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I just won an e-bay timeshare at suites at fall creek branson, Mo. from svacationman (thru timeshare freedom inc.) about 2 weeks ago. I hope I did everything right by bidding on one, my bother bought one from the company itself and there is a huge price difference should this concern me. I'm suppose to be getting a two b-room on a floating week although its deeded as week 42, can you really do that? I'm waiting on deed & transfer still at this point. How do you trade? it says it has exchanges with rci and gold crown? Please give me any basic info that might be usefull to a newbe. I'm a little nervous about stepping out of the box (hotel stays) and investing our money in something I fell I know so little about. By the way how do people own 6 & 7 timeshares, do they pay maintence fees at each one? Thanks ahead of time for any help!
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I will answer some of your questions and leave the rest to others. First I suggest you start reading this board and other timeshare owner boards to learn as much as you can.Originally posted by christnme
Assuming you purchased from a reputable resale company (anyone know anything about svacationman?), your brother is likely to be the one who is concerned because he spent a lot of money retail for essentially the same product you are buying resale.
Some resorts have an internal trade system that allows you to reserve any week (sometimes within a season) even though you are deeded a particular week. I would recommend contacting the resort and asking them how their floating week system works.
RCI is an exchange company. Gold Crown is RCI's highest "quality" designation, based on amenities and results of RCI member surveys. You will probably need to pay an annual membership fee to RCI to set up an RCI account. Then, assuming you have paid your maintenance fees, you deposit a week with RCI (you can either call RCI to do this the first time or ask your resort to deposit the week for you). In the future, if you want to exchange the week, you should do so at least a year before the checkin date for best trading power. Then you either call RCI or log in to www.rci.com to see what weeks at other resorts you can get with your week. If there is something to your liking, you pay RCI another fee (currently $164 domestic, more international) and the week you selected is yours. If you cancel, RCI keeps some or all of the exchange fee. When the checkin date approaches, you go to the resort and checkin and enjoy your vacation! Most resorts do not charge any additional mandatory fees but some do. This is usually noted in the "urgent information" section of the resort description online at RCI. For instance, all-inclusive resorts charge a fee to cover meals, drinks, and activities at the resort.
Note that RCI is the largest but not the only exchange company. There are others that you might want to consider as well.
The people who own 6-7 timeshares do pay the maintenance fees on all of them. Some of them rent out one or more timeshares that they own to recoup the maintenance fees. Some of them are retired and enjoy traveling several weeks of the year. -
The bad news is that you bought at an overbuilt location and a not so hot week, which may not give you much trading power (my first buy wasn't too great either). The good news is that you bought resale and probably didn't spend anywhere near what it would have cost from the developer. Exchanging is something you should check out before joining RCI. The alternate exchange companies just might be able to give you better trades at less cost. Anyhow, you have taken the plunge and now should begin a learning process in the right place that will make your ownership more valuable. If you like Branson and will visit your resort week often, you made a decent choice.Comment
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Are you the one that bought the Plantation at Falls Creek? The two bedroom 2 bath that floats in 21-43 wks Platinum float?
If so, it is part of Diamond, formerly Sunterra. we have a lot of information on this board about the way Diamond works.
Spence will correct me if I'm wrong, but if you buy the unit off ebay and not from an authorized dealer you get a week for week exchange.
Diamond has an extensive internal exchange with points, but that doesn't mean you can't use RCI.
Go into the Diamond forum and do some reading. There's a lot of information in that forum.
If this is what you bought, you did well for what you paid and may have a leg up on your brother if you decide to buy points...But since I do not own any Diamond resorts I am not that familiar with the ins and outs of how Diamond operates.
Don't be nervous about stepping out of the box, I know once I did; buying timeshares become addicting. I own 6 timeshares and pay the maintenance fees on all of them. I also have 6 wks vacation a year also, so that helps me enjoy them.
Good luck and welcome to timesharing and TS4M's
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Hi! Jericap, Yes that is me! Wow how do you know all that? We are very excited about our purchase. I will certainly take your advice and look more into Diamond. We don't live extremely far from Branson and with small children the drive isn't to bad, so far now we plan on spending our time there, but in the long run we may want to trade later. I dont know what points are? Mine said nothing about points only that it was a week (fri/sat - fri/sat). Why would I want points? I like your waving smily. Thanks for your help!Comment
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Just a little research!!!
In timeshares there are 2 ways in which to own: points and weeks.
I own weeks which means I trade one week for one week.
In points, each week is worth a specific number of points.
So, say your unit is worth 2000 points, but instead of going to Branson in the summer, you and your husband would like to go to Las Vegas in June, but only need a 1 bedroom. The point value may only be 1000 points, thereby leaving you the other 1000 points to use for something else, such as a weekend away with the whole family.
You pay your maintenace fees based on the number of points you own.
You can purchase more points to add to your original number.
Everyone has a preference and some own both points and weeks.
But, I think right now, just learning about timesharing is enough without getting into points discussion.
I bought from svacationman awhile ago, didn't have any issues and rcvd my deed pretty quickly.
I will be going to the Branson area over Memorial week. It seems like a very nice area.
Spence is our local Diamond expert, so you will see his name all over the Diamond board. But browse around and read and ask questions. Everyone here is very helpful and will answer any and all questions.Comment
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I seem to be missing tid bits this week as I scan this forum. I just noticed you had a floating week that included summer rather than a fixed week 42 in another post- so that makes your week much more tradeable if you can reserve those summer weeks instead of a week in the high 30's or 40's. You will need to contact the resort and find out the first day and time that you can request a week reservation. Then whenever you are planning a trade you can book a better trading week to use.Comment
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Well I would just like to add a welcome, and tell you how refreshing it is to see your post title, and find that you actually bought something Resale, that you should be able to enjoy. I am not a Diamond expert, but there are a few folks here who should be able to walk you through getting the most out of your new purchase.
So count yourself lucky among the "newbs," and again, [SIGN]Welcome to TS4Ms[/SIGN]Comment
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