If I had it to do all over again....

[bluka Member Find all posts View Profile Close bluka]

also very new to t/s and these forums but love the concept. friends of ours bought developer for an eoy plat. marriott in orlando. In 95 they rented their week to us , we sat thru the sales pitch took our $50.00 bucks in marriott money had a awsome vacation , went home and bought a week there (horizons) from ebay paid about half of what our friends paid for there eoy (fortunatly for me i found these sites prior to buying ) cant say the same for our friends but they just couldnt grab the concept of resale or these sites. definently will keep this week for awhile, but down the road will probably buy closer to home (buffalo) within a half days drive.
brian

[urple2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close urple2]

I also think I would have started earlier. I would never have gone on all these vacations if I was dropping a few grand on one week in a hotel room.

The Fairfield/Wyndham's I have bought have served me well, but they are mediocre at best for RCI exchanging. They seem to drive you to a different exchange company to book a week( of your choosing) for a more difficult exchange. They are great for off season or bulk spacebank and areas that aren't a real difficult exchange, as you can splinter the points up for more weeks.

Recently, I have purchased an EOY Marriott & HGVC. Even with all the reading on these sites, at some point you have to jump in to learn and experience for yourself. Time will tell on the recent purchases as to whether I should have done something different.

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

I have only owned Timeshare for 14 months, definitely wish I had started 15 years ago, easpecially with Worldmark here in the Northwest. I was fortunate, I read TUG and Wmowners.com for months before I ever purchased, but with all the information available I am extremely happy with my purchases.

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

I think we bought the right plan with Fairfield Points: first week was a repossession thru FF, last two were truly resale. My biggest regret is not making more internal exchanges vs using the RCI lottery, reserve a week, then have to cancel for whatever reason, and forfeit exchange fees. Overall, I glad we bought into TS and moved out of Motel 6 and Super 8!

[Guest Close Quarterbore]

I really have no complaints myself as I learned from my parents mstakes! My parents larned the hard way about buying from the developer and later seeing resales that cost 10% of what they paid.

Myself, we looked for the specific places we wanted to go on a regular basis and we purchased fixed week deeded units. Now that the kids are getting older, we need to reconsider and we are looking to sell one of the units we own but given we purchased resale we have very little worry about selling.

My problems isn't timesharing, my problem is finding the time to vacation so I really need to make the most of the little time I get out of the office.

[1950bing Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 1950bing]

doover

If I had it to do all over again, I'd shoot that lowlife timeshare salesman that seperated me from my money. Lie after lie after false promise. I was so stupid! He promised world travel. " Don't want it anymore ? sell it for at least three times over." ( Bull ) It's really fee after fee after fee for life !
If they were so good why do they give away junk to get you to listen? What other business do you know besides Amway that has to use bait to get your attention ? I've lost apx.50k and nothing to show for it. Doesn't sound like a good investment to me !

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

bing,

You sound a little more resentful, than most of us that have purchased from a developer. I am sorry that you feel so totally ripped off. I too, wish that I had purchased resale. I would have saved myself thousands of dollars. However, I have put that behind me, and try to get the most out of my timeshares. In the end, I have taken many really nice vacations, that I probably would not have taken, if I didn't purchase. So, it's not so bad.


If you don't mind me asking, what timeshares did you buy?

If I had it to do all over again, I'd shoot that lowlife timeshare salesman that separated me from my money. Lie after lie after false promise. I was so stupid! He promised world travel. " Don't want it anymore ? sell it for at least three times over." ( Bull ) It's really fee after fee after fee for life !
If they were so good why do they give away junk to get you to listen? What other business do you know besides Amway that has to use bait to get your attention ? I've lost apx.50k and nothing to show for it. Doesn't sound like a good investment to me !

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

bing,

I think that if you will let us, we can help you utilize your TS purchase in the best way for your family. I encourage you to post your questions, hopes and fears about the TS you bought. There are a lot of TS veterans here who can and are willing to help.

At this point, it sounds like it would be good for you to look forward and not backwards anymore. Welcome.

[ElCid86 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ElCid86]

Probably would have purchased somewhere that I wanted to go every year (beach), therefore would not have to exchange as much. Would have been nice to have had all the resources available to those ponding the decision today (Inet, forums, etc). Would have tried to purchase resale. Hind site... Overall, we have used our weeks for a lot of vacations and plan to have many more. My kids are still 10, 12, and 15.

