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Dumping of timeshares is coming.....Prepare yourself for big maintenance fee increases and special a

Sugarcubesea

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I'm fortunate I own at 2 independents, Pinestead Reef (HOA controlled by owners) and Quarter House and thus far my MF's have been reasonable. We have one special assessment coming up at Pinestead Reef, but its something that will help the resort long term and save on MF's in the future by making the resort more desirable in the winter...

I could not rent for less then what I pay in MF's in the weeks and area's my independents, are located at..

love what I own...
 

LannyPC

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I could not rent for less then what I pay in MF's in the weeks and area's my independents, are located at..

love what I own...

Good for you that you found something like that. Unfortunately that describes a very small minority of the timeshares and intervals out there. I don't have the stats to back this up and researching this to get accurate figures would be a very arduous process but, from observation, it appears that the majority of intervals out there fall into the category of MFs higher than what could easily be recouped in rentals.

If that is the case, then I can see the truth behind the OP's title of this thread. I guess that also explains why there are so many timeshare exit/cancel/relief companies out there. It would also explain why we get so many newcomers on these boards (seems like weekly) asking how to dump their TSs.
 

Tamaradarann

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Is there a reason? I think a lot of people here would say you might be missing something. SC has some wonderful areas and is a lot closer and cheaper to get to than Hawaii.

Without getting into a Political Discussion on the differences between South Carolina and Hawaii let me just say that when we vacation we are getting away from the cold months of November to April in New York.
We like daytimes in the 70's or above and nights no lower than 60. Honolulu is our place, not South Carolina. Also, the direct flight from JFK to Honolulu takes about 10 hours. We have been staying about 4 months for a number of years with plans on staying at least 6 months from this year forward. After that amount of time you forget that it took 10 hours to get there and will be another 10 hours to return.
 

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Good for you that you found something like that. Unfortunately that describes a very small minority of the timeshares and intervals out there. I don't have the stats to back this up and researching this to get accurate figures would be a very arduous process but, from observation, it appears that the majority of intervals out there fall into the category of MFs higher than what could easily be recouped in rentals.

If that is the case, then I can see the truth behind the OP's title of this thread. I guess that also explains why there are so many timeshare exit/cancel/relief companies out there. It would also explain why we get so many newcomers on these boards (seems like weekly) asking how to dump their TSs.

We own a 2-bedroom Gold Crown, peak summer (week 28) in a popular family vacation destination. I have been renting it out for 10 years. I have never been able to get as much as our annual fee. Right now the fee is $800, and I can get it rented for $599, which I have to someone here this year.

At another resort we only had a $400 fee for a Spring Break ski week, and thru the ORP we have only been able to get less than $200 back, when they rent it. I have about 20 years history there. 27 years history with a summer week there, which is also a peak season.

At a SW FL beachfront resort where we own a Week 1 Snowbird week where our fee is $503, we are able to get $700 thru the ORP, when they rent it.
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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We own a 2-bedroom Gold Crown, peak summer (week 28) in a popular family vacation destination. I have been renting it out for 10 years. I have never been able to get as much as our annual fee. Right now the fee is $800, and I can get it rented for $599, which I have to someone here this year.

At another resort we only had a $400 fee for a Spring Break ski week, and thru the ORP we have only been able to get less than $200 back, when they rent it. I have about 20 years history there. 27 years history with a summer week there, which is also a peak season.

At a SW FL beachfront resort where we own a Week 1 Snowbird week where our fee is $503, we are able to get $700 thru the ORP, when they rent it.
With all resorts that we own, our annual fees are significantly less than what the nightly rates are at the resort on sites such as Expedia or hotels.com, or via direct booking at the resort. For a number of years I made a decent rate of return (~20% ROI) on my Raintree Vacation Clubs membership, using it for rentals, until the 2008 crash.

Of course, a rule of thumb is that if you are an owner doing rentals, you need to rent for less than the prices at such booking sites. Otherwise, if the prices are the same, people are going to rent from the "known" entity. So it's to be expected that there may be owners who put units up for rent at discounted rates. But those will be isolated.

The big change is the rise of AirBnB and the HomeAway network. While specific resorts might show up occasionally -with specific check-in and check-out days -there are many people who offering their accommodations at cheaper rates. Even for ourselves, when we haven't been able to find accommodations via direct booking with our ownerships or timeshare exchange, we've booked using VRBO and AirBnB at very favorable rates - less than the MFs on weeks that we were trying to use for exchange.

