Buying, joined for advice and assistance

Hello, I am buying my first timeshare (hopefully) and I joined this forum for advice before I go through with my transaction. Please help.

I am purchasing a unit from VI on Lake Lure that is referred to fairway of the mountains or fox run or fox den. I am unsure what scenario would be the best.

The fox den/fox run units are nice and at this time because they are renovating them however I'm told that the fairways are traded for double points through RCI due to a lock off. I just traveled there are took a tour of all three units. And we do want to trade the unit to travel other places. We have narrowed our weeks down to 20, 21 or 22. Because the weather is still beautiful (not too hot) and they have Memorial Day events on the local resort.

The fairways units are nice having the option for the lock off however is it really worth that many more points through RCI then the fox den? The fairways units are in need of renovations and repairs. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much!

DO NOT BUY FROM THE DEVELOPER. If you do not intend to trade then I would go with the unit you liked best regardless of lock off capability. You should also be able to find your desired unit type and week for minimal out of pocket.

We do want to trade the unit with RCI or II for a disney vacation every couple of years. Would one unit be more points then the other?

You may not even need to trade. If you do not need to stay on the Disney resort Orlando accomodations (nice ones) can be purchased as extra vacations or getaways for a few hundred bucks. If your are concerned about trade power then you would be better off buying a lock off. With that said, you would want to make sure that the unit lock off or otherwise would give you enough points to exchange into what you wanted.

Check out Tug's Bargain Deals, bargain deals on this site, eBay and even Red Week for deals. Buy resale and save a bunch of money.

Read a bunch before you buy. There are a lot of knowledgeable peopleon this site.

We are buying resale, hopefully, I have a couple of people who are even willing to pay closing costs. So there are a couple of units that are literally going for $10 or less.

Should this alarm me?

hewpumpkin said:

We are buying resale, hopefully, I have a couple of people who are even willing to pay closing costs. So there are a couple of units that are literally going for $10 or less.

Should this alarm me?

Click to expand...

THAT's what we wanted to hear. You alarmed us talking about different weeks and different units in the same complex. It sounded like a developer sale. Resales are going for 10% or less of developer prices.

All things being equal, you get more vacations by owning a lock-off than a single unit.

VI has a good internal exchange, so buying to exchange should work for you and has good trading power with RCI if you want to go that way- but RCI costs to belong to and there are additional exchange charges to be aware of.

Jim

hewpumpkin said:

We are buying resale, hopefully, I have a couple of people who are even willing to pay closing costs. So there are a couple of units that are literally going for $10 or less.

Should this alarm me?

Click to expand...

The low price should not alarm you other than the fact that if people are pretty much paying you to take them, how will you get rid of them when you decide they no longer fit your needs?

This is the dilemma that many of us face. The timeshares we bought years ago were perfect for our situation but as we age and our situations change, we can't get out easily.

Don't limit yourself to RCI and II, there are smaller exchange companies out there that cost a lot less to exchange with.

I suggest you buy/acquire a Fairway of the Mountains unit. If you visit the resort you have the larger size unit but for trading you would have two weeks.

I also highly recommend that you use II for your trading company. You will easily get a 2br Orlando unit for your 1br deposits. Fairways is a 'silver' resort with II and trades VERY well into Marriott Starwood and other high quality resorts. You will not be disappointed.

I would suggest week 22,23,24. These would be better for trading but also great for visiting

Edit. I owned st both these resorts for 7 years, RCI has a glut of inventory in the area, II does not hence the better value with II.

So would it be better to do a fox den unit week 22 versus the fairway unit week 20 due to the trading power?

Or does the lock off beat out any scenario?

So I checked RCIs website abc the fox run unit week 22 is 54,500 points and the fairway unit (with lock off) for week 20 is 51,500. Is this accurate? I'm so confused as why the lock off would have worse trading value?

Do any of you own more than one property on the same resort?

Thanks and my apologies for so many questions!

Sometimes it is just a mystery what gets what value. Most RCI Points, even though they are allegedly 'linked' to an underlying actual unit/week, in reality, float. Iow, if you reserve a week at the resort rather than doing nothing and letting the points transfer to your Points account, won't get to use 'your' unit/week. You'll just get a similar one. At least that has been my experience in the VRI and TPI managed TSs I own.

In your example, what is the difference in underlying upfront (buy-in) cost and MF?

