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Need recommendations please

Lizzyc1974

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Hi everyone! I have been lurking on here for a few years, after attending a timeshare presentation package at the Hyatt Windward Pointe in Key West. Since then we have attended several Bonnet Creek presentations in order to get the free tickets and to stay at the resort. We also did a presentation at Westgate this year. We have no problem attending presentations and resisting the sales pitch. We have also rented from owners for great prices at Bonnet Creek. We have enjoyed renting and the type of accommodations we have had. We have not purchased anything (resale) yet, because we want to be certain we are getting something that will be a great value for us. I enjoy learning about timesharing, but I have still been unable to determine what system/type of unit/points would get us the most bang for the buck.

If anyone has any recommendations, on what could get us the most time for the lowest price, I would love to hear. My husband is self employed and works online. We travel internationally a lot, (Mexico and Central America, Caribbean) and will be living in Mexico for the next few years. We are from Florida and come to Florida a few times a year to visit family, go to Disney. We really loved Bonnet Creek. I would love to buy something that could give us multiple weeks of travel, utilizing off season, trade power etc. We are a family of 4, with young kids so we could do a week in a studio/hotel room, as well as something bigger. We are very flexible. Thanks!!

Another Question: We are trying to figure out how to use a timeshare my husbands parents own (from his grandmother) and never use. It is a small resort in Daytona Beach. Perennial Vacation Club (deeded, fixed week, Labor Day- not a part of the club since it was bought in the 1970's) It is a 1 bedroom, ocean front. MF are about $400 a year. We used it this year, since it was going to go to waste, but Daytona really isn't someplace we would like to vacation every year. I am wondering if it would be worth it to get a membership and deposit into II or RCI? What could we get for an exchange?

1) Where do you want your home resort to be? Someplace in Florida, most likely Orlando- we have family in Orlando, Fort Myers, and South east Coast. We are here visiting several times a 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? I can see us doing both. We are going to be living in Mexico in 2016 and also go to Florida every year.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Florida (Keys, Orlando, South Florida, Sanibel/Ft. Myers), Mexico, Caribbean, California

4) How many people do you usually travel with? 4

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Any time. We homeschool.

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? yes, but we are very flexible and can also take last minute trips- if we don't need to buy airline tickets.. My husband works from home.

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? 4-5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? Would love to pick up a free or very low cost timeshare. $2000 max.

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

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
__________________
 
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taterhed

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Well, there was just a free Bonnet Creek in the bargain section but I believe that sold. You could get in line with the seller however and see if you could be a backup. I believe there's also a free Westgate contract but you might want to know more about that before you get involved.

I will caveat my response by saying that Mexico and Florida are always an easy rental location that way nobody will beat me over the head with that stick. In conjunction with that, I'll mention that buying an absolute minimum contract so you can get access to get away type bonus weeks is an inexpensive option. Of course, you can rent those as well right now for only slightly more without having a timeshare through some of the secondary exchanges. Check out some of the bargains available on da e, SFX, or platinum.

By the way, I do own a Florida Orlando timeshare with lock off I find it a great value, easy to trade, and the price per week is quite reasonable when you factor that in.

Sent from my cell...
 
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Lizzyc1974

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I guess what is making us think of buying, rather than keep renting would be that if we could get 2 weeks (or more?) in a nice place out of a maintenance fees in the $1,000-$1500 range we would be coming out ahead. We sometimes end up renting on VRBO and pay $900 or more for a week.

Would there be any drawback to this eBay Bonnet Creek listing? http://www.ebay.com/itm/182-000-WYN...150364?hash=item33ac4e62dc:g:qHQAAOSw14xWPUa3
 
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Passepartout

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Why not get the Daytona TS transferred into your name. It'll cost $150 or so and help out Grandma. You can then have it to deposit into II or RCI and access to those Getaways and/or Last Calls.

Jim
 

tschwa2

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If you are traveling during peak times (holidays and summer) and want a 4-5 star 2 br resort unit, you likely won't do better by owning if you are currently renting for $900 per week. You are flexible enough to catch last minute rentals. As a resale owner, you aren't going to get those kind of accommodations for less than $1200 or so per week and you will likely have to book 10-12 months in advance.

II (interval international- exchange company) is going to have higher level accommodations and may save you over renting for the second week. Orlando is going to be easy through any exchange company. Mexico won't be that hard but your other desired locations during times when school is not in session will be quite difficult.


