Best way to do Bluegreen?

[Ilovemykidsmore Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ilovemykidsmore]

Hi everyone! I am new around here. My husband and I attended a Bluegreen sales pitch last week. We knew better than to buy on the spot, but we were impressed with Bluegreen and did leave with a sampler. Since then I have been reading all I can about timeshares and I still believe that Bluegreen will be the best bet for us. I have some questions though:

1. What is the best way to do Bluegreen? I have read that buying resale does not give you any of the benefits that you get when buying directly from Bluegreen. So if I understand correctly it would be beneficial to purchase a small amount of resale points through Bluegreens authorized seller and then purchase more resale points off the internet (ebay or other timeshare sales sites).

2. How easy/difficult is it to book the short notice 3,000 point benefit (forgot what it's called)? We are very flexible in travel since we homeschool our 4 children and my husband is a firefighter. Our only restriction, due to a health issue, is that we need to remain under 1,000 ft. That's also what we liked about BG; it seemed as if most of the resorts were coastal.

3. Do all resorts really have free AT&T wireless? Our sales rep told us this. We both had Iphones with us so that would be a dead giveaway that we are AT&T customers. Having wireless is important for us since our homeschool curriculum depends on having online access. We stayed at Holiday Hills (a Silverleaf resort I believe) last week as a gift from my brother. We took all of schooling supplies with us since the website said they had wireless. Turned out that the wireless was only at the registration/activities building which was a five minute drive from our condo. Not convenient at all.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. I'll pop back on and add more questions if I think of any.

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

Can't help with you with the BG purchase advice other than to say that you might want to check out Bocabum (Jim) here on this forum. He can get you those authorized points your seeking.

As for the internet, I've stayed at several BG resorts and they do have Wayport from AT&T. If you have an AT&T account at home then it's free.
You just log in with your email address and password but I'm not sure about if just having cell service gets you on free.

[Tom in GA Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tom in GA]

Buying BG

Please check with Bocabum (Jim) before buying. He is an honest guy that will not lead you astray. I have used him twice with good results. Good luck!

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

CAPS

Hi everyone! I am new around here. My husband and I attended a Bluegreen sales pitch last week. We knew better than to buy on the spot, but we were impressed with Bluegreen and did leave with a sampler. Since then I have been reading all I can about timeshares and I still believe that Bluegreen will be the best bet for us. I have some questions though:

1. What is the best way to do Bluegreen? I have read that buying resale does not give you any of the benefits that you get when buying directly from Bluegreen. So if I understand correctly it would be beneficial to purchase a small amount of resale points through Bluegreens authorized seller and then purchase more resale points off the internet (ebay or other timeshare sales sites).

I PURCHASED MY INITIAL POINTS TO GET GOLD STATUS THRU AN AUTHORIZED RESELLER - CONTACT BOCABUM99 THRU THE BOARDS HERE FOR INFO

2. How easy/difficult is it to book the short notice 3,000 point benefit (forgot what it's called)? We are very flexible in travel since we home school our 4 children and my husband is a firefighter. Our only restriction, due to a health issue, is that we need to remain under 1,000 ft. That's also what we liked about BG; it seemed as if most of the resorts were coastal.

THIS IS ACTUALLY THRU RCI - YOU LOG INTO THE BLUEGREEN WEBSITE AND THEN ACCESS THIS INVENTORY. IT IS ONLY 10 DAYS OUT - SO U HAVE TO BE VERY FLEXIBLE TO USE THIS BENEFIT.


3. Do all resorts really have free AT&T wireless? Our sales rep told us this. We both had Iphones with us so that would be a dead giveaway that we are AT&T customers. Having wireless is important for us since our home school curriculum depends on having online access. We stayed at Holiday Hills (a Silverleaf resort I believe) last week as a gift from my brother. We took all of schooling supplies with us since the website said they had wireless. Turned out that the wireless was only at the registration/activities building which was a five minute drive from our condo. Not convenient at all.

IT IS NOT THAT THE RESORT HAS FREE AT&T WIRELESS, IT IS IF U HAVE AT&T SERVICE AT HOME, YOU ARE ABLE TO USE YOUR LOG-IN AND ACCESS THE RESORT WIRELESS.
THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT BLUEGREEN PROVIDES - IT IS JUST SOMETHING THAT CAN HAPPEN IF U HAVE THE RIGHT HOME CARRIER.
I HAVE VERIZON SERVICE AT HOME SO IT WOULD NOT BE FREE FOR ME - I THINK THE SALESPERSONS STATEMENT IS MISLEADING.

AS AN EXAMPLE, WHEN I GO TO ANY MARRIOTT RESORT, EVERYONE GETS FREE WIFI SERVICE.


Well, that's all I can think of for now. I'll pop back on and add more questions if I think of any.

I am a new BG owner but love the flexibility.
With home schooling, you can take advantage of Sunday thru Thursday/Friday stays which use much lower points.

Keep reading - check all the Bluegreen Stickies here and read the old threads.
Welcome to 4Ms

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

Well done!

Getting out of the sales presentation with just the sampler was a great start!

The first thing you need to figure out is if you care enough about any of the premier benefits to pay extra for authorized points. If you don't care about the benefits, then just proceed to figuring out how many points you want to buy. My points are authorized but I bought before the rule change; if I were buying now, I don't think I'd spend the extra $$$.

Make sure you're in the appropriate trust fund so that your maintenance fees are minimized.

Like you, I attended a presentation, and bought a sampler. I then made resale purchases. I'm a very happy owner. All of my purchases were through BocaBum who I recommend highly.

Anita

[Ilovemykidsmore Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ilovemykidsmore]

Another question

The sales lady told us that they change out furniture every 3 years. Is that true?

