If you could start over...what would you do?

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I just figured you ran out of coffee.

[JimmyD Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimmyD]

LOL-
Still kickin.
Going to Fairfield Glade Wyndham to watch the leaves change color next week...

Tried to make a time share deal with somebody wanting to trade something for a time share.

Guess they had not heard of e-bay...

Anyhow, I had a hard time trying to trade and I guess I spooked them. I mean they though I was pulling a scam when I told them how cheap I could buy points.

I showed my moms retail receipts for her points to show how much they would save and they just could not believe I was willing to trade 100000 points for what they had.

Well, you win some and lose some.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Sandy beach, calm waters and boat dock sounds like Bonita Beach resort on SW Florida. You can also bring your own boat and park the trailer there. They've got a marina right next door to gas up. I don't water ski but we used to drag one of those little banana floaties behind the boat. That was fun and the water is nice for that in the summer. The resort isn't a points resort but you could probably get it with a points deposit thru Wyndham.

BR&C

One of our favorite places, a Spartan little resort I have tried to keep secret from the prying eyes on the Internet.

Why?

Because it is small and mostly owner-occupied during Snowbird weeks.

We got to know the Week 1 & 2 owners pretty well, and had a regular golf game with some of them. We even got a week 53, which they rent to owners only, one year.

We always got the same units, until those owners sold and owners of adjoining weeks immediately snarfed them up. We were there at 9 AM on January 2 the year our favorite unit was for sale. That was opening time for the new year . . . but they said someone already bought it. Maybe five or six years ago. Units that used to be deposited for Weeks 1 & 2: 105, 108, 307.

$2000, what a deal! One of few real values in timesharing. In comparison, the same week on Sanibel would be $20-25K, resale.

Nothing has been deposited in January since.

But I have seen some on craigslist.

[jimmyjames Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jimmyjames]

I would do it exactly the same.

I bought fixed week 26 on Cape Cod using Ebay for about $700 (yes hundred) last year at a very nicely renovated resort with a reasonable maint fee of currently around $530.
It's a 1 bed loft(fully enclosed bedroom now after the renovation) with two full baths. The entire place has been renovated in the last three years and it's pretty nice. I missed all the additional special assessment fees that paid for the renovations.

It is highly tradable. For the next three years it covers July 4th. It's very expensive in Cape Cod during summer ($200+ a night for just a decent place) if you are lucky enough to find a rental especially during that week. I can currently rent it for about $1100. Though I have seen some as high as $1500 and as low as $900.

It seems to be worth about 55 on RCI, but honestly I would most likely rent it, and use the money as I saw fit elsewhere.

Anyway, I would look for similar, maybe in Newport, RI. I would never pay over 1k, and it has to be in July or August. Both are driveable from my house, and have good trade value. The Cape and Newport in general seem to be a 'drive-to' oriented vacation spot for most which helps in this recession also. That's what I look for.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

BR&C

One of our favorite places, a Spartan little resort I have tried to keep secret from the prying eyes on the Internet.

One of my favorites too although I haven't been there in about 3 years.
Lucky for me last time I went, I found someone on ebay renting their 2 weeks and got them for super, super cheap like $100 a week back to back. They seemed to be an inexperienced ebay seller. Unfortunately since then, I haven't been back.

So let's keep it a secret and give it bad reviews so no one goes.
I need to do that with my Hollywood resort. Ever since I started giving it good reviews, I can't get a last call into the place. Now I'm changing my strategy.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Several years ago OY I leaked out that we like BR&C. A certain internet she-devil with a psychotic attraction to me (& TonyG & others) did a review ripping it to shreds. Saying stuff like threadbare sheets.

The review is probably still OY, written by Robbie Fellows.

Except for that it is a 1-bedroom, not 2, here is a craigslist offering:

http://fortmyers.craigslist.org/lee/vac/1966902737.html

Just search craigslist/Ft. Myers/vacation rentals

Which brings us back to what would you do if you started over . . . exactly that. No investment, no maintenance fees, no exchange fees, no trading restrictions, a whole world of resorts at your fingertips. That wasn't an option 20 years ago.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Yup, times have changed over the past 20 years- more or less. I would only change 2 purchase mistakes- one of which was my first resale buy which I ended up selling for more than 3k less than I bought it for. As for the other 9 I bought---I would probably do it again and maybe even buy a few that I didn't. The only timeshare we now own is one my wife bought before we got married and I should have been more forceful in talking her out of that one.
I'm still looking and hope to buy something this year or next- though the sense of urgency to buy is almost non existent.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I just gave away my first TS acquisition. It was a $200 ebay deal so no big loss but I did get some nice vacations from it especially trading into Ft. Myers beach. It was wayyyyyyy before I found you guys.

If I did anything else over again it would be to not buy my RCI points in Orlando so I wouldn't be blocked from DVC but honestly it's gotten me so many great last minute deals that I certainly can't complain about it.

