Consumer Reports Timeshares Mar 2016 p49 [merged]

They claim the breakeven point in renting vs buying occurs at the end of the thirteenth year.

Article biased toward buying from the Developer rather than "used".

TUG not even mentioned only Redweek for rentals.

Sterling

Time to organize a bunch of letters to the editor? Or is the article online where we can post comments?

Kurt

Kauai Kid said:

They claim the breakeven point in renting vs buying occurs at the end of the thirteenth year.

Article biased toward buying from the Developer rather than "used".

TUG not even mentioned only Redweek for rentals.

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I haven't seen the article, apparently inadequately researched, but I'm already curious --- does the article even acknowledge the existence of the resale market and its' drastically lower "buy in" cost, or does it instead just take the ARDA approach of consistently and completely failing to acknowledge that a resale market even exists?

I have not received this edition.

Tuggers let the author know what you think, here is the link:

http://www.consumerreports.org/personal-finance/is-a-timeshare-vacation-a-good-value

Does anyone know which resort this is in the picture?

http://www.consumerreports.org/travel/consider-a-secondhand-timeshare-for-sale

presley said:

Does anyone know which resort this is in the picture?

http://www.consumerreports.org/travel/consider-a-secondhand-timeshare-for-sale

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The article was displayed; but not the resort picture. The article talked about Disney Vacation

This article in my opinion is going to hurt developers. Only time will tell. CR have millions upon millions of educated readers,city, state, federal government readers and stock share owners.

Even worse, they endorsed the Timeshare Exit Team…

It does talk about Redweek, and "slash your costs on the secondhand market," but it promotes title insurance for resales.

Basically, you could tell the writer knew nothing about timeshares, and got his info. from people who were not going to promote the resale market.

theo said:

I haven't yet seen the article, seemingly inadequately researched, but I'm already curious --- does the article even acknowledge the existence of the resale market and its' drastically lower "buy in" prices, or does it instead just take the ARDA approach of consistent and complete lack of acknowledgement of any resale market)?

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The funny thing is that they mention the salvage value "if someone wanted out and could find a resale buyer," but failed to give consideration to starting out as a resale buyer (in the breakeven article).

Yup. Un- or at best little educated writer. Calling the resale market, 'second hand' is a tipoff. ALL timeshares are used, hence second hand- even those bought from the developer.

I dropped my CR subscription some years ago, as I simply don't but nearly as much 'stuff' as I used to. When it comes time for a major purchase, there are plenty of buying guides around.

Endorsing an upfront fee timeshare disposal outfit shows where this writer got misinformed.

Just what's needed. More misinformation.

Jim

DeniseM said:

Even worse, they endorsed the Timeshare Exit Team…

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Wow! Where does TSET get all these ringing endorsements?

I saw no mention of said company in the article..perhaps it was just a google ad inserted somewhere?

Once I got smart and sold my 4 Developer Weeks (at a small profit I might add) I minimized cost of the 20-25 Weeks I bought (and sold or otherwise disposed of) over the years. My parameters were (1) buy resale; (2) pay $1,000 or less for the Week; (3) MF of $500 or less; (4) buy only Fixed Week, Fixed Unit in places where I would use them most of the time; and (5) never requested estoppels but rather did my own Due Diligence. I got tons of use out of these Weeks and like most I lost a few bucks when I divested them but because of their purchase prices it wasn't much.

George

Just read the article. No mention of TSET or Reedweek or TUG. Is it being edited as the author gets corrected?

comicbookman said:

Just read the article. No mention of TSET or Reedweek or TUG. Is it being edited as the author gets corrected?

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In the "second-hand" article, he quoted Randy Conrads of Redweek.

presley said:

Does anyone know which resort this is in the picture?

http://www.consumerreports.org/travel/consider-a-secondhand-timeshare-for-sale

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It says
"Photo: Disney Vacation Club, Walt Disney World Resort Hotels"
So it's clearly one of the Disney ones.

comicbookman said:

Just read the article. No mention of TSET or Reedweek or TUG. Is it being edited as the author gets corrected?

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Will, this article appear in the final printed version of CR for the Month of March 2016?

pedro47 said:

Will, this article appear in the final printed version of CR for the Month of March 2016?

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I am referring to the hard copy of the article in the magazine. The online version is not the same. I received the magazine yesterday.

DeniseM said:

I am referring to the hard copy of the article in the magazine. The online version is not the same. I received the magazine yesterday.

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Thanks, we are on vacation and I did not bring my passwod to login to CR.

Consumer Reports Timeshare Article

Moved to Buying, Selling, Renting.

VegasBella said:

It says
"Photo: Disney Vacation Club, Walt Disney World Resort Hotels"
So it's clearly one of the Disney ones.

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Humorously, those are actually themed Port Orleans rooms (which is not actually a DVC resort at all).

I just posted about this in the lounge. I will copy and paste to here.

Consumer Reports Timeshare Article
TIMESHARES COME OF AGE

MARCH 2016 ISSUE

Just going through my magazine and there is a positive article regarding time sharing and how it is a "savvy vacation strategy".

Medium age of new owners is 39, with half having children. Medium age of all owners is 51.

I do not subscribe to the online edition, so I can't give you a link.

The one thing that always annoys me about these articles is that they always describe fixed weeks as being nonexchangeable, which of course, is not true.

The article also shows how ownership is a better value over time as compared with vacationing every year in hotels and so forth.

They mention how to not buy on impulse and to sleep on it, etc. They also talk about rescission periods.

They also have a section about slashing costs in the resale market. and mention renting as well.

They also mention how when it is time to get rid of them not to expect your money back, that the enjoyment was from the usage. They do mention Timeshare Exit team, but explain the costs involved with that.

I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting to read about the pitfalls of timeshares and how to stay away from them, but this article was not like that at all.

Overall a pretty good article.

I do agree- they, of course, should have mentioned TUG.

DeniseM said:

Even worse, they endorsed the Timeshare Exit Team…

It does talk about Redweek, and "slash your costs on the secondhand market," but it promotes title insurance for resales.

Basically, you could tell the writer knew nothing about timeshares, and got his info. from people who were not going to promote the resale market.

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I didn't get the impression they were endorsing Timeshare Exit Team.

pedro47 said:

Will, this article appear in the final printed version of CR for the Month of March 2016?

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Yes- It is in the magazine.