New to this site and the idea of owning a timeshare

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

I need help. I went to my first "presentation". I'd avoided them for years, but finally convinced my husband we should go. We'd talked about how we would vacation in the future and timeshare ownership is always an option.

Can anyone help me with what crucial mistakes we could make in this process We are looking at Hilton or Disney. We are open to suggestions outside of those options.

Thank you!

Oh, we are 40, we have 3 children (18, 14 and 4). Our vacations are usually one family trip (4-7 days), one guys trip (3-5 days) and one girls trip (3-5 days). We have been to Orlando & Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, Jamaica, a couple of cruises, San Francisco & Chicago in the last 5 years. We would need accommodations for 2-8, depending on the type of trip.

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

kimberlea,

Welcome to TS4M's

Timeshare ownership can be a wonderful experience. However, t is important to learn as much as possible before purchasing one. There are many different things to consider, and much to learn. You've come to the right place.


My first bit of advise would be NOT to buy a timeshare directly from the developer, buy resale instead. You will save thousands of dollars, usually between 40 - 60 % of the developer's price. You may lose some benefits, but they are not worth the additional cost.

Buy where you feel you would like to visit about 1/2 the time. Yes, you can always exchange for other locations, and most do. Still, it is a much safer bet to own where you enjoy vacationing.

Season, and size, as well as the specific week in a season makes a difference, when it comes to trading. Supply and demand is however the number 1 factor.

Read....read....read....these boards, and any other info that you can get your hands on, before making a decision. Ask as many questions as you'd like. That's what we're here for, and we will gladly answer, and help you in any way that we can.

On a personal note.....I love timesharing, and so do my family, and friends. Buying a timeshare was the best decision that we ever made.

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

Thank you, Angela. I feel like I am a sponge right now. I want to know everything there is to know. I have to be honest, even though my husband and I "know better", we did purchase a week long "trial" from Hilton. I'm trying to decide if we should call and cancel. We still have 5 days to cancel without any penalties. I'm leaning towards, yes, we should. We could apply that cost to whatever timeshare we decide to purchase.

Do you recommend resort-hotel owned type timeshares or individual condo-type? I'm not sure if I'm using the correct terminology, forgive me.

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

As Angela has stated...don't buy from the developer, buy resale.

In your case I would also look at points purchase as opposed to a weeks purchase. Points allow a little more flexibility and the ability to go away a few days at a time as opposed entire weeks. Wyndham, BlueGreen, Diamond are a few of the bigger points programs.

Read the board and continue to ask questions...also try a search on the site; many answers to questions are here.

Again..welcome!

[falmouth3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close falmouth3]

I would agree with Jeri. I don't own points, but it sounds like that might be a good option for you since you seem to take a number of short vacations. Read as much as you can here and on tug2.net and educate yourself. Browse eBay, redweek and other sites but don't buy anything until you feel you are educated.

A "point" is not worth the same with all companies. It takes many thousands of points to get a week at a place in the Wyndham system and much fewer through the Diamond system, but the cost per point in each system is also far different.

Good luck!

Sue

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

Thank you, everyone. I'm off to cancel my "mini deal". It sounds like I can buy a resale deal for a whole lot less. I just did a brief ebay search and was amazed.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Good move......read and research. There are thousands of choices and resale will save you thousands of dollars. Take your time and narrow down what will really meet your needs.

Thank you, everyone. I'm off to cancel my "mini deal". It sounds like I can buy a resale deal for a whole lot less. I just did a brief ebay search and was amazed.

[dale7 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dale7]

Go to the presentations of all the places that you may want to buy and see how they work, like where most of there places are at and how they trade.

Welcome to the Forum

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

I agree that points sound like they may be a better fit for you, although perhaps you take short vacations to save on the cost of hotel rooms. If so, you might be surprised that in timesharing it's usually not too much more to stay a full week than a few days.

DVC is a good option (points system) if you want to go to Disney at least 1/2 the time. With a 4-yr old, this may indeed be the case for at least 5-10 years. Disney trades well, but it's fairly expensive as far as timesharing goes unless you want to stay at Disney resorts. Of course, Disney is also expanding their resorts outside the theme parks now, so this may be less of an issue in the future. Resale is generally cheaper in timeshare, although DVC isn't a whole lot cheaper resale than from Disney. That is the one partial exception to the rule that resale is always better.

Unfortunately, I'm not as familiar with HGVC, so I can't give you much information on that.