Exchanging rights when buying a resale

My husband and I are very serious about buying a resale. My question, what do kind of resale do we need to target/look out for if we want the availablity of exchanging? I doubt we want to go to the same place every year, as we have 3 small children. Just want to gain a little more knowledge before we jump into something we know very little about.

Thanks for the help! Erin

You might be better off just renting a unit from an owner without obligating yourself to a lifetime of ever increasing maintenance fees and assessments. Read through the forums and you will see many people stuck with their timeshares wanting to just dump them to get out from under their high fees. You can rent a unit for less than the owner pays in maintenance fees. Do your homework before you sign on the dotted line.

Also, buying for the sake of exchanging is rarely a good idea. If you want to go to different places each year, then I would recommend just renting from existing owners. That way, you do not have to pay exchange fees (anywhere from $100-$250 depending on the exchange company). The "big two" in the exchange field (RCI & II) also charge an annual membership fee.

Then figure in the other travel-related expenses. You say you have three small children. For one thing, you are probably restricted to school schedules for travel. Secondly, would you want to buy a place that is within a day's driving distance from home? With a family of five, airfare is going to be costly.

If you do decide to buy something, remember that there are cheap resales all over the place. Some owners are listing their units for free and even offering to pay the following year's maintenance fees. The flip side, of course, is that it will be equally difficult to give away once you have had enough of it or if you find that the maintenance fees are getting out of hand.

Anyway, do lots of research and soul-searching about your travel needs now and 5, 10 years down the road before jumping at any timeshare deal.