What should I buy?

[Rugzyschick]

I know I have asked some questions before, just need steered in the right direction for the right timeshare "group". I have looked at many of them to see their affiliated resorts and to see who they trade with with their points system, still unsure which company has the best point system for trading to get the best bang for my buck per say...so here goes...

1) Where do you want your home resort to be? MYRTLE BEACH SC

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? HONESTLY THIS NEEDS MORE THOUGHT. CURRENTLY THINKING ROTATING YRS WITH 1 YR AT HOME RESORT, NEXT YR SOMEWHERE ELSE, THEN HOME, THEN AWAY.....OR POSSIBLY MIGHT DO HOME RESORT EVERY YR AND THEN TAKE A 2ND WEEK EVERY OTHER YR TO TRAVEL ELSEWHERE...OR EVEN HOME RESORT EVERY 3 YRS....SEE NEEDS MORE THOUGHT LOL

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?...OKAY THERE IS MORE THAN 5 HERE, BUT JUST SO YOU ALL HAVE AN IDEA OF PLACES WE WOULD LIKE TO GO....ON A SIDE NOTE WE WILL MORE THAN LIKELY ONLY VISIT EACH PLACE ONCE

• CARIBBEAN (A FEW DIFFERENT PLACES HERE LIKE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, PUERTO RICO, JAMAICA, ETC), MEXICO, HAWAII, AUSTRALIA, EUROPE (ITALY, GREECE, IRELAND)**(THESE WOULD BE EVERY OTHER YR OR EVERY 2 YRS)
• US AREAS: FLORDIA (BEACH), NY (ON ONE OF THE BIG LAKES), MAINE, VEGAS (FOR LIKE 2 DAYS AND THEN TRAVEL TO GRAND CANYON, YELLOWSTONE, HOOVER DAM), COLORADO (SKI TRIP), ALASKA (CRUISE), NORTH CAROLINA (BEACH)
• #1 LOCATION...I WILL GET TO MALDIVES ONCE BEFORE I DIE

4) How many people do you usually travel with?
TOTAL 5 (4 ADULTS/1CHILD)...IN A FEW YRS MAYBE 6 (4 ADULTS, 2KIDS)

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
NEED WEEK BETWEEN WEEK 29-32, POSSIBILTY OF USING AN ADDITIONAL WEEK SOMETIME ELSE DURING THE YEAR

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

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 3-5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? $12,000

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? $1200

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? YES

 

[Passepartout]

No timeshare will satisfy all your desires. you will need 2-to 3 bedrooms and those are not nearly as plentiful as you may need in all those locations. You will also be in competition for those prime summer weeks with every other owner with the same time and space limitations. You better plan on being up a midnight at exactly 13 months from the day you want to move in to have ANY possibility of scoring that exchange. I suspect you are young (one child and possibility of more is the tip-off) and want to travel to semi exotic adult playgrounds. You need to know that airfares for a group are expensive, and some things- like cruises- are best bought with cash than timeshare exchanges, regardless of what the salesweasels say.

Still you might start by renting a few times. It will give you some experience with different systems, and educate you so that you can truly recognize a bargain when you see it. You can save your money for that purchase because rentals today cost very close to the same cost as annual maintenance fees. Sometimes less.

Good luck, and happy vacations.

Jim

 

[Rugzyschick]

I suspect you are young (one child and possibility of more is the tip-off)

Actually I am 37, my husband 39. We are planning on splitting everything $$ evenly with my parents (early 50's age). I say possibly 6 because my daughter (one and only child...and it will stay that way lol) is 11, so I am planning ahead that occasionally we will be tugging a friend along in a few years...but only to the "in states" vacations, not about to take someone else kids cross-country hoppin. As for the "exotic adult playgrounds" we still want family friendly (not party scene), and not every year (probably every other year or even every 2 yrs, we tend to do a relaxing vacation and then the expensive trip the following yr, then a relaxing one....for example we did Disney, then went camping, now going to the beach)....Going forward I know we are doing Myrtle 2018, Hawaii 2019, so 2020 will probably be in the mountains on a lake LOL, then back to the beach in 2021...

Currently we just rent from a friend's timeshare, we simply pay the exchange rate with the added insurance so he can keep his points if we would have to cancel last minute, so we generally spend $450 for a week (which is split with my parents... so really only $225.

We used his timeshare in Orlando last Dec to go to Disney, and planning on using it for Myrtle this coming summer. While in Orlando, we did the whole timeshare presentation. So basically on our family camping trip this year the big question was were we buying a camper or a timeshare LOL...it rained for the last 3 days...clearly we made our decision Anyways, we were pretty sold at that point, but knew realistically we just didn't have the $12,000 for 190k points every other yr they wanted at that moment. But now we do, but just want to weigh all the options and get something we will be happy with the first time around.

 

[Bmatrose]

Actually I am 37, my husband 39. We are planning on splitting everything $$ evenly with my parents (early 50's age). I say possibly 6 because my daughter (one and only child...and it will stay that way lol) is 11, so I am planning ahead that occasionally we will be tugging a friend along in a few years...but only to the "in states" vacations, not about to take someone else kids cross-country hoppin. As for the "exotic adult playgrounds" we still want family friendly (not party scene), and not every year (probably every other year or even every 2 yrs, we tend to do a relaxing vacation and then the expensive trip the following yr, then a relaxing one....for example we did Disney, then went camping, now going to the beach)....Going forward I know we are doing Myrtle 2018, Hawaii 2019, so 2020 will probably be in the mountains on a lake LOL, then back to the beach in 2021...

Currently we just rent from a friend's timeshare, we simply pay the exchange rate with the added insurance so he can keep his points if we would have to cancel last minute, so we generally spend $450 for a week (which is split with my parents... so really only $225.

We used his timeshare in Orlando last Dec to go to Disney, and planning on using it for Myrtle this coming summer. While in Orlando, we did the whole timeshare presentation. So basically on our family camping trip this year the big question was were we buying a camper or a timeshare LOL...it rained for the last 3 days...clearly we made our decision Anyways, we were pretty sold at that point, but knew realistically we just didn't have the $12,000 for 190k points every other yr they wanted at that moment. But now we do, but just want to weigh all the options and get something we will be happy with the first time around.

Are you referring to Holiday Inn Club vacations? If so join there Facebook group and rent yearly from owners who rent there points. Gets you into the same resorts without having to pay the developers prices.