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Already bought (probably screwed!)

Cpanzi

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Experienced Timeshare Owners:

I think I probably have been screwed and bought into an expensive timeshare without knowing about resales :{

Heres what I bought:
3 bedroom- 1 red week at Socitia Village/Big Valley in the Poconos. Cost=$9500 with $450 maintaince fee.
I've been looking around on the resales and havent seen any 3 bedrooms...The salesperson informed me that 3 bdrm is few and far between on RCI so will yield a high trading power..... so wondering if this was worth it or not?
**FYI I do not currently require 3 bedrooms, but an planning to expand my family in the future and would req 2-3.

Also have answered the newbie questions below, would love to hear recommendations for perhaps future TS purchases (On resale!)

1) Where do you want your home resort to be?
Anywhere warm/carribean like

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?
Trade

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
Disney
Carribean
Hawaii
International

4) How many people do you usually travel with?
2-3 now, future possibly 3-6

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
anytime

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
....possibly

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
sure

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
5!
9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
few thousand, 5 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?
Max 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?

I do now.... :/


Thanks!!!
 

Passepartout

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When did you buy? What state is your TS in? This might affect how long you have to rescind.
 

DeniseM

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I absolutely would not buy anything else, until you learn how to get the most out of what you just bought. Based on your wish list, I recommend that you ask questions about how to EXCHANGE it.
 

Passepartout

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What Denise said. Can you lock it off into smaller units to be able to get more exchanges? Consider joining some of the free exchanges- like DAE or if the resort is associated with others for internal exchanges. RCI eats your lunch with $209 charge per exchange, plus membership on top of your MF. You might also watch for where those bonus week's you got will take you. Since you are not tied to school schedule, you may well be able to use those for overbuilt areas like Orlando, Williamsburg, Branson, Las Vegas, Mexico.

Hard for a newcomer to know one good resort from a great resort. Consider joining TUG ($15/yr) for access to the reviews section where other TUGgers have reported on thousands of resorts worldwide. It's very handy when you want to exchange and don't know one resort from another.

And stop shopping for more resorts. TSs are easy to buy and hard to dispose of.

Jim
 

vacationhopeful

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Add into your exchange company membership of $100 per year plus the $250 exchange fee for each week you trade ... not a lot of "left over budget money" in your kettle.

Do you have a loan on it? At what interest rate? Might be best financial to get that paid off ASAP .. so plan on visiting that resort for a couple of years ... bring friends and family -- having them throw money in for the "roof" and cook in the unit.

Figure out if your "red" week really is a RED WEEK .. PRIME week ... and is it a lockoff? Did the model have a Kitchen in the bigger side and a small kitchen in the other side? Or was it simply a 3bdr unit with one entrance door and one kitchen?

And what is that place near? Am some what familiar with the Poconos ... Camelback, Shawnee, Big Boulder, and that stupid casino in Mt Poconos.
 
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tschwa2

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What week do you own and is it a part of RCI points or just a deeded week? Did they already set you up with an RCI membership. $450 sounds awfully low for a 3 br is it an every other year unit. YOu pay annually but only have the right to use or exchange on either the odd or even years?
 

Cpanzi

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Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for all of your input!! Really, I appreciate it.

I'm going to try and answer everyones questions below:

It is RCI weeks not points. The sales person mentioned i could put it into RCI for 2 bed then 1 bedroom and get more points/value (i was confused on this as I have learned its not points) or something vs just depositing it as 3 bedroom.

It's a 3 bedroom stand alone building. It's actually not finished yet, they will complete construction in a few months. Everything will be new, good sized kitchen. (They showed pictures of what it should look like completed).

It is everyother year. Probably why the maintence is so low.

Located 15 min from camelback, 20 from great wolf, close to sands and jack frost/big boulder. pretty much sandwitched inbetween everything.

Don't worry I am NOT buying anything for a long time. Don't have the financial capabilities plus need 2 learn more. Was just asking more out of curiousity.

Someone mentioned DAE? what is that?

Thank you all!!!
 

VacationForever

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When you deposit into RCI Week system, the deposits get converted to TPUs and the number of TPUs awarded would depend on the trading power of your resort and the week that is selected for deposit. Sometimes if you own a floating week, your resort may not allow you to select a high demand week for deposit. If so, you get a standard/blended TPU for the type of week for your resort. It is a pseudo-point system.
 

tschwa2

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Rci has two systems a weeks and a points. A few years back they started publishing the trading value of each week in numerical terms although the underlying week was that was deposited and exchanged into was still a full 7 days usually with a start day of Fri, Sat, or Sunday depending on the resort or the unit. The numerical value was between 3- 60 points per unit. In the case of a lock off like yours, you could deposit as a single 3 br units or as a 1 br unit and a 2 br unit. Generally with RCI you get more value by depositing separately. So for example a unit might get 28 tpu's (trading power units) for a 3 br or 26 tpu's for a 2 br and 23 tpu's for a 1 br for a combined total of 49 when depositing separately.

