Discover Member looking to buy a Fairfield Timeshare. Need help!

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

Hello you all!
First of all, i just want to say hello to every one in the forum. My name is "Q" and I live in Tallahasse. I'm very new to this whole timeshare stuff and i'm extremly glad I found you guys.

Last year, my wife and I bought a discovery package from Fairfield. With the Discovery package, I'm trying out the Fairfield timeshare for a year before I decide to buy it or not; every month, I pay $110 and they gave us 300,000 point with VIP benefit. By this December, if i decide to buy it, they will forward these payment to my down payment, if not, i will lose all the money I have paid. (which is about $1000)

I'm in the military and we're pretty much have 2 weeks per year for vacation so I would like to buy a package mainly just for the 2 of us to get away. (and maybe occasional with some friends or families.) I don't really need advance reservation b/c with the military, I can't plan anything too far ahead, there are always trainings and deployments that come in between. We're looking at the Tenessee (smokey mountain) area since we has always loved it up there.

I've been in a couple of sale sectionz(orlando, destine,TN) and pretty much they would offer me about 150,000-189,000 anually point for the range around $14,000-$20,000. I love their timeshare but I do not have that kind of money. I'm not really looking for a specific location, I just want to pay the whole thing so I don't have to financing and have a low monthy payment sotherefore low maintenace fee and tax fee is a must
I read this forum and it seems like ebay is the way to go but please give me all the advice that about other thing that i need to know before I buy and where should i buy to have the lowest monthly fee?
thank you very much in advance for your time

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

Welcome to Timeshareforums!

You definitely don't have to pay $14,000 -- there are plenty of nice timeshares on the resale market starting at about $1000. If you want a points timeshare, such as Fairfield Points, it does cost somewhat more, but there are several good points systems available resale in the $3000 or under range.

A bigger problem may be not being able to plan in advance. A lot of timeshares book up early. However, it really depends on what time of year you want to go. Summer and other times when school is out of session tends to be very busy. When school is in session, it's much easier to get something at the last minute. When do you think you'd be traveling -- spring, summer, fall, etc?

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

Sarge,

There are many sources for resales of Fairfield. Currently, resale Fairfield goes for $.01 to $.03, max, per point. Developer costs $.14 to $.175 per point.

After you do some research,you will learn that it will worth your while to not worry about having the $1000 applied to a new purchase from the developer.

You can look at ebay and resellers who specialize in Fairfield. With ebay, you really need to understand what is being sold and what you are buying. There can be major cost differences between the different Fairfield resorts.

Come here and ask questions, slow down, decide how you will plan vacations. There are lots of veteran Fairfield owners who can help you.

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

Agreed. Look at the Discovery package as renting. 300K points is about two vacations, with an annual cost of about $1300. So, you paid $650 per week to vacation in a very nice condo, which is a pretty good deal!

Yes, they'll credit that rental cost towards a full-freight purchase, but they still make out like bandits.

It is very easy to buy a timeshare, but very hard to sell one. So, take your time, and learn a lot before you take the plunge. In the meantime, you can probably find that you will be able to rent units from other timeshare owners as you learn, for rates that are comparable to the cost of that Discovery package.

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

I believe RCI has its Extra Vacation and Last call open to military. So you can just rent them if you can do short notice travel.

I take you use the discovery plan, and find you like FF. What you like them most? What you find is hard for you to use? The reason I ask is to see if it necessary for you to own it.

You don't actually loss anything even if you decide not to buy. The price in that plan used to be higher, now it is close to just rent point for a short period. So, you don't have any loss. Every year, I keep hearing the retail price per point will increase for 8 years now, and everytime I look around, yes, I do hear quote that is increase, but everyone that bought in retail has the same avg as I buy 8 years ago. And when you include the incentive they give out, they actually pay less. And I don't see the trend change, so you can just let the deal go until you are ready to own.

With 2 people travel, a Air/Hotel package sometimes maybe easier to arrange.

Jya-Ning

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

Glad you found this group . . . and enjoyed using your FF Discovery package. Given that you are thinking about buying, their sales tactic is obviously working. They hope that in allowing folks to sample the product, they will be more enticed to buy. The good news for you is that you found out about resales and the other options available to you before getting lasso'ed into buying from them.

You may want to consider joining the YahooGroup for Fairfield/Wyndham. Many of us here are also members there, so much of the discussion will be the same. The YahooGroup, however, has a wealth of information in the form of archived files and documents that will help even a seasoned timeshare owner learn more about FF/Wyndham. You can subscribe by writing: Fairfield_timeshare-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .

As for your specific needs, please understand that Fairfield is a very complex timeshare product particularly if you're considering buying resale because of the evolution of timeshares with them. They started out with fixed weeks, then had points, and later created the opportunity to convert fixed weeks to points . . . and all of these are important to have a general understanding of before buying resale from eBay or elsewhere . . . just so that you know what you are getting and how you'll be able to use it. Each have pros and cons.

Understanding how you want and need to use your timeshare will be very important in assessing what to buy and where. Also, you should be aware that not only do you have maintenance fees and real estate taxes (which by the way, are typically included in your MF's . . . with the exception of in Florida), but you should be aware of the dreaded "special assessment" (SA). There are a couple of FF resorts where owners are paying these SA's. Sometimes they are just a year or two . . . or in other cases, they can be longer. For instance FF Williamsburg at Patriots Place and Kingsgate are in year two of a three year assessment. For my 3BR unit, that assessment is another $330 on top of my $610 MF in 2007. Thankfully, 2008 will be the last year of this assessment!

Hope to see you join the YahooGroup and continue your learning through the files and wonderful members there

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

First of all, thank ya'all very much for your input. it was very helpfull to us.

