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Location --- and other considerations... (by Grace L.):

Hi--I've been a timeshare owner for several years, and have usually been able to get where I want to go if I have redweek time. It's easier,of course, if you have a high demand area with a low supply of timeshare units available there. Yours then becomes high value with lots of power to trade to where you want to go. But if you have a week in a not so valued place, you do need to plan ahead and bank your week as early as possible, and put your request in as early as possible, to increase your probability of getting what you want. I have always traded one of my units, I've never stayed there myself, but I've gone to where I want to go, by banking and requesting early. Good luck to you Grace =========================================== My advice, to take or ignore as you may see fit:

1. Considering renting before considering buying. Make SURE that you like a place before ever buying there. The Internet makes it very easy to make very big mistakes these days by buying "sight unseen" with a few keyboard strokes, particularly on eBay. You can buy a timeshare week on eBay for a dollar --- only to later discover that it's a dump, mismanaged, has high maintenance fees (but little actual maintenance), etc. Once you own there, those annual fees are your personal annual responsibility until you sell (IF you can sell...). Proceed carefully.

2. Buy ONLY where you know you would be content to visit each year. Please, don't EVER buy with a naive, unrealistic expectation that your purchase will miraculously "trade" well. Exchanging just gets more and more difficult all the time --- and the harsh truth is that junk only gets other junk in return. You're NOT going to get to Hawaii in an exchange by deposing a week in glut-riddled Orlando / Kissimmee, just for one example, even though sales people routinely and consistently lie about that indisputable fact. False, unfounded hopes with no basis in factual reality won't ever actually get you good exchanges. Hope may "spring eternal", but "hope" is at it will be...

3. If you decide to buy, buy resale --- never from a developer. You'll pay only a fraction of grossly inflated developer prices by buying in the resale market.

4. There are lots and lots of different "points" programs and currencies out there, with lots of internal working differences. There is flexibility in owning / using points, but don't ever forget that the points currency does NOT change the **ACTUAL AVAILABILITY** of weeks where you might want to go. If it's high demand, sold out and fully booked area or facility, it doesn't matter how many points you have in hand while trying to get there. Make sure that you FULLY understand the program, rules, details, restrictions, advance reservation time periods, and all other terms and conditions before buying into ANY points program, no matter whose it may be.

None of the above is simple or easy, I will readily admit. You really and truly have to spend the time and exert the effort to become a well educated timeshare consumer before buying. There is no simple, easy, "slam dunk" answer; timeshare is a complicated business. Read and learn. Then read and learn more --- before you pull out that checkbook. With no disrespect intended to RedWeek, a larger source of more knowledgeable and experienced timeshare owners than found in these (relatively new) RedWeek forums is Timeshare Users Group (tug2.net). Read and learn LOTS --- here, there and everywhere else you can find before buying. And remember, if you make a hasty, bad purchase decision with too little knowledge, you are not a "victim" --- you are a VOLUNTEER! Good luck.