Want to purchase a resale timeshare - Points or weeks???

[MattyNorCal]

Hello, my wife and 2 young boys love to travel, but as they get older (4 and 6), having separate bedrooms, a kitchen, laundry, etc is becoming more of a priority. We were looking at MVC points but have discovered that the point system can be very expensive. Would it be better to purchase a week at a nice resort to trade, or should we go with the point system? We do like Marriott a lot.
1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
Hawaii , Mexico, San Diego
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?
Trade more than half the time
3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
Hawaii , Mexico, San Diego, Arizona, Costa Rica
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?
More locked into 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?
3-5
9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
$20-30K, but hoping to get a resale for much cheaper
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?
$1500-3000
11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
Somewhat
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

Thank you so much for any advice!

 

[BJRSanDiego]

We own Marriott weeks. We live in San Diego and consider our location to be a nice "hub". We do drive-to vacations to Newport Coast (1.5 hrs north of San Diego), Phoenix Az., Lake Tahoe, Palm Desert, Vegas, Tucson and a few other places. In our backyard, the San Diego area, I think that Welk/Hyatt (Escondido) can be an easy trade if you do it far enough in advance. I also think that Mexico (one of your targets) can also be an easy trade (summers especially but perhaps not spring break). So, that hits many of your target locations. I am assuming that when you say you are kind of "locked into a school schedule" means that you could travel in the summer rather than just spring, fall or Christmas break. Also, I wonder if taking your children out of school for a single week would be much of an issue.

We have used our Marriotts to exchange into Hawaii five times (all 2 BR units), so it can be done using "best practices".

The Marriotts are higher quality and have slightly higher MF's but they trade well. We bought all on the resale market with costs ranging from about $ 800 to $3K each.

Most Marriotts are 2 BR units and can easily sleep 4.

This is just my own experience.

 

[MattyNorCal]

Since you have had no problems trading for Hawaii, would you recommend buying a lower-cost resale with lower fees rather than, say, an ocean-view 2 bedroom at Ko Olina on Oahu? These will cost considerably more than other locations in southern California. Hawaii is definitely on our list to travel, but maybe not every year. Although having a high-demand timeshare in Hawaii will make it easier to trade for other destinations, I believe.

We would travel for Spring break and summer vacation but would also consider taking the kiddos out of school for a week.

Thank you for sharing your experiences, there is a lot to learn in this industry, and I feel like I am just scratching the surface.

 

[jabberwocky]

Take a look at Vistana - with a mandatory property such as WKV or WKORV/WKORVN you get points that can be used to book at the 8 month mark - or if you want to use it as a home resort week you can book at 12 months. If you get a 2BR you can exchange into an MVC property - and since they are lock-offs you could potentially trade for two weeks.

If you are wanting Mexico and Hawaii I’d go with Vistana. Marriott doesn’t have any resorts in Mexico - whatever is available in MVC would be from Vistana owners trading for Abound.

 

[curitiba_tapley]

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

We are MCV points owners and we really enjoy the flexibility - especially since we are still tied closely to school vacation schedules - Spring Break, Summer, and Fall / Winter Breaks. Buying sufficient points to have ability to get an entire week during the school vacation times is important. Buying a deeded week with a trader resort to then trade through II may create more challenges getting the actual week that you want / need when you are tied to a school vacation schedule. Planning 12-months out (I keep a schedule of when I need to start planning), we have almost always gotten the location and resort we desire.

 

[e.bram]

If you want ocean view buy ocean view otherwise you will probably get dumpster view.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Since you have had no problems trading for Hawaii, would you recommend buying a lower-cost resale with lower fees rather than, say, an ocean-view 2 bedroom at Ko Olina on Oahu? These will cost considerably more than other locations in southern California. Hawaii is definitely on our list to travel, but maybe not every year. Although having a high-demand timeshare in Hawaii will make it easier to trade for other destinations, I believe.

We would travel for Spring break and summer vacation but would also consider taking the kiddos out of school for a week.

Thank you for sharing your experiences, there is a lot to learn in this industry, and I feel like I am just scratching the surface.

Yes, I have been successful on my trades to Hawaii, but I wouldn't say that I have "had no problems". That would be an over simplification. When I trade, I take the highest TDI unit that I have and request something in the shoulder seasons and put my request in over a year in advance.

Also, I would neither suggest buying a "lower cost resale unit" or a 2 BR Ocean view Ko Olina. Those are two extremes and there is actually a continuum of alternatives In the Marriott system. The "sweet spot" for tradeability versus costs (initial and on-going) seems to favor the Grand Chateau (Vegas), Willow Ridge (Branson) and perhaps Palm Desert (if I've overlooked some, others are free to jump in). If you were to buy a Marriott for trading purposes, I'd suggest that you get a high season though (and a Lock-off). Yes, you'll pay a bit more, but you'll increase your chances of making the trade that you want. Also, at some future time when you may want to dispose of the unit, you'll have a better chance of selling it.

I'm biased towards the Marriott system but part of that is my unique geographic location. Also, I like 4 star + places.

 

[jmhpsu93]

Yes, I have been successful on my trades to Hawaii, but I wouldn't say that I have "had no problems". That would be an over simplification. When I trade, I take the highest TDI unit that I have and request something in the shoulder seasons and put my request in over a year in advance.

Also, I would neither suggest buying a "lower cost resale unit" or a 2 BR Ocean view Ko Olina. Those are two extremes and there is actually a continuum of alternatives In the Marriott system. The "sweet spot" for tradeability versus costs (initial and on-going) seems to favor the Grand Chateau (Vegas), Willow Ridge (Branson) and perhaps Palm Desert (if I've overlooked some, others are free to jump in). If you were to buy a Marriott for trading purposes, I'd suggest that you get a high season though (and a Lock-off). Yes, you'll pay a bit more, but you'll increase your chances of making the trade that you want. Also, at some future time when you may want to dispose of the unit, you'll have a better chance of selling it.

I'm biased towards the Marriott system but part of that is my unique geographic location. Also, I like 4 star + places.

I'd add Grande Vista and Harbour Lake to that list, in that order. Both have reasonable MFs (GV < HL), low or very low acquisition costs (GV > HL), both lockoff, and both are really good traders in platinum season (GV slightly better than HL from what I've heard, but haven't seen a difference personally).

 

[DaveNV]

I see a few things for you to really consider: (1) Buying a timeshare with the expectation of trading more than half the time, and (2) being limited to school schedules, will mean you're competing with every other family for those desired times. Trading adds to the cost of ownership, and you have no guarantees you'll be able to get what you want. It would make more sense to buy exactly what you want to use most of the time, and exchange when it's not convenient to travel to your home resort. And as mentioend above, if you want ocean view, buy ocean view. Exchangers historically get lower-valued units.

Dave

 

[MattyNorCal]

This makes a lot of sense Dave. And thanks everyone for weighing in, I really appreciate. I have a lot to research to do still.