Any thoughts about this offer?

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

A relative contacted me last night about a Bluegreen timeshare that he is offering to sell. I live in Massachusetts and I mostly travel up and down the east coast with my wife and two kids. I'm not sure if this is a good deal or not and would like to bounce this off you guys. Here are the parameters:

- Bluegreen owner since 1997
- Asking $2k for the timeshare
- 36,000 points
- Gold member
- Includes odd days (?)
- Maintenance Fee = $1700 (starting in October)
- Homebase = Orlando Fountains
- Allows for RCI exchanging
- Deed is ongoing (never expires)
- Room Sleeps six (2bd/2bth)
- white/blue/red weeks

The MF seems a bit high to me, I was thinking somewhere in the $700-1000 range would've been nice. I am also wondering how feasible it would be to sell a week in order to recoup the cost of maintenance.

I am going to do more research as I am comparing this deal to maybe a Hilton HGVC in Orlando (International drive) possibly for $3-4K with $800 MF. They both seem like good deals, just trying to sort out any thing that would make one stand out more than the other.

Thanks for any feedback you'd like to share

Diogenes

[Vakas85 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Vakas85]

sounds like a solid dead

First of all Bluegreen is a great system to have in my opinion. Putting the maintenance fee aside to me it seems like your getting a heal of a deal. but $1700/yr is a lot for something that is pretty difficult to rent and recoup the money out of.

[smithiekid Member Find all posts View Profile Close smithiekid]

If your relative transfers this ownership to you without payment then you will keep all the benefits of being a gold owner (ie just pay them without it showing that you have bought it from them) see below from BG web site

If you transfer your ownership to a family member and there is no sale involved, your full benefits will transfer to your family member. However, you will be required to sign an affidavit confirming that you are related by blood or marriage to the family member to whom you are transferring ownership and you will not be released from your mortgage obligations. For more information, call our Resort Title Agency at 800.456.2582, option 2, then option 3. Click here for hours of operation.


by odd days I take it they will mean Bonus time. $69 per night for a 2 bed unit

36000 points gives you a lot of holiday time (3 weeks off peak at The Fountains) but there are plenty that use less points and some more. Most resorts are 2 day min stay, a few you have to book a full week.

in addition gold members get a free week to use in Blue or white and not forgetting the wait list which helps you to get the hard to get reservations

in addition to MF ($320 + 0.045 per point for 2011 -- $1940 for 36000 points)
club dues are $129

You do not have to pay to exchange within BG no guest fees if you allow someone else to use you reservation, no cleaning fees for part week stays

To get those benefits you would have to buy from BG or resale through Pinnicle at $1.25 per point

[Timeshare junkie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Timeshare junkie]

Odd years probably means you only get your points in odd years. That's a good thing because you only pay the maintenance fees in odd years (actually they will probably bill you every year, half one year and half the next). If it is odd years, then he will be getting the replenishment next year.

Buy lower and then top up if needed. Do some more research. BG is a great system. Maybe ask him for access to his account for 24 hours so you can familiarize yourself with website and how it functions (he can change the password, give it to you, then change it back to the original). Maybe offer him to pay for the next set of maintenance fees, but you get all the points. That way you try before you buy. There may be slightly better deals, but that's a pretty good deal. And its your family.

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

Spend a little time with the Bluegreen points charts

36,000 Bluegreen points will get you quite a lot of vacation time. Check out the points charts for the various resorts:

Bluegreen - Resorts Points Table

A 2 bedroom in a peak week at a peak resort is generally 15000-18000 points, so that MF is for 2 full peak weeks. You can stretch it by traveling Sun-Friday.

If you get the Gold Premier benefits at that price, you've got a great deal on your hands.

The key question is whether you want to go to any of the Bluegreen resorts.

Things I love about Bluegreen are the lack of fees (no booking fee or guest certificate fee), partial week reservations, and excellent customer service and web site. They seem to always be adding new resorts, also.

Good luck.

[kcbedo Member Find all posts View Profile Close kcbedo]

If you are worried about the Maintenance fees, you should know that they are likely to increase in the future.

For 36,000 points, here are the maintenance fees for past years (assuming Trust Fund E):

2007 - $1,262
2008 - $1,496
2009 - $1,645
2010 - $1,768
2011 - $1,940

There is also an additional club dues of $129 each year, and $45 if you join Traveler's Plus.