We got involved in TS in 1999. If AirBnB and HomeAway had existed then, we would not have bought timeshare. And when we talk with our kids about whether they want us to pass any of our timeshares, their response always is to the effect of "Why, when we can use AirBnB and HomeAway?"
 

Talent312

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Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...
The dead rising from the grave!
Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
-- "Ghostbusters" (1984) --
 

OldGuy

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We got involved in TS in 1999. If AirBnB and HomeAway had existed then, we would not have bought timeshare. And when we talk with our kids about whether they want us to pass any of our timeshares, their response always is to the effect of "Why, when we can use AirBnB and HomeAway?"

Yeah, a lot more options since we got started, too. The times they are a'changin'.

As I said recently, many millennials are adverse to owning and ongoing commitments, in favor of more options and choice.
 

OldGuy

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Back in the day, 2005, only one place was saying the sky is falling:

https://www.timesharetrap.com/

Now, the Internet is full of people saying the same thing.

But, as long as there's still some sky up there . . . .
 

Glynda

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Brewster Green (two weeks).
I know. That is one which you will need to ask HGVC about. I have never been nor do I intend on go to South Carolina.

Hilton is building a new one in Charleston, SC. The right time of year, Charleston is fabulous.
 
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tonyg

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Nice to have my home resort at full occupancy during my week 23 stay. More owners need to get involved with resort management and management needs to innovate to keep or increase performing units. Deed back programs with a fee solve the problem of owners getting out of timesharing - get your resort to start one if they don't have one and have an in-house resale program. Find ways to get non-performing weeks back to performing. Somewhere along the line for one or many reasons we all will no longer need our timeshares and many of us knew this early on in the game. I bought several units at my home resort on EBAY for next to nothing, but I now see none being listed (only 1 in the past year). I think the cause is the deed back program and owners finally getting the message that there was such an out at the resort. Financial trouble does not hit all of a sudden, there will be many signs long before the sky falls in, if it ever does.
 

Tamaradarann

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Nice to have my home resort at full occupancy during my week 23 stay. More owners need to get involved with resort management and management needs to innovate to keep or increase performing units. Deed back programs with a fee solve the problem of owners getting out of timesharing - get your resort to start one if they don't have one and have an in-house resale program. Find ways to get non-performing weeks back to performing. Somewhere along the line for one or many reasons we all will no longer need our timeshares and many of us knew this early on in the game. I bought several units at my home resort on EBAY for next to nothing, but I now see none being listed (only 1 in the past year). I think the cause is the deed back program and owners finally getting the message that there was such an out at the resort. Financial trouble does not hit all of a sudden, there will be many signs long before the sky falls in, if it ever does.

Lifetime in Hawaii in Honolulu has a program for the units that they either bought back or reacquired due to foreclosure. In order to get the weeks sold with maintenance fee paying owners, they are offering weeks at $1000 each. If you buy 2 you get the 3rd for free. That is 3 weeks of timeshare for $2,000 and the maintenance is less than $700/week. These are floating weeks with no season. Hawaii does have year round attraction so even if you can't reserve a summer or winter week the spring and the fall are also great for vacationing.

I believe for locations that DON'T have year round attraction, the low value periods will always be a struggle to get anywhere near full occupancy. I don't have any solution that can get people to go during those periods.
 

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Lifetime in Hawaii in Honolulu has a program for the units that they either bought back or reacquired due to foreclosure. In order to get the weeks sold with maintenance fee paying owners, they are offering weeks at $1000 each. If you buy 2 you get the 3rd for free. That is 3 weeks of timeshare for $2,000 and the maintenance is less than $700/week. These are floating weeks with no season. Hawaii does have year round attraction so even if you can't reserve a summer or winter week the spring and the fall are also great for vacationing.

Nice!

Retail resale weeks at our old resort that is proactive go for a pretty stable $1500-2000, but association-owned weeks go for $700. They generally get $900 when they rent association-owned weeks (more than the $503 annual fee), $225 commission when they rent owners' weeks (on top of the $503 they already got, and offer association-owned weeks for rent to owners for $503. All of that adds up to significant income, thus the fairly-low $503 annual fee. When they rent owners' weeks, owners receive $700.

Several owners have a month or more in Snowbird season, and $2000/month is about half the going rate for beachfront in the area.

It helps that there are year-round day rights for local owners.

