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A friend of mine wants to buy a TS in Orlando. I am sure there are a million opinions on the best places to buy for trading purposes. Can you share a few of them? Thanks.
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Ruth
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If your friend is buying to exchange, then Orlando is not one of the best places to buy.
Exchanging timeshares is a hobby that requires focused attention. It's like sport fishing. So, I would only buy to exchange if that is your expectation.
A safer bet is to buy into one of the many point systems that have a resort in Orlando which is just about everyone of them. And then use their points to exchange. In that way, you will always be guaranteed a good place to stay by reserving in the point group. But, you will have decent trading power if you buy the right system. -
Orlando has too much supply and exceeds the demand for most of the year. Even if you buy into the highest demand weeks and get a little trading power, chances are that the maintenance fees and taxes will be higher than they are at many other places to buy. The best bet for trading is to buy where and when demand is high and at a place where the fees are low. If you buy where you want to go much of the time, you can also save buy using the independents and bypassing the high exchange and membership fees charged by the big two exchange companies.Comment
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Thank you
Thanks Boca and Tony,
My friend said her husband is set on Orlando as he has heard this is the best place to buy since many wish to go there. I own only SA timeshares, so I understand the "game" aspect of finding the right trade and it is fun for me. Where would some good places be for them to buy? We live in Colorado. I know Grand Timber in Breckenridge is a good trader, but it may have high fees. Any advice to a novice at anything but SA (me) and my friends who are total novices? Thanks in advance everyone!RuthComment
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I own 2BR/2BA 5-star resort week 51 in Orlando (which is Christmas most years) that I"ll sell her.Originally posted by scitchrComment
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Brilliant. I am definitely going to borrow that one...Originally posted by BocaBum99
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I agree with Boca, and seeing you live in the west, suggest your friend buy Worldmark (resale of course). They have 55 resorts (mostly in the west) but also have a resort in Orlando. With a multi location TS company like WM, your friend will have his resort in Orlando but easy access to 54 other great locations.Originally posted by scitchr
Good LuckBillComment
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If the purpose of buying is to use, they can look at eitheir II site or RCI site. Look at places closed to their home (or place they willing to be there from time to time) but they can treat it as a good vacation. Don't try overbuild area since most of resort chain has one or more resorts in overbuild area. Since you have play the exchange game, you can help them to identify soome area that is hard to get. Find out which one has resorts there. Usually, the big resort chain has one website that you can look from the directory search resort. So, after you identify serveral resort chains, you can look at their website and see their resorts. Once you identify some you want be, you can check if their resorts really has the availability or just phamton. What their system look like, and what is the resell market.Originally posted by scitchr
Not WM owner, but they do trade with both RCI and II well, and their resorts are in a lot of good locations.
Jya-NingJya-NingComment
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Thanks for your feedback. Their reason to buy is to trade, so it does not really matter where the resort they buy is located. I don't know anything about points, so I can't help them there. When you buy into a group (like Worldmark, for example) is it easier to pick up weeks within the WM system than to exchange with RCi/II? Do you have to pay fees if you use a WM (or any other chain) resort? Thank you.RuthComment
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It is much easier to use WM then exchange. When you own a point based TS, you just call and use your points to reserve a week at one of the TS many locations. You don't need for someone to deposit that week with an exchange company. Or hope your trade is good enough to get the deposited week.Originally posted by scitchr
Sometimes if the location is very popular, it can fill up quickly. If you still must have that resort, you then can request a trade through the exchange co. for that resort.
Generally there are not fees to use your points, but sometime there may be some house cleaning fees or something similar. Not anything like a $149 RCI exchange fee.Do you have to pay fees if you use a WM (or any other chain) resort? Thank you.
Good LuckBillComment
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Hi Scitchr,
Although "everyone" seems to think that timeshares in Orlando don't trade well, I've been very happy with mine so far. I bought at Polynesian Isles in Kissimmee. I got ownership in June last year. Since it was a floating week, I tried to get a week during the kids vacation time. I got August and deposited the week with RCI. I traded a 2 bedroom near Disney for a 1 BR at Kahana Falls, Maui. For 2006, I got a spring vacation week, which SFX was happy to take in trade.
There happens to be a 2 BR Polynesian Isles floating week in eBay right now. It's not mine, and I wouldn't get any benefit from its sale, but so far the resort has done very well for me. Tell your friends that if that's the area they really want, it can work as a trader.
SueComment
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Falmouth, the only weeks that trade decently in Orlando are school vacation weeks. The problem is not just the trade ability, it also is the high maintenance fee cost. Also, all the indications that I have seen is that II resorts there seem to trade a bit better than RCI's.Comment
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Any Colorado ski or summer week will get them great trades with II
We get Marriott resorts every time we trade our non-five-star resort through II. We can choose any week because Colorado is a high-demand area for summer and winter. There are only ten weeks that are blue/green in Colorado. We have low MF's at Twin Rivers and get an AC for our ski week 1 as well, so two weeks for a great price, both always in Orlando. EASY TRADES. Our cost: $440+exchange fee.Comment
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We owned 2BR Sheraton Vistana fixed week 27, and it traded just about the same as our Dik floating 1BR. The maintenance fees were approx. $600 vs. $230. My brother bought the Vistana week from us because he loves to go there, and it is a 1 in 4 resort. He felt it was worth the high maintenance to be able to return there as often as he wanted. For me, the $230 plus $150 to exchange gave me almost any week I wanted in Orlando for under $400. I don't want to go to Orlando every year, so it didn't make sense for me to own there anymore. However, unless you plan far in advance, it is hard to trade in there on President's week, Easter week, and Christmas week with a mediocre trader.JackiComment
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For trading purposes only?
Ruth,
I don't know if I would recommend a timeshare purchase for strictly trading purposes anymore.
For RCI the rule of thumb is SCal coastal summer or Cape Cod summer. By summer I mean SUMMER week 26 to 34. The Cape Cods can be had for around $2.5 or $3K with Maintenance fees of around $425ish so the trade & RCI fees annually = $600/week or so...averaging in the cost of the purchase if they are not going to use the unit on occasion???
The last one we bought was with intent to use.Lawren
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