If on the other hand you aren't bound by the school schedule than owning a timeshare and exchanging and using getaways can save you quite a bit.
 

taterhed

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If you are traveling during peak times (holidays and summer) and want a 4-5 star 2 br resort unit, you likely won't do better by owning if you are currently renting for $900 per week. You are flexible enough to catch last minute rentals. As a resale owner, you aren't going to get those kind of accommodations for less than $1200 or so per week and you will likely have to book 10-12 months in advance.



II (interval international- exchange company) is going to have higher level accommodations and may save you over renting for the second week. Orlando is going to be easy through any exchange company. Mexico won't be that hard but your other desired locations during times when school is not in session will be quite difficult.





If on the other hand you aren't bound by the school schedule than owning a timeshare and exchanging and using getaways can save you quite a bit.


That was kind of where I was going.

I own a Marriott lock-off that I use during shoulder seasons. So far, it's been a great trader--based on one trade and what I can see with the unit (but haven't decided to trade into yet). Marriott would take you all-over Florida, California, Hawaii, Virginia, Carribean etc.... Mexico is always an easy trade, and Marriott would certainly put you in 3-5 star on trade. There are many lower-cost Marriott lock-offs... MF's are not cheap, but if you can travel during non-peak times and accept a little less than 12 mos prior.... (but not always!) you can get 2 weeks for the price of one. Not sure on the pricing, but Ebay/Redweek/TUG and ROFR threads on TUG can supply that answer pretty quick.
Sorry, can't comment on Bonnet Creek.

That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.


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silentg

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Hi Lizzie
Sent you a PM
Silentg
 
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Lizzyc1974

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Why not get the Daytona TS transferred into your name. It'll cost $150 or so and help out Grandma. You can then have it to deposit into II or RCI and access to those Getaways and/or Last Calls.

Jim

We have considered this, since my inlaws don't really want it, but I didn't want to get stuck with something I didn't really want to use. Is there any way to see what the trading value would be? We actually had a great time there, even though Daytona is generally not my kind of vacation spot. But it would be nice to be able to exchange it for someplace else.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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Good thought

Why not get the Daytona TS transferred into your name. It'll cost $150 or so and help out Grandma. You can then have it to deposit into II or RCI and access to those Getaways and/or Last Calls.

Jim
This makes sense .

you mention small children and living in Mexico for a few years. If they are attending school in Mexico and the school works off the traditional Mexican two week school break on either side of Easter you could use this to visit Florida each year during that time .

All Mexican resorts are full during the 2 Easter weeks with primarily Mexican nationals ( Fun - we have been there then ) . Many Mexican resorts do not sell these weeks as part of most contracts < the 4 holiday weeks -Christmas , New Years - Pasqua & Semana Santa (Easter Weeks) >
Florida is generally not too hard to get AFTER the end of Feb ( excepting some school March break periods (see Cdn school breaks, esp. when loonie is higher than current .75c ) so you win by being creative with week use from year to year .

You could then use the Daytona TS deposit or II or RCI "cash" deal weeks as Jim listed to go explore Mexican resort locations/ towns during the other 48 weeks in the year
-and occasionally use the deeded week as owned .

I looked up Perenial Vacation Club ( 2855 ) on RCI and your week deposited EARLY enough could get you a TPU of 16 which is not bad for $ 400 . If you booked Puerto Vallarta - Mazatlan or Acapulco for May/June or Oct /Nov during an RCI sale this could possible get 2 weeks in some pretty nice resorts You would pay the RCI fee for the exchanges but you could end up (net. net. with planning) paying $500 per week . Just remember that quite a few Mexican resorts are AI ( all inclusive ) but more than enough are not AI for a lot of vacations
Also plenty in Florida during those same months for reasonable TPU's if you search ,plan ahead and wait for a RCI sale on exchanges ( generally every 4-6 weeks )

On the PVC web site they list some direct exchange options as well - this could save money in some scenarios

<You could end up bumping into some Mexican resorts ( i yr in 3 yr) trading rules - but - then you could rent from owners on TUG etc.>

Good luck & good vacations .
 
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890zbh

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New guest member here

New member interested in a resale timeshare. Do I need to become a paid memberon hre on order to get replies from those selling or giving away their timeshares? Love the wealth of information I have learned from posts on hetr. Wish I had found this sooner
 

Lizzyc1974

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School is not an issue for us. We homeschool, and do not plan on having to ever work around the traditional schedule. Our main concern is getting as many weeks as possible for the lowest price. We don't care when those weeks are. I'd almost rather pay the $1,000 mf for something we would actually like to use vs. the Daytona timeshare.

