Another distressed newbie

[tlpollard]

After reading the posts here I find that purchasing a deeded timeshare was not such a good idea. This was my first thoughts on the matter but I did it anyway.
My fault, brain cloud or something!
Anyway, I wasn't smart enough to realize my mistake the first time so like a teenager with a new job I bought a second. First: PallaceView by Spinnaker in Branson. Second: Tahitti Village in Vegas.
I realize I am probably beyond help, BUT, is there any hope that these could possibly sell if I offered them for sell if someone would take over the payments?
No profit to me, just get rid of them? Has anyone had any luck with this idea?
Anyone interested?
I have had Branson for a year and payments are $98 a month with a yellow week.
Vegas is bi-anual even years studio.

 

[teepeeca]

Purchasing a "deeded" timeshare IS a good idea !!!

Purchasing from the developer "usually" is NOT a good idea.

Not paying "cash" for a timeshare is NOT a good idea.

Trying to sell the timeshares, especially if $$$$ are owed, is a BAD idea !!!

Asking people to "take over" your payments is "usually" a bad idea---WON'T HAPPEN====

Sorry about the "reality" !!!

Tony

 

[Jya-Ning]

I realize I am probably beyond help, BUT, is there any hope that these could possibly sell if I offered them for sell if someone would take over the payments?

I only see very few resorts where someone has bid to takeover the payment. And there are over 5,000 resorts. If you can afford th payet, try to learn how to rent it out and combine with exchange company to help you get some good vacation that you can enjoy. Then you need to find ways to refiance your payment.

Jya-Ning

 

[Timeshare Von]

You probably owe more than it is worth on the resale market, so you will be hard pressed to find a buyer. Have you seen the other thread of a gal in a similar situation? The options are few.

Are you looking to get out from under these timeshares because you feel like you can't use them . . . because you can't afford the payments . . . or some other reason?

 

[talkamotta]

The assumption so far is that you bought from the developer, is that correct?

If it is, then you can pretty much assume that your balance is too high for someone to take over your payments.

There are ways that you can decrease your cost. If your loan balances have high interest rates, then you can get lower interest rates on certain credit cards for thier introductory rates????? Or maybe you have a car that is paid off and your credit union will loan you money against your car.

The next thing that has been mentioned previously is to try to rent your week for a couple of years until your balance or your income changes.

Many of us on TUG (before finding TUG) bought from the developer for our first timeshare. And paid too much. That would be me Over the years I learned how to use it and that particular timeshare isnt so expensive.

It always makes me sad, when someone says, I bought from the developer, paid double + what it was worth, never used it, cant sell it so I either gave it away (if they are lucky) or I ruined my credit. Its like bad on top of bad.

Think of all your options and Good luck....

 

[Mel]

Your mistake was not in buying a deeded timeshare - for many of us, that is a smart choice. The mistake was who you bought it from, and how much you paid. Don't feel too bad, many of us here did the same thing - and for those of us that bought resale, someone else had to buy from the developer first.
RCI had almost 2.7 million members in 2005 - everyone of whom owned a week that they or someone else bought from a developer. That's a lot of people who have made the same mistake!

You are not beyond help. You bought those weeks for a reason - presumably because you wanted to vacation, and saw some value in what was offered. The reason you feel you made a mistake is that you have found you could have gotten the same thing for much less. But again, if nobody bought from the developer, there would be no timeshares for any of us.

Rather than dwell on your mistake, learn how to use what you have. You have access to two vacation weeks per year. You can reduce your costs by simply using what you own, and not pay membership fees to RCI or II. You can join a big exchange company, or you can try something in-between - one of the smaller independant exchange companies. Decide how you want to vacation, and start planning. You might find the weeks you own are adequate to trade into what you want. If not, adjust your ideas of what you want - don't "settle" for something you don't want, but consider some options you hadn't thought about before. Particularly with the larger companies, some intriguing possibilities may show up - try something new!

Without our timeshare, we would not have considered half of the locations we have visited - at both ends of the spectrum. We couldn't have afforded our vacation in Hawaii (at least not in a resort), and wouldn't have even thought about the Dominican Republic. We enjoyed both - and our kids want desperately to return to the Dominican Republic - go figure!

 

[Bill4728]

There are people out there who do wish to take over payments. ( see all the sold Worldmark TS which people take over payments) but you must price the TS so it is close to the same price as someone paying cash. That may mean at least a 60% discount ( maybe as much as 80% discount) off the price you paid to the developer.

Good Luck

 

[Mel]

Yes, you can find someone to take over payments, but to reach that 60-80% mark, you must have paid your loan down to that point.

As a buyer, taking over payments at that level is a decent compromise - you get the financing (never mind that financing a timeshare is a bad idea), but don't have to pay the developer price. This is perhaps the best way "in" for someone who can't pull together the cash to buy resale, but can afford the payments. Financing through some other means would normally be a better deal, but some finance agreements really are written as mortgages, allowing the tax advantage, and some people won't qualify for other loans.

I doubt tlpollard has paid enough down on his purchase - he's had the first for only 1 year - to be at the 60% mark, so takeover pf payments is not a likely scenario, unfortunately.

 

[macko420]

The other (former) distressed newbie

Hi,
I think I am the person someone else referred to in one of the posts. Here's is what happened.
Still feeling foolish for buying from the developer (at tahiti village) and having missed the opportunity to recind, we went to see a lawyer. As it turned out, he had a very similar experience about 25 years ago. However, he says it has turned out to be one of the smartest deals he's ever made! They have traveled to places they wouldn't have thought of before and it forced him to take a vacation every year - something he hadn't done previously. He found our deal pretty comparable to his when you