Timeshares
 

NEVER buy a timeshare for THOUSANDS of dollars from a Timeshare presentation. There are a lot of people that paid THOUSANDS and have now used them and paid them off and no longer want or use them. Instead, you can buy those same timeshares for as low as $1.00 from ebay. We bought a few for $1.00 several years ago, near Disney. We signed up with Interval International to trade our weeks. We stayed at our timeshare, traded for Las Vegas, Mexico and Paris. Once we moved to Florida, we didn't really need them anymore so we sold them for $2.00 each - we doubled our money...lol. Check some out on ebay. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...acat=0&_sop=15 You're welcome!

People who think 2000 a week is ok might think that 3000 is highway robbery

You need to understand it to enjoy it.
 

We have enjoyed our timeshare, we have traveled all over the country. We rarely stay in the unit we purchased, we exchange to other locations. That is the intent of the concept. They also offer special deals ("Bonus weeks") for an incredibly low fee and we have used those extensively. Everything we were told at the time of purchase was accurate. Except, there is no resale value. When you are done using it you need to execute a Quit Claim Deed and give it back.

It is not always possible to give it back. The timeshare company doesn't need to accept a quit claim deed.

They might think it is highway robbery, but what can they do about it?

Yes and yes.

I've owned a 1 bedroom unit in Kissimmee for 40 years. I paid $3000 for it and my maintenance dues have risen from $400 to just under $600. I've traded it for a weeks in Europe, Vermont, and I traded for a week in Hawaii for our honeymoon, but mostly we've used the week at our home resort because my family liked amusement parks.

Now that we own a home in The Villages, we may rejoin the trading organization and start using the week for vacations in other areas.

If someone buys a timeshare as an investment property, they will be sorely disappointed. Used timeshares are almost impossible to sell, some of them you can't even give away. If on the other hand you find one at a reasonable price in a location that you want to visit on a regular basis it can be a good purchase.

Wondering..................how many years have you owned and what was your estimated annual percentage increase for maint fees??? (increasing maint fees is the biggest complain)

I who says a Timeshare is not a great investment. :pepper2:

Interesting Ebay site.

far too much. we came from the industry and these type of timeshares are nothing but an expense and hassle most days of the week. Sort of like owning a boat (1st and last day) .

With that said, we own 5 BUT they are paid for when we get them. This is a unique deal you buy the unit cash you have maintenence fee every year, and it's yours (and your kids etc) forever (or until the building no longer exists) . Here's the killer part - the units average about $8200 each. I don't have to reserve - just show up, I have an option to trade off for other resorts, however we chose not to. RCI can be a problem at times. We've already made our initial investment back.

Why not buy used
 

You can spend $50 if you want I’ll go to redweek and buy someone’s for cheap

That's another good site.

:coolsmiley:

I bought at Aruba Divi Village in 1988. They had their own timeshare system; the contract was for 40 weeks. I believe I paid just under 5K for a studio unit. At the time Divi had about 7 or 8 locations throughout the Caribbean. They hadn't broken ground yet on my building and then a few years later they declared bankruptcy, but remained in business. I used Divi to visit Barbados and also the Bahamas (two times) where they had their own 18 hole golf course.

If we don't use our scheduled week, we are not required to pay the yearly maintenance fee as long as we notify them in advance. We've used the week in Cabo (3x's), Arizona, Hawaii (2 weeks), Dominican Republic, and Aruba numerous times now. Once the contract is up, the maintenance fee is gone. I think we have 8 or 9 weeks left that we can use.

Over 20 years ago we bought a 2-bedroom week at Hilton Head for $2500 through Marriott's resale office. We have never been there. We just bought it to be Marriott Vacation Club owners. We go to Marriott's Grande Vista in Orlando every year and love it. Even with the maintenance fees, it is still a good deal, and owners often get getaways and other good discounted stays. Our timeshare works for us...

I remember when they sold Hilton Head timeshares and charged a huge premium for the week of the Heritage golf tournament. But, then they changed the date of the tournament.

Timeshares
 

We have 2 timeshares that are weeks and 1 that is points that can be converted to numerous nights or units. We can also move the 2 weeks into the points program and convert to points annually. Have been to many places we wouldn't have gone to without the timeshares. We got pretty good deals on them when we purchased them, mostly 20 years ago. Now they would cost too much.

Question...................do you have maint fees???..............if so, how have the annual increases been???