[Miss Understood Member Find all posts View Profile Close Miss Understood]

If I had it to do over again, I would probably not buy our wk 46 Orlando week. I like the connection that I feel with the area which comes from owning rather than from trading, but Orlando has become more and more over-built, and I know I could typically get Instant Escape/Last Call weeks for less than the cost of ownership. Oddly enough, even if I could sell the week for the $2500.00 I paid, I would hesitate to do it. I guess I have a weird emotional tie to Orlando, partly because it's the first place we toured a timeshare, and partly because it's the only place I can think of that I could go every year and not get bored. I am glad that we only bought a one bedroom, because the maintenance fees are less, it's as large as we need for the two of us, and we virtually always trade into two bedroom units elsewhere.

As for the Maui and Hawaii weeks (also one bedroom) I am happy with those purchases. The mantenance fees are very reasonable for the islands, partly because these, too, are one bedroom units. We almost always trade our Hawaii/Muai weeks for larger units, too.

There are times I think I should have only bought a blue week studio and traded it for last minute availability, and used Instant Escapes/Last Call weeks for the rest of our vacations. So much has changed in the industry since I bought our three weeks in 1996, and it continues to change and evolve, not always for the better, so owning anything at all sometimes feels like a gamble.

[garyd210 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close garyd210]

Would've not gone w/friends to presentation

Our very first trip to Hawaii was at an invitation to go to Kauai w/friends with a liking for the high priced things in life. They didn't do us the courtesy of forwarning us of what we were in for. I felt like we were heading for an Amway presentation, so I was a bit cautious. We got a so-called special deal 1 b/r unit because our friends were also buying a week. I have bought 3 others on eBay, which comes to 20% total of the cost of our original purchase. We've been to other presentations with these bankruptcy-bound friends, but we are all in firm agreement that we just cannot buy developer t/s units ever again. Are we still friends? Just, but are obviously cut from different fabrics when it comes to financial decisions on almost everything. Fortunately our original mortgage is paid off, but our equity account for t/s's is still around $27k and I'm newly retired, but working at a 3/4 time job doing something completely different. We hadn't planned on a child moving home to bail out of a sorry marriage. Bottom line is....we're healthy, in a position to do vacations whenever we want and not terribly financially strapped. garyd210(2 units at Tahoe within 2 hours drive, 1 Pahio Bali Hai and 1 Moana Loa Village By The Sea).

[hliw Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close hliw]

If I had to do it all over again???

I was newly married and in my late 20s when we bought at Massanutten - not the greatest property, a total impulse purchase, typical - paid too much for certain...BUT - we travelled all over the place on that thing (Sedona, Colorado, Scotland, England, Vermont, Virginia, Hawaii) all at Gold Crown resorts (except one that was silver). Upon doing research, I decided that if we did it again, we'd buy Marriott. So - we bought (from the developer - not an impuse) two weeks...pricey...I knew better by now and can provide no explanation for WHY we went that route other than convenience, but ya know what? I love what we have! I enjoy TS, I LOVE this site. We definitely travel better than we would if we didn't own. Could this have been done less expensively, yes. Do I have regrets ...not really. We are having fun and we are young (30s), so I know we will get a lifetime of value from the purchases. In the meantime, we gifted Massanutten to my sister, who was happy to receive it.

Cheers!
HLIW

I wouldn't have bought the 2 studio units at San Luis Bay. Not that I don't love them, I do very much. But I should have held out for at least a 1 bedroom. I shouldn't have bought that 3rd week in Sedona last month off ebay. I should have put the money toward another Hawaii week instead I should have listened to my oldest son who bought Worldmark 10 years ago (I thought he was nuts.) I don't beat myself up over my first purchase at developer prices 'cause it was the 3rd time I had sat through a salesman's spiel & it sounded sooo much better than the first 2 & it's my own fault I didn't check into resale first 'cause I knew about it. I shouldn't have gotten hooked on the forums because then I wouldn't have bought 10 weeks of timeshare and I would have a new hardware floor installed by now. So I'll have to live with my ratty old carpeting during the brief periods of time I am home between fabulous trips to luxury condos with nice flooring
Julie

[icydog Banned Find all posts View Profile Close icydog]

If I had to do it all over again, I would have only purchased Marriott Platinum timeshares on the resale market. I wouldn't have purchased a resale Disney Vero Beach. I wouldn't have bought all the timeshares I did,even though they were bargains, on the resale market, and now have to get rid of them.