The above being equal, I'd still buy the lock-off because of the ability to split the deposit, AND the fact that you can deposit the studio side then if you decide to use the 1BR side, for about $25 (or some other reasonable cost) upgrade to a 2BR.

No you are looking at RCI points (a different system) then RCI weeks tpu's. If you want RCI points you will need to buy a unit already converted and I believe Lake Lure RCI points will all be over a penny a point ratio for MF/points and not cost effective to trade into Disney unless you are looking for studios during off season.

A Foxden week 22 currently has a max tpu's of 19. A Fairways of the Mts week 20 currently has a max tpu's of 15 for each side if deposited separately (would require a $109 combine fee to get it to 30 tpu's) or 18 if deposited as a single 2 bedroom unit.

My buy in is zero dollars and my MFs are 650.00

My only worry about buying the lock off which has not been renovated in while would be that there may be a Special Assessment or an increase in MF to modernize the units. I know Foxrun/den has an independent board that works hard to keep everything updated and keep expenses down as much as possible.

You may be able to rent for the time of year you are interested in for at or slightly above or below MF's and then you wouldn't have to ongoing commitment to MF cost.

I contacted wyndam, VI and the resort for renting prices all were double if not more the MF prices. The resort is actually 1500.00 a week! Which is almost triple!

hewpumpkin said:

I contacted wyndam, VI and the resort for renting prices all were double if not more the MF prices. The resort is actually 1500.00 a week! Which is almost triple!

Click to expand...

You looked in the wrong place for rental prices.

Others will tell you exactly where to look but you want to rent from owners that are trying to recover their fees for units they can't use and people who make a few dollars by renting discounted points they obtain.

I do know that the TUG Market Place is a good starting point. Click on "Marketplace" on the red bar at the top of this page.

I just wanted to compare rentals to ownership. I think owning is the way to go!

Usually the same people willing to give away a week for a dollar are the same people who are willing to rent a week for approximately the same as MF's. You can put a Rent Wish Ad in the Marketplace here on TUG. If you are willing to wait until 45 days I'm sure you could find something in the general vicinity if not in one of those two specific resorts for under $700 (the max allowed) in the rental wanted section. Also Owners willing to rent for MF's aren't as likely to pay places like Redweek in advance to rent their weeks.

The fact that the resort wants double the MF's is nothing compared to how much they would want to sell you a unit for. Even from the HOA I bet you would be looking at $500-2000 vs the $1.00 you found on the resale market.

So ultimately, it's better to purchase a fairway unit versus the fox run or fox den if we are looking to maximize points for disney,vegas or myrtle beach?

Do any of you have a personal preference which unit's you like better?

I did tour all three units. Also toured a mountain loft and wyndams units that are located on rumbling bald grounds.

I did like the fox den 300-308, the views were amazing.

Along with fox run units 12-16, with the view of lake lure was breathtaking.

But I have been swayed to believe for trading purposes the fairway unit ultimately will return me the best return through RCI, II and VRI.

Does anyone own multiple units in the same resort, one to use strictly for points and the other to use for a yearly vacation. Or is that stupid? MF's are only 650 per unit which to me seems really low after investigating MF's in other resorts offering similar amenities.

Again, thanks to all the TUG members who are offering me assistance.

how i feel, hahaha

hewpumpkin said:

I have been swayed to believe for trading purposes the fairway unit ultimately will return me the best return through RCI, II and VRI.

Does anyone own multiple units in the same resort, one to use strictly for points and the other to use for a yearly vacation. Or is that stupid?

Click to expand...

Doesn't seem too bright to me. I guess you have a fairly nice dilemma to be in. The conventional TUG wisdom is to buy where you want to go the majority of the time. So regardless of 'trading power', but your favorite unit. Then when and if you find you want to go somewhere else, buy a resale unit there. Having 2 units at the same resort for different purposes strikes me like having 2 jobs- one for paying the mortgage and another for making the car payments. In the end, it's all the same.

I doubt anyone here is going to tell you which unit to buy. It's your decision. Most of us wish our first TS decision had been between 2 with no buy-in cost and $650 in MF.

