Trading Power

[pnappleprincess Member Find all posts View Profile Close pnappleprincess]

If I were looking to buy something and wanted the abilty to occasionally trade...

Would I need to be more concerned with where I owned and that unit's tradability? Or more concerned with the resort I wanted to try and trade into?

And of course - i would buy where i wanted to vacay, not just trade.

thanks!!

pnp

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

If I were looking to buy something and wanted the abilty to occasionally trade...

Would I need to be more concerned with where I owned and that unit's tradability? Or more concerned with the resort I wanted to try and trade into?

And of course - i would buy where i wanted to vacay, not just trade.

thanks!!

pnp

A lot of it is common sense, but, then, there is RCI.

Speaking of which, RCI is transparent now (you can see through it cuz it's empty ). There are some threads discussing inequities in their evaluations, requiring more to trade in than they give the owners for the same weeks. But, whatever is possible you will probably find somewhere, some time, with RCI.

But, really, pick a resort, unit size, week, and any RCI member here will tell you it's trading power. Pick any place you wanna go, any time, and any RCI member here will tell you what it will take to get it. At least what it will take today, this minute.

Even me.

The answer is a combination of your question. Both where/what you own and where/what you want to trade for are important.

[SallyHoover Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SallyHoover]

I would also consider rentability and stability of MF's. Does it seem like there is enough reserves coming out so there won't be any special assessments? Are the review mostly positive? Steer away from places that the majority of folks describe as dumpy regardless of the trading power you might be getting now.

If you can rent your week easily for slightly more to much more than the MF's, you have something. That way if you aren't using one year you don't have to rely on an exchange company and you are more likely to have something that you can sell or worst case scenario give away without too much trouble if need be.

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

If I were looking to buy something and wanted the abilty to occasionally trade...

Would I need to be more concerned with where I owned and that unit's tradability? Or more concerned with the resort I wanted to try and trade into?

And of course - i would buy where i wanted to vacay, not just trade.

thanks!!

pnp

You need to be concerned with both. You said occasionally trade, so I assume you intend to occupy it most of the time. You obviously want to pick a resort that you will be very happy to stay at. The trading power of your resort is determined first by location, and second by resort quality. You need to buy in a high demand/low supply area during prime time to get maximum trading power.

You need to consider traveling costs to get to your resort. I own where it is a very easy drive to my resort.

In a nutshell, you should be a lot more concerned about where you own than where you want to exchange. The exchanges will take care of themselves if you concentrate on buying correctly.

I wouldn't worry about RCI. There are a lot of alternatives to RCI that will be much better.

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

Trading power, rentability . . . look at areas and times of high demand that don't have a lot of timeshares.

SOCAL summer. SW FL Snowbird Season (Jan-April). Stuff like that.

Stay away from the overbuilt areas, that many are drawn to precisely for the fact, places like Orlando, Williamsburg, Branson, etc.

This common sense has not changed over the years.

[sbkyoshi Member Find all posts View Profile Close sbkyoshi]

Your specific week, unit size and location all affect the trading power of your resort in RCI's system.

The problem is that RCI can change the trading power of your week depending on the demand for it at any time (Read the Disclosure Guide if you don't believe me). If your main reason for purchasing is to get into a variety of resorts, I would suggest buying into a deeded points program as opposed to a fixed week program.

[pnappleprincess Member Find all posts View Profile Close pnappleprincess]

Danka!!!

You all are so helpful!

Okay - so...what if Orlando (one of the overpopulated) is the place that we plan to visit often. It is within driving distance, we pretty much go every year etc. Would it still make sense to purchase there?

Or...instead - look to a place like Destin or CocoBeach and just trade into Orlando or rent?

Since we already own in Orlando (Westgate) it may seem like a moot point, but I would really like to try to get out from under Westgate and am trying to evaluate a new purchase (if it too also makes sense).

[pnappleprincess Member Find all posts View Profile Close pnappleprincess]

@SallyHoover

I feel so clueless asking this but, is it just a "gut" determination on the stability of the MF? Is there public information that one can obtain to mathematically evaluate the reserves coming out?

One of the reasons I would like to try and get my parents out from under WG is because I am nervous of a special assessment or a huge increase in the MF. I am worried that they could be using up the reserves to build build build build so if "something" were to happen, the brunt of it would fall on the paying owners. But this is not based on ANY type of fact at all! <disclaimer>.

Edited to add: And I am not trying to offend anyone or any system. Just trying to gather intel.

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

Okay - so...what if Orlando (one of the overpopulated) is the place that we plan to visit often. It is within driving distance, we pretty much go every year etc. Would it still make sense to purchase there?

Or...instead - look to a place like Destin or CocoBeach and just trade into Orlando or rent?

Since we already own in Orlando (Westgate) it may seem like a moot point, but I would really like to try to get out from under Westgate and am trying to evaluate a new purchase (if it too also makes sense).

We started with Wastegate when there were only the Big 3, Wastegate, Vistana and Orange Lake. Timeshares in Orlando has always been a sleazey, ugly business.

Conventional Wisdom, as supported in this thread:

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forum...ll-11-get.html

would be to not own in Mousetown, as the glut there means only prime weeks will ever have really great value, and it is a cheap trade. Some more recent owners seem to be contradicting that, but an quick run through the Trading Power Calculator can answer that question.

