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Just When You Thought Prices Couldn't Go Lower

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bogey21

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I was looking at Branson Weeks on Ebay. There must have been 35 listed at $1 with no bids. A number of them said "Seller will pay closing costs". So for $1 and next year's MF you can own a decent Branson Week.

George
 

Jennie

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I recently picked up a 2 bedroom lock-off unit at the Ft. Lauderdale Beach Resort--Week 9, high floor with beautiful ocean and city views, for $1.00. I was the only bidder.

Last March, a similar Week 6 unit at this resort was on Ebay and 9 "unique" bidders were "fighting" over it. I sniped it for $1720. and felt I had gotten a great bargain.

We bought fixed Weeks 7 and 8 (lock-offs) at this resort in 2003 from a resale company and paid $3500. per week plus an $1100. Special Assessment per week a couple of years later.

I have not included the approximate $500. per week closing costs in the above figures.

So, altogether we have spent around $10,000. to acquire four prime Feb.-March weeks at a resort we love and look forward to using every year. If we choose to rent out the studio lock-off, and stay in the huge one bedroom half, our net cost for maintenance fees will be about $100. per week each year. Currently we bring 92 year old Mom with us. Because of the lock-off, she is free to keep her "strange" hours--napping on and off during the day, watching tv in the middle of the night, sometimes cooking breakfast at 3:00 a.m. :shrug: without disturbing us.

Were it not for timeshares, we would have bought a condo in Florida as our second (winter) home. The cost and responsibility would have been so much greater.

The two Ebay weeks were actually converted to RCI Points by the previous owners. We intend to use our "underlying" fixed week each year (instead of the Points) for the foreseeable future. But if our circumstances change, we will have the added option of using the Points for other vacation destinations.

So, I say, keep those great $1.00 weeks coming!

The economy will eventually recover. People who purchase stocks or homes at the "bottom" price will eventually reap large rewards. The trick is to figure out when the bottom has arrived. Fortunately that's not too hard to do when we're talking about $1.00 Ebay timeshares.
 
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mikenk

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A question for you timeshare pros; I just have a measly week. Do all of these timeshares that are being sold so cheap require you to pay the maintenance fees whether you use or not? I assume that is the reason they are all so much in a panic to sell - they can't use, rent, or trade - so get out at any cost.

At this point, I can only use what I already have; however, if any of these only require you to pay the MF if you use, then I might invest for the future.

Mike
 

bnoble

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They sure do. And, that's why you don't want too many of them. I own three weeks, and that might just be one more than I can easily use given the current demands on my time.
 

Patri

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Yes Mike, you have to pay the maintenance fees every year no matter what. That's why people are dumping them. We have two timeshares and don't have the time (or finances now) to get and use more. Sure is fun to watch the ads, though.
 

mikenk

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The reason I ask is that some timeshares are set up that way - you only pay if you use. That is the way mine is. I know that some of the Grand Mayan timeshares a few years ago were sold such that after a few years, the MF stops unless you use. If some of those would come onto the market, it might make sense to buy very low and just hold and use leisurely. I have not been following the ebay history to see whether some of those timeshares are showing up.

However, I don't see the logic of someone giving away a timeshare if they don't have a forced MF liability - but I often fail to see the logic of many decisions in this business.
 

funtime

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Congratulations Jennie on Ft Lauderdale purchase!

Jennie, congratulations. Your story of how your family not only has profited by great prices but has then turned around and used these "bargain" timeshares for the greater good of your family is great. You have done well. Funtime
 

JudyS

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The reason I ask is that some timeshares are set up that way - you only pay if you use. That is the way mine is. I know that some of the Grand Mayan timeshares a few years ago were sold such that after a few years, the MF stops unless you use. If some of those would come onto the market, it might make sense to buy very low and just hold and use leisurely. I have not been following the ebay history to see whether some of those timeshares are showing up....
The vast, vast majority of timeshares require you to pay MFs whether you use them or not. The Grand Mayans are some of the very few that do not. In fact, when you asked whether any timeshares let you skip fees, I was going to mention the Grand Mayans as the only ones I could think of off-hand that let you skip fees.