In a worst case scenario (like last year because of Red Tide) our Snowbird week did not get rented, so we got year-round beach access, swimming pool, hot tub, BBQ grills, etc. for $503. The other "beach club" we are eligible for doesn't have anywhere near that, costs more, and has a waiting list.

I keep thinking I'll dig through and take a look at the last financial, and maybe I will, some day.

They could be a little more up-to-date when it comes to promotion and communication (no email or texting), but it is on the Internet, and there is a resale broker, too.
 

Panina

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I own at a southwest Florida resort where if you put you week up for sale for $500 through their sales department and it doesn’t sell in 6 months, you can pay $375 and the association takes it back. You can’t list it for less then $500.
 

OldGuy

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I own at a southwest Florida resort where if you put you week up for sale for $500 through their sales department and it doesn’t sell in 6 months, you can pay $375 and the association takes it back. You can’t list it for less then $500.

Give me about 25 guesses and I will guess which one.

:D
 

escanoe

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I own at a southwest Florida resort where if you put you week up for sale for $500 through their sales department and it doesn’t sell in 6 months, you can pay $375 and the association takes it back. You can’t list it for less then $500.

I wonder is if they ever sell on eBay for $500 with a bonus prepaid Visa included?
 

CanuckTravlr

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I know. That is one which you will need to ask HGVC about. I have never been nor do I intend on go to South Carolina.

That's OK, different options for different preferences. We love spending time in South Carolina, especially in shoulder season. And it is much closer to home than Florida, especially if we are driving. Not that we don't love Hawaii, too!
 

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A lot of this could have been avoided a long time ago if things had been set up with differential MFs depending on the Season you bought; i.e low MFs for less desirable Weeks and higher MFs for more desirable Weeks...

George
 

OldGuy

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I wonder is if they ever sell on eBay for $500 with a bonus prepaid Visa included?

Even for the 40-year-old SW FL resorts, it's hard to imagine any of them having to resort ;) to that.

I can't speak for all of them, but for the ones I am familiar with, they have resale agents, some on-site, and/or a system of publicizing owners' weeks for sale, and owners who are looking for more weeks for themselves and friends/family.

Being where they are, in SW FL on or near the beach/water, is 90% of the draw.
 

Panina

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A lot of this could have been avoided a long time ago if things had been set up with differential MFs depending on the Season you bought; i.e low MFs for less desirable Weeks and higher MFs for more desirable Weeks...

George
Those who have prime weeks paid more when they purchased. To maintain a unit costs the same no matter what the season. What differs is taxes. I own at a timeshare that my mf is higher in prime time because my taxes are higher
 

bogey21

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I guess my point is that fewer Owners with undesirable Weeks would be walking away if their annual MFs were lower...

George
 

Panina

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I guess my point is that fewer Owners with undesirable Weeks would be walking away if their annual MFs were lower...

George
I got the point but fairness is also a consideration. How much lower could it be $100, $200 $300? They probably would walk away too.

Some of my older resorts have set up a rental program for the hoa owned weeks successfully. Many people travel off season and having a timeshare unit instead of a hotel room is attractive to rent if at a competitive price.
 

rapmarks

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Those who have prime weeks paid more when they purchased. To maintain a unit costs the same no matter what the season. What differs is taxes. I own at a timeshare that my mf is higher in prime time because my taxes are higher
How does this work, never heard of this.
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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A lot of this could have been avoided a long time ago if things had been set up with differential MFs depending on the Season you bought; i.e low MFs for less desirable Weeks and higher MFs for more desirable Weeks...

George
That's one of the reasons that points systems work. Own fewer points - pay less annual fee.
 

bluehende

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I got the point but fairness is also a consideration. How much lower could it be $100, $200 $300? They probably would walk away too.

Some of my older resorts have set up a rental program for the hoa owned weeks successfully. Many people travel off season and having a timeshare unit instead of a hotel room is attractive to rent if at a competitive price.

Which side you fall under in this debate is whether you consider your MF as a cost of ownership or a cost of use. The industry is set up as a cost of ownership in fact making it illegal to charge varying amounts in a lot of states. My purchases have always been based on the value of use so feel that the rental rate is a better comparison. There are not enough resorts that change varying fees depending on season to be able to do the experiment as to whether that would be healthier or not for the industry and resorts. The advent of points does do this somewhat and I believe the general rule of thumb here is that most like points. Of course there is no way to coax out if the advantage is more flexibility in destination as opposed to flexibility of season.
 
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