Seeking suggestions on a good TS fit.

Hello,

I've been doing some research over the last couple of weeks on this site. My wife and I visited the HGVC Tuscany Village resort last year on a promo trip, and although we don't make large financial decisions on the spur of the moment and declined their offer, we have been discussing the possibility of purchasing a timeshare since then. I'm glad I found this site because I had no idea about timeshare resales and I know that if we do purchase, we will be doing it on the secondary market.
We love to travel, and so do our kids. We have three, ages 9, 6, and 5. We've been to Gatlinburg and Cedar Point with the kids, as well as lots of quick weekend trips with them to Washington DC, NYC and other places in the northeast. My wife and I used to travel often before we had our kids, and loved going to Key West, the Outer Banks, St. Maarten, Boston, and ski trips as often as we could. Our kids are dying to go to Disney and the other Orlando parks, but from what I've been reading on here, those resorts aren't necessarily the best to own due to an abundance of inventory making it pretty easy to get in there on an exchange but not necessarily great to exchange out of.
Given our travel habits, I think a points system like what Wyndham offers would probably be the best for us. Also, we're considering using one of the northeast ski areas or Myrtle Beach as a home location, but I saw this listing for Branson which looks ok, and would be nice since my wife has a lot of family in MO. I'm still very new at all of this and want to make the best informed decision that I can, so looking for advice. I've posted the ebay listing below, and was wondering if anyone has dealt with this seller before and if Branson is a desirable home location for exchanges, etc. Sorry for the long post, and thank you for any advice you can offer.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221533362447?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

My $0.02 worth...

JMNY said:

... a points system like what Wyndham offers would probably be the best for us. I've posted the ebay listing below... Branson...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221533362447?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Click to expand...

I no longer own within the Wyndham system, but I will nonetheless offer a few general observations for your consideration:

1. The eBay listing indicates 105k points, with no mention of any underlying deeded fixed week, so it can be reasonably assumed that this is not a "converted" fixed week which would give you access to a specific underlying week at the Branson facility under Advance Reservation Priority (a.k.a. ARP). You would apparently have only the assigned 105k Wyndham (not RCI, Wyndham --- the two are very different from one another) points in any use year. "Points are points", as the saying goes, so you could use the (...too few) 105k Wyndham points wherever you can make a reservation within the Wyndham system. Consequently, I don't see how important or meaningful the notion of "home location" really is (or even should be) to you in this particular instance.

2. 105k points is frankly too few Wyndham points for you, particularly in view of the fact that you are a family of 5 and would clearly always need at least 2BR.
Someone else here may direct you to current Wyndham charts which more specifically spell out Wyndham reservation points requirements, but I don't think it's too likely that you'll see many 2BR full weeks available for 105k points; a prime 2BR, for example, is more likely to require 183k. I also don't know how far 105k will go for shorter, nightly stays in multi-bedroom units, but that's something else you need to clearly ascertain. Even for these too few 105k points, you'd still be looking at $700+ per use year in maintenance fees, if the listing figures cited are current and correct (...which is often not the case in some eBay seller listings).

3. You have three very young children. For some years to come, you'll likely be closely tied to school vacation time periods and school schedules for family vacations. Accordingly, you might want to instead consider just renting where / when you know you can actually travel, rather than buying into (even if "for cheap") the long-term obligations of ownership now, but that's certainly your own personal choice and decision to make. Good luck, in any case.

I agree with Theo. If you are not a candidate for a "home" resort that you can drive to and plan to use most times and you have 3 young children who have school schedules and as they get older might have sports events and such which can tie you down, I would just rent privately where and when you want to go.

Sounds like Wyndham might be a good system for you, with a variety of resorts in places like Myrtle Beach, Branson, Wisconsin Dells, Orlando and other spots in FL.

But I agree that 105k is too few points. I currently own 161k. I can stretch them into 1-2 weeks per year by staying in 1 bedrooms, choosing the older (some call legacy) resorts and staying from Sundays through Thursdays.

Depending on which resorts you are interested in, I'd suggest starting with a contract of 308k points. Because of how things such as Reservation Transactions (RTs) and Housekeeping Credits (HKs) are figured it is helpful to have a number of points that is a multiple of 77.

I have kids that were your age when we started timesharing. Wyndham is a great plan, however, with small kids and needing a 1-2 bedroom I'd say at least start at 189,000 points.

Dang, Wyndham points are just about FREE to get - it is the transfer costs ($299 per deed) and the site where the MFs are deeded to which you need to watch. Avoid converted Fixed Weeks - they are confusing and can be expensive to own (lower seasons pay the same MFs as a PRIME season week - when converted to points, the lower season gets many Fewer POINTS BUT PAY THE SAME MF as a prime week's set of points).

That said, buy a single package of 308K or MORE points - school vacation seasons, holiday dates, long weekends all add onto the point usage (and in multiples of 77K - housekeeping credits).

But I would suggest at LEAST 2 rentals before you buy Wyndham - and check out the other resorts in the area where you are staying ... the older resorts general cost LESS points to stay, but they are the older resorts for many reasons.

NE Ski area are New Hampshire and the POCONOS ... one is far and good skiing; the other is near with baby hills (Poconos). With the ages of your kids, the Poconos is fine - like with 8+ ski areas.

Plus, for water vacations - do not dismiss the Wyndham Pompano Beach resorts in the summer. I once FORCED my sister (and her 3 boys who love me) to fly down to the Ft Lauderdale area for July 4th week. 2 of the boys had been down prior summer weeks and the 3rd was just dying to go; her husband stayed home to work. He reported every day their local temperature - 10-15 degrees HOTTER and we enjoyed the breezes off the ocean. Lots to do in the summer with kids - even made it down to the upper Keys.

Can book summer weeks without ARP in Pompano Beach - including the July 4th --- just do it on the 10 month out mark.

Thank you for the information. Like I said, we're new to this whole thing and still considering it, so I think we will hold off for now and rent as some of you have suggested. I'm so glad I found this place before dropping big bucks on a purchase from the developer.