"What to Buy" Questions

[hotwired]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
A: We tend to gravitate toward warm, coastal. We LIVE in Central Maine and spend 2 weeks at Old Orchard Beach, 1-2 weeks in Boothbay Harbor / East Boothbay. We're not crazy about "Downeast" (Bar Harbor) as it's fairly cold right up until mid July, believe it or not. I say this because there's a family owned TS called Harbor Ridge. They take care of all rentals and sales internally. But I seem to remember getting feedback that they're not the best trader. Eventually like to spend time in Mexico, but we seem to "gravitate" toward FL mostly Gulf coast but also Ft Lauderdale (Lago Mar resort is a place we love and stay almost annually).

we LOVE LOVE LOVE Aruba's Costa Linda. We have friends that own there, and it strikes me as a no brainer. Now it's Aruba. Long trip. But Costa Linda appears to be a great trader. Resales seem to be 25K avg. Just about any unused weeks for rent hover in the 5K range. That's almost strikes me as a (gulp) good investment. I know timeshare and investment are two words that really should be avoided in the same sentence!

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?
Yes, but we'd like to be open. Hence we'd be open to spending a little more in order to get the power of optionality (i.e. a "tiger trader" or something we could literally rent for MORE than our annual maintenance fee).

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Key West, plus yet to be explored coastal locales in Florida.

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? Myself and Wife, both 60, retired. Would anticipate traveling with adult daughter and her companion or daughter and mother in law.

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? No restrictions.

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Absolutely. My wife is a detail oriented bad-a**.

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes though we usually are ready to be home after day 4. But I know some people just buy the week, leave day 5 and leaving those 2 days o the table doesn't hurt because their time is still cheaper and/or better than paying for resort.

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
4 (I know the numbers are a bit subjective. We don't need white glove though we LOVE white glove service. But we don't tolerate the silly stuff that comes with "mid level" digs (i.e. finding a dirty sock under the bed, staff with no personality, having to beg for extra towels, etc.)

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
25K

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?
Not so much "what we can afford" but we'd like it to be an amount that doesn't keep us up at night if for some reason we have to forfeit the week 100% (last minute emergency, etc.) So let's say $1,500

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
My wife is.

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?
100%.

Follow up: We use Hilton almost exclusively for hotel stays.

 

[andre10056]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
A: We tend to gravitate toward warm, coastal. We LIVE in Central Maine and spend 2 weeks at Old Orchard Beach, 1-2 weeks in Boothbay Harbor / East Boothbay. We're not crazy about "Downeast" (Bar Harbor) as it's fairly cold right up until mid July, believe it or not. I say this because there's a family owned TS called Harbor Ridge. They take care of all rentals and sales internally. But I seem to remember getting feedback that they're not the best trader. Eventually like to spend time in Mexico, but we seem to "gravitate" toward FL mostly Gulf coast but also Ft Lauderdale (Lago Mar resort is a place we love and stay almost annually).

we LOVE LOVE LOVE Aruba's Costa Linda. We have friends that own there, and it strikes me as a no brainer. Now it's Aruba. Long trip. But Costa Linda appears to be a great trader. Resales seem to be 25K avg. Just about any unused weeks for rent hover in the 5K range. That's almost strikes me as a (gulp) good investment. I know timeshare and investment are two words that really should be avoided in the same sentence!

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?
Yes, but we'd like to be open. Hence we'd be open to spending a little more in order to get the power of optionality (i.e. a "tiger trader" or something we could literally rent for MORE than our annual maintenance fee).

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Key West, plus yet to be explored coastal locales in Florida.

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? Myself and Wife, both 60, retired. Would anticipate traveling with adult daughter and her companion or daughter and mother in law.

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? No restrictions.

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Absolutely. My wife is a detail oriented bad-a**.

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes though we usually are ready to be home after day 4. But I know some people just buy the week, leave day 5 and leaving those 2 days o the table doesn't hurt because their time is still cheaper and/or better than paying for resort.