A 1 bedroom, peak summer, in the original section of Orange Lake, is 28. It would have virtually no resale value or market.

As an advocate and student of Resorts on the Beach, daily, for many years, I would never advise buying NE Atlantic or Panhandle. They are always the last to be taken. The hardest trades have always been The Keys and SW, followed by a close call between SE and NGulf. I'm most familiar with the several Mom and Pop resorts of SW FL, many started in the late 70's and early 80's by Captran:

A Little SW FL Timeshare History - Timeshare Users Group Online Community Forums

They are fairly plain, comfortable, tropical (sorta), well-maintained, have a solid retail market normally handled internally, and reasonable annual fees ($500-ish). Basically, they are what they are, with no surprises.

The lesser SW FL resorts in Snowbird Season will give you 34-40 TPU's, and anything Sanibel/Captiva or HGVC will put you in the solid 40's. Again, for fairness, just looking at peak season 1-bedrooms.

A cute little resort like Little Gull, further north, on Longboat Key in the Sarasota area, is 41 during Snowbird Season.

If 20 years ago we woulda been able to see the future, and what our real desires would be, rather than just buying into the dribble fed to us in Orlando, we woulda bought in SW FL, January-March.

These facts always have been, are now, and I can't think of anything anyone (even RCI) can do to change it , or screw it up.

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

@SallyHoover

I feel so clueless asking this but, is it just a "gut" determination on the stability of the MF? Is there public information that one can obtain to mathematically evaluate the reserves coming out?

One of the reasons I would like to try and get my parents out from under WG is because I am nervous of a special assessment or a huge increase in the MF. I am worried that they could be using up the reserves to build build build build so if "something" were to happen, the brunt of it would fall on the paying owners. But this is not based on ANY type of fact at all! <disclaimer>.

Edited to add: And I am not trying to offend anyone or any system. Just trying to gather intel.

It is public knowledge that Mr. Sleaze is hurting for money, and he has always relied on Wastegate owners to be his cash cow, so your intuition may become fruition.

The easy part is deciding to unload; the hard part is doing it.

[pnappleprincess Member Find all posts View Profile Close pnappleprincess]

We started with Wastegate when there were only the Big 3, Wastegate, Vistana and Orange Lake. Timeshares in Orlando has always been a sleazey, ugly business.

Conventional Wisdom, as supported in this thread:

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forum...ll-11-get.html

would be to not own in Mousetown, as the glut there means only prime weeks will ever have really great value, and it is a cheap trade. Some more recent owners seem to be contradicting that, but an quick run through the Trading Power Calculator can answer that question.

If 20 years ago we woulda been able to see the future, and what our real desires would be, rather than just buying into the dribble fed to us in Orlando, we woulda bought in SW FL, January-March.

These facts always have been, are now, and I can't think of anything anyone (even RCI) can do to change it , or screw it up.

Thanks for your honest opinion and the links! Boy oh boy if Doc would have lent me that Delorean 20 years ago! Or at least left me a letter!

I am not sure how many Westgate resorts were there back when we bought - but I do know it was before the one in Gatlinburg. We actually bought in the town center a few years before it was built!

But I digress....We have had a great number of vacays there so I won't complain! (too much).

[pnappleprincess Member Find all posts View Profile Close pnappleprincess]

It is public knowledge that Mr. Sleaze is hurting for money, and he has always relied on Wastegate owners to be his cash cow, so your intuition may become fruition.

The easy part is deciding to unload; the hard part is doing it.

Yea. The whole situation just makes me nervous. And then the whole LV thing too? Yikes.

When I first found these forums I knew it would be impossible to sell / giveaway. Since my parents can afford the MF, I thought it best to just try and use it the best way possible. But the more I read and learn, the more nervous I get. And the more efforts I want to put towards trying to get out.

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

When we toured Wastegate, there was only Wastegate Vacation Villas, and not much of that. There were two buildings, now A & B, the Clubhouse and a tent for marketing. We started the tour in the clubhouse and ended in the tent.

Orange Lake was just the West Village, and not much of it, with everything being done in the Clubhouse there. That's where we sat through our first RCI video and the first timeshare units we ever saw were the studios in the West Village Clubhouse.

Many people equate Orlando with the popular beginning of timeshares, but the ones I mentioned in SW FL, by Captran, were started before any in Orlando. I met people at Lighthouse on Sanibel who had owned since the mid 70's.

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

Interesting, a 1 bedroom peak summer at WVV is 27. Week 50 is 18. Weeks 51 & 52 are both 50!!!

The last two weeks of March . . . Spring Break . . . are 36.

That pretty much says it all about Orlando . . . . four good weeks!

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

When we toured Wastegate, there was only Wastegate Vacation Villas, and not much of that. There were two buildings, now A & B, the Clubhouse and a tent for marketing. We started the tour in the clubhouse and ended in the tent.

Orange Lake was just the West Village, and not much of it, with everything being done in the Clubhouse there. That's where we sat through our first RCI video and the first timeshare units we ever saw were the studios in the West Village Clubhouse.

Many people equate Orlando with the popular beginning of timeshares, but the ones I mentioned in SW FL, by Captran, were started before any in Orlando. I met people at Lighthouse on Sanibel who had owned since the mid 70's.

One of my neighbors in Florida owned a timeshare in Naples FL back in the late 70's.