Why not just rent rather than buy

[CMF]

Originally Posted by docdvm

Any thoughts on a home resort that would trade well?

Look at Gold Season prices at Marriott's OceanWatch.

Charles

[docdvm]

I was considering travelling to Orlando late September to Summerbay Resorts on their offer. I will bring a rental list and ask plenty of questions. I will follow with 3 nights at Hilton Head with Marriott with the same rental list . It will be intersting to see the response. This forum is very helpful. imagine the people who could have benefited by reading your posts before buying from the developer. Is there a benefit by buying directly from , say, Marriott? I believe that the points cannot be exchanged for Marriott Rewards points but otherwise as for timeshare exchange is it worth the extra cost?

[docdvm]

Do you mean Marriott Grand Ocean in Hilton Head or Ocean Watch New York???

[docdvm]

Let's look at the economics of buying. If I were to spend $20000.00 for a Marriott on Hilton Head compared to investing the $20000.00 would it make sense to buy? At 6% interest I would return $1200.00. Add $800.00 Management fee and I would have $2000.00 available to rent a unit. This is without any obligation to pay yearly fees. I know that rentals will increase yearly but so will Management fees. What would happen of the resort were hit with a severe hurricane . Would that increase the fees? Also I still have the $20000.00 principal. At what point does buying make sense? What discount to purchase price should I look for to make this formula work?

[CMF]

Originally Posted by docdvm

Do you mean Marriott Grand Ocean in Hilton Head or Ocean Watch New York???

This resort is right on the ocean away from the Myrtle Beach downtown area and less pricey than the HH properties - the MF is lower too.

Charles

PS - I would only buy a Marriott.

[docdvm]

Checked out redweek resales. There are many listed but vary in price. although they are all listed as floating weeks yearly they vary in price from 6500 to $31000.00 (WOW!) What is the differences attributed to?Don't see if there are seasonal floating weeks?

[CMF]

Originally Posted by docdvm

Checked out redweek resales. There are many listed but vary in price. although they are all listed as floating weeks yearly they vary in price from 6500 to $31000.00 (WOW!) What is the differences attributed to?Don't see if there are seasonal floating weeks?

Some of the adds specify the season. At other times you have to contact the sellers. Yes, you can buy a Bronze week for a small fraction of what a Platinum week would cost at the same resort. A good deal if you can live with the trading limitations.

Charles

[timeos2]

Many replies talk about renting time in the off seasons. I've also found that I can often be very specific about resort, use time and unit size when renting - far more than in week to week trades. Over the past decade exchange guests have been downgraded to second class at many resorts while an owner that is renting will often know the exact unit you will get. Even if you pay a small premium over annual fees (I'd expect to but often it seems we don't) you ae still saved from the upfront money of a purchase. For a $1000-$5000 timeshare not a big deal but once you start talking $10,000 and up - even at resale - renting looks mighty good and it would take an awful lot of convincing for us to buy rather than rent any timeshare that sells for over $5000.

As for off season you can virtually steal rentals anywhere. Often a 2 or 3 bedroom timeshare will rent at or below the cost of a local hotel. Now those are deals. Of course you can also trade in easily but be very careful that the value you give up isn't too high compared to the rental cost.

[tonyg]

The only in-season weeks that are hard to rent would be at small resorts in a high demand area. Most weeks are available at attractive rates. As an example, the only really expensive rental weeks at the Royals are week 7 and Christmas/New Years. Some would think a high demand week for as much as $ 1300 is expensive, but with a high resale price and a $ 700 plus annual fee, the rentals aren't that bad and they now do have an advantage in that you know what resort and what unit you will have (or at least a virtual certainty).

[dougp26364]

Originally Posted by tonyg

Renting may be a better alternative in some cases and RCI's rentals not only hurt exchangers, but also can hurt developers. On my last timeshare presentation, I brought along a copy of RCI's rental page for the resort, which blew the salesperson's mind. I could rent cheaper than the maintenance fee without buying- how can you sell someone a week when that's the case ?

This might be a good ploy for someone going to a presentation- and might put pressure from developers on RCI's rental programs.

Good idea. I think I might start doing that when we take vacations. I enjoy seeing the timeshare in other locations. I'd go on the tours even if there was no gift just to see the timeshares.

By having this information I can achieve to goals at once. Point out the problem to developers who use RCI and have a reason not to buy that will be very difficult for the sales team to overcome.