Timeshares

I am not a timeshare person.

I feel like the internet and vacation rentals online have killed that business model. I do not understand the cost of the timeshares and the lack of freedom.

I know someone who has one and i think it is because her parents have one. It does 'force' them to go on vacation. She likes it so much better than a typical hotel room.

I would never buy a timeshare and my husband and I own investment properties.

It would be cheaper in the long run to look into renting through homeaway.com or VRBO.com. You can rent apartments, houses condos, etc. for less then hotels and you will find places all over the world.

You can buy timeshares on ebay, for half the price than going thru the terribly long sales pitches.

I prefer to pay for whatever vacation we decide on. This way we don't have to worry about maintenance fees doubling, not getting the room we want, not having to book way in advance, or any other nightmare you hear about with timeshares.

We owned a timeshare and it was torture. We were never able to use it or trade it. Actually joined a class action law suit and were let out of our contract after paying $234 a month for 4 years. And that wasn't including the $1k per year maintenance fees. Talk about a hard lesson to learn.

We vacation at least one week per year, normally two and several weekends. But still, we will never own a timeshare again. We spend less money doing things the way we do now than we would simply by paying the maintenance fees. My parents own a Marriott time share in Orlando, and we actually use that property every few years, but it's expensive. It's been paid off for about 10 years now, but they owe $1,200 every January for maintenance fees. I can stay at the same resort for a week for $700 in a 2-bedroom unit. So if we go twice, we are spending as much as they do. If we go once we are spending less...if we don't go at all, we didn't waste the money.

Basically, my take is don't believe the hype. It's NOT worth it.

A time share is a great way to loose a lot of money. It isn't an investment. The definition of an investment is something that is expected to return you more money then you outlay. With very few exceptions you can't resell them and recoop all your money. You're way better off paying for a nice hotel.

First you buy into one (large upfront costs) then there are annual maintenance fees. See Hell on Wheels last paragraph they bought theirs for $15K but whoever they bought it from paid approx $50K which means they took a $35K loss before paying the fees to sell the property.

So let's say you pay $500 a year in maintenance fees and you could stay in a pretty nice hotel / condo for $1,500 a week maybe more maybe less. That is $1,000 a year more than your maintenance fee. It would take at least 15 year of vacationing at your time share to break even if you paid $15K for it on the secondary market.

This was a huge money pit for the person I know who bought one. They paid a lot for it, and over about 8 years, the company tripled the maintenance fees. They were paying as much in annual maintenance fees as it would cost to stay in a hotel for a week. And that was after paying thousands of dollars to purchase the timeshare. They tried to get out of it by selling it and no one would buy it for any price. It was a disaster for them.

Knowing my friends experience, I will never go near one.

I prefer to use VRBO. Ypu can rent a condo for a week on a beach to relax with no long term strings attached.

the horror stories abound, and in far greater number than the raves.
i suggest going to a site like tripadvisor and just paying for your vacation rental.
khairete
S.

We own a deeded timeshare in Kauai. Personally, I would never buy a timeshare where you did not receive a deed to the property. Do not ever buy "points". Here's my logic on that. We bought our timeshare several years ago. We own a physical piece of the property, 1/52 of a 2-bedroom condo on the beach. 51 other families own this property with us, and any of us can buy or sell whenever we want. We pay property taxes on it, and the company that manages the property sends out the yearly statement showing what we owe for the maintenance. Shortly after we bought the property, the then-management company filed for bankruptcy. Was this our problem? No, it was not, because we are deeded owners. There were people who had converted their deeds into points, and those people were screwed, and were left with nothing. Those of us who held a deed continued to own our little piece of the property, and when a new management company bought the property, we carried on as usual. So that's my first bit of advice. Never buy points.

That being said, we don't go to Kauai every year. We would love to, but it doesn't always happen. You can do one of two things: join an organization like RCI, where you can exchange your week for a week anywhere else in the world (on a property where someone else has banked their week), OR you can rent your week to a private party (usually via a realtor who specializes in such things). We have done it both ways. My parents used my week to go to England - they went on a canal boat up a beautiful river there (who knew you could do such a thing on a timeshare exchange?). This past year, we rented our week in Kauai to another family, and essentially the rent paid for our yearly maintenance and property tax fees.

My last bit of advice is never to buy a timeshare from the property itself. You'll pay an outrageous sum of money. Instead, look at realtors who specialize in reselling timeshares. Our timeshare sells for around $50K if you buy it from the property. We bought it for $15K on the resale market. We aren't worried about reselling it if we ever want or need to. The price has remained consistent for years. We paid cash for ours (well, in escrow, obviously, we didn't just hand someone a stack of cash for it). I wouldn't recommend financing it.

I hope that helps!

Friends bought a timeshare and it has been nothing but trouble. Either they can't use it for the time or location they want or they can't sell weeks to people and it's been a total albatross. It's been like a second small mortgage.