[Ilovemykidsmore Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ilovemykidsmore]

Oh, and I'd really like some info on using the 3000pt. week benefit. Anyone use this? This will greatly affect how many points we decide to purchase.

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

The sales lady told us that they change out furniture every 3 years. Is that true?

I don't think so.

Charles

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

1. What is the best way to do Bluegreen? I have read that buying resale does not give you any of the benefits that you get when buying directly from Bluegreen. So if I understand correctly it would be beneficial to purchase a small amount of resale points through Bluegreens authorized seller and then purchase more resale points off the internet (ebay or other timeshare sales sites).

Most of the benefits of buying authorized points are geared toward the short term -- bonus time you can only reserve 48 days out (I think it is); hot weeks ten days out, etc. So if you're wanting to reserve things close to when you go, that would probably be a good route for you to go.

2. How easy/difficult is it to book the short notice 3,000 point benefit (forgot what it's called)?

Hot weeks make use of RCI resorts and are subject to availability. Depending on where you are and when you want to go, sometimes there are lots of choices and sometimes there's nothing there. If you can go to Orlando or Myrtle Beach or Williamsburg or Florida or somewhere else with a lot of RCI resorts on short notice, odds are pretty good something will be available unless it's a peak season. If you're looking at a summer or holiday week, your odds are not so good.

Also you will want to do more research on the resort. Bluegreen owned resorts tend to be held up to a pretty predictable level of cleanliness and amenities available. If you like CMV, odds are you'll like Hershey or Harbour Lights or Mountain Loft. With RCI, there's a lot more variability, where some of the resorts are really run down and others are pretty spectacular. Since Hot Weeks are RCI resorts, you need to get familiar with a lot more resorts (RCI does have reviews, and so does TUG, but sometimes they're pretty outdated). Bluegreen makes researching their resorts really easy; many other places, not so much.

Bonus time is also subject to availability, and will also be harder to get in peak times and on weekends. Traveling off season will definitely give you an advantage, but I suspect not as big an advantage timesharing as it does some other options. We've been a lot of places off season where the hotels around were nearly empty, but the resort we were in was full.

Remember that your Bluegreen ownership gets you an RCI members, and RCI offers "Last Call" resorts, where you can reserve, for example, a 2 BR for $285 (I think it is), 48 days out. Last Call availability varies considerable from time to time, but OTOH there are some resorts that are often available and others I've never seen. Both Hotweeks (the 3000 point weeks) and Last Call are drawing from RCI resorts available at the last minute, so if you don't get the one maybe you could use the other.

3. Do all resorts really have free AT&T wireless?

Most, but I don't know about all. I may be wrong or out of date on this, because we don't have AT&T, but I think I heard there are a couple of BG resorts on other systems, in which case you'd have to pay. As GrayFal points out, it isn't that BG offers free AT&T wireless, it's that they offer AT&T wireless for a fee and if you can log into your own account through it.

[Ilovemykidsmore Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ilovemykidsmore]

Hotweeks

So hotweeks are only on RCI resorts? I can't get hotweeks on BG resorts only bonus time?

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Oh, and I'd really like some info on using the 3000pt. week benefit. Anyone use this? This will greatly affect how many points we decide to purchase.

Please see my post above.
You access this thru RCI - NOT BLUEGREEN - these are last minute RCI weeks not Bluegreen Resorts.

I checked availability and yes there is LOTS of availability it depends if u want to go where the availability is.

[Ilovemykidsmore Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ilovemykidsmore]

Bonus Time

Is bonus time only available at the resort you are deeded at or at any BG resort?

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Is bonus time only available at the resort you are deeded at or at any BG resort?

If you buy qualified points...all resorts.
Unqualified, only at the resort u r deeded.
If your first purchase is qualified/All points can be used toward qualified stuff.

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

Getting out of the sales presentation with just the sampler was a great start!

The first thing you need to figure out is if you care enough about any of the premier benefits to pay extra for authorized points. If you don't care about the benefits, then just proceed to figuring out how many points you want to buy. My points are authorized but I bought before the rule change; if I were buying now, I don't think I'd spend the extra $$$.

Make sure you're in the appropriate trust fund so that your maintenance fees are minimized.

Like you, I attended a presentation, and bought a sampler. I then made resale purchases. I'm a very happy owner. All of my purchases were through BocaBum who I recommend highly.

Anita

I'm new here and I have been researching like crazy. How do you make sure that you are in the appropriate trust fund so that your maintenance fees are minimized?

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

Estoppel

How do you make sure that you are in the appropriate trust fund so that your maintenance fees are minimized?

If you buy from BG directly, you will be in Trust Fund E. Trust Fund E is better if you have over 11,037 annual points. The only way to get into the other Trust Funds is to buy resale. What you need is an Estoppel letter from BG which will give you the information you would need to determine the Trust Fund. However, there are some "gotchas" in the other Trust Funds. In some maintenance fees are passed on directly to you. So if your points are based at that resort, and their MF go sky high, then you get a big raise. On the other hand, if they keep them low, then yours doesn't go up as much. In E, increases are spread over all owners in E. Also, there are some Trust Funds (I don't know which) in which Special Assessments (if any) are paid directly by the points owner while in E they are spread over all E owners.

Now you are saying "You lost me with Estoppel." And that's why so many of us send people to Jim. He will ask you what do you want now and what do you want in the future. He will ask you if you can afford it. He will ask you if there is a possibility of getting in a financial jam in which you can't pay MF. He will ask you if you want authorized or non-authorized points. And he will have answers for your questions. Jim is honest and easy to work with.

By the way, if you join the Bluegreen Yahoo group, they have a calculator which allows you to determine the MF in the various Trust Funds (that are equalized) for whatever number of points you are curious about.

Charles