Where do I Begin?

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

I had my first timeshare experience last month in Sedona, AZ. A friend of a friend allowed us to stay at her timeshare, and I am, tentatively, hooked.

Here are my basics: I go on one nice vacation every year for about a week. I already understand that a timeshare is not an investment, but a convenience. What I sense is that you can get a whole lot more "bang for your buck" with a timeshare than with a hotel. I do know this, the same accommodations I enjoyed in Sedona would cost about $400 a night in a hotel.....rather than the approximately $800 annual fee at the vacation resort where I stayed.

Question #1 - Who the heck am I buying from? If I buy into a specific resort, which is also a member of RCI, and that resort goes under have I lost everything?

Question #2 - If I buy from one of the big chain names, (Wyndham, Hilton, etc.) again, do I own a share of one specific resort or do I own a share in a big chain (with presumably more protection and still the opportunity to stay in smaller RCI (or other) affiliated resorts)?

Question #3 - Is there any way to control annual fees and ensure the financial viability of my share? For example, here at home, if I don't like my Home Owners Association fees or the way maintenance is being handled I can run for an office on the HOA and have some influence. How do you influence the fees and upkeep on a vacation condo?

Question #4 - I want the ability to exchange locations and I have no idea how that works. (a week here is worth a day there, different locations are worth more or less than others.....points, locations????? What????) Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

If you know of any links, lists or articles on points to ponder before buying a timeshare I would welcome them.

Thank you very much for any and all help!

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I had my first timeshare experience last month in Sedona, AZ. A friend of a friend allowed us to stay at her timeshare, and I am, tentatively, hooked.

Here are my basics: I go on one nice vacation every year for about a week. I already understand that a timeshare is not an investment, but a convenience. What I sense is that you can get a whole lot more "bang for your buck" with a timeshare than with a hotel. I do know this, the same accommodations I enjoyed in Sedona would cost about $400 a night in a hotel.....rather than the approximately $800 annual fee at the vacation resort where I stayed.

Question #1 - Who the heck am I buying from? If I buy into a specific resort, which is also a member of RCI, and that resort goes under have I lost everything?

It depends. If you buy resale, you would be buying from a previous owner. If you buy a "deeded week" as opposed to a points system, you would own the right to use one week per year at the resort you buy. If a points system, it depends. Either way, you are not buying RCI, you would need to join RCI to trade your week through them. There are other options. If the resort you own "goes under," then you are out of luck. Be aware that as an owner, you will also be responsible for any "special assessments" required for maintenance/improvements/repairs that are not covered by the annual maintenance fee

Question #2 - If I buy from one of the big chain names, (Wyndham, Hilton, etc.) again, do I own a share of one specific resort or do I own a share in a big chain (with presumably more protection and still the opportunity to stay in smaller RCI (or other) affiliated resorts)?

I'm not sure about Hilton, but with Wyndham, your points are tied to a "home" resort, with the same liabilities as a deeded week resort in terms of fees. I don't view it as more protection. More flexibility in reserving a resort other than your own, perhaps, depending on the system

Question #3 - Is there any way to control annual fees and ensure the financial viability of my share? For example, here at home, if I don't like my Home Owners Association fees or the way maintenance is being handled I can run for an office on the HOA and have some influence. How do you influence the fees and upkeep on a vacation condo?

In theory, you can run for the HOA of a timeshare. In practice, while developers are still in sales mode, and sometimes after, they tend to control the board so individuals have little control. And do you really want to go to all that trouble for something that is supposed to be your "vacation?" That said, there are some smaller, older, timeshare resorts that are very successfully run by independent boards made up of their owners

Question #4 - I want the ability to exchange locations and I have no idea how that works. (a week here is worth a day there, different locations are worth more or less than others.....points, locations????? What????) Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

This is not simple, and depends on what you own, where you want to go, and when

If you know of any links, lists or articles on points to ponder before buying a timeshare I would welcome them.

