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Best Buy

JMAESD84

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I've always been of the mind to only buy high season, best trade value preferably lock-off units at very nice gold crown resorts that are well managed with stable MF's for $1 (sometimes negative with free usage tossed in). Avoid brand name timeshares and their high entry costs and even higher MF's, which you will hopefully be able to trade into instead.

With brand name prices crashing should I reconsider this approach?

Unfortunately, the soaring MF's at some of these brand names is really a huge STOP SIGN for me when considering a purchase.
 

Talent312

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One factor you did not mention:
Buy where you want to go, or where its convenient for you to go.
Travel expenses, trading power and future value are major variables.
With a series of home-resorts, even if everything else craps out,
at least you've got a few favorites in your pocket to fall back on.
 

JMAESD84

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My last "best buy" was a Vacation Village at Weston, fixed week 11, converted to 86,500 RCI points, with complementary 2009 points. The complementary points made this a negative entry purchase. These are approximately 1500 sq. feet 2BD/2BA lock-off gold crown units with MF/Taxes of $854 for 2010. Week 11 is right in the middle of their winter/spring high season (weeks 5-17).

This fit perfectly with my long term "snow bird" plan. Everyone will have their own favorites, as one size does not fit all.

My original post was meant not to focus on my own "best buy" but to postulate whether the brand name resorts with their sharply lower entry costs start to become a consideration?

John likes to say in his posts that MF's are the real costs of ownership (I don't disagree) and you only have to visit the Starwood board to see how soaring MF's are killing the value of that brand.
 

e.bram

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Florida not on the Ocean = not prime.
Show me an oceanfront Key West with the same deral and you have done something. Prime still costs prime.(maybe a little less because of the economy but not a 4100)
 

JMAESD84

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Florida not on the Ocean = not prime.
Show me an oceanfront Key West with the same deral and you have done something. Prime still costs prime.(maybe a little less because of the economy but not a 4100)

As I said, everyone will have their own favorites, as one size does not fit all....and again that was not the point of the thread.

Do the brand name resorts with their sharply lower entry costs start to become a best buy consideration?
 

Talent312

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Do the brand name resorts with their sharply lower entry costs start to become a best buy consideration?

You keep asking that question, as if "lower entry costs" are a given or the primary consideration. I do not agree with either presumption. Name-brand systems tend to have higher prices by virtue of their band's cachet. But there are factors militating in their favor which have little to do with up-front costs or MF's.

What makes (or breaks) a name-brand's desirability is its consistency... consistently high-quality resorts, consistently flexible in-house and external trading, and consistently high-quality customer service. "Getting what you pay for" may not always be true in the TS world, but with name-brand systems, its more likely than not. You can choose to pay a premium for a premium system, or be frugal and settle for the mundane, hoping for the best.
 
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