Jim

The TUG consensus seems to be buy where you want to go instead of purely trading. This is good advice for beginners, but I almost always trade. I trade up in value which decreases my total cost per night. When I look for a timeshare to buy (or get for free) I look at several factors. I want the week to cover some or all of the factors in order for it to be a viable purchase. My factors are:

1. Can I sell or give away the timeshare for more than I paid to acquire it, including all fees?
This is my number one factor. If I think the answer is no, then I do not want it, and no need to go any further down the list.
2. Could I use the timeshare?
I say "could", because I always trade around. But as a backup I want this answer to be a yes. All things equal I will buy a trader in Daytona beach, where I could take a short drive with my family. I stay away from a trader in far off places where I would never use it. Call it peace of mind.
3. Can I exchange the timeshare for something that I want that would otherwise cost more?
Because I almost always trade around, I need value here. Lockoffs are the obvious choice, but I also value trading 2BR's because of the equal size Interval XYZ and Short Stay exchanges.
4. Can I rent out the timeshare for enough profit to make it worth the trouble?


So in a nutshell I am looking to either resell, use, trade, rent, or all of the above.

hewpumpkin said:

So ultimately, it's better to purchase a fairway unit versus the fox run or fox den if we are looking to maximize points for disney,vegas or myrtle beach?

...

.I did like the fox den 300-308, the views were amazing.

Along with fox run units 12-16, with the view of lake lure was breathtaking.

But I have been swayed to believe for trading purposes the fairway unit ultimately will return me the best return through RCI, II and VRI.
Does anyone own multiple units in the same resort, one to use strictly for points and the other to use for a yearly vacation. Or is that stupid? MF's are only 650 per unit which to me seems really low after investigating MF's in other resorts offering similar amenities.

Again, thanks to all the TUG members who are offering me assistance.

how i feel, hahaha

Click to expand...

I do like the way you are going about this. Asking specific questions will get you some interesting answers.

From some of the earlier posts in this thread it appears that the trading power with RCI and II are very close to the same. 18 vs 19 TPU for RCI.

Buying a lock off will give you more flexibility. You could use each half separately to give you 2 weeks of vaca or use it as a whole for one week.

You talk about the views so make sure the week you buy is a fixed unit and room assignment is not subject to the whims of the reservation desk

Keep in mind that the VRI exchange company does not work like RCI. You need to own at least one resort managed by VRI to trade through VRI*ety exchange. They do not assign points. It is free to be a member and the exchange fees are lower than RCI or II. You will pay an upgrade fee if you take a unit larger than the one you deposit or in a higher season. Buy red and no fee to go to a red exchange.

There are other exchange companies also. Some are free and some have a low annual cost. I use DAE and it is free to join. You don't get as many exchange choices with these smaller companies though.

I don't think it's necessarily stupid to buy 2 units at the same resort but if you want to exchange near Disney, why not buy your second unit there. Higher MFs maybe, but you have to consider what you will pay to join an exchange company and the exchange fee.

Owning two units at a resort you like can give you more weeks vacation there or if you travel as an extended family, it will give you more room if both units are the same week.

As mentioned above, keep researching and the ultimate choice is yours.

natasha5687 said:

DO NOT BUY FROM THE DEVELOPER. If you do not intend to trade then I would go with the unit you liked best regardless of lock off capability. You should also be able to find your desired unit type and week for minimal out of pocket.

Click to expand...

Ok so... I am replying to this and the original thread. Buying from the developer is becoming more and more attractive since manyajor companies are now exercising their right to refuse developer or rci benefits. Don't think that just because you buy points you actually do . There have been hundreds of cases recently where this doesn't happen. Do your research first. Call the company and ask them of a resale is the same. DO not talk to the sales department but rather customer service . Good luck and enjoy!!!

Justthefacts said:

Ok so... I am replying to this and the original thread. Buying from the developer is becoming more and more attractive since manyajor companies are now exercising their right to refuse developer or rci benefits. Don't think that just because you buy points you actually do . There have been hundreds of cases recently where this doesn't happen. Do your research first. Call the company and ask them of a resale is the same. DO not talk to the sales department but rather customer service . Good luck and enjoy!!!

Click to expand...

To me this is bad advice. It would be extremely rare for a developer purchased benefit to be worth even a tiny fraction of the additional expense over resale. Many developer benefits are not actually worth anything at all. Some are meant for flexibility, but at the cost of lost value. If you take the difference between retail and resale, you could buy the so called "benefit" 10-100x over.