I think Trading Places has an offer for some of the timeshare they manage: If you put your week in their rental pool, you can skip your fees, even if it doesn't rent. But, that offer isn't something they guarantee; they could cancel it in the future.
 

MuranoJo

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I don't own a Grand Mayan, but own a Mayan Palace holiday week, and we were told that we don't have to pay '09 mf unless we use the week. I think this is an exception for Mayan Palace just this year, though...sure would be nice if it was a permanent feature. :)
 

falmouth3

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I may not have all the facts exactly right, but I believe this is correct. My sister and her husband bought a RTU in Mexico. They get, X weeks of vacation over the next Y years. They can take one a year, they can take 10 (or more) a year, or they can skip a year. They only pay if and when they use a week.

Sue
 

Liz Wolf-Spada

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I don't think I would feel comfortable about owning at a resort where the HOA was not able to plan for incoming money because they didn't know who would or would not use their weeks.
Liz
 

Steve NH

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I may not have all the facts exactly right, but I believe this is correct. My sister and her husband bought a RTU in Mexico. They get, X weeks of vacation over the next Y years. They can take one a year, they can take 10 (or more) a year, or they can skip a year. They only pay if and when they use a week.

Sue

On the most recent time share presentation I went thru I was told more would be going that way.
Once you use your x weeks - you are no longer an owner.
 

stmartinfan

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I don't think I would feel comfortable about owning at a resort where the HOA was not able to plan for incoming money because they didn't know who would or would not use their weeks.
Liz

Many of the early sales at Divi Little Bay in St. Maarten were done with contracts where owners pay only if they use the week, and they have to decide no later than 6 months from the date of their week.

These are RTU, but as you say, that has created a problem because as the owners have aged and aren't traveling as they did when they first purchased, the resort has suffered from lack of regular annual fees. They did just accomplish a renovation of all the units by doing a special assessment of all owners, so those of us with annual fees got hit twice (although they gave us the opportunity to book an extra week if we wanted). Divi did offer owners the opportunity to move into their "club" and then avoid most of the assessment. (The "club" members aren't linked to a specific week but reserve when they want to go.) I'm sure this helped move some of their older owners who weren't using their weeks regularly into a position where they let go of their fixed weeks, freeing them up for sales as new RTUs with annual fees.
 

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$1 is way way to expensive...

I’m a proponent of not buying or selling right now but $1 is hard to argue with.

I suggest that $1 is the upper limit of eBay auctions and 1¢ be the target that folks should feel proud to get.

So how long before we have negative eBay auctions – the owner pays you to buy their unit?

The auction is for $1 (or 1¢) and the seller PAYS YOU to take the timeshare off his hands. This could first be in the form of the seller paying all closing costs, free airline tickets to the resort, and throw in a free upscale rental car.

I fully expect to see this in 2009!

$1 is just too expensive in my opinion :)
 

calgarygary

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I’m a proponent of not buying or selling right now but $1 is hard to argue with.

I suggest that $1 is the upper limit of eBay auctions and 1¢ be the target that folks should feel proud to get.

So how long before we have negative eBay auctions – the owner pays you to buy their unit?

The auction is for $1 (or 1¢) and the seller PAYS YOU to take the timeshare off his hands. This could first be in the form of the seller paying all closing costs, free airline tickets to the resort, and throw in a free upscale rental car.

I fully expect to see this in 2009!

$1 is just too expensive in my opinion :)

I am actually surprised that eBay doesn't have classified listings willing to be paid to take a ts off your hands. Seems that pcc's are missing out on a window of opportunity there.
 

PerryM

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Here's a listing which is pretty close, with seller paying closing costs and a $1 opening bid. Ebay #220345620490 http://cgi.ebay.com/San-Clemente-In...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

Nothing really wrong with it other than it's a studio unit and the MF's are the same regardless of the size of the unit you own there.

Part of the fun dealing with folks really hurting and dumping an item on eBay is tightening the screws and assuming that the seller will settle for far less than their starting price. This is great sport.