You have stumbled on a wealth of information here at TS4Ms. Spend some time and search around here - whatever you do, don't buy until you have your questions answered!

Thank you very much for any and all help!

I will say that if you really only plan to go one week's vacation per year, it's probably not worth it to buy a timeshare. Others may disagree, but I think it takes too much time and effort to turn one ownership week into different vacations each year. You can rent timeshares from owners at less than the rack rate you quoted, and overall I think that makes sense for limited travel. If you are in love with a place, like Sedona for example, and you know you want to go back every year to the same place, then it might make sense to buy.

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

Question #1 - Who the heck am I buying from? If I buy into a specific resort, which is also a member of RCI, and that resort goes under have I lost everything?

Depends on the resort and why it goes under. The Owners organization affiliated with the resort determines what kind of insurance you'd have, I believe.

Question #2 - If I buy from one of the big chain names, (Wyndham, Hilton, etc.) again, do I own a share of one specific resort or do I own a share in a big chain (with presumably more protection and still the opportunity to stay in smaller RCI (or other) affiliated resorts)?

Depends on who you own with. I've got Bluegreen points, which means I own a particular week at a particular unit at a particular resort. Some systems you own an underlying unit, some you're just purchasing the right to x-number of points for x-amount of time.

Question #3 - Is there any way to control annual fees and ensure the financial viability of my share? For example, here at home, if I don't like my Home Owners Association fees or the way maintenance is being handled I can run for an office on the HOA and have some influence. How do you influence the fees and upkeep on a vacation condo?

Much the same way, however you'll have more or less influence depending on how good of an Owners association there is, how big of an organization you're with, etc. You'll have less direct influence over a largish organization like Wyndham than you will over an individual resort; OTOH, the national organization offers resources and puts pressure on the individual resorts to keep their standards up in the larger systems, and you can be less prone to special assessments in the larger ones as well.

Definitely do some research on how well managed the unit you're interested in is, and how long that management's been in place. Although of course things can change - when we first looked into Bluegreen, there was considerable talk of Diamond buying them out. We waited until that blew over before purchasing, but of course the possibility of someone with a less compatible managing style buying out Bluegreen still exists. There are always risks. All you can do is choose the risk you find easiest to live with.

Question #4 - I want the ability to exchange locations and I have no idea how that works. (a week here is worth a day there, different locations are worth more or less than others.....points, locations????? What????) Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

Each system is broken down differently internally, and then of course there's RCI and Interval International and other trading groups, which have different criteria from each other as well. With Bluegreen, once you've paid your yearly maintenance fee and membership fee, you're done, so far as points are concerned. With some other points systems, you have yearly fees, and then you pay a housekeeping fee on top of that for each place you stay at.

RCI and the other trading systems, usually you pay a yearly membership fee, and then a second fee when you reserve a trade (you don't pay a fee for putting your week into the system, but for getting a week you trade for out). So if you deposit a week in 2010 but don't use that week for trading until 2011, in 2010 and 2011 you pay your membership fee, but only in 2011 would you pay the fee for your vacation.

One of the reasons you'll so often hear the advice, "Pick a place you want to stay first!" is that it's really tough to thoroughly research all the options. IMHO it's way easier to trade within a points system rather than messing with RCI, plus we don't vacation by the week, so we narrowed our research that way. If you have a particular place you want to go to fairly regularly, that could narrow it as well. If you have to have full kitchens every time, then again, that will cut out a lot of possibilities.

Half the people I know who have used RCI for years now hate it, so if you know you want to be going to different places I would recommend one of the chains like Wyndham or Bluegreen. We like Bluegreen in part because it seems responsive to the owner's needs, but also because they have a good variety of resorts that fit our needs within reasonable driving distance. Bluegreen would be a poor fit for someone with our traveling preferences who lived in the west, though. And it's a smaller system, so a poor fit for someone who wants the most options possible as well.