Very true....................that's the difference between a silver, a gold, a platinum purchase.
Priority as to when you can book..

Have one and enjoy getting a 4 star ski accommodation. Used it for 20 years Starting to loose enjoyment as it is getting harder to use good ski properties. Full disclosure we do not have title to the ski property.

Have one and love it!!!

Sorry, late replying to this thread.

We have owned DVC for at least 15 years and are very happy with it. We enjoy using it ourselves plus we often host family.

The initial investment was high but spread out over the years it isn't bad at all. Adding in annual maintenance fees then calculating the cost I figure I'm saving well over 50% off the cost of the room.

For example, I calculate that we are paying the equivalent of $2,500 total for a week in a two-bedroom villa. For the same week, a hotel room (single room, no sofa, no kitchen) is going for $850 per night and another site lists a price of $2,200/night for the two-bedroom. Without DVC there is no way we would be staying at that particular resort, and probably not on Disney property at all.

Over the last six years our maintenance fees have increased about 5% per year. The increases have not been uniform: prior to COVID they were about 3%, in 202 they actually decreased, and in the two years since COVID the increases have averaged 10%.

For us, DVC is a very good value. If we stopped enjoying Disney the value would plummet. We *might* be able to find more affordable accommodations but not with the location and amenities (room size) that we have now. Maintenance fees increase most years but so does the price of renting a room.

I've rented many times at Westgate and did enjoy it, especially when the kids were young. Never understood why anyone would buy one when a very nice unit could be rented for about $150 per night. I never had any problem getting a unit, even over Christmas and New years.

Just curious, why not rent at the locations you want to visit? There are literally thousands of rentals both the US and Europe. No purchase cost, no yearly maintenance fees, just a daily fee to rent.

Some people are intimidated by high pressure sales people, that's why.

You can "buy" timeshares on eBay for $1 or slightly more. That shows you how undesirable many of them are to own. You cannot compare a timeshare to owning a condo or home. The timeshare you don't really own anything except a contract to pay maintenance fees every year.

Because you can rent the same place for a fraction of the cost.

$150 per day X7 X10=$10,500. So for less than 11 grand you can have the same experience.

Where can you rent a two-bedroom apartment in a destination location for $150/day? Most hotels I've stayed at lately charge more than that for a single room.

I was not talking about that type of stay.

At a nice place, resort style, quality......Here is the Marriott Grand in Hilton Head:

Two bed room, Kitchen, Living room: $430 to $640 per night.

Like both of ours until the maintenance fees went out of site. Sold them privately for a song years ago.
It is amazing that I still get phone calls from those Timeshare companies that have popped up all over wanting you to sell yours to them. Must be big money in resales.

Question: Does a timeshare owner have any control over the increase in the maintenance fees, or is the sky the limit?

We have a week in Aruba in December and we love it. We have owned it for 6 years and enjoy just going and sitting on the beach. Also the food in Aruba is excellent.

We’ve owned a total of 12 over the years all in Aruba we are now down to 3 and plan on keeping them. For us they’ve been great and don’t regret owning them.

Depends.

Some have annual inflation limits.

Most, once sold out, are run/controlled by an owner committee.
Maint Fees go right back into the property..............there is no profit component.

Since units are sold "by the week".......it's easy for the site can have 5,000, 6,000, 8,000 owners..............so the committee could have a ton of whiners and headaches.

They operate like mini CDD's.

The owner committee and inflation limits sound fine, if they are mandated in the original timeshare contract. But, if not, an original buyer is basically signing a blank check to the developer for future assessments and maintenance fee increases. I think that is why some owners actually need to pay a law firm to get rid of their timeshare.

It's called Due Diligence.

Too much law firm advertising.

Like buying into TV (or any real estate), read all documents, understand restrictions, learn about fees.....and buy if you like.
(& no, it's really not high pressure)

Look at real examples.............look at many posters on this site......buying and selling and happy.

Search online through Airbnb or Westgate.com. or any other time share company, they are always renting their inventory of units.

I have a friend that has one. She has to share it with her ex-husband. My parents had one, but at some point you get too old to use it, but you still have maintenance fees, or you have to get rid of it.

Life changes. People like to believe it never will. For that reason, I will avoid anything that looks like a time share.

Westgate Flamingo Bay in Las Vegas, middle of May (earliest I can find), two bedroom with a kitchen, $487/night.

Airbnb, Honolulu, middle of May (to compare to Westgate), $400/night and up.