Just trying to figure out my best option?

[Scottie31]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
- No particular destination

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?
- at some point may use more often but probably trade

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
- Caribbean, California, Texas, Europe, New Orleans (Anywhere warm.....I'm from Canada!!!)

4) How many people do you usually travel with?
- usually just my wife but possible another couple joins us

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
- Yes, schedule is flexible

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

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
- Yes, I take several week long vacations each year

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
- 3-4 star but as long as the accommodations are clean and comfortable I'm good

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
- Not looking to spend a lot. I've been researching the options and there seem to be lots for sale

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?
- I would like to stay below $700

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
- The only time I'm more detailed at planning is when it comes to vacations

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?
- Yes

 

[Passepartout]

We all try to find out best option. It's called life. I really don't like that question 2 of the questionnaire. What would your answer be if the question was : Would you go to your home resort, or trade, if trading cost an extra $250 plus transportation?

Scottie, these days, $700 annual fees are the exception. Better to allow $800+ for decent accommodations in a one bedroom for a week. And count on them to increase 5% or so every year. It's enough to make rentals more attractive. And that's what I suggest. Use the TUG last minute rentals, Redweek, and others- like VRBO to find rentals for similar costs and no buy-in and no ongoing expense or exit strategy needed.

Good luck!

Jim

 

[VacationForever]

Trading is expensive. RCI and Interval International are the 2 largest 3rd party exchange companies. If you want to keep your cost low, I suggest that you look at a low cost of entry and low maintenance fees point-based system where you can book within the system for no additional cost. Europe's timeshare resorts are usually in the countryside and not in the city. Then if you want to book outside of the internal booking system, you can then spend money to make an exchange. RCI exchange fees is now $249 or more, not to mention annual membership fee. II is up to $199 or so. There are other small exchange companies that usually do not require membership but you still need to pay exchange fees and pickings are slim in these smaller exchange companies.

The questionaire does not ask how many weeks/days of stay you want to get out of the maintenance fees. You have listed $700. You can still find $700 MF but for 1BR units. If you venture outside of points-based internal booking and look at 2BR units, find the ones that can be locked off, giving you 2 weeks of stay. MF will be $1K and north of that.

 

[theo]

Based upon the OP's answers regarding costs, identified destinations and "trading" intentions, I would not recommend a timeshare purchase at all. I would instead advise just renting. I don't see "trading into" some (most?) of those destinations with any timeshare having a $700 annual maintenance fee as being realistic or likely. Not to even mention the uncertainty, gyrations, ever-changing rules (and additional costs) associated with playing "the exchange game".

Just my own personal opinion. YMMV.

 

[presley]

I would suggest looking at WorldMark. You buy points and have access to all of their locations. That saves you the cost of trading and their MFs tend to be on the low end.

 

[taterhed]

Worldmark trades inside of 59/45 days via II or RCI can be a good bargain. The MF's are affordable and you can buy all the points you can eat via one special or another. The buy-in cost is also pretty low.

Of course, with an annual budget of $700 for MF's and 'not a lot' for purchase, I strongly advise you consider long and hard before buying or accepting (free) any timeshares.

 

[Cynic]

I see a one-bedroom, InnSeasons Resorts Surfside @ Cape Cod, MA, week 26 fixed, currently being auctioned off to the highest bidder, $800 starting bid.

This is about as red as they get; that week is the USA July 4th holiday, and you're right on the ocean... location and time of year are basically everything as far as trading.

If I were in the market, I would buy this without hesitation, and I can't honestly say that of about 99.99% of all timeshares; this is a true gem as far as trading power.

The best way to minimize trading costs is to buy your RCI membership as many years at a time as you can and submit your exchange requests online.