If you want to relax, there are plenty of realty companies that rent houses and condos all over the place. We even rented apartments in cities like Dublin for our stay there, and routinely rent homes at the beach or lake, wherever we decide to go that year. I prefer it over being required to use a timeshare. IMO, read the fine print!

My wife and I have used VRBO. People rent out their own properties for typical 5 to 7 days at a time. We have done it several times and love it. It is nearly always more affordable than any hotel plus you have a kitchen to make your own food.

Don't do it! I have heard nothing but complaints from friends..and friends of friends who have timeshares. They can never get the timeshare for the time they want. They want to sell their timeshare but no one will buy.

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer but I haven't heard any good news about them. Maybe you might get some good selling points from someone on here.

Rarely do I say "never" - but I would *never* invest in a timeshare.

We love VRBO too, and we used Halldis apartments in Europe.

I don't want to be locked into maintenance fees, or certain companies, or certain locations. And I've heard they can be tough to sell.

And not to cast further aspersions, but these folks made (and lost a chunk of) their fortune off timeshares: http://www.magpictures.com/thequeenofversailles/ (this is not flattering).

I am a timeshare owner. Loved going to it each year with the kids. But now the kids are grown and I would prefer to travel as I wish.

The purchase price is usual fine, after you let them decrease it over and over again by saying you just love it but can't afford it. The reason the purchase price can be as low as almost nothing is that the maintenance fees are the real money pot for the timeshare. You pay the fees annually, whether you use the timeshare or not. And if you want to get rid of the timeshare, it can be a living hell. Many owners just walk away, with a bad mark on their credit for non-payment. Most timeshares will rent you a unit for a reasonable price. I recommend that instead. And don't go to the sales pitch unless you have nerves of steel, because the sales folk are trained to sell, sell, sell. All my best!

If you like to vacation in different spots, I would recommend the growing, popular website VRBO.....Vacation Rental By Owner.

Timeshare can be tricky to master how to use. It takes a lot of advance planning and it's easy to rent prime location timeshares, like ocean front Maui, but probably not Oklahoma.

There are also a lot of time shares available on the resale market, which can be a good deal.

Timeshare differ between companies, Westin versus Marriott, so definitely do a little research about the companies and what they offer, etc. We have a Westin Time Share, ocean front Maui. We have gifted our weeks to charities for auction and twice to couples as wedding gifts, when we cannot use them. We love the beds at Westin...they are the best. We accumulate points with the timeshare and use them to stay in hotels for non-vacation travel. For instance, we are staying for 'free' in Edmonton, Alberta in a couple of weeks for a dance competition.

If you're not easily persuaded, you could plan ahead and attend a Time Share sales pitch and receive lots of freebies and get a good idea from one of those what the current costs are, and probably even a free weekend, by agreeing to their 90 minute spiel. We've done that in Mexico and Sedona, AZ and walked out with a slew of incentives, and did not purchase anything, like free dinners, free parasailing, free drinks, free cabs, free blankets, tequila, etc.

We have a timeshare in Maui that we can use as an efficiency apartment every year or a one bedroom apartment every other year. We don't hate it, but probably wouldn't buy into it if we had it to do over again. We keep it because we love going to Maui and we can stay in a nice place that isn't a hotel. I don't know that we necessarily save money other than we don't eat out as much because we have a kitchen.

We can trade our timeshare and use our week somewhere else. We did that when we went to Disney World and had a HORRIBLE experience. We probably won't ever do it again.

We have sold our week to friends who want to go to Maui. It makes us a little more popular with our friends, but we don't make money off those sales.

My aunt and uncle and my cousins have used vacation rental companies. They have had great experiences without the annual fee of a timeshare.

If I were you, I would avoid a timeshare.

Timeshares are an extreme buyer beware. Most advice is to stay away. However, I once worked with a woman that loved hers. I think hers was based in Florida because she talked about me taking my kids to Disney. But she had also been to tropical places. Otherwise, there are mostly complaints that the location is not available, or you cannot get the time you have planned,and of course having to pay the annual or monthly fee regardless of whether you actually get to use it. And then trying to get rid ot it.....horror stories.
On the other side, a woman I work with now goes on vacation to different places and rents a condo for a week. She somehow connected to a guy that owns condos in various states and always contacts him when she plans her vacations. And I have heard really great things about vacation rentals by owner. Most of the time the owners frequently use these places and keep them in top shape.

I have only heard horror stories about the high pressure sales and then the purchaser not getting what was promised or weeks that were promised.

No way would I invest in that concept.

I LOVE using my grandmas timeshare. That being said, it costs me about $300 for a week at a nice resort.

However, I would NEVER purchase one myself. I have been through many timeshare presentations, and between the small fortune it costs to get one,the annual fees/maintenance fees, and the exchange fee, it would take decades to make it really pay for itself. Plus, you don't always get where you want when you want and some timeshares are not all that nice. One we stayed in, the carpet was so dirty, our socks were black if we didn't wear shoes. Gross!!