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
4 (I know the numbers are a bit subjective. We don't need white glove though we LOVE white glove service. But we don't tolerate the silly stuff that comes with "mid level" digs (i.e. finding a dirty sock under the bed, staff with no personality, having to beg for extra towels, etc.)

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
25K

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?
Not so much "what we can afford" but we'd like it to be an amount that doesn't keep us up at night if for some reason we have to forfeit the week 100% (last minute emergency, etc.) So let's say $1,500

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
My wife is.

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?
100%.

I wouldn't even consider paying that $25,000 for a timeshare. Recognize that you may very well at some point find that a deeded ownership is like an albatross around your neck. Here is an example of an "above average desirable" Key West timeshare and what it "sold" for (actually, how many thousands the seller had to pay to get someone else to put their name on the deed...make sure you click on "See original listing"):

Hyatt Windward Pointe Resort 2,000 points Timeshare Key West Florida Week 24 | eBay

Hyatt Windward Pointe Resort 2,000 points. Hyatt Windward Pointe. Resort Closings, Inc. Escrow, Doc Prep, & Closing Resort Transfer fee Resort does have Right of First refusal. Resort Closings, Inc. out of Bozeman, Montana is handling the escrow and closing process.

www.ebay.com

 

[hotwired]

I wouldn't even consider paying that $25,000 for a timeshare. Recognize that you may very well at some point find that a deeded ownership is like an albatross around your neck. Here is an example of an "above average desirable" Key West timeshare and what it "sold" for (actually, how many thousands the seller had to pay to get someone else to put their name on the deed...make sure you click on "See original listing"):

Hyatt Windward Pointe Resort 2,000 points Timeshare Key West Florida Week 24 | eBay

Hyatt Windward Pointe Resort 2,000 points. Hyatt Windward Pointe. Resort Closings, Inc. Escrow, Doc Prep, & Closing Resort Transfer fee Resort does have Right of First refusal. Resort Closings, Inc. out of Bozeman, Montana is handling the escrow and closing process.

www.ebay.com

Holy Cow! Yeah, I've heard some of those horror stories. My thought was, "well, we won't ever pay retail, so let's get the best resale we can, that combines good trading power with manageable MF. Costa Linda seems to be a great place. But 25K does strike me as dang near retail, though we haven't sat through a spiel in a while, so maybe they're much higher now.

 

[Hindsite]

"Investment": while the numbers may look positive and they may well be, try to detach any kind of rental return from your logic about where you want to buy. Its an upside the might be useful, but not a good enough reason to buy. Confront the reality that it could be a total loss with an enduring annual liability that escalates at 5% year on year and if the numbers work with that, then you are good. If they don't then you can start to massage the numbers to be less brutal.

Given you are looking to trade then take a good look at both Interval International and RCI and see which has resorts in the types of places you will want to go and see if that helps narrow down your choices. Don't discount the possibility of getting 2 timeshares, one of each system so you have the choice of either, but do find out the costs of membership and exchanging so you build that into your analysis.

If you have the choice of a lock-off vs a non-lock-off then get the lock-off as that will get you twice as many weeks for one set of maintenance fees.

Also look at systems that work as points with the exchanges, as you can also use those to get more weeks for your one week's worth of maint fees. e.g a good Hyatt week might get you 3 weeks via II in smaller units (other points systems are available and may be as good or better).

Use TUG and other platforms like Redweek to rent at resorts and with timeshare systems to flush out your answer to question 8, as there aren't many timeshares that truly get to 4*, but could be many that get to the level that you appreciate as 4*. You may have to compromise on the protocols for towels, as that can be something that is much more draconian with timeshares than with hotels.

Take your time, don't be rushed, its better to experiment a bit than to rush in.

The difference between those who do well with timeshares and those who don't is not exactly what they bought or what they paid, but how they manage to use the systems to meet their vacation lodging needs. That can take a good deal of time and some errors, so that's where your bad-a** wife will come in with planning and management. There's a lot of hard won experience here on TUG and in Facebook forums so plenty of people willing to share their mistakes to avoid someone else making them.

If you find value in TUG, treat yourself to membership when you are ready.

All the best.