Feel like Fish out of water...Where to start

[Farmrswf]

1) Where do you want your home resort to be? Newport Coast Villas

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?
This is a tough one cause I would certainly spend spring break in Newport every year. We currently go every summer with our trailer.... I can travel with the kids during spring break and DH could probably join us for a day or two. He doesn't have a problem with that.

However, we have some vacations that we plan to take in the next few years Orlando, Hawaii to start with so not sure if we should go the points route or fixed week and trade.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? See above answer. Not yet ready fo international with 4 kids.

4) How many people do you usually travel with? 6 us and 4 kids, sometimes friends

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Summer and early fall

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? 4+

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? 10,000

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? 2-3K

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Very much so that is why this whole thing seems daunting. Also why we rescinded our contract with Marriott after I found this great website!!

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

Thankful I found this website, but total info overload!!

 

[K2Quick]

You say that your travel plans are restricted to summer or early fall but you state that you could see yourself spending every spring break in Newport Coast. That's kind of an important distinction at Marriott Newport Coast as spring and summer/fall are two separate seasons. If you're likelier to want a spring break week over a summer week, I'd recommend getting a gold week at Newport Coast. The price of entry shouldn't be more than around $5K or so. If you need the summer week, then the price will be double that and I understand that the summer weeks are incredibly difficult to reserve as the season lasts from mid June all the way through the end of the year and everyone is competing for those summer weeks.

Orlando is an incredibly easy trade (but you'd probably just want to buy getaways on II rather than trading most of the time because getaways can be had for substantially less than maintenance fees). Hawaii is a difficult trade, but I would thing a good week reserved at Newport Coast would have high trade value and you'd get Marriott-to-Marriott preference when trading into the Marriott Hawaii properties.

 

[Farmrswf]

You say that your travel plans are restricted to summer or early fall but you state that you could see yourself spending every spring break in Newport Coast. That's kind of an important distinction at Marriott Newport Coast as spring and summer/fall are two separate seasons. If you're likelier to want a spring break week over a summer week, I'd recommend getting a gold week at Newport Coast. The price of entry shouldn't be more than around $5K or so. If you need the summer week, then the price will be double that and I understand that the summer weeks are incredibly difficult to reserve as the season lasts from mid June all the way through the end of the year and everyone is competing for those summer weeks.

Orlando is an incredibly easy trade (but you'd probably just want to buy getaways on II rather than trading most of the time because getaways can be had for substantially less than maintenance fees). Hawaii is a difficult trade, but I would thing a good week reserved at Newport Coast would have high trade value and you'd get Marriott-to-Marriott preference when trading into the Marriott Hawaii properties.

Sorry I should clarify yes, we are mostly limited to summer and fall. The kids and I can travel during spring break. DH is limited in travel from Jan- May. He would be able to join us for a few days during spring break. Thank you for your input it is greatly appreciated

 

[Passepartout]

Usually, the questionnaire serves to help narrow down the many possibilities in resales. But it seems that you are set on the Newport property, and the season that you want, and with the size of unit you need. With these criterion, there is scant chance you'll find it easily on the resale market. You might consider checking with the resort's sales team and at least ask if they know of any owners who would be willing to sell to you, or if they have any foreclosures you might be interested in. Obviously they would rather sell you an interval from their inventory, but you don't know until you ask.

Good luck. I hope you can find what works for you.

Jim

 

[VacationForever]

Actually Marriott Newport Coast Villas are regularly listed for resale.

 

[WalnutBaron]

I'm more optimistic than others about your chances of finding what you want. Newport Coast Villas is a beautiful property and since you've clearly been there and know what you want, the only question is how best to find it. My advice would be to contact Carl Thoms at Paradise Timeshare Resales. I see he has a listing right now for a 2/2 Platinum Season for $10,000 with annual maintenance fees of $1200. I've worked with Carl before on the purchase of my Hyatt Highlands Inn unit and he was a pleasure to work with, but he also advertises extensive number of Marriott listings. Platinum will allow you to travel to NCV anytime of the year, but with access during peak travel months in the Summer, when you'll need it. As you may know, NCV does not sell fixed weeks, so you will have a floating ownership which I think is what will work best for you in any case.

In the meantime, read all you can on these Boards. If you just devote an hour a day or so by browsing around, you will begin to get an idea of how this timeshare thing works. It IS complicated (made so by the developers, who want owners to be confused so they can sell you more overpriced timeshare intervals). It IS overwhelming at first. It IS fraught with the potential to make expensive mistakes. And it IS, unfortunately, an industry where sharks, liars, cheaters, and thieves abound.

But--now that I've managed to scare you to death--it's also a fantastic way to take family vacations. No more 350 sq ft hotel rooms with kids wedged in every corner. No more $300/night rooms. You'll get a villa--or, in this case, a 2BR lockout so everyone in your large family can spread out a little. And once you're in, the resorts typically do a tremendous job of making you feel welcome and offering many fun activities for you and the kids to enjoy.

Feel free to PM me if you have further questions, and best wishes in finding a unit that serves your needs.

 

[vacationtime1]

You say that your travel plans are restricted to summer or early fall but you state that you could see yourself spending every spring break in Newport Coast. That's kind of an important distinction at Marriott Newport Coast as spring and summer/fall are two separate seasons. If you're likelier to want a spring break week over a summer week, I'd recommend getting a gold week at Newport Coast. The price of entry shouldn't be more than around $5K or so. If you need the summer week, then the price will be double that and I understand that the summer weeks are incredibly difficult to reserve as the season lasts from mid June all the way through the end of the year and everyone is competing for those summer weeks.

Orlando is an incredibly easy trade (but you'd probably just want to buy getaways on II rather than trading most of the time because getaways can be had for substantially less than maintenance fees). Hawaii is a difficult trade, but I would thing a good week reserved at Newport Coast would have high trade value and you'd get Marriott-to-Marriott preference when trading into the Marriott Hawaii properties.

+1

Newport Coast has two seasons; it's an either/or. If you want spring break, buy gold season. If you want summer, buy platinum (bearing in mind that summer weeks are difficult to reserve, even for platinum week owners). You cannot reserve spring break with a platinum unit.

 

[Farmrswf]

Thank you all for your help so far. It is so daunting. Then looking at possible trade aspects to fill in vacations that we have planned in the next 2-3 years to Orlando and Hawaii makes it a little more challenging. Maybe we just rent for those weeks?

 

[WalnutBaron]

As others have said, trading into Orlando won't be a problem as its a market that is way overbuilt with timeshares including Marriott. Hawaii will be tougher, especially since you're on a school calendar--but it can be done with enough advance planning. As you said, if you find you're not successful getting internal trades with your Newport Coast property, you can always rent in Hawaii.

 

[VacationForever]

As others have said, trading into Orlando won't be a problem as its a market that is way overbuilt with timeshares including Marriott. Hawaii will be tougher, especially since you're on a school calendar--but it can be done with enough advance planning. As you said, if you find you're not successful getting internal trades with your Newport Coast property, you can always rent in Hawaii.

You cannot do internal trades for a Newport Coast week in the Marriott system. Only DC points or enrolled weeks (purchased prior to 2010) can do so.

An option is to buy a Newport Coast Gold week to stay in Spring and a cheap / low MF trader to trade for something else in the II system or to buy getaways in II.