Time share

[swilshire]

Wow Sheila, thank you for all of the information. I have not been to Nantucket since 1973, but often dream of getting back there. I think if I ever see a week for September or October, I will grab it. I just love that place. Have a wonderful vacation!

We have been here for the Columbus Day week a couple of times. It's a great time to visit. The weather isn't too cold and there are great deals as all the stores close down for the season. The Hospital Thrift Store had half off day while we were here the last time, then gave most of the leftovers away the next day. (They reserved a few high dollar pieces, one or two of which we had our eye on.) I grabbed books until my husband threatened to leave me on the island to make up for all the weight from the books. It was hard to resist. They had a whole room of relatively new books for the taking.

You'll see a lot of changes since 1973. We skipped more than ten years from the late eighties until about eight or ten years ago. Things are different every time we make the trip.

I think the website for the resort is www.tristrams.com. If that's not it, Google will find it for you. Rentals in September and October should be pretty reasonable. If not here, then there should be other availability if you look around. If you stay in town, you wouldn't even need to get a car unless you just wanted to explore the far flung areas of the island.

Very sad to be leaving the island at noon tomorrow.

Sheila

 

[Muushka]

Again, thank you for all the valuable information Sheila. I hope we both return soon!

 

[klynn]

Becuase of timeshares I always stay on Disney property! I love my timeshares. I bought all of them on the resell market. I get about 10 weeks a year plus bonus weeks. Looking back on the last 12 months we have stayed in:

a 2BR during July 4th week at a resort on a lake in northern Minnesota,

in September we stayed 3 weeks ON DISNEY PROPERTY. We had 2 weeks in a 2BR at Wilderness Lodge Villas and 1 week in 2BR at the Boardwalk Villas.

During Thanksgiving week we were in a 3BR in northern Minnesota.

The week of New Years we in a 3BR house (timeshare) with our own private jacuzzi and garage.

In January we were back to Disney for 2 weeks. We were in a 1BR at the Beach Club Villas for 1 week and the other week we were in a studio at the Beach Club Villas.

In April we went to Door County, Wisconsin for a week and stayed in a 2BR.

As I type this I am watching my 2 kids swim and go down the water slide! We have been at this resort for a week in a 2BR in northern Minnesota on a lake.

The end of July we will be back in northern Minnesota in a 2BR right on the the lake.

That is 10 weeks of timesharing from 12 months ago. Five of those weeks were on Disney property.

We also have a 3 week Disney trip planned for this September. We will be staying 2 weeks in a 2BR at Old Key West and 1 week in a 2BR at the Wilderness Lodge Villas.

Christmas week we will be at Old Key West.

I think timeshares are fantastic if you buy them right and know how to use them. Because of timeshares, my family has wonderful vacations at very affordable prices!

 

[donnsuz]

If you understand how timeshare works and know what you are buying it is a good value. First thing, never buy from the developer. Unless it's DVC, that's a whole other thing.

We own DVC, both Boardwalk and Beach Club. We did buy from Disney because it's not much cheaper to buy resale with their ROFR. At that time there was no closing costs when buying from them.

We also own 6 other TS at this time. (we recently sold 2). The cheapest was $500 and the maintenance fee is $325 per year. We have used it to trade into TS renting for $2500 per week.

With another TS we own we trade into DVC for 2 weeks each year to use along with our DVC points. We trade for 2 bedroom at Saratoga Springs and Old Key West. For the other resorts we can usually just get 1 bedroom.

So if you like vacations and do some research, it really can be a good deal.

How did you sell your timeshares? I've several for many years and love them. I have one that I regret. I've tried to sell it (yes, sucked into the put money down and we'll guarantee your sale...no sale) with no luck in over a year. Mine is in Phoenix in a great sight...just one I'm not using and could use the extra money. So how did you sell yours?

 

[jbthi]

The first one I sold through the resort resale office. I had to pay them a 25% commission upon sale but even then I got more for it then I could have got selling it myself. It was at South Seas Plantation on Captiva which has been sold out for years.

The second was a 100 point DVC contract at Beach Club Villas. I listed it with The Timeshare Store on Thursday afternoon and sold it Friday morning.

I think all my TS would be easy to sell except one. It was the first one I ever bought and I knew nothing about TS. It's in Gatlinburg, TN but not one of the nicer ones. I would probably have to put it on E-bay for $1 to get rid of it. I don't want to sell it because it does get pretty good trades in RCI.

I don't know anything about TS in Phoenix to have an opinion on how easy to sell it would be. Is it red time? There are so few legitimate timeshare resale companies out there. Does your resort have a resale department? They almost always take a large commission but they can sell it for so much more than you can. I know you found this out but for everyone else NEVER pay an upfront fee to a company to sell your timeshare. That's where they make their money, they don't care whether they sell your TS or not.

 

[Bearvet]

We purchased 3 weeks of timeshare in Ft. Myers Beach FL about 12 years ago. It's a small resort and the prices were very reasonable (4K, 5K and 6K) for fixed weeks during February. The maintenance fees have remained reasonable too - about $350 per unit. We always say it's the best investment we ever made!

While we love to go to our home resort, we've also been to Orlando, Cape Cod, White Mountains in NH, Myrtle Beach, Sedona AZ, Southwest CO, Williamsburg, VA and more. We've even taken friends with us and got them their own unit. We're hoping to go to Hawaii in 2 years (for our 25th anniversary) and plan to exchange for timeshares there.

We are always guaranteed 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen, etc. With a family of 5 it's wonderful to have all of that space! I agree with the poster who said it's hard to stay in hotel rooms - we're so spoiled!

The 2 things I learned from my in-laws (they have 6 weeks of timeshares) are: 1. Purchase a unit that you plan to return to and 2. Learn to use the exchange system. Sometimes we also rent out a unit and that covers the maintenence costs for all 3 units.

Timeshares aren't for everyone, but we absolutely love it!

 

[swilshire]

How did you sell your timeshares? I've several for many years and love them. I have one that I regret. I've tried to sell it (yes, sucked into the put money down and we'll guarantee your sale...no sale) with no luck in over a year. Mine is in Phoenix in a great sight...just one I'm not using and could use the extra money. So how did you sell yours?

If you go over to www.tug2.net, they have good information on how to sell. The economy seems to be hurting resales right now. I have a couple of weeks I need to list, but I may hold off until next year.

Sheila

 

[swilshire]

Again, thank you for all the valuable information Sheila. I hope we both return soon!

When I went to checkout on Friday, the office manager recognized my name from a new list she just got. It seems I've matched to a June 2009 week. Unfortunately, it's the same week as a balloon race we've been attending every year since 1986. DH wants to go to Nantucket. I'm torn. Not sure which will win out.

Sheila