In your place I'd first look at the maps of all the various chains to see where they are - just doing that you might realize "I mostly want to be right on the beach" or "I want lots of options on the Gulf coast" or "Wait, if I bought through here, where would I go skiing?" Once you find a chain that looks to be a good system in terms of location, then look into that particular chain to see if there are any problems. With Bluegreen, for instance, it's way easier for the average owner to get into the fully owned resorts than the affiliate resorts, so if all the resorts that interest you in that system are affiliates, another system might be the better choice for you.

You could also narrow it down to two or three systems, then post to each chain's board with your choices and suggestions. A lot of people here own in more than one system and can share the advantages and disadvantages of each, and even if they own in only one, fans will post what they love about that system and those who aren't happy can give you warnings.

Good luck!

EDIT:

I hadn't thought through the fact that you're only wanting to vacation a week a year. Now that he's brought it up, I'll second Glitter Brunello's suggestion that you look into renting first. I know with a lot of points systems, the smaller points ownerships are not a good deal unless you find a way to stretch them, so if you only want a week's worth of vacation they'd be a poor deal for you. There are a lot more resources for renters than there used to be, and renting offers a lot more flexibility than even most points systems. There are disadvantages to renting, especially from individuals, but if you can go off season you can find some tremendous deals sometimes. Wyndham had an offer this past April where you could get a week in any kind of unit at selected resorts for $199! People renting out distressed (about to expire) points may also offer great deals, and there are a lot of people in that situation. The reviews here (free) and at TUG (moderate yearly fee) can be a real help if you're wanting to rent timeshares with a better idea of what you're getting into.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I suppose one way to make it work well would be to buy into a points system that has within it most of the locations you'd like to go, provided you start with enough points to be able to reserve what you'd like going forward. Keep in mind that in addition to annual maintenance fees, there will be exchange fees, and there are also annual exchange company membership fees to consider if you go outside your "system" (some of the smaller independent companies have free memberships, but RCI and Interval International have annual fees).

[Pstreet1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pstreet1]

Hi, Cranky. We, too, were in Sedona this last week--perhaps in the same restaurants.

I am in the process of divesting myself of timeshares, literally giving them away, because I acquired too many for my current needs. Having said that, I don't intend to get rid of absolutely all of them; I enjoy the accomodations too much. Depending on where you live, you might consider the Worldmark system, which is Wyndham. The maint. fees are reasonable (less than $500.00 a year for 10,000 points which is enough for a two bedroom, high season unit each year). Worldmark has units which are entirely "in system," and don't cost money to exchange to. You can also deposit your unit with RCI or with II (the advantage of II being that you have access to Marriott units). Worldmark units exchange well and have easily gotten me European city exchanges which aren't easy to accomplish.

The caution I would add about timesharing is that, for me, the lack of "city" timeshares is a limiting factor. There are definitely some available (we just spent a week in New York across from Carnegie Hall), but they are very popular and not easy to schedule. Timeshares abound in pretty areas-- lakes, sea shores, deserts--and if those are the areas you are looking for, you'll be pleased. However, the same cautions apply: the more popular the spot i.e. beach in Southern California, the more difficult it is to schedule. You really need to be able to schedule your vacation at least a year in advance, and more is better, if you are looking for popular spots. I was in Sedona last week because I love Sedona, but more importantly, I had a timeshare week banked with RCI and I was going to lose the week if I didn't use it, and there isn't a high demand for summer weeks in Palm Springs/Phoenix/Sedona.....so that's the week I took.

[Its5O'clockSomewhere Member Find all posts View Profile Close Its5O'clockSomewhere]

Hobittess, Thank you for your posts. I'm new to this, but have already learned a lot about Bluegreen from lurking the last several days and reading your posts!

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

My opinion is not to buy a timeshare right now. I see our economy go down further and people will give the timeshares away just to be free of the yearly maintenance fees.