I take you use the discovery plan, and find you like FF. What you like them most? What you find is hard for you to use? The reason I ask is to see if it necessary for you to own it.
Jya-Ning

well, There are two type of vacation that we like to take, one type (usually for shorter distance) is that we just get in a car and drive to a place and justs get a hotel for that nite and take off the next morning. Another type is just to go one attraction place and stay there the whole time just to relax,and mostly when we do this type of vacation, we just want to get aways from the military, everybody, just the two of us so the more quiet the beter (so we really don't use prime week at all--So VIP is not a big concern.)and this is where I would like to use FF. The reason i like them b/c FF offer a pretty decent place, I can go anywhere and know I'll have a decent place to stay. Since I paid a small monthly fee, I like the idea that I can plan a get away vacation without taking a big chunk out of that month expenses.
Nothing is really for me to complain about FF, it just the price of the package that they're selling.I'm looking for something around $5,000. I'm thinking to pay for the whole package so that i just have a lower monthly fee.
Do you think it is wise to do that? Do you think I can get some decent package out of 5 grand or am i just wasting my money? I saw alot of people renting out their point, is it b/c mostly they didn't use their point or is it simply they way for them to make money?
Please feel free to give your opinion, I like to feel my brain bucket with input.

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

My opinion is you need to purchase resale Fairfield since you don't care about VIP status. Call this FF reseller, Thomas Cornelius, 800-767-9366, and talk to him. For $5,000 you can get a really good FF package and he can answer lots of questions.

Tom C was a guest on a recent Fairfield chat we had.

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

I purchsed my deed from Tom as well---he was very helpful in explaining things to a first-time purchaser.

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

I'm looking for something around $5,000. I'm thinking to pay for the whole package so that i just have a lower monthly fee.
Do you think it is wise to do that? Do you think I can get some decent package out of 5 grand or am i just wasting my money?

Yes, I think you can. You probably can get 154k package with less than $3.5k through a reputable resell agent (like Tom C) or less than $2k in eBay through post card company if you patient and willing to take care yourselves.

Put the rest of money in a investment funds. You probably can get $60 per year and beat the inflation year in year out. Together with your free HK and free transaction that will give you 3 transactions and 3 1BD stay. You can deposit the rest to RCI, and get more week long stay which you can use for 4 days or more. Consider it as your VIP package.

The retail purchase with Discover program probably is over $130 per 1k. So 154k pts will cost you around 20k. You can manage to pay yourselves through the year for the differences. And use the investment to pay the MF, it will catch the 50% discount in VIP, plus the unlimited transaction.

I saw alot of people renting out their point, is it b/c mostly they didn't use their point or is it simply they way for them to make money?

I take this means you are a member in Yahoo group. I believe it has around 4,000 member. And I don't believe there are over 200 people rent their points. And FF has over 300k owners. There will have time you see rent out points is more benefits and time you just could not use the point and don't feel like to preseve it for future usage. But I believe most owner used their points if you look at that ratio.

Jya-Ning

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

Sometimes, I think folks own more points that they may need "today" because they are buying and investing for their future vacationing and retirement needs. Case in point, I'm acquiring a small 77k point package that we simply do not need. I don't think I'll be taking 5+ vacations a year in the near term, so you may see me listing my dinky points package for rent in the coming year or two.

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

That was some great information that i needed. I really don't have to buy it yet until December(that is when my Discovery member expires.) unless there is some crazy deal out there. I've know the yahoo group through this page and I've been keeping my eyes on ebay, let's see what happend and if i can't find some really good deal, I'm going to call Tom...I don't want to bother him yet when I'm not ready to buy. I'm sure I'll bug you guys again sometime soon for more question...Thank you so much for the information guys. You guys really helped me out here.

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

Hello Again!
I've spent last nite reading all the files in yahoo group. Alot of infomation, I notice that with all the resort, the South Shore- Lake Tahoe has the lowest MF. My wife told me that is a really nice area, so being me, I was thinking why don't I just find a deed there instead of TN (where we know we would love) so that our monthly fee is lower. I know I'm not the smartest guy out there and I'm sure somebody already thought about it. so my question here is If it has the lowest MF, then why don't everyone own that place rather than pay a much higher price at other resort? I'm already figure that some people want to have their reservation priority at their deed place, but what other advantage that i don't know???? can someone tell me

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

Don't buy based on the fees of today

The absolute lowest fee today may not be tomorrow. Fees rise and seldom fall based on owner expectations and the perceived value/quality of the resort in question. Example. For many years my Kingsgate in Williamsburg, VA had a reasonable annual fee and one of the lower, but not lowest, in the Fairshare system. But in 2006 we got hit with a 3 year special assessment @ $200/week/year so suddenly those years of low fees caught up to us. The extra money was needed as the resort had slipping from Gold Crown to Silver Crown and could have gone lower without serious renovation work. If we wanted the value to be maintained it required money to improve the place.

We don't have to own there to get our Fairshare Points but it's close enough to drive to, we enjoy the area and overall fees have been reasonable even with the extra assessment. They claim they are now setting aside enough for the future reserve needs so this won't happen again but I guess we won't know that for sure until the next renovation rolls around and they have or don't have the money needed in the bank.

Bottom line you can't depend on todays fees to represent what you'll pay going forward. Better to base your purchase on a resort/area you know you'll enjoy if you "have" to use it and for the best price on the points you feel you'll need.

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

Range of MF and FSP fees for Fairfield point resorts:

Very good to good $3.50 or less per 1,000 points

Good to Average $3.50 to $4.50 per 1,000 pionts

Average to High $4.50 to ??? per 1,000 points