$1 timeshares

I have looked in the marketplace area of this site and see no shortage of $1 timeshares.... is this some sort of scam??

Nope - it is the nature of the resale market. The majority of timeshares have no resale value.

If you look at any [honest] website with timeshare re-sales you will see the same thing.

Only the top resorts during high season, like Marriott, Hilton, Westin, Hyatt, and Disney, usually have resale value.

no scam at all...this article might shed more light on it although its written for sellers

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/cold_hard_facts_about_selling_your_timeshare.shtml

Even at $1, some of them could still be over priced.

As was said, even at a dollar they might be over priced. Why?? Could be high maintenance fees, a mud week at a ski resort , summer in the desert, or winters at the beach, an old converted motel etc etc

Having said that some of the best timeshares I have, I got for a dollar: even less because they came to me with the upcoming years fees already paid

There is a good one posted elsewhere on this site that if no one steps up pretty soon I'm going to take

IMSpock said:

I have looked in the marketplace area of this site and see no shortage of $1 timeshares....

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Also check out listings on E-bay and you'll see a lot more being offered for a dollar. On top of that (maybe you missed them) there have been countless threads here on TUG about various companies (PCCs, law firms, Viking Ships, charities) where owners are paying these companies to get rid of their TSs for them!

Besides the reasons that Ron P mentioned above, people's declining health is making travel difficult or impossible. Change in financial situation, same thing. Many people's travel preferences change (eg., cruises, camping and road trips, special interest groups tours, etc.).

Some are anticipating an oppressive special assessment coming on and want to drop the hot potato before it "explodes". Some feel that they can lodge in lesser digs for less money and choose that route.

There are many more reasons why people want to dump their TSs but the fact that so many want to and not as many are wanting to buy is driving the price down. I guess it's that old law of supply and demand thing.

We bought a $1 timeshare from a fellow Tugger and that included closing costs! Not just a great deal but we had been looking for this timeshare for almost a year. If and when we plan to sell we will sell it for a $1 too. Not a scam but a blessing

Having divested all my Weeks because I am no longer traveling (age by choice), if I could turn back the clock, I would once again accumulate 4 or 5 Fixed Week/Fixed Unit Weeks at Resorts for $1 in places I would go almost every year and which have reasonably low MFs. A similar program worked for me in the past.

George

IMSpock said:

I have looked in the marketplace area of this site and see no shortage of $1 timeshares.... is this some sort of scam??

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More than likely, this is not a scam. You would probably not even need to pay the transfer cost. My experience is that when someone is trying to rid themselves of a timeshare, they would probably agree to pay the transfer cost at least upfront.

Probably not a scam. Just what the market will bear. Thank goodness for Tug to be able to learn about these great deals. Just make sure it's a place that you would want to use, or that you can easily exchange, and that the maintenance fees are reasonable. Also, check to make sure there is no special assessment.

My wife and I wend to Maui several months ago and stayed at a resort we really liked. Liked it so much that we decided we'd like to get a week there. Now I know that Maui is a premier area and resorts in the Lahaina area do not come cheap, so I was prepared to spend several thousand dollars - maybe as much as 5G - to get a good one.

Well when we got home I found a 2BR unit in that same resort for just $1! Every other year, which is perfect for us. We had to pay our own closing, which was fine. But as of right now everything has cleared and we now have reservations for the last week in April next year.

In a place like Hawaii you'll find all kinds of asking prices, but if they are for the same resorts, higher price doesn't necessarily get you any more. The trick is to do your homework: know your resort, know what you want (including type of unit AND season), and be patient!

It would be nice if there was a booth at Los Cabos airport with $1 timeshares for sale!Probably would be the world's most dangerous job.While I was flying down 3 years ago to use my week I was seated with a newlywed couple on the plane.While I refrained from tell what to do or see while they were there I did warn them about the shady timeshare business down there and the reality of maintenance fees that you don't get told about at your FREE meal.I told them that if they want to go back just to rent a unit from a Owner that can't use his time there.I ran into them on the flight home and they thanked me.I told to look on the tug website if they want to go back and that by renting they are really probably helping the owner out of a jam.

I've had my $1 timeshare for over 5 years and still very pleased with it.

You do have to do your homework, though, to make sure you understand what you are getting...

I didn't even have to pay the $1 for mine. No closing/transfer costs and 1st year's usage maintenance fee free. Not a penny laid out. Prime summer week for the area.

annnnd for those coming to this thread from the newsletter looking for the RCI 1 in 3/4/5 thread:

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191054

$1 Timeshare

Most of the $1 time share are not the Red Weeks (Fixed Weeks in July or August and are the most valuable weeks), and they are no value to me and most other buyers especially for the Ocean Front Beach Resorts. If you want to buy in the winter time off summer peak seasons then go for it. I would love to buy the $1 two/ three bedroom Ocean Front Resorts in Myrtle Beach, SC or in Outer Banks, NC in July or August for the fixed weeks but this is not going to happen any time soon or may never exist. The peak season fixed weeks (July or August have high resale $$$$$ values and are more valuable than the floating weeks due the floating weeks the resorts may not available for you to make the reservation each year and someone is always ahead of you and already book that reservation in peak season. Then you may end up to make the reservation in off season.

johnnykm said:

Most of the $1 time share are not the Red Week (July or Aug), and they are no value to me and most other travelers especially in the Ocean front Beach Resorts. If you want to buy in the winter time or off summer peak seasons then go for it.

