posted 11-16-2004 07:37               

Lehigh's it! Charlotte Harbor appeared one day in October and then disappeared immediately.

The twin peaks that used to show up never did for 2005, and now not for 2006 either.

Getting a Gold Crown seems to be a thing of the past. Lover's Key sneaks in there occasionally, and a couple of others, but normally disappear by the next day.

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JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

posted 11-16-2004 21:17               

quote:

---

Originally posted by JLB:
...With RCI.com I began searching SW FL for each January I could, every day I was home. I began recording my searches on March 27, 2002, and have recorded every search since....

---

Jim, thanks for posting this information. :-)

I have a question that is not directly related to SW Florida. What system do you use to keep track of the data? Spreadsheet, just writing down each day the number of resorts you see on a piece of paper, keeping a list of resort names/units sizes, or something else? I'm thinking I should keep track of what I see in RCI, but haven't come up with a system.

Of course, having to search three places (Weeks, Weeks side of Points, Points side of Points) doesn't make it any simpler.

posted 11-17-2004 07:31               

Occasionally I print and Save the resorts I'm seeing, 'cuz you never know when you might need that.

For now, it's all for my personal use, and for the use of others who love SW FL.

Should I actually organize it some day, say to be presented as a Master's thesis , I would likely plot it using least squares regression, with each year's numbers on the same graph. To do that now I would have to enter nearly 3000 searches, so the likelihood of getting that Masters, given my daily timeshare time-limit, gets less likely each day.

But, if that were done it would be easy to see the declining availability.

For now, I know all I need to know, and could tell you the likely resorts available for the next two Januarys, without looking. At the very least, I would have a list of "likely available" and a list of "not likely available".

quote:

---

Originally posted by Judy321:
What system do you use to keep track of the data? Spreadsheet, just writing down each day the number of resorts you see on a piece of paper, keeping a list of resort names/units sizes, or something else? I'm thinking I should keep track of what I see in RCI, but haven't come up with a system.

---

------------------
JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

Other:Finance/Law/Real Estate/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Priceline/Hotwire/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living

posted 11-17-2004 23:17               

quote:

---

Originally posted by JLB:
...Should I actually organize it some day, say to be presented as a Master's thesis , I would likely plot it using least squares regression, with each year's numbers on the same graph. ...But, if that were done it would be easy to see the declining availability.

---

Oh, I think the decline in availability would easily achieve significance using a simple non-parametric test, such as the chi squares test of independence. That should save you some time in getting that Master's done!

posted 11-18-2004 08:52               

Lehigh is the only one that's still been available for January, '05. But, the available units and check-in dates keep changing, day-to-day, and during each day. Yesterday there were three units on 1/1. The day before four. The day before that 4 on 1/1and 1 later in the month. One day last week there were three for 1/1 and one for laterin the month early in the day and just one for 1/1 later in the day. Today there is none of 1/1, but one for later in the month.

See, I do have a hobby!

------------------
JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

posted 11-22-2004 14:27               

Now Lehigh is gone . . . again.

Looking back at today's date, two years ago, for a year out, there were 9 resorts available, a year ago today there were 9 resorts available for January '05 (a month from now), but today, for January, '06, a year from now, there are only 4.

------------------
JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

posted 11-24-2004 07:29               

"The following 8 Resorts have availability during your requested time frame."

Seven of the eight are in "NE" Florida, the last to be picked when choosing sides.

------------------
JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

posted 11-24-2004 14:45               

quote:

---

Originally posted by cdziuba:
I guess SW Florida is also popular with renters!

---

Well, they can't read, or I keep posting my ad's in the wrong place.

I won't break any rules by telling you what place I'm trying to rent out in Fl, on the Gulf side.
You would have to figure it out
...... Hint \/........Peter
\/

posted 11-24-2004 15:09               

quote:

---

Originally posted by cdziuba:
I guess SW Florida is also popular with renters!

---

------------------
JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

posted 12-02-2004 06:51               

FTR, that search began 1/1/04, and I have done it at least once a day every day we've been home since.

So, stuff, settle-for type, still shows up, that does not get snagged by an ongoing search, if you are committed enough to do the work.

------------------
JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

posted 12-05-2004 15:56               

For Jan. '05 (next month), there are still 8 "Resorts on the Beach". Seven are in NE FL and one is in the Panhandle.

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JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

posted 12-07-2004 06:50               

Don't blink.

------------------
JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

posted 12-07-2004 08:48            

quote:

---

Originally posted by JLB:
...So, stuff, settle-for type, still shows up, that does not get snagged by an ongoing search, if you are committed enough to do the work.

