What should we buy? Leaning towards HGVC

[Coconuts170]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? Not specifically- we just like to travel. We go to Florida yearly, mostly Disney/Orlando, but as the kids get older, we will most likely deviate more often. We do New York regularly and were supposed to do Hawaii 2020 (darn covid). Looking to Europe next year.

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? We would most likely trade more than half the time.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Florida, Caribbean, New York, Carolinas, other domestic

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? 4 (kids are currently elementary age)

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? I have no problem pulling the kids out of school, so we travel several times per year.

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? I prefer it that way!

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes, but would prefer flexibility to shorten or extend

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 4 to 5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? Up to $50k

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? Up to $3k

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? YES!

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 in advance! One last question: what are the honest downfalls to purchasing resale? Other than the sign on "perks", are you treated any differently? Do they even know once the deed is transferred??

 

[vacationtime1]

HGVC has serious geographic limitations, but it will work well for your Florida and Hawaii trips.

Buy high season. Upfront cost is more, but the annual MF/point ratio is much better.

 

[Panina]

Resale is the way to go. You will not have to spend anywhere what you said you could in purchases price or maintenance fees. You will not be treated differently at the resorts except for not being invited to owner updates which is really to sell you more points at the high price Most of you destinations are in HGVC. Good fit for you.

 

[R1964]

Whatever you do make sure you buy resale no matter what timeshare group you feel will be the best fit for your family.

 

[capjak]

I decided to purchase multiple timeshare systems resale via buying every other year units/points rather than 1 annual at first.

For example you may want to purchase a Marriott every year even and a HGVC every other year odd, or some other combo. This can give you a lot of flexibility on resort locations. The downfall is you will need to learn two systems. I currently own 4 different timeshare systems and more if you count the point conversion options.

 

[Macey]

We have one we'd love to sell!

 

[Magus]

Hgvc has plenty of locations in most of the spots you mentioned, especially Florida, Carolinas, Hawaii and nyc. No real differences between resale and from Hilton except 10% of the price, sometimes less. The elite rewards are eh, especially the lower tier ones, and start at a lot of points - well over your budget. You can get platinum points for less than $1/pt right now. Vegas, Scotland and some in Hawaii usually have the best MF / Point ratio although Scotland ones have exchange rate risk.

 

[SteelerGal]

We own HGVC as well as MVC. It works to own where we prefer to travel as well as the season instead of having to rely on an exchange. Since we live in SoCal, HGVC Carlsbad is a 2nd home for us while we love to go to MVC properties in Palm Desert.

As others have said buy resale.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Because you have New York in your list of regular destinations, I would recommend HGVC because it has many options in NYC. NYC has some specific rules unless you are okay with last minute reservations (<60 days), not picky about the room location and could trade in with a less expensive club trader from Vegas, Florida, Scotland resorts Because you are a party of 4, most of the rooms in NYC are 2 - 3 people so you may want to pick up a resale NYC unit or two to ensure you can get the rooms you need because some of the 1 and 2 bdrm units will be difficult to find during the club trading season except during a blizzard.

Consider a reputable real estate broker such as Diane Nadeau or Judi Koslowski so you don't get scammed - all resale of course.

You also may want to go over to the HGV forum for specifics on which resorts are best for your situation.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes, but would prefer flexibility to shorten or extend

The ability to book shorter longer stays requires a points program like HGVC. Combined with your desire for 4 - 5 star accommodations makes HGVC the best choice. Marriott resales do not come with points so you would need to enroll a resale into a developer unit costing a lot more money (>$10k) to get the points enrollment for your unit. Vistana is another option with points and are reasonable to buy resale but they are not in all the locations you desire.

 

[TravelTime]

MVC has all the locations you are interested in and more. You could buy resale points for about $2 per point and $3 to register them with MVC. Then they are enrolled. You could buy up to 10,000 points with your budget and that would put you at Presidential level.

 

[got4boys]

As a HGVC owner and had small kids, I regret not buying Disney Vacation Club (DVC) earlier. Don't get me wrong, we loved our HGVC and still own it. After buying DVC on the resale market and from the developer, for us, it was one of the few that actually went up in value. We bought HGVC from the developer and we stayed at Seaworld and Tuscany when they were younger. By the time we purchased DVC they were teenagers and they preferred Universal vs Disney. Now that we are starting to have grandkids, we are seeing that my kids and grandkids are gravitating back to Disney.

Yes, please buy resale. I would recommend is to buy Disney Vacation Club and when the kids are older, you can sell it, usually for a profit and travel to the other places.

 

[DazedandConfused]

HGVC is a great choice

 

[Sandy VDH]

If Caribbean is a deal breaker, than consider MVC as they have more locations in the Caribbean.

If Carolinas, NYC, Hawaii then HGVC likely has an edge.

 

[CPNY]

Vistana Westin kierland villas 2 bedroom platinum resale. Use the Star Options to travel to network resorts at 8 months. Or MVC DC points on resale is probably where you should be looking.