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Not always true - I have 5 Ocean Front Beach Resort deeds that I got for FREE.

$1 timeshares can be a good thing

My wife and I traded to a Whiski Jack in Whistler BC 12 years ago.
We loved that area. I have a knee replacement so could not use
a timeshare in the winter but loved in the summer when there is no rain.
So a year later I bid on another Whiski Jack on a no reserve auction and got it for $1. Of course I paid the transfer fee. It was a Westin at the bottom of
the ski hill. If I wanted to use it, the value was there.
That place was worth the $50,000 points. Raintree Vacation Club eventually divested themselves from that Westin
Whiski Jack. So I lost my resort. But a few months later I got an email
from a person representing Whiski Jack that If I paid the 1st and last
years maintenance fees on The Northstar Whiski Jack I could have the
same 50,000 points. The only catch is an easy one, that I give them
1 years notice when I no longer want the timeshare.
I still paid for that last year so still get to use the points. Another win-win.

I got lucky and really won on this deal. We love the value we get from 50,000
points in Raintree. We went to Sedona Summit this spring.
We can go to Miners Club in Park city anytime we want.
We use it for Birch Bay in Blane, Wa near Bellingham.

By the way the Northstar is the very same resort we first exchanged into
in the first place. It has been a win for $1.
Who ever knew.

johnnykm said:

Most of the $1 time share are not the Red Weeks (Fixed Weeks in July or August and are the most valuable weeks), and they are no value to me and most other buyers especially for the Ocean Front Beach Resorts. If you want to buy in the winter time off summer peak seasons then go for it. I would love to buy the $1 two/ three bedroom Ocean Front Resorts in Myrtle Beach, SC or in Outer Banks, NC in July or August for the fixed weeks but this is not going to happen any time soon or may never exist. The peak season fixed weeks (July or August have high resale $$$$$ values and are more valuable than the floating weeks due the floating weeks the resorts may not available for you to make the reservation each year and someone is always ahead of you and already book that reservation in peak season. Then you may end up to make the reservation in off season.

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My free week was fixed week 31-RED- New England White Mountains

bogey21 said:

Having divested all my Weeks because I am no longer traveling (age by choice), if I could turn back the clock, I would once again accumulate 4 or 5 Fixed Week/Fixed Unit Weeks at Resorts for $1 in places I would go almost every year and which have reasonably low MFs. A similar program worked for me in the past.

George

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George,

I note here that you are aging by choice. Can you please advise how I can opt out?

Thanks!

Dave

IMSpock said:

I have looked in the marketplace area of this site and see no shortage of $1 timeshares.... is this some sort of scam??

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No scam. In the past years I've divested myself of 3 timeshares, giving one away and giving two back to the management company on a take back program (rare in the industry). Timeshares with residual value are rare. Most are tough enough to give away let alone sell for anything more than $1.

FWIW, all three that I got rid of were red weeks. One in Branson that floated week 13-52 and two in Vegas that floated 1-52 with the exception of 2 event weeks.

IMSpock said:

I have looked in the marketplace area of this site and see no shortage of $1 timeshares.... is this some sort of scam??

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Just wondering if you acquired any of the $1.00 offerings?

DeniseM said:

Nope - it is the nature of the resale market. The majority of timeshares have no resale value.

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I'm surprised the decline has gone so far. Many years ago when I divested my 4 Marriott Weeks (believe it or not, at a profit) I patted myself on the back when I replaced them with 6 Weeks at HOA Controlled Independent Resorts for a total of something like $6,500. When the time came to divest these I think it cost me a total of about $350 to get rid of them! Note that I am not complaining as I got good usage out of these Weeks.

George

It's completely understandable that people would be (and perhaps should be) instinctively dubious about the validity of free or $1 timeshare offerings.
After all, the developers are selling the same product to the uninformed and unsuspecting for tens of thousands of dollars --- every single day.

Potential timeshare acquirers often can (and often do) simply and conveniently overlook the fact that the real cost of timeshare ownership (...obscenely overpriced developer-direct purchases completely aside) actually lies in the annual (and essentially eternal) maintenance fee obligations --- not in the initial acquisition cost.

The mantra that "maintenance fees are forever" is always worth remembering and repeating. In essence, there ain't no "free", so any and every timeshare acquisition should fit the needs of the new "grantee-to-be", whether that grantee-to-be's objective is actual usage, exchanging, becoming a landlord, or some combination thereof.

"Free timeshare" offerings aren't necessarily (or very often) a "scam", but instead merely someone who has decided and is now openly proclaiming No Mas to the ongoing, now unwelcome annual maintenance fee obligations for something which they no longer need, use, enjoy or want to continue to deal with any longer.

To me the primary reason why timeshares do not work for the vast majority of people is because you have to prepay the annual fees while not even being guaranteed a vacation. Unless you have a fixed week and fixed unit you have to plan ahead and do "something" to get what you already paid for. This can make a timeshare that even has a low fee not worth it for most people.

Timeshares previously had higher prices because they were relatively new. Now that the market has been around in mass for a few decades the flood of unwanted units has reached extreme saturation levels. This can be great value for people who can make timeshares work but the side effect has also caused annual fees to rise to cost prohibitive levels. With the ridiculous rise continuing each year many timeshares will be forced to end.