Measuring exchange "power" of a timeshare?

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

I've been doing research lately on what timeshare/resort I'd buy into, should I ever do decide to buy a timeshare. And I read lots of talk about making sure it will trade well into other resorts?

My question: How can I judge the exchange value of a particular timeshare. Am I simply trying to find a high demand timeshare for a low price, and assume it'll trade well, or (as I imagine), there is something else I should be looking for?

Thanks
--Michael

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

I've been doing research lately on what timeshare/resort I'd buy into, should I ever do decide to buy a timeshare. And I read lots of talk about making sure it will trade well into other resorts?

My question: How can I judge the exchange value of a particular timeshare. Am I simply trying to find a high demand timeshare for a low price, and assume it'll trade well, or (as I imagine), there is something else I should be looking for?

Thanks
--Michael

Michael I am glad you are doing your homework!!!

That is part of the equation.

Another factor is low density timeshare units in a highly demanded area/time OR a city such as San Francisco or New York ( but MFs are WAY high in cities)

Quality is another.

Once you have something in mind you can ask here and get our opinions re: trade power.

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

Trade power is a measure of supply/demand for a particular week. In principle, you want to own a week that has a lot of people who want it, but very few people willing to give it up for something else. Obvious examples include ski in/ski out resorts in the rockies, beachfront weeks in the summer.

The trick is, there are some not-so-obvious examples, in both directions. For example, Orlando is a huge huge huge vacation destination, and lots of people want to go there. However, there are many timeshare resorts there, and many of them deposit developer-owned inventory in significant numbers to drive tour/sales traffic. As a result, it's got relatively low trade power for the costs.

There's another component to the "exchange power" of a week, and that's its quality. In RCI, owners of "really nice" resorts are often prevented from exchanging into "not so nice" resorts, even if they really want to go there, and even if they have sufficient trade power to do it. In II, the quality filter works in both directions.

The only way to know for sure how a particular week does is to perform trade tests and see. Barring that, reading these forums, especially the sightings and exchange boards, will give you some good insights.

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

Good points, I'll definitely keep those in mind.

I'm assuming based on those strategies of buying in-demand/low saturated resorts, I would be looking at buying a high-demand property. Is there a list somewhere that highlights current areas like this. (I say current because I've read about these south-african resorts, and they aren't what they used to be, right?)

How does that strategy work with "Buy somewhere you don't mind staying"? If I'm just interested in vacationing on the Atlantic beach, and I think my best bet is a resort in Colorado (someplace I'll likely never visit), should I go ahead and purchase it anyway?

Thanks for all your help!
--Michael

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

Good points, I'll definitely keep those in mind.

I'm assuming based on those strategies of buying in-demand/low saturated resorts, I would be looking at buying a high-demand property. Is there a list somewhere that highlights current areas like this. (I say current because I've read about these south-african resorts, and they aren't what they used to be, right?)

How does that strategy work with "Buy somewhere you don't mind staying"? If I'm just interested in vacationing on the Atlantic beach, and I think my best bet is a resort in Colorado (someplace I'll likely never visit), should I go ahead and purchase it anyway?

Thanks for all your help!
--Michael

If you want to stay on the Atlantic beach (I assume summer) you had better BUY an Atlantic beach unit. That would be the best way to get there for sure and to have the best chance to trade to another summer Atlantic beach resort.

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

the problem is you are not going to get a high demand prime season resort at a low price(is ia hard to find one for sale al all).Also it is hard to trade into those resorts because owners either use or rent.(ie Summer Cape Cod oceanfrint)

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

Trading powe can change over time. Instead of figure that part out, try the other way for your first TS purchase, figure out what will makes you happy most of the time when travel.

Very likey, you will be like me, want to be places where weather is nice, the area is still alive, but there is no need to wait in long line for most of activities. The resort are reasonable enough to access most of the activities you want. Not too sloppy and can breath in the room. Bathroom don't have backflow. The resort itself have some decent enough activities. Bed can sleep. But it does not need to be Woo effect

You will start as single or newlywed or small kids where you have all the timeslot available if you commit yourself and make sure your co-worker knows it. You want to be in different places. Even if you have kids, and it become fix feeling to you. You should remember the school holiday is different in different time zone for spring break, Summer, and sometimes, the Winter. So there is a lot of places to select and a lot of time to be there without really fight. Ad sometime, people doing home schooling or pull kids out few days from school.

If that sounds right, buy a mini point system, don't worry about exchange. There are a lot of places where you will find a Lot of TS tha gives you all kinds of opportunities to exchanges too. The developer when they build, will from times to time put in their new inventories in exchange company, so you wll get chance to get there.

All you need to concentrate is to own a system that have enough internal places you like and decent inventory. Quality you can survive and enjoy most of the time. The system fee structure are reasonable enough that does not build on put all its burden on smal point owners.

Than as you go along, you will know yourself. There will be places you want visit again and again but don't want to really own it, and it has enough exchange inventory, than buy stuff that allow you to get there. Thee will be places you want visit again and again, but has no or very less inventories deposit in exchange system at the time slot you like, and you can not figure out how to get them, then own there. There may have resort chains that can provide you a desire to be much high end stay, than buy the cheapest entry in that resort chains. There will be places, where certain view are to die for and you want to stay in your room 24 hr for that, than buy that room. There are places where your mini system does not cover, but another mini system cover, than buy that other one.

Very likely, you will find out you don't really need something that has the so call "high" trading power today. You will need something, that has the so call "reasonable" MF, but can ge most of the exchange you want, and the ability to get these will not change from time to time.

And there are time, when you strat growing, and kids out from you can can travel their own, and you have all the flexibility to get anything you like, than buy stuff that can alow you to get places you can not get but want to be there.

Then, with time grow, you want to have your grand kids to travel with you, than go back to one of your mini-point system, add more points to enjoy the heavy point owner benefits, and has all the ablity to get 3 4 bedroom or 10 1 BDroom if you have that many kids or in-laws without too much worry.

You should not worry about trading power with your 1st timeshare purchase. Too high trading power may very well be a waste most of the time. You may not get what you want because nobody deposit them, or when they deposit, you can not go, or when you finally can go, you found out they are deposit by developer, so everyone can get.

For 1st timeshare, buy someplace you can go and enjoy and wlling to be there. It is always lower risk to buy for own than to buy for exchange. You will get enough exchange.

As I say, mini point base system is much superior in this case, you can always put aside of some point to explore the exchange. Than you will know what kind of exchange power you are looking for. That is the 2nd way

What we can tell today, and is open info to get is for renting value, that is the 3rd way to look at it. If you are not sure about the above two, buy for highest renting value. You can always use the week you bought. And either enoy them yourself, or enjoy the cash after paying your MF and purchase money. You will find odd enough, it may not be the hotest time slot you think (since there purchase price will be very high).

Buy some places with exchange power in mind as 1st time owner or as owner never exchange out will either complicate your decision, or guarantee you have high chance bought somthing wrong, and you just can not get rid of it. So don't

Jya-Ning

[Lisa P Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lisa P]

Jya-Ning offers some good insights. There are several ways to go about this.

When we bought our first TS, it was points in an expensive program that we thought we'd use a lot. Turned out, the MFs were too high for our large family so we sold it. If you buy for a price that's reasonable on the resale market, you're not likely to lose much for your effort and experience. We added some fixed weeks (a foreign trader w/low fees, an entry trade week into a branded system, a converted-to-points week in another system). All were VERY cheap resales. We eventually figured out which worked best for us and we sold the rest - didn't lose anything. For us, buying cheaply was fine and it got us some great family vacations along the way!

I read lots of talk about making sure it will trade well into other resorts?

My question: How can I judge the exchange value of a particular timeshare.

Michael, trade power is a little tricky to define. Some of the strongest traders will keep you out of some terrific destinations, because they're not considered an equitable trade. IOW, they're too nice! The exchange companies may not permit you to "trade down" and your searches into destinations that don't have the most upscale resorts will come up empty. Now, if you are primiarily interested in staying only in the most upscale resorts, this is good to know and you'd want such a trader.

However, our family likes some upscale qualities and amenities but we have never been as relaxed at the stuffier, more elegant places. Especially when traveling with our kids and their friends.... clean, spacious, well-equipped, nice (modern, newer or recently refurbished), located close to area attractions or natural features (ocean/lake or views), with good, family-friendly amenities onsite... these have been the kinds of places we're preferred - whether or not they're the most deluxe available. So for us, it's been more important that a week or points can get us the broadest selection of trades into generally good quality resorts. Owning a mix of points, tiger traders and "pretty good" traders (w/lower fees) has been good for getting us wherever we've wanted to go.

Some people always want or need to travel during peak/prime season. We enjoy the ability to do that but we're able to take slightly offseason most of the time. That's meant that our "pretty good" trade weeks are often able to succeed at getting us what we want where it's harder for primetime. Some people want a week that'll trade well in Europe or the Caribbean. We're more interested in U.S. travel, for the most part, and the best traders for some locations are not always the best traders for others.

This is all a lengthy way of saying, it may matter more "where and when" you want to travel, than whether a week is a tiger trader or not. We've investigated whether a particular week has been successful in trading to our desired destinations before buying. Sometimes an owner at the same resort we've considered has done a search for us to see if that resort has the power to pull those weeks, or an owner can verify that they've traded their week where we want to go in the past. Trade power can change but it's still less risky to buy such a week than to buy where you have absolutely no idea. Hope this makes sense.

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

Thanks for all the replies folks, you've really helped mold my first timeshare purchase with real experience, and not just me "guessing" what will work best for my family. This link will definitely be put in my bookmarks and read and re-read before I make any sort of purchase!

I think I'll start to look at resales at a few resorts I like, during the week I'd like at a reasonable price. When I find one and I'm ready to purchase, I'm sure I'll be back on here to verify I'm making a sound choice!