Report Abuse

Good Day I learned a lot here a few years ago but decided not to pursue a purchase. Now my wife and I are itching to buy a full condominium in Florida. We live in Central Maine, and will be able to travel at will in 2-3 years. We would use the condo as a "home base" from which to do more extensive travel (carribbean, central and south america, etc.) because it's much cheaper to get to those areas from Fla vs. Maine. That being said, we will probably NOT eventually "retire" to Florida, so we're questioning buying a "full" condo and maybe getting a few weeks of time share instead. We like ocean, and like both the east and gulf coasts of Florida. We're going to Cocoa Beach in a few days to "scope out" that area for having a place. We also have a couple of nice coastal resorts here in Maine. Perhaps it would make sense for us to purchase a week or two in Fla and a week or two in coastal Maine ... So my assumptions from past research are: 1. spend extra for a "tiger trader" (My understanding though is that there really are no "tiger traders" in Coastal Maine, though they are not bad) 2. if buying just points, buy points attached to decent resort but lowest maint. fees you can find. and make sure the points are "inflation proof" I have a lot more notes but it's been 3 or more years since I "studied" this topic. Has anything changed in the last few years, "good or bad?" (this may be too vague a question) Next 3 years, we will only get away out of state during school vacations. One more disney trip at least (maybe Busch Gardens and Universal in 2018). After that we will slowly start doing Central and South America and Europe. Then Asia. At some point we'll buy a motor home and tour the country too but that's irrelevant to this discussion, I'm guessing. Any thoughts you have on furthering my education, and the question of whether to buy a condo outright vs. a few weeks of timeshare would be wonderful. Thank you!