Totally confused...

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

My wife and I purchased a 120,000 timeshare through Welk Resorts San Diego in Escondido, CA. We feel we got a very good deal and were very happy with the presentation and the accommodations. We have the 7 day cooling off period, and since we did no research beforehand, we are frantically doing some now. Through that research, a few questions have arisen.

The first and foremost on my mind is brought up because through what I have read, the quality of where you can trade to depends on the quality of your home resort. How true is this? And how do I find out how my home resort ranks. I know we have the floating platinum membership but all I have seen refers to Red.
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but thanks in advance for any help offered.
Dave

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

If you are still in the recesion period most will advise you to recind.... You can purchase the same thing for thousands less on the resale market.

Also when it comes to trading, there are many shades of red from pale pink to bright red. The salesman wants you to believe that if you purchase red time you can trade anywhere and in most instances that is not true.


Check out recent sales of timeshares on ebay and that will give you an idea of what they are going for - it is a buyers market right now and there are many bargains to be had.

There are lots of options as far as exchange companies go. The big 2 are RCI and Interval International. Smaller exchange companies include: Trading Places, SFX, Platinum exchange, DAE, HTSE. Each of the smaller seem to have a niche of where most of there inventory is.

Stick around and read - there are alot of folks on the board with tons of experience that can help get you where you want to go.

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

Definitely look at resale--you'll save thousands of dollars, and the benifits will be the same. Salesmen will tell you that you'll never get this chance again, but that's just not true: you can buy the same thing (or better) from the resort any time you want. Rescend, then use the time to find out about timesharing and how to use it. Then you can buy the program that really suits your needs for 1/4th the price (or less) you paid.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Rescind then act to get what you want cheap & correctly

My wife and I purchased a 120,000 timeshare through Welk Resorts San Diego in Escondido, CA. We feel we got a very good deal and were very happy with the presentation and the accommodations. We have the 7 day cooling off period, and since we did no research beforehand, we are frantically doing some now. Through that research, a few questions have arisen.

The first and foremost on my mind is brought up d ththroe ugh what I have read, the quality of where you can trade to depends on the quality of your home resort. How true is this? And how do I find out how my home resort ranks. I know we have the floating platinum membership but all I have seen refers to Red.
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but thanks in advance for any help offered.
Dave

IF you are a real buyer then you need to know that paying retail at Welk, or anywhere else, is foolish. If you are in your rescission period then rescind NOW - then if you still want Welk just get the time you want resale for little or nothing beyond the closing costs.

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

IF you are a real buyer then you need to know that paying retail at Welk, or anywhere else, is foolish. If you are in your rescission period then rescind NOW - then if you still want Welk just get the time you want resale for little or nothing beyond the closing costs.

First of all, yes I am a real buyer....

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

Now to everybody's advice, I think I will follow it. Thank you for the help, and I will definitely be browsing the site and asking all kinds of questions before I buy.

As far as the actual resort I bought at, I would most likely never go there and would only do exchanges, which seems to be a bad idea from my reading. It was just and advertising ploy that brought us in. I guess I need to find a resort that we would frequent, but I have no idea where to start. Any and all recommendations of where to start would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Dave

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

Where to Start

Dave,

The first question that you need to ask yourself is: What type of vacations does our family enjoy? Do you like beach vacations? Ski vacations? Scuba? etc...

You get the idea. Then you should decide on factors such as flying vs driving. Is this a factor? The thinking is that if you couldn't find the exact exchange that you'd want- where would we like to vacation again and again?

The advice given here about buying from another owner vs developer is correct. It costs developers x% to run the sales and marketing departments, sorry I won't reveal exactly how much. But the point is sales and marketing people need to get paid and this adds to your purchase price.

Also you must be aware of plenty of unethical "resale" scams that have been plaguing our industry for years. All things considered the absolute best way of buying a timeshare is from an owner who wants out or directly from an HOA.(homeowners association)

Another thing to consider is that if you buy a Marriott property or a Disney property for example: the company is as "safe" as possible for getting great exchanges. That's not to say that there aren't plenty of great companies out there, but that they have great internal properties/experiences as well.

You may find great values on ebay-I've seen wonderful resorts for $1.00. Life happens and when people don't want it-they want out. Watch out for maintenance fee's and assessments.

Buy a good resort at a big discount is the best advice. I'm sure you will love the actual vacations- Just be sure to buy right.

Hope this helps,

Jeff

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

Jeff,
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I will respond in more depth when I get more time, but I have one quick question.
I was searching Ebay and found a number of $1.00 timeshares. What is the deal with these? Thanks, Dave

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

Jeff,
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I will respond in more depth when I get more time, but I have one quick question.
I was searching Ebay and found a number of $1.00 timeshares. What is the deal with these? Thanks, Dave

In my opinion, the biggest reason you are seeing otherwise legitimate timeshare weeks selling for $1 is that, in this economy, many people can't afford the maint. fee commitment. When you're just trying to keep your head above water because you've lost your job, all of a sudden that $500-$1000 annual maint. fee is a rather large 'ball and chain' commitment that people in that situation can't afford, so they are willing to do anything to get out from under it. Hence, the reason for trying to sell at any price. This is also the main reason, again IMHO, why even those $1 timeshares are going unsold. People just don't want to sign up for the long term commitment.

It's definitely a buyer's market, and you need to determine if this is what you want and can you afford it before signing up.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Jeff,
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I will respond in more depth when I get more time, but I have one quick question.
I was searching Ebay and found a number of $1.00 timeshares. What is the deal with these? Thanks, Dave

The quick answer is that purchase price means nothing long term. Only the annual fees, which by accepting ownership of any timeshare you are agreeing to pay until YOU find a new taker (free, sold to them, or whatever) count.

The $1 makes the transfer of that payment obligation and the rights to use/trade/rent going forward legal. There is no need to pay for the ownership rights anymore at most resorts. You accept the deed & pay the fees and the week(s) are yours to enjoy. It is a great time to be a "buyer" of a timeshare. You should never pay to get a timeshare week anymore beyond a token $5K amount for the very top weeks. Good weeks a grand or two - anything else free.

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

Then you should decide on factors such as flying vs driving. Is this a factor? The thinking is that if you couldn't find the exact exchange that you'd want- where would we like to vacation again and again?

Think ahead on the travel factor. We know a couple of families who have TSs in Florida or Hawaii who thought they'd always be happy traveling there if they couldn't trade out; but in both cases one spouse suddenly developed health issues that made traveling that far problematic. Apparently Hawaii doesn't trade as well when the economy goes south.

Also, if you're looking forward to traveling with kids or grandkids in a few years, most kids aren't great travelers, plus they'll most likely be good with somewhere fairly close as long as there's swimming/sledding/other stuff to do on-site. I know people who've bought into Orlando "for the kids" who really regret it - Orlando's pretty easy to trade into, but isn't always a great trader.

OTOH, if you live close to somewhere that's easier to trade into - Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Pigeon Forge, etc. - then buying further away is less of a risk, because if it comes to it you'd probably be able to trade into a local resort pretty easily.

Just some things to consider.

Buying into a points system can also give you more flexibility with less hassle, but that's a whole 'nother research project.

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

Some of this advice is very good. If you buy at a resort in an extremely popular destination, without too many resorts saturating the market would be a good buying strategy.

Also it's definitely a buyers market, I'd almost question spending 2k-5k anywhere right now. (this is not what resale companies want to hear either)

There a thousands of people who are trying to get out of maintenance fees because of their current financial or lifestyle situation and at excellent resorts.

Remember that nearly everyone enjoys that actual resorts and the vacation experience and some people own and never use it. These are the people to seek out and buy from. I've even had people offer to pay me to take very good resorts off of their hands.

these may be the offers that you're seeing on ebay. Use a title company to complete any transfer, directly with the resort and you should be safe.

Another bit of inside info, they don't want you to know.

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

Dave,

The first question that you need to ask yourself is: What type of vacations does our family enjoy? Do you like beach vacations? Ski vacations? Scuba? etc...

You get the idea. Then you should decide on factors such as flying vs driving. Is this a factor? The thinking is that if you couldn't find the exact exchange that you'd want- where would we like to vacation again and again?

The advice given here about buying from another owner vs developer is correct. It costs developers x% to run the sales and marketing departments, sorry I won't reveal exactly how much. But the point is sales and marketing people need to get paid and this adds to your purchase price.

Also you must be aware of plenty of unethical "resale" scams that have been plaguing our industry for years. All things considered the absolute best way of buying a timeshare is from an owner who wants out or directly from an HOA.(homeowners association)

Another thing to consider is that if you buy a Marriott property or a Disney property for example: the company is as "safe" as possible for getting great exchanges. That's not to say that there aren't plenty of great companies out there, but that they have great internal properties/experiences as well.

You may find great values on ebay-I've seen wonderful resorts for $1.00. Life happens and when people don't want it-they want out. Watch out for maintenance fee's and assessments.

Buy a good resort at a big discount is the best advice. I'm sure you will love the actual vacations- Just be sure to buy right.

Hope this helps,

Jeff

Ok, finally have a little bit of time to reply before the Phillies stomp out the Reds. I will try to address all the advice given and ask some other questions I have. I will put the questions I have in red so as hopefully they will not be overlooked since my post(s) may become a bit long as I am trying to take all of this in.

First, the type of vacations we like are any and all. I personally like tropical, for that matter, we all love tropical. My wife's number one dream destination is Italy. My middle son loves to snowboard, my youngest wants to go to Germany, my oldest is in culinary school so I would guess France would be on his list. Their ages are 19, 18, and 15, which I am sure plays a part in our "home resort" choice.

Which brings up my first question, Is there a list of the top destinations to go to or have as your home resort? I ask because it seems to me that the desirability of your home resort plays a large part in being able to exchange for the week and destination you want. Is that true?

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

As far as flying vs. driving, I guess that driving would be ideal, but since I have not done much traveling in my life, I really have no idea of a place within driving distance I would want to frequent more than once. There are so many places we want to go to that the idea of picking just one doesn't seem likely to me. The resort we currently own is not a place I would want to go to once, let alone every year, which weighed a lot into why I am canceling the contract(mailed the letter today). Not that it is a bad place, it was actually very very nice, but I no longer golf, nor do my wife and kids, so picking a golf resort doesn't make much sense right now.

The only place I have been to that I could see me going to again and again is Kauai, that is not to say I wouldn't love to go other places again and again, but Kauai is the only one I have been to. So, I guess in answer to the question, flying vs. driving does not make a difference to me at this point. Thanks again for all the help, and I will be back soon to follow up some more. Thanks, Dave

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

I guess a location for me may help in any advice you guys can give. We are located in Orange County, CA, just north of Disneyland. Thanks, Dave

GO PHILLIES!!!