So now that I've gotten rid of my only II/VRI , I might need to replace it with something that I can trade in II. Maybe I'll just buy the getaways instead of trading in II. That seems to be how I've best used II anyway.

Oh to be able to do it over again. Yeah, I'd probably do a few things differently the second time around too.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Speaking of Orlando, where there is a glut of timeshares there is also a glut mof vacation rentals. Keeping in mind that craigslist is just one of hundreds of sites offering vacation rentals, yesterday alone there were more than 200 posted, many lower than TS fees.

orlando vacation rentals classifieds - craigslist

One ad headline:

$35 Coming To Orlando For The Big Game? Condos For $35 Per Night! (Orlando/Kissimmee)

and everyone's favorite:

$400 / 2br - Last Minute 10/1 - 1 week at Orange Lake Country Club (Kissimmee, FL)

Another OL:

$60 / 2br - Disney Luxury Villa MUST BOOK. Spacious sleeps 6

or, a wonderful, wonderful week at Wastegate:

$375 ~~Spend Week @ Beautiful Westgate Lakes Resort~Close 2 Parks~Pets Ok

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Speaking of Orlando, where there is a glut of timeshares there is also a glut mof vacation rentals. Keeping in mind that craigslist is just one of hundreds of sites offering vacation rentals, yesterday alone there were more than 200 posted, many lower than TS fees.

orlando vacation rentals classifieds - craigslist

One ad headline:

$35 Coming To Orlando For The Big Game? Condos For $35 Per Night! (Orlando/Kissimmee)

and everyone's favorite:

$400 / 2br - Last Minute 10/1 - 1 week at Orange Lake Country Club (Kissimmee, FL)

Another OL:

$60 / 2br - Disney Luxury Villa MUST BOOK. Spacious sleeps 6

or, a wonderful, wonderful week at Wastegate:

$375 ~~Spend Week @ Beautiful Westgate Lakes Resort~Close 2 Parks~Pets Ok

This may be true but you just can't beat a DAElive deal for $79 a week at Wastegate. And no annoying housekeeping fees that most people try to charge for renting their condos. Besides, you don't really know who you are dealing with sometimes on these rentals and it's much easier to stay with predictable II or RCI, DAE than to take a chance that you're being scammed.

The last thing I want to find out after driving all day is that I've been scammed and now I've gotta stay in Kissimmee in a motel because all the good stuff is gone.

[jimmyjames Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jimmyjames]

Speaking of Orlando,

The Hilton Grand Vacations Club often posts their studios on Hotwire for $69 a night.

I have personally rented a one bed unit at Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando for a week this past late February for $79 a night. No extra fees. Why trade at that price? There is a huge glut in Orlando as you say. I know the maint fees on that property were far more than I paid and thats a shame.

Anyway, I knew going in which they were because you can discern the listings using the betterbidding forum. Just need to look up the icons, section of town and star rating...and you can nail down the exact property to 99% accuracy in many cases.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Speaking of Orlando,

The Hilton Grand Vacations Club often posts their studios on Hotwire for $69 a night.

I have personally rented the Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando for a week this past late February for $79 a night. No extra fees. Why trade at that price? There is a huge glut in Orlando as you say. I know the maint fees on that property were far more than I paid and thats a shame.

.

Yeah, Hilton does that so it's good to always check their website first so you can earn HHonors points, but try getting a 3 bedroom for open season rates on their website and you usually won't see them. If you own Hilton they'll rent it to you thru the club very reasonably for around $130 a night.

Also, Vistana is routinely available thru RCI for $285 for the week in a 2 bedroom in the last call inventory. I've stayed several times there for less than you'd pay on Priceline etc.

So IMHO, it's worth it to have access to the exchange companies if you are going to do Orlando alot. Maybe not if you only go ocasionally.

[jimmyjames Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jimmyjames]

Yeah, Hilton does that so it's good to always check their website first so you can earn HHonors points, but try getting a 3 bedroom for open season rates on their website and you usually won't see them. If you own Hilton they'll rent it to you thru the club very reasonably for around $130 a night.

Also, Vistana is routinely available thru RCI for $285 for the week in a 2 bedroom in the last call inventory. I've stayed several times there for less than you'd pay on Priceline etc.

So IMHO, it's worth it to have access to the exchange companies if you are going to do Orlando alot. Maybe not if you only go ocasionally.

Good to know. Thanks for the tip.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

This may be true but you just can't beat a DAElive eal for $79 a week at Wastegate.

We were Wastegate owners for more than ten years and would not stay there is they paid us. We choose not to support sexist, scammy sleazeballs.

We'll take the motel, thanks.

But everyone makes their own choices.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

We were Wastegate owners for more than ten years and would not stay there is they paid us. We choose not to support sexist, scammy sleazeballs.

We'll take the motel, thanks.

But everyone makes their own choices.

Well good. That leaves me more ops for the deals.
I just don't answer the phone.