If you want to go to a particular resort, put it in Google and say "for rent" next to the name of the resort you have in mind and see what is coming up. You can rent them cheaper than what your maintenance fees are at many resorts. You also do not tie yourself down for yearly fees in case you want to skip a year.

I just read Pstreet's post and she pretty well sums it up.

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

Thank you everyone! You've all given me some great information.

I like the idea of renting for a year or two. That will give me more experience with what the condos are like and the locations I can find.

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

Thank you everyone! You've all given me some great information.

I like the idea of renting for a year or two. That will give me more experience with what the condos are like and the locations I can find.

I rented for about 10 years before I finally bought one. I probably paid more over the years than if I had found a good resale initially but I guess being cautious in this market isn't a bad plan. Hang around here and learn the ropes you might see that you can buy just one if you buy it right and be able to rent from the TS companies much cheaper than renting from the resorts directly. It's a big learning curve so stick around. It's time well invested.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Thank you everyone! You've all given me some great information.

I like the idea of renting for a year or two. That will give me more experience with what the condos are like and the locations I can find.

Renting is definately the way to go. Bear in mind that the further out you plan the easier it will be to get accomodations and the price will probably be more resonable. Some resorts allow owners to get weeks two years out while certain point systems are 13, 11 or 10 months out.

Be prepared to pay top dollar (still cheaper than going thru the resort or initial outlay and yearly dues) for hard to get areas/resorts for prime holiday weeks.

There is a market for "last minute or distressed" rentals. These are folks that suddenly find they cannot go on a planned trip or can book something near term within their "system" for less cost.

TS4Ms is a good place to start learning, asking questions and planning.

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

I'm new to this, but have already learned a lot about Bluegreen

Thanks for the kind words! As a Bluegreen owner, you can get the password to the owner's forum here, which isn't particularly active but sometimes discusses things the open forum doesn't. And I expect you've run across references to the Bluegreen yahoo group, which I think is well worth looking into. There are photos of most of the resorts there and all manner of info. The yahoo search engine hasn't worked right there in some time, though, so not as useful as it once was. *sigh*

There is a market for "last minute or distressed" rentals. These are folks that suddenly find they cannot go on a planned trip or can book something near term within their "system" for less cost.

CrankyOleBroad, you can often join the yahoo groups for various TS chain systems even if you're not an owner - while Bluegreen people sometimes post the kind of deals lawren's discussing here, seems to me they're much more likely to post them to the yahoo group. In the Bluegreen system, points "roll over" after a year, meaning they can only be used in red season or lower, and if you're able to go off season or like the older resorts you can often get a deal on these "distressed" points as well.

I don't know if other systems work the same way but I do know a lot of people who get good deals on last-minute TS rentals. If someone's week or points are about to expire, they're often willing to rent them out for less than it cost them and recoup some of their expense that way.

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

I suggest going on a timeshare sales pitch trip. You could sign up for one with Bluegreen at virtually any Bass Pro Shop store. You'll get an idea of how much a Bluegreen points package would cost at 'developer' prices - which is what Bluegreen sells at their sales pitches. Just be prepared to say NO many many times. Plus take whatever the salesperson says with a grain of salt.

Timeshare companies sell their 'developer' inventory (inventory that has not been previously sold). These are at very high prices.

Once owned by someone the owner can then sell it if they wish (the resale market), or give it away if they wish. eBay has a timeshare category in the real estate section. You can find timeshares for sale all over the internet.

Generally timeshares are of these types:

fixed week: same week, same resort
floating week: same resort but the week 'floats'
points: you get points you can use within the resort system

There are variations to each of these, such as you could earn every year, or every other year. Floating weeks might be any week of the year or might be limited to ranges of weeks in the year. The points systems have additional rules to follow.

With virtually all of these you are able to trade your week if you know you won't be able to use it, or want to go somewhere else. Of course, limitations apply.

Lots to learn. Keep reading.

I am in the Bluegreen points system, plus have a Bluegreen floating week, plus have a fixed week in Colorado at a small resort.