Would those 16 TPU get us something decent in Orlando?

Thanks for all the advice so far!
 
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taterhed

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New member interested in a resale timeshare. Do I need to become a paid memberon hre on order to get replies from those selling or giving away their timeshares? Love the wealth of information I have learned from posts on hetr. Wish I had found this sooner


The Members-Only sections of the website. Several key areas of the TUG website are reserved for TUG Members, such as resort reviews, resort ratings, permanent swaps and the sales database.

Also Sightings/Distressed (I think).

So, most of TUG would work for you.... But, I highly reccomend joining: best $15 you'll ever spend. IMHO.

Welcome. Lots of great info and great peeps here.


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taterhed

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School is not an issue for us. We homeschool, and do not plan on having to ever work around the traditional schedule. Our main concern is getting as many weeks as possible for the lowest price. We don't care when those weeks are. So I guess I am looking for a strategy. Thanks for all the advice so far!


There is a balance between "most weeks possible" and "best weeks possible". Interval (II) will give you 'better weeks' while RCI will probably give you 'more' weeks. But, depending on the area etc... II usually beats RCI hands-down for quality. Not always, but many times. Having said that; you might check the RCI vs II websites and see how many central american timeshares are in both systems. Not sure how important CA is for you vs Florida or Mexico etc... II is great for USA, Carribean and Mexico.

I think you'll find that 2 for 1 splits (lock-off) and AC's for deposits (with II) or deposits with SFX (or similar) will get you lot's of usable weeks in Mexico, Florida and (some) Cali. IMHO, II will get you better deposit credits in SFX and AC's in interval than the other systems. Just a suggestion.


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tschwa2

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If you are looking for 6+ weeks per year you may want to look into a Christmas Mountain UDI (Undivided Interest). If you are looking for 2-3 weeks, you may want to look into Worldmark points. Both trade with both II and RCI, but in your case I would look more toward II. I also suggest doing 3-6 months before buying anything.

In the mean time read up and see if you can learn RCI by borrowing the inlaws account.

I think the right timeshare could work really well for you.
 

Lizzyc1974

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Florida is definitely most important on our list. We plan to be living primarily outside of the USA, but really need places to stay several times a year (any time) when we come to Florida.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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RCI weeks - TPU's

School is not an issue for us. We homeschool, and do not plan on having to ever work around the traditional schedule. Our main concern is getting as many weeks as possible for the lowest price. We don't care when those weeks are. I'd almost rather pay the $1,000 mf for something we would actually like to use vs. the Daytona timeshare.

Would those 16 TPU get us something decent in Orlando?

Thanks for all the advice so far!

I would first check with PVC about the TPU value for the week owned by family .
I went on the RCI website and entered the resort to get the TPU range Earlier you deposit the higher the value . Once in RCI you can combine for a fee and use up to 3 years (approx) later . So you could pay & deposit 2016 & 2017' and use the total in 2016, 2017 or 2018 . Some resorts let you pay ahead if it helps you
Right now RCI has 54 Orlando resorts listing units for May 2016 . Wyndham Bonnet Creek 1 bedroom 22 TPU , Sheraton Vistana 25-28' Hilton's -22 HIVC 22 Lots of resorts are less TPU ie Magic Tree 10 -11 TPU early -mid May ( pre Memorial D.)
Since family already owns PVC I would figure out how to best use it since other than the MF it is already paid for and at $ 400 MF it is a reasonable cost " starting " point even if it is not transferred to you at this point in time . If it does not currently have a paid for RCI membership I think it is about $ 100 for one year ( I got 5 years for cost of 3 yr earlier this fall) If you pay for it & establish the password you could start using it to learn ( keep reading TUG as well) The only catch would be if you eventually book something like a "last call" at $ 209 you would have to pay for a guest certificate in your name ( $ ?? /cannot remember cost /I think $ 59 )
In Orlando right now RCI has Dec .last calls under $ 300 USD for week
example : Vac. Village at Parkway -22 one bedroom units

There is a lot to " learn "
So take your time - you have the rest of your life
and this is about having enjoyable vacations

and if using to visit family in Florida - more space than a hotel room for a better price =
,less stress & better family visits .
 
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