RCI points system assigns a value of 6000-300,000 for a points week. Points can be used for partial weeks with any check in day. There are additional Housekeeping fees when splitting weeks as most MF's only pay for a single HK per week.

The only other info you need to know is the deeded week for your unit and if it is fixed to that week only or if it floats through a season or group of weeks for example weeks 12-23. While the poconos is sort of 4 season there are definately times that are slower than others. It is also inland and not the most popular area for vacationing but it is a drive to location for a large portion of the population. The other problem with the Poconos is the units are fairly old and don't have the bells and whistles of newer resorts.

Since you own an every other year EOY, you are looking at $900 per usage and at least $100 if you catch an enrollment sale with RCI for 2 years plus $209 per exchange.
 

Passepartout

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DAE is an exchange company called Dial An Exchange. It's free to join, and has reasonable exchanges, though limited inventory compared to the likes of RCI.

Is there any chance you can weasel out of this purchase? With it being a stand-alone 3 bedroom, from what you said, there is just one kitchen, which means it's no lock-off (that you can divide in to a 2 BR and a 1 BR to deposit separately).

What it looks like is that you have bought a place larger than you need, and will be economically forced to use every other year. If you deposit one of your years' uses, you'll pay 4X the MF between uses. I predict you'll be tired of this before you use it twice.

Jim
 

tschwa2

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The good thing about making the trading power public is that it makes it harder for salesfolk to get away with the kind of lies that you were told. The bad news is you didn't find this site or info until it was too late. While 3 br might be rare, the trading power at this resort is really very low compared to the MF. The range is from 11 to 22. Hopefully your week is going to be in the 20-22 range. They are all non lock off 3 br sleeps 6 units. To get to your top 5 desired exchanges you would be looking at about $2500-$3000 in MF, membership fees, a single exchange fee and at least one combine fee for a single week of vacation.
 

WinniWoman

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Honestly, we are making this too complicated for a new owner. How about just use what you bought a few times and keep reading on TUG and then you can deal with exchanging and so forth. Just enjoy what you bought. What is done is done and it's not the worse thing in the world if it's not the perfect timeshare.
 

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And, in the meantime.......

You might consider renting on those 'off years' to find out where you might like to travel in the long run.

There are excellent reviews on the TUG website and many, many rentals in the marketplace. If you are flexible, it's often a great way to 'try before you buy.' In a few years, you may have a favorite that you've rented or exchanged to. Then you could review your options.

Welcome to TUG!

While it might be too late to rescind, TUG will also teach you the absolute best way to enjoy your timeshare--however you choose to do that!

BTW: the money you spent isn't just a 'timeshare,' it's really time with family and friends and life-long memories for you and your loved ones. Try and put a price on that--I dare you! :)
 

55plus

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Consider Yourself Lucky....

You bought it so learn how to use it, maximize it's trading power and enjoy it. Consider yourself lucky. You are only out $10K. Some folks are out tens of thousands of dollars. I know one guy who is out $85K.
 

taterhed

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You bought it so learn how to use it, maximize it's trading power and enjoy it. Consider yourself lucky. You are only out $10K. Some folks are out tens of thousands of dollars. I know one guy who is out $85K.

Exactly. And, you and your family/friends can notch up $10k worth of memories pretty fast if you just learn to enjoy and use your TS ownership properly.

I just paid $300 for the crappiest 2 day hotel stay this week that I've ever had. Really. It's not just the reservation rates either--it's the taxes, taxes, 'recovery fees' that just kill me. Nice and new sounds good to me.
 

Cpanzi

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Thank you all for your great replies!

In regards to locking off the unit: there must be more then 1 kitchen because I know for sure you can lock off the unit in a 2/1 bedroom for deposit. The sales agent went through to let us know u get more TPUS that way. I forgot exactly how much they said. I'll call Mon and post again and see the average TPUs there owners get.

