That's the conventional wisdom, but I've done VERY well buying timeshares that are the best value and exchanging into places I want to go.
With many timeshares, there are multiple things you can do with it:
1) Use it.
2) Rent it out and use the money.
3) Exchange it through RCI Weeks.
4) Points in RCI Points.
5) Exchange it on II.
6) Exchange it on one of the smaller exchanges.
Things will change. South Africa was the hot ownership years ago, but has been a poor ownership lately. RCI had huge changes when they switched to TPUs. Trading power changes. Inventory changes. Timeshares switch between RCI and II. Family vacationing preferences change.
Don't tie yourself down to just one thing. Try to find something that is dual-affiliated, that can rent out for more than MFs, that you might be interested in using, etc. The more choices you have, the better the chances that it'll continue to be a good deal to own.
