides to buy (after acquiring timeshare self-education and rental experience), there are many, many resale options available that do not in any way involve the numerous "chains" you have enumerated above.
It might well be that an "independent" facility, sold out from developer involvement and unaffiliated in any way with any of the so-called "chains", could turn out to be the perfect fit (...as it certainly has for me).

I've owned timeshares for over 30 years. Only one week was within a "chain" (Wyndham) and I dropped that week (...gave it away for free, actually) like a hot potato after a few years of dissatisfaction with Wyndham.

I'm not disagreeing with your input. I'm merely pointing out that there are many other options besides the limited "chain" choices you list, if / when a "newbie" later decides to "buy in" (via resale only, of course).
 
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If you spend a lot of time learning on TUG over 3-6 months, I believe you can make a reasonably good TS purchase. You then will need to continue your TUG research and learn about how to maximize the use of your timeshare.
In 2007, I purchased a resale Wyndham timeshare that traded in II. I learned quickly how to get 4 exchanges a year from my one week worth of points. Then in 2010, I learned how to get 4 more bonus weeks. In 2011, Wyndham drastically changed the points required for deposit in II. So in 2012, I sold my Wyndham to another TUG member. I lost $1750 off of my purchase price but I had enjoyed 5 years of trades by the time I sold. It was a great learning experience. I have no regrets. I learned a lot about using my exchange company in those years.
So you can rent to help decide which timeshare to buy but you still need to do a lot of research before and after the purchase to learn how to use whatever you buy.
In 2012, I bought my second timeshare. It is part of the Starwood system but it is not in the vacation network. It is a resort that trades well and gets Starwood perks in II. I am loving it. Historically, my resort is reasonably easy to get rid of. There are no guarantees in the future though. Every trade has been an upgrade so far.
I did spend hours every day for over a year on TUG. I do not know of a better way to learn how to buy and use timeshares. If you do not want to spend time "researching", you may not want to buy.
You made a good start by asking questions here. Keep it up and you will be a happy timesharing Tugger soon. We traveled 14 weeks in timeshares last year. I think it will be 10-11 weeks this year. I own one 2 bedroom lock-off.
 
Rent first and if you decide to buy only purchase re-sale.
 
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