Big confused on why I would be paying 2500-3000 in membership fees to get to my top 5? I thought I would just have to pay the fee to combine TPUs and the exchange fee. :{

Thank you guys for the encouraging remarks. While we had no idea about TUG before we bought *face palm** we basically thought about the amount we've spent in the last 2.5 years in vacations and we just about were at 10 grand. So figured it was a good investiment. I guess not great and not horrible either. We'll just pay it off and hopefully enjoy it!
 

VacationForever

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Big confused on why I would be paying 2500-3000 in membership fees to get to my top 5? I thought I would just have to pay the fee to combine TPUs and the exchange fee. :{

Because you won't get enough TPUs out of your ownership to trade into highly desirable resorts/areas. If you combine a few years (you will run out of years to combine as there is time limit), then the cumulative MF (Maintenance Fees not membership fees) adds up quickly. For example, you get 30 TPUs out of your timeshare but you are looking at something that costs 90 TPUs. You need to be looking at your MF times 3 as the equivalence of what it costs you in MF to trade to that resort.
 

Cpanzi

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Ahh gotcha. :/ sigh

Where on TUG or is there a place on TUG that I can find the timeshares with the highest exchange value? Just for knowledge... Thanks!
 

Passepartout

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Ahh gotcha. :/ sigh

Where on TUG or is there a place on TUG that I can find the timeshares with the highest exchange value? Just for knowledge... Thanks!

It's a secret. Well, not really a secret, but it's a moving target. There was a time a few years ago when you could buy a South African TS, and the dollar/Rand ratio was so low that owners got a huge amount of trading power per dollar of MF. Now, they are worthless, what owners are left have difficulty even finding anyone to pay MF to, and they don't trade at all.

Then there are a couple of hotel branded TSs in the Southwest, that have MF close to half what a Hawaii TS's annual nut is, that can regularly exchange there with preference.

On the 'point' side, in RCI Points, we consider getting a ratio of a penny of MF per point pretty good. So if you find one that gives 50,000 Points for $500/yr that's OK, but if you can find the rate $500 MF that grants you 90,000 points, that's better. One that you pay $800 for 40,000 points should probably be passed on unless you want to also use the underlying week.

So, to wrap it up. There is no list. Because if there was, it would be incorrect next month. And if you find one of these 'Tiger Traders', don't tell anyone. Just buy more.

Jim
 

taterhed

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big subject. I guess you're researching eventually buying a different unit?

In the exchanging section of TUG, there are some stickys about the exchanges. Some exhanges are paid, some free. Some will probably any affilliated deposit--others may not accept your unit/week. You can search the exchange names on here and get many responses.

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108095

Some of the individual 'hotel chain' forum sections (Marriott for one) may have relative trade power listings buried in the stickies or threads. These are nice, but pretty anecdotal. YMMV

Many posters (watch them pop up under my post!!) will have success stories using their smaller, cheaper units to trade for palacial suites. If you are very flexible and can wait to make reservations (or gamble) this might work for you. Some (like Worldmark), will allow you build reservations 'one day at a time' gathering strings of days that are otherwise not easy to pick up.

I own Marriott based on my research (and many wonderful Tugger opinions) and the reported success of those trades. All in Interval International of course. I'm leaning very heavily on buying a Worldmark membership for fill-ins and Northwest properties.

Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Westin/Sheraton (with exceptions) have great trade value (and MF's). Others will have more/better experience and history than I.

Of course, you can probably rent the exact TS you want (on shoulder especially) for the cost of MF's--without all the work. At least in the beginning while you learn to harness the 'force' (yea, starwars reference. movie will be here soon.)

good luck!

(keep in mind: some of these spectacular trades don't finally execute with the AMAZING results until 59 days. Could you still use a reservation at 59 days? Many slowly trade up, northshore Kauai for instance, and then pounce on short notice high-end stuff closer to check-in. Gamble to buy those airline tickets early. Easy if you live nearby the location.. Food for thought).
 
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ronandjoan

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Honestly, we are making this too complicated for a new owner. How about just use what you bought a few times and keep reading on TUG and then you can deal with exchanging and so forth. Just enjoy what you bought. What is done is done and it's not the worse thing in the world if it's not the perfect timeshare.

Yes indeed! Way too much information here - although if the OP is now asking about RCI points, even though it can get even more complicated, he is asking.

Yes, even TPU values in RCI change so very difficult to plan in detail very far ahead.

Good point about finding out if it is floating or fixed. And double checking about the floor plan: are there really two kitchens for a lockoff, or was the salesman implying something else.

And most importantly, ENJOY WHAT YOU HAVE!

Where do you live? Is your resort a day's drive away so it would be easy to use.
 
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