---

Jim - Just out of curiousity, why did you opt for daily searches rather than an ongoing search?

posted 12-07-2004 09:41               

Since RCI.com, we have gotten everything we've wanted, eventually.

Since RCI.com we have owned as many as six weeks and none have gone unused.

This is a very old discussion, having been conducted many times. Some folks have confidence in ongoing searches and some not.

We do not.

Each time we talk to a VG they say something that is not true and they sometimes say they cannot see stuff I can. We have seen some pretty strange things with the computers, which never could be explained by anyone at RCI.

Nor do we like to pay for something, upfront, that we may never get, just for the right to shop.

I do not know what I would do with the first of hour of each day if I did not do my searches and drink my coffee.

What do you do with yours?

The only way to learn more about what your week(s) are worth, trade-wise, is to see everything they pull in a search. I have become familiar with the resorts in our favorite areas by seeing them in print so many times. If you never do that, you will be forever clueless, perhaps asking questions on Internet forums that you could have answered for yourself many years earlier.

If you can search yourself, even if there were no problems doing it another way, why not?

In a recent interview, a member of the British Royal family said they are driven to official functions, but like to drive everywhere else themselves.

How many here have said how much they love the thrill of the hunt? There is no thrill if someone else does the hunting.

If they did not want us to use it, it would not be there.

Edit: Oh yeah, I could not do my study, and would have not known how bad availability has become, if I did not do my daily searches.

And, sometimes they come in handy when dealing with RCI. Here is a snippet from a message I sent to another TUGger almost three years ago, when we had a trading power issue:

"I put
> my
> > "study" in the mail today--139 pages of before and after searches!"

That's about it.
- - - - - -
Carol:

Yes, I added "Resorts on the Beach" to my searches earlier this year, to figure out where folks are going next. And, Yes, after the Keys and SW, Sarasota appears to be the next area preferred.

IMO, it seems to be following the economics of Florida. SW has priced itself out of the range of many, and folks are now settling for further north. I have followed SW Florida since the 1970s and the price of coastal property for almost 15 years.

------------------
JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

Other:Finance/Law/Real Estate/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Priceline/Hotwire/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living

posted 12-07-2004 09:52               

What we have for 2006 took a year and I do not believe it could have been done with ongoing searches. The odds are just infinitely against it.

------------------
JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

Other:Finance/Law/Real Estate/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Priceline/Hotwire/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living

posted 12-07-2004 13:04               

FWIW, I've snagged stuff in ongoing searches that I've thrown back, then for curiousity tried searching for it immediately and throughout the balance of that day and the following morning. Most of the time, it's not come online - to the next in the queue, I guess.

posted 12-07-2004 14:25               

I'm just stating what works for us, and why.

Email me to continue the discussion.

Bev:

It may not be that it was snapped up by another ongoing search, or it may have been.

You may have noticed recently that I have been trying to ascertain what happens when two people are looking at the same unit online, and it is the only unit available, and one moves to the Hold or Confirm page, what does the other see or what message do they get if they then try to put it on Hold or Confirm it.

I have worked with two VGs and some strange stuff does happen. First, if a member is looking at an only-available unit and has moved to the Hold or Confirm page, a VG cannot see it. The VG sees it immediately when the member logs out(in my case) but not before. Me just moving off the Hold page did not make it visible.

Likewise, if a VG is looking at an only-available unit, a member cannot see it online. When the VG released it I could not see it immediately. I could not see it until I logged out, logged back in, and did a new search.

So some strange things do happen, and perhaps releasing something captured by an ongoing search creates a similar delay in viewing online.

Anyway, it's nice to see more than me on this thread, even if the discussion isn't about lack of availability in SW Florida in January..

quote:

---

Originally posted by pbenham:
I've been "observing" this bbs for just over a year now and somehow I've managed to miss this trick. You really think I'm better off stopping my ongoing search that I've initiated and start checking inventory daily? I must admit that I do miss seeing which inventory I can pull (since I only have the one week banked)...Are there certain times/days of the week that are better than others to search on RCI's website?

---

------------------
JLB

Credentials: >15 years timesharing/>75 exchanges/multiple weeks/long-time independent TUG contributor/Branson-Table Rock Lake boat rides

Areas of Knowledge and Interest:
Timesharing:Buying/Selling/Renting/Donating/Exchanging/Searching/Resort Management/Newbies/Florida(>30years)/Kauai/SOCAL/Colorado/Missouri/Arkansas/ Iowa/Ohio/Florida

Other:Finance/Law/Real Estate/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Priceline/Hotwire/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living