Maybe I am missing something, but I just don't see it. Like I said, I enjoy using my grandmas. However, she pays the annual fee and purchased them 20-30 years ago.

I've bought into 2 timeshares in the last 20 years. My ex and I bought one together 15 years ago. We used it once. Before that I bought into one and my brother used it once. I know of no one that has used their timeshare. I found using them to require using them for a specific destinition at a certain time difficult. My daughter and her fiancé used one of them for a trip to Las Vegas and saw non share possibilities that cost less than what I paid to use the time share. I turned them both into just get rid of the yearly operating fees.

I've used a travel site to find and make reservations. I paid no more than I would've paid for a time share reservation.

My friends owns 3 time shares and loves it. She bought hers re-sale so she was able to negotiate the price. I believe she paid about two thousand for each of them.

She also bought in a location she never intends to visit. She just trades her weeks for destinations and weeks that she desires.

It is my understanding that when you buy a time share, you are part of a trading company. She regularly stays at Marriott timeshares even though that is not what she purchased. Also, when she goes on her Caribbean vacations she said the other people have paid $20,000 + for their times shares yet she paid $2000.

She thinks it is well worth it and I admit the pics I have seen of the resorts she stays in do not compare to even the nicest hotel rooms.

We have Trendwest. You don't buy a location, you buy credits. They have resorts across the country and in Hawaii, Canada and a few other further locations. You use your credits to book the location you want. Each year, you get more credits, depending on how many credits you buy. It's similar to RCI and you can use Trendwest at RCI resorts. When you sign up, you decide how many annual credits you want to purchase. You put down a down payment and then pay monthly until you are paid in full. After that, all you pay are quarterly maintenance dues which are reasonable.

The only downside is it can be very hard to get a reservation in the most popular locations and you have to book a 5 day stay to make a reservation too far in advance. They keep selling the credits, but not building more resorts so each year it gets harder and harder.

My in-laws own 2 weeks and my mom owns 1. I think it was something popular to buy in the 80s. They own through RCI and all 3 weeks are on the beach in FL. All three are 2 bed/2 bath/kitchen. RCI color codes locations/weeks. Red weeks are the best (most desirable, best trades). All three weeks are red weeks (I'm pretty sure all FL beach locations are red. Vail in September would not be red--it would be blue or white).

My mom's is on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. She never uses it--always trades it. She's traded it all over the world: Vail, Spain, Dominincan Republic, CA wine country, Hawaii, Orlando, Myrtle Beach, TN mountains, St. Maarten, etc. My in-laws have 2 weeks on Sanibel Island. They ALWAYS use theirs (we use it with them).

You pay a purchase price up front (the ones on Sanibel would currently be $30k+--depends on the week) and then you pay an annual maintenance fee. My in-laws paid (I think) around $5k and $8k back in the 80s for their wees. Maintenance is around $1000/yr (totally dependent on where you own). So, we go to Sanibel for 2 weeks for about $2000/year. They've rented the weeks before and get about $2500/week (2 bed/2 bath/kitchen/laundry ON the beach).

They both own great units in great areas, so they're easy trades. If you own a crappy week in a crappy location, you may have trouble trading it for something.

I have a Hilton timeshare. Love it. Marriott is another good one. You buy points. We bought the points every other year. We can use the points anytime during the year. With good planning I can used tweet out a three weeks every year. Works well for us but that because is Hilton. Very different from the old time timeshares.

Two of my friends actually do this. They pay something like $150 per month and then get a couple of weeks each year with the house to themselves. The one couple go to Galveston. If they just went and paid for 2 weeks in this condo style house with it's own pool, set up completely with dishes, laundry supplies, bedding, etc...and food is included it would cost a few thousand all at once. But since there are many couples that pay that $100 per month the person who owns the house is doing really well and they treat the people who've bought into their property very well. When my friend calls to set their food order the caregiver always gets it exactly right. The food is fresh, high quality, and very very good.

She says it's the best investment they've ever made.

Another friend does this but their resort with cabins is $126 per month. They go a couple of weeks per year too. Really similar but theirs doesn't include as much food and extras.

They've both been happy. The fees are taken care of, food is supplied, and they just go, unpack, and make themselves at home.

We have one. Ours is on Hilton Head Island. We love it. We can go there or go anywhere else through RCI. We have been to the Dominican Republic, Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, French Lick, Indiana, Orlando.

We are trying to decide if we are going to use it this year or bank for next year.

My dad has his through Hilton timeshares. His base is in Orlando, FL. He is going to use his in Spain and Portugal this year.

I think it is just your personal choice.

We bought an RCI vacation plan. We like it. But like others have said just keep repeating over and over to the high pressure sales that you can't afford it. We paid ours of and now have a once a year maintenance fee. We can go all over the world and nice resorts are between $200 & $300 per week depending on 1,2,3 bedroom. The only down side is they call us regularly trying to get us to upgrade and do cruises etc