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Considering a purchase at Massanutten or Williamsburg

pieslapper

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I am considering a purchase in Massanutten or Williamsburg, looking at 4br lockoffs for the ability to exchange halves individually. After reading the thread about new amenities fees at the Massanutten resorts I'm a bit leery of those. I'm looking at prime weeks for both (23-30) with MF in the $850 range, hoping I might get good exchanges with them. Does this sound feasible, or is the trading value going to be too low even with prime weeks? Thanks for any help!
 

mbinpa

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west chester, pa
I own a 4 bedroom unit at Diamond's Greensprings Vacation Resort. I bought retail (it was long before I found TUG) and converted to points but am not a member of the Trust.

With that said, I am very please with the timeshare. When I first bought it it traded as 2 week. When I converted to points I get 15,500 points a year and am able to trade quite easily, at least within the Diamond family. Diamond started a program a little while back to assist in deeded week owners to more easily exchange within Diamond. I do not know how resales are handled.

I like the property and Williamsburg. It's a nice getaway from the Philadelphia area.
 

pieslapper

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I own a 4 bedroom unit at Diamond's Greensprings Vacation Resort. I bought retail (it was long before I found TUG) and converted to points but am not a member of the Trust.

With that said, I am very please with the timeshare. When I first bought it it traded as 2 week. When I converted to points I get 15,500 points a year and am able to trade quite easily, at least within the Diamond family. Diamond started a program a little while back to assist in deeded week owners to more easily exchange within Diamond. I do not know how resales are handled.

I like the property and Williamsburg. It's a nice getaway from the Philadelphia area.

I stayed at that resort last year and liked it. Went to their TS presentation but they were way over priced, for my budget anyway. I've thought about picking one up resale, but their MFs are more than I really want to pay.
 

Lovinglife_30

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Maryland
What helped me was using RCI's deposit calculator. This was suggested to me by someone in this group. I brought a Massanutten Summit 52 week float week, 4 bedroom on ebay, last year and am happy with the purchase. This way I could pick my week even if the TPU adjusts for the best exchange.
 

escanoe

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
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Location
Washington, DC
Resorts Owned
HGVC: Flamingo & Anderson Ocean Club
Vacation Village: Woodstone at Massanutten and Grandview (RCI Points) & the Colonies
I can’t speak to how Massanutten trades on RCI in weeks, but the 4 bedroom units that can be locked off into two two bedroom units trade very strong in RCI points.

I have a week 29 Woodstone Luxury 4 bedroom unit that has mf of $855 and it gets 137,000 RCI points a year.
 
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tonyg

TUG Lifetime Member
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Acadia Village Resort
Buy if you really want it, but take lots of time and find a great low price and a good trading week. Williamsburg and mass a nutin are overbuilt and many resorts are charging extra fees which will likely lead to lower trading power.
 

BobDE

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
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Summit at Massanutten
I have owned at Massanutten since 1991. Unfortunately that was before Al Gore invented the internet and I had no idea about TUG. So I paid way too much, but like many others I have learned how to make the most of it thoroughly enjoyed it.
Massanutten has over 7000 acres of property. EVERYTHING you need is on the resort. There are so many planned activities that anyone could find something to do. It is truly a 4 season resort. Spend some time on their website to see all that they have.
Also, there is a lot to do off the resort.
I could be wrong, but am guessing that you are young and perhaps have your travel tied to the school calendar. This will not be the case forever. When you become an empty nester senior, you will more than likely rather travel off season when the weather is more comfortable and all of the kids are in school.
At the end of the day you are wise to do your research before you take the plunge. You have the opportunity to rent before you buy so that you will make the decision that works best for you.
And welcome to the forum!
 