There's nothing like watching an auction get no bids and then contact the seller and informing them that they are SOL and you are there to help them. Many transactions happen on eBay after the auction ends.

In this case I'd ask for those airline tickets to be thrown in. Or, ask for gift cards like $500 to Outback Steakhouse. Be creative and allow the seller to not feel like they're getting screwed royally. Prepaying next year's MF is a winner in addition to this year's MF; I'm assuming the resort/developer if happy with that.

Like I said, $1 is way to high for a timeshare now.
 
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rsnash

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Well, I just paid $1 for a TS in New Orleans, not the one that is most highly sought after, but the place that is our favorite place to go in NOLA. Finally, we own a TS that we will actually use instead of trade. I could see easily using it every other year, if not every year. Not only did the seller (pcc I'm sure) pay all closing costs, but I found that the MF hadn't yet been paid and it had gone up in 2009, but the 2008 amount was listed in the ad, and since it hadn't yet been paid, there was a $50 late fee. I insisted on only paying the amount listed in the ad and I won't close until the MF are up to date. "No problem, of course you'll only pay what is listed in ad." I guess I should have offered to buy only if the 2009 MF were paid and I didn't have to pay them back! :rofl:
 

PerryM

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hornswoggling 101

Well, I just paid $1 for a TS in New Orleans, not the one that is most highly sought after, but the place that is our favorite place to go in NOLA. Finally, we own a TS that we will actually use instead of trade. I could see easily using it every other year, if not every year. Not only did the seller (pcc I'm sure) pay all closing costs, but I found that the MF hadn't yet been paid and it had gone up in 2009, but the 2008 amount was listed in the ad, and since it hadn't yet been paid, there was a $50 late fee. I insisted on only paying the amount listed in the ad and I won't close until the MF are up to date. "No problem, of course you'll only pay what is listed in ad." I guess I should have offered to buy only if the 2009 MF were paid and I didn't have to pay them back! :rofl:

Congratulations and a great deal!

So this auction will go down as a $1 sale but its really a huge negative sale.

This is why trying to gleam anything from eBay timeshare auctions is just asking for trouble - there is a lot of hornswoggling that goes on behind the scenes.

Expect much more of this as the economy craps out and folks realize that they can't afford their timeshare anymore. Folks will be selling $1 timeshares with 2009 MFs unpaid all year - at least get them to pay that and then push for 2010 MFs.

Another thing you MUST get is the reservation for 2009 and if they don't have it demand compensation - call the resort and find out just what that unit rents for and inform the seller.

Assuming a MF of $700 and the reservation which can be rented on eBay for $1,000 say, that's an additional $1,700 you saved on a $1 sale.
 
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rsnash

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Another thing you MUST get is the reservation for 2009 and if they don't have it demand compensation - call the resort and find out just what that unit rents for and inform the seller.
Oh yes, reservation's been requested. I'm not sure if we'll be able to use this year's week yet, since we have all of dh's vacation time accounted for. But, I requested they reserve week 51. This way, if we don't have enough personal days left to make up Christmas week, we should have enough time to deposit it w/II.
 

PerryM

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Oh yes, reservation's been requested. I'm not sure if we'll be able to use this year's week yet, since we have all of dh's vacation time accounted for. But, I requested they reserve week 51. This way, if we don't have enough personal days left to make up Christmas week, we should have enough time to deposit it w/II.

Rent the unit out for cold hard cash!

Or exchange in RedWeek.com and rent that out for cash.

I think that there should be a prize handed out on Jan 1, 2010 for the best $1 timeshare deal. We'd have to rely on Scouts Honor here.
 

rsnash

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I sent a link to this thread to the pcc seller of what I'm in the process of buying. Quipped, "I should have thought to ask!" regarding NOT reimbursing for 2009 MF. His response? "I do have some properties available with free 09 weeks if you are interested." I'm not, but I thought you all would like to know free current MFs for resales are in the pipeline. Wow! :doh: Can anyone find those free 09 ads on eBay?
 

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Timeshare development is finished. All that is left is the screaming and the shouting.
 
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