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It looks like I forgot number 3. Thank you for your replies.
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These are both good choices. Summer weeks will be super traders in RCI, and SFX might take them too. The main problem will be finding a resale at an affordable price; Southern California timeshares near the beach are pricey. There is one Southern California timeshare that goes for around $1000 on eBay (San Clemente Inn), but it's not as high quality of a resort -- it should be good for trading (if you get a summer week) but maybe only so-so as a place to stay. I just bought one, so I don't personally know yet how well it trades.Originally posted by kalpna
If you buy in Southern California near the coast, I would NOT convert the unit to RCI Points, It will be worth more in RCI Weeks.Comment
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You're asking a lot of good questions!Originally posted by activia View Post
The resort you saw on eBay will NOT have good trade power. Here is its description:
Two Bedroom, Two Bathroom (Deeded unit/week 1516/41, sleeps 6), Floating RED Weeks 1-5,18-22,34-50 (Prime Season) (allows you to reserve one of the aforementioned weeks on an annual basis; Sat-Sat Check-in/out) at Villas at Fortune Place, an RCI affiliated Resort, located in Kissimmee, near world famous Disney World (Orlando), FLORIDA. All fees are current with mortgage paid in full, you will receive clear title guaranteed! Usage is Annual. Your usage and fees start in 2007. The maintenance fees include taxes and are approximately $426
This is off-season, despite the ad's claim that it is prime season. Prime season in Orlando is Christmas/ New Year (week 52 and sometimes week 51) and Spring Break (around weeks 8 to 12 or so, with weeks 6,7, and 13-15 also being pretty good.) The second best season is summer, around weeks 23 - 32. Note that none of the good weeks are included for this timeshare. A lot of eBay sellers will say their week has "prime location" or is "peak season" when in fact it's an off-season piece of junk in some out-of-the-way place that no one wants.
This is a lower-quality resort, so systems that care about resort quality (such as SFX or II), will probably give you little in exchange for it, or (in SFX's case)will refuse to take it at all.
In general, Orlando has way too many timeshares and most resorts there trade poorly.
The only good thing about this particular resort is that the annual fees listed are low for an Orlando resort. Of course, if the ad lies about it being "prime season," the annual fee might be listed wrong, too.Comment
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If I were you, I'd look for a VRI-managed resort either during ski season in NH or on the Cape or Block Island during weeks 25-33. All of these should be reasonably good traders in RCI. A summer week would probably cost more than a ski week, but might trade better. You can get a list of VRI-managed resorts at Vacation Resorts International - Everywhere You Want to Rent a VacationOriginally posted by activia View Post
Why do I suggest a VRI-managed resort?
1) VRI is a good management company.
2) VRI is brought in by HOAs (Homeowner Associations) to do management, so if a resort is managed by VRI, the HOA (not a developer) is in control, plus the HOA has at least some idea of what they're doing
3) VRI gets you a "VRI trade priority" plus various discounts if you trade via RCI. (They plan to establish their own internal trading system in the future.)
4) VRI has a lot of inventory in the areas you want.
5) VRI will let you rent directly from them to try out their resorts -- this may cost a little more than renting from an owner, but it's less hassle and you don't need to rent a whole week. If you give VRI your email address, they will send you a list of rental deals, or at least they used to.Comment
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With "travel clubs" it's important to know exactly what you are referring to.Originally posted by Jya-Ning
Clubs such as Worldmark, which are resort groups owned by the club and in which members reserve space at the various resorts based on points or a similar system) are often quite good systems. Many of us own in systems such as that and find them to be quite cost-effective and flexible. If a resort group of that type has resorts in many places you want to visit, owning in that club is often a far better way to book time in those locations than is doing the deposit-and-exchange game.
The other type of "travel club" is a system that doesn't own any resorts, but rather brokers to members weeks that the club operator obtains from various sources. These clubs typically charge an upfront fee to join, plus an added fee for each week booked through the club. These types of clubs are also often referred to here TS4Ms and TUG as "vacation clubs". Most of us believe that, with rare exceptions, these types of clubs generally have little value at best and more often are ripoffs. Some of them are outright scams.
In almost all cases, these vacation clubs are simply an extra outlet for an exchange company to move its surplus weeks, so the clubs are almost useless for traveling to popular locations in peak times. The lists of weeks they show simply reflect a link to a database of available weeks from sources such as exchange companies; when a member books a week they pay the fee to the exchange company, plus an added amount to cover the overhead associated with the vacation club being a middleman. These clubs try to promote themselves by comparing their annual exchange fee with annual fees at the same resorts. But as mentioned, the weeks are surplus weeks and are available for the same or less money through an exchange company or other source.“Maybe you shouldn't dress like that.”
“This is a blouse and skirt. I don't know what you're talking about.”
“You shouldn't wear that body.”Comment
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I agree with JudyS; VRI or Sunterra would probably be good ones to consider for their locations, maybe a few others?Once upon a time, people talked about the 5/2/1 rule: Don't spend more than $5,000 for a prime red week (during school breaks in desirable places), $2,000 for a decent week you want a lot or $1,000 for offseason you like - unless you are confident that you've really researched and know the particular week is worth more. With the cheaper prices going on eBay lately, I'd say these numbers are high, so take your time....on the Cape & Islands, Block Island, (NH, VT, CT, NY) lake or ski resort area, Berkshire's, or NYC... Colorida & Utah for mt. biking & Skiing, Vegas, California, Hawii, Virgin Islands, Italy, France, England, and Australia.
For the best trading, think about where the crowds are during school break weeks and it'll make sense (summertime at the beach, New Years on the ski slopes, etc.).
The "better" exchange company is the one that carries more resorts that you want to visit. But don't ignore the smaller companies either.
Trade power is not the only issue involved in trading. Internal trade priority, for example, helps when trading from one VRI resort to another in RCI or from one Marriott to another in II. Also, if you are able to make your requests well over a year in advance, you improve your chances. If you often wait until a few months ahead to plan, timeshare ownership may not be for you.
Welcome to the forums!
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IMHO - the other big change that has obsoleted the old 5/2/1 rule is that developers now work hard to keep the very top units out of the plebeian exchange system.Originally posted by Lisa P View Post
- In the mini-systems (where most of the top end inventory lies) the owner makes travel arrangements with the mini and the mini handles the interface with the the exchange company. The mini will hang on to the best inventory for use within the mini-system, giving the exchange only what is needed to complete the exchange. Most of these systems are denominated in some form of points, so if the owner of primo week decides to use the exchange company, he or she converts the primo week to points, then draws two or three weeks out of the exchange company with those points. The mini, handling the interface, keeps the primo week for its own use, and gives the exchange two or three lesser weeks that are judged equal to the weeks being taken by the primo week owner.
Ultimately, even if the owner of that scarce summer week in Cape Cod or San Francisco has the needed trade power, their chances of landing those primo weeks are reduced because fewer of the primo weeks are reaching the exchange companies. - The other thing that exchange companies are doing is creating exclusive exchange systems within their overall system, and parking the primo weeks within their restricted access, exclusive system, instead of in the general spacebank. The best example of this is RCI's Registry Collection.
I often see comments by experienced timeshare owners here that they don't see the availability they saw five or ten years ago with some of their bright red weeks. Often that is alleged to be due to rentals, but I think that some of that is the deliberate result of developers and exchange companies working to limit the number of those very elite weeks that appear in the general exchange database.
After all, developers have every reason to do that, since preventing "ordinary" timeshare owners from being able to access those weeks makes it easier for developers to justify buying from them instead or resale. And the exchange companies have every reason to aid and abet the developers since they need developers more than they need individual owners.“Maybe you shouldn't dress like that.”
“This is a blouse and skirt. I don't know what you're talking about.”
“You shouldn't wear that body.”Comment
- In the mini-systems (where most of the top end inventory lies) the owner makes travel arrangements with the mini and the mini handles the interface with the the exchange company. The mini will hang on to the best inventory for use within the mini-system, giving the exchange only what is needed to complete the exchange. Most of these systems are denominated in some form of points, so if the owner of primo week decides to use the exchange company, he or she converts the primo week to points, then draws two or three weeks out of the exchange company with those points. The mini, handling the interface, keeps the primo week for its own use, and gives the exchange two or three lesser weeks that are judged equal to the weeks being taken by the primo week owner.
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I'm just replying here to say that Steve (T. R. Oglodyte) gave some really good insights.Comment
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mini systems?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm very new to timeshares.
What mini systems are you referring to? If I am the owner of a prime week who wishes to trade into a prime week (high demand/low avail location) on 6-9mon notice, I am better off using one of those systems then II?Comment
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You're mixing up the TS BBS terminolgyOriginally posted by ffxjack View Post
Mini System refers to developer internal trading/points systems like when you're an owner of Fairfield/Wyndham, Sunterra, Royal Holiday Club, Raintree, Vacation Internationale, etc.
Alternate exchange company might be what you're referring to like SFX-San Francisco Exchange, TPI-Trading Places Intl, DAE-Dial and Exchange, etc, etc.
... not enough time for all the timeshares ®Comment
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Thanks for the clarification
I believe what I meant to refer to was alternate exchange programs.Comment
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