escanoe

TUG Review Crew
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Resorts Owned
HGVC: Flamingo & Anderson Ocean Club
Vacation Village: Woodstone at Massanutten and Grandview (RCI Points) & the Colonies
Most types of Massanutten timeshares can be had for near free off eBay. A prime week that is enrolled in RCI points is the only thing with much value. Having a young (2 elementary age kids), in the DC area I am a big fan of RCI points. Makes weekend trips (2 or 3 night) to Virginia Beach, DE/MD beaches, Williamsburg, Hershey PA, etc. fairly easy if you can plan ahead. Massanutten is almost always easy to get into. If you don't want to use points to stay at Massanutten (1 in three rule messes up points stays -- but weeks can almost always be bought cheap), nothing wrong with getting some cheap RCI points from Vegas or somewhere.
 

tonyg

TUG Lifetime Member
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Location
Connecticut
Resorts Owned
Acadia Village Resort
The ARDA now says that timeshare ownership now has an average length of 9 years. Prospective owners should keep that in mind when considering buying a timeshare. Also, it is very easy to buy a timeshare and not so easy to dispose of one.
 

Eric B

TUG Member
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Vacation Village, Wyndham, WorldMark, Vistana, Vidanta, Flora Farms, HGVC Max, and some independents
I can’t speak to how Massanutten trades on RCI in weeks, but the 4 bedroom units that can be locked off into two two bedroom units trade very strong in RCI points.

I have a week 29 Woodstone Luxury 4 bedroom unit that has mf of $855 and it gets 137,000 RCI points a year.

I actually have the same and it's my best trading TS. The plus side for Massanutten is that they typically run a "Trading Power Boost" program to incentivize early payment of MF; if you pay by a certain date and ask by email for it, they will transfer the deposit of the tail end of a week deposited a couple of years ago that will expire in a few months into your RCI weeks account. They will do this for you even if you own in points, as I do. If you pay and request early enough, you can get a 20 TPU week that's good for 6-7 months; otherwise it could wind up being a week worth 10 TPUs good for a month or two. There isn't a guarantee that they will continue this in the future, but it's a good way to get people to pay their MFs. That isn't dependent on buying retail, of course.

Massanutten is in the Vacation Village family, so you also get reduced exchange fees going to those resorts. They also have extra vacations certificates that get you a week within 2-45 days for the cost of the exchange fee; typically they seem to be weeks worth up to 8 TPUs or so. That is supposed to be just for retail purchases, but I've heard that resale purchasers get those as well.

While they have recently implemented the amenities fees, that hasn't changed the points you get for the week and it's a great trader in RCI. I understand there's another Vacation Village resort in Williamsburg that just recently came to RCI and trades in both RCI and II and does quite well in II. I don't remember which one it is. I've seen both on eBay fairly frequently.
 

escanoe

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
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Messages
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Location
Washington, DC
Resorts Owned
HGVC: Flamingo & Anderson Ocean Club
Vacation Village: Woodstone at Massanutten and Grandview (RCI Points) & the Colonies
The plus side for Massanutten is that they typically run a "Trading Power Boost" program to incentivize early payment of MF; if you pay by a certain date and ask by email for it, they will transfer the deposit of the tail end of a week deposited a couple of years ago that will expire in a few months into your RCI weeks account. They will do this for you even if you own in points, as I do. If you pay and request early enough, you can get a 20 TPU week that's good for 6-7 months; otherwise it could wind up being a week worth 10 TPUs good for a month or two. There isn't a guarantee that they will continue this in the future, but it's a good way to get people to pay their MFs. That isn't dependent on buying retail, of course.

Being a points owner at Massanutten, I am the odd duck. I have seen what you have referenced here discussed on TUG every once in a while and have seen it in the owner newsletter. Unfortunately, I don’t understand how it would work for me. I only have an RCI points account. How do you get a 20 TPU week on a points account. I would be very appreciative if you would explain how you do this as a points owner. Do you have to have a weeks account to make it work?
 

Eric B

TUG Member
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Resorts Owned
Vacation Village, Wyndham, WorldMark, Vistana, Vidanta, Flora Farms, HGVC Max, and some independents
When you have a Points account, RCI gives you a week’s account at no cost. I already had one, but you might try calling RCI and asking about it because you’d need the account number.
 
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