We've owned DVC since inception in 1992. We love it. I should have bought 2000 OKW @ $50 each when I could. I should never bought that 150 point Vero Beach DVC resort on the secondary market. Why? Because I own a large master contract with many points at four DVC resorts. By buying this contract resale I have a separate contract number and the points can no longer be transferred between contracts. It also has the highest MFs of all my DVC resorts and we never go there. Then after I bought it I found out I could have gotten it for around the same price from Disney if you consider I had to pay for closing and MFs for a year.

I love Marriott but when we first started with them on the resale market I took some bad advice and bought two Silver Marriott weeks. The maintenance fees were the same as the Platinum weeks and doing this makes no sense-- in hindsight. I was able to unload them and I have purchased three platinum Manor Club weeks instead. That was a good decision since we have gone to some lovely places using those weeks.

I should never have purchased all the timeshares I did. Sure they were all cheap on the resale market but now I am stuck with MFs that are outrageous. Luckily I rent many of them out so I have not been hurt that badly yet.

We are getting older, I'm 61 and hubby is 76, and we do not need all these vacations, MFs, or aggravation. Sure renting gives us a little extra cushion but doing it has become a drag on my time. I like our vacations but I miss my pets a lot when we travel.

If I had it a chance to do it over, I would have purchased platinum Marriotts on the resale market as I did. I would have purchased DVC and used it for years as I did.

I would not have gone nuts with the almost free timeshares presented to me on the resale market because I am stuck renting them out and paying the MFs on them. In short I should have said NO to those seemingly free timeshare fiascos. I too got hooked on timeshare acquistion and needed an intervention to stop me that never came. I am worried about paying for all of them now and also when we can no longer travel.

On a more positive note, we have been to Hawaii, Rome, England, Paris, Mexico, So California, Mid FL, Northern FL, Western FL and Southern Florida and many NYC nights spent in accommodations we couldn't afford to rent. I couldn't have done any of this without timeshares.

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

I got into timeshares because I tried to rent rooms one summer in Island Park because my DH made it an annual trip to go fishing in Yellowstaone for his birthday and I could not find him a room to rent. We had lived up there so knew of Island Park villages and about that time found 2 of them for sale on ebay - a June week and a feb week.

Turned out the summer week was such a great trader with RCI, I couldn't possibly let DH use it. Over the course of the last 9 years, I have owned at my peak 26 weeks, and bought and sold quite a few.

I finally decided on my perfect portfolio, a great trader with RCI, a great trader with II, two weeks we use every year, and two that were so cheap I had to buy.

I find though, my "perfect portfolio" is constantly evolving and I have learned something which each transaction. I have always gotten great trades with RCI but find as their fees go higher and business practices go lower, I don't want to do business with them. It is good that there are alternative exchange companies and I think I will use them more and more.

I do keep coming back to thinking about a mini system like worldmark or fairfield or the hotel linked like Marriott or HGVC. But for the moment 2 in college will limit my purchases for now (and the next six years).

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

Looking back, I can honestly say that " I didnt know what I didnt know..."

Mistake number 1:
Buying site unseen without doing any due diligence. We had some friends
who visited Myrtle Beach and bought a resale "red" at the Links. After listening to what a great deal these resales were, we bought a"red" week in November without ever visiting Myrtle Beach. Turns out that this was really a "pink" week with so-so trading power. However it did get us into the world of timesharing and our first visits to Hawaii and Mexico.

Mistake #2
On our 2nd visit to Mazatlan Mexico, we did a ts presentation at Marina El Cid.The sales rep was an outright con man who lied to us on many matters.
Buying that ts retail was perhaps 1 of the most regrettable experiences of
my life... I paid way too much money for it, and it costs way too much
money to fly there to use it. (I live in greater Boson area). For the same amount of money that I paid for El Cid I could have bought into a chain like Marriott or World Mark which would have provided higher end resorts to use or trade.

If I had to do it over again, I would have bought a couple years after finding TUGS and TS4MS. As noted above, I would have bought into a higher end chain, and I would also have bought something I could
drive to and use every couple of years that had 'tiger' trading value when I didnt want to use.

But alas that was not my fate. So here I am on TS4MS learning how to make lemonade out of the lemons I bought. Thanks to all on this board who are helping me get more enjoyment out of what I do own.

Best wishes,
Paul