[aliikai2 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close aliikai2]

You won't find a 7000 HGVC

membership for 3-4k, Hilton buys almost all of these under $7000 back via the ROFR .
There are lots of 3500, and 5000 point units, but these won't get you a week during prime season, and the annual fees are just as high as the 7k's.
fwiw,
Greg

I am going to do more research as I am comparing this deal to maybe a Hilton HGVC in Orlando (International drive) possibly for $3-4K with $800 MF. They both seem like good deals, just trying to sort out any thing that would make one stand out more than the other.

Thanks for any feedback you'd like to share

Diogenes

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

Thanks for your responses

Vakas85: With 36000 points I would hope to be able to rent out a week if needed and possibly recoup some of the MF. BG doesn't seem to trade all that well...perception maybe?

smithiekid: Thanks for this information. I am wondering what comes with the Gold Premier benefits? I will look into that and determine its value within the context of my situation. I figure that my relative desires to get out from under the mortgage obligation so he's probably going to want to sell it rather than transfer the rights. I think Boca was going to get back to me about pricing info for the Gold stuff.

Timeshare junkie: I'll inquire about the "odd" thing again. Good suggestion about offering to try it out before committing to it. I would like to visit one of the BG resorts. I am hoping that I will like most of them even though I've read mixed reviews about the quality and condition of some of the resorts.

akparsa: Good point. I've read some of the reviews and seen a lot of pictures but I would like to visit one. From what I've been reading, Solara, Big Cedar, and Fountains were mentioned as the most favored. I heard that HGVC in general has better quality resorts but that's just hearsay I guess.


kcbedo: Good to know. I'm sure MF are always going up across the board for any company. What does the "club dues" and "travelers" buy me?

aliikai2: I see your point. It would seem that the 36000 from BG would give me more time to either travel out of state or do things around the New England/NY/Phila area (through RCI). I agree, 5000-7000 points from HGVC would seem to give me at least a week. My concern is that I wouldn't like the BG resorts as much as the HGVC resorts...but I have no real experience with neither so I may be talking nonsense. Also the Hilton Honors seems like a nice program since I plan to stay at hotels locally as well.


Thanks for the input. You have given me some things to drill down on and research.

[smithiekid Member Find all posts View Profile Close smithiekid]

hi,
just a point re mortgage
you need to find out from your relative how much is left on mortgage, if he/she transfers ownership to you as I explained then you will have to carry on with the mortgage.
Your relative will not be able to sell it elsewhere if they still have a mortgage on it.
The points have to be motgage free and mf and club dues paid in order to be able to sell ie. nothing owing on the points.
the club dues pay for the reservation side of the club along with RCI membership, the mf pay for the upkeep of the resorts.

below is a link to Jims website which gives you the gold benefits

Bluegreen - Vip Bonus Time and Premier Member Benefits

[Dave H Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dave H]

hi,
just a point re mortgage
you need to find out from your relative how much is left on mortgage, if he/she transfers ownership to you as I explained then you will have to carry on with the mortgage.
Your relative will not be able to sell it elsewhere if they still have a mortgage on it.
The points have to be motgage free and mf and club dues paid in order to be able to sell ie. nothing owing on the points.
the club dues pay for the reservation side of the club along with RCI membership, the mf pay for the upkeep of the resorts.

below is a link to Jims website which gives you the gold benefits

Bluegreen - Vip Bonus Time and Premier Member Benefits

If there is an open mortgage, BG will not allow the transfer to go through. The timeshare has to be in a paid in full status.

Dave

[Timeshare junkie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Timeshare junkie]

I would recommend a few nights at Solara Surfside, and then drive down to the Hammocks at Marathon. I think it's about a 3 hour drive. Once you are actually in the Keys, the drive is incredible.

Try and get to Key West, and try and get a convertible.

[jwk333 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jwk333]

Why don't you consider renting a time share from the owners before buying. The fee for the timeshare is really not what you should be considering. The maintenance fees, taxes, and the Exchange Fees are on going each year.

jwk333

[Ediesbeads Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ediesbeads]

There are tons of ways to stretch your points as well. If you have time to travel you can look into Sun - Fri stays and get WAY more days for your points. Weekends are many times more expensive. We have a measly little 7000 points and still manage a couple of weeks vacation each year traveling mid week.

Good luck!

Edie