1st Timeshare

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

I've been reading quite a bit and looking to get my first timeshare. Seems like ebay is the way to go. I'm a bit confused on what rights would be lost due to not purchasing through the builder/resort.

Was looking at Orange Lake and was told my annual week couldn't be traded to RCI because it was purchased off the resale market. Is this true? In purchasing the timeshare I'd like to be part of RCI and able to trade my week, pickup different vacations etc.

Also started looking at Wyndam through points. Seems like everything is transferable except you are limited to 1 guest pass per year.

I'm trying to remain flexible so we can pick different spots or take extra vacations. Any info would be greatly appreciated.....thanks in advance.

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

I'm a bit confused on what rights would be lost due to not purchasing through the builder/resort.

It depends on the resort or system, and even then it depends on when you buy. I think with Bluegreen the answer has been three different things in the past five years.

If you post to a more general board like this one, you might get more responses if you put the name of the specific resort in your thread title. You might also post to the area of the resort you're interested in - the "Florida" forum for Orlando resorts, etc. Wyndham and other points systems have their own sub-board, which would probably be your best bet for info on Wyndham resales.

if it was a salesperson who said you couldn't use RCI with a resale, I'd double check that. Salespeople are, ah, not always well informed when it comes to resales. Or, to put it another way, they are going to remember the worst of resales whether that worst is true or not. I'm not saying you're wrong about Orange Lake, because I have no idea. But I know many BG salespeople do not have much understanding of what you get through ebay resales.

Kudos to you for doing your homework, because you do sometimes have to "fight for your rights" with resales - we had a number of BG people tell us we didn't get RCI with our resale, but we do, but shortly after hubby convinced someone to "run the paperwork even if you believe it'll be denied" we got our RCI membership card.

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

If your main interest is trading, I would buy high demand / low supply and also in an area where costs of operation are more reasonable and so m/f is lower. If you want to go to Orlando most of the time, a resort there would be fine but if you want super trading power and want to stay in Florida, I would look more at Sanibel / Captiva.

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

I've been reading quite a bit and looking to get my first timeshare. Seems like ebay is the way to go. I'm a bit confused on what rights would be lost due to not purchasing through the builder/resort.

Was looking at Orange Lake and was told my annual week couldn't be traded to RCI because it was purchased off the resale market. Is this true? In purchasing the timeshare I'd like to be part of RCI and able to trade my week, pickup different vacations etc.

Last spring, I bought 2 units at Summer Bay Resort(SBR) on EBAY . SBR is Orange Lake next door neighbour so a nice area ! A year before I had bought a unit at SBR for $5000 and this spring I was able to get a similar unit by winning a bid on EBAY ... for $77 and I got a 3 BDR lock-off for free as a gift. The maintenance fees are quite high but I plan to go every year to the 3 BDR and trade the 2 others ... I had no restrictions transferring the weeks/points to RCI .

After winning the bid , the process was long and painful but I finally saw the end of it a couple of weeks ago ; just to say that people who buy from the resort get a lot more service than I received as an EBAY buyer , but it's over , I own 2 more units and saved quite a lot of money !!

Good luck

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

My Opinion

I've been reading quite a bit and looking to get my first timeshare. Seems like ebay is the way to go. I'm a bit confused on what rights would be lost due to not purchasing through the builder/resort.

Was looking at Orange Lake and was told my annual week couldn't be traded to RCI because it was purchased off the resale market. Is this true? ....

I have two weeks -- one I bought from the developer and one through resale. I get treated the same. I do not think the reservation department knows how I bought the week.

In my opinion, there's a lot of danger buying from ebay. Most units are floating weeks, off season, low trading value, or have expensive maintenance fees (MF). Many are great resorts, but you need to do the math.

If you plan to trade, you must consider trade points (TP) if you buy an RCI Weeks unit.

I have a 2-bedroom with $540 MF which gets 28 TP. The cost per TP is 540/28 = $19.20. Frankly anything $25 or below is fine.

Orange Lake East Village 2-bed units have 6 TPs in early Nov and early Dec. They have 12-13 TP most of the fall, and January to May. Week 28 in July has 28. It looks like the MF is $720.

So in early Nov, the cost of each TP is 720/6 = $120.
In the early fall and spring, the cost is 720/13 = $55
In the summer, the cost is 720/28 = $26

You really need at least 13 TP to trade for a spring or fall resort. You'll need over 20 for most summer weeks. The max is 60, but very few exceed 35. So if you buy at Orange Lake, you must buy a summer week. 28 TP will get you a lot of good trades, but not the best.

By the way, there are other good weeks with high TP like Christmas, New Years, and spring break. Also July 4 week is typically a couple TPs higher than other summer weeks.

I bet you'll have difficulty locating summer weeks on ebay.

By the way, locked units have extra value so consider them. My two bedroom is a locked unit. I get 16 TP if traded as a 2-bedroom, but 14 + 14 = 28 if exchanged as two one bedrooms.

Needless to say, I hate "floating weeks". It's too easy to get stuck with an undesirable week. I would buy a fixed week. The exception to this is if you buy an RCI Points unit. Then get enough points to ensure that you'll get a good week.

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

I forgot

I've been reading quite a bit and looking to get my first timeshare. Seems like ebay is the way to go....

I watched ebay for a long time when I decided to buy a second week. In fact, I still watch it to see what's happening.

But I finally decided what resort and timeframe I wanted, and the price I was willing to pay.

I contacted three sellers and gave offers. The third agreed to my offer. He had the week listed for $8500, but I paid $3,000.

I would rather pay $3K for a desirable week with good TP, than pay $1 for an off-week with much less TP at the same resort.

However, if I liked the off-week and never planned to trade, the $1 week would be a bargain.

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

trade points

how do you know how many trade points (TP), does your unit have, i imagine that the 28 you mean 28,000 points right



thanks

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

RCI Weeks

how do you know how many trade points (TP), does your unit have, i imagine that the 28 you mean 28,000 points right
thanks

No. I mean 28. There are too many Points systems.

I am an RCI Weeks member. I'm not familiar with RCI Points, or other points systems, e.g. Wyndham.

RCI Weeks just started it's own points system. Some call it, RCI Points Lite, but it's still RCI Weeks.

Each week receives trading points from 2 to 60. The average appears to be around 10-15. A beach resort may get 2-4 TP in January and 32 in the summer.

A person with a 16 TP unit can deposit it, exchange for a 4 point unit, and have 12 TP remaining for other trades.

The same person could combine a 16 TP unit for this year and 16 TP for next year (or from a second TS that they own) for a total of 32 TP, and exchange for a 32 TP week in Hawaii.

When I deposit one half (one-bedroom) of my two-bedroom locked unit, I get 14 TP. If I deposit it 9 months early, I get 2 additional points for a total of 16.

RCI Weeks members can determine TP for units two ways. One way, I have 16 TP week deposited. I can search for exchanges, and the RCI system will tell me the "TP cost" of each potential exchange -- even exchanges in excess of 16.

Second way is that RCI has a Deposit Calculator on their site only accessible by RCI Weeks members. One enters the resort, week, type unit (e.g. 2 bedroom), and it calculates the unit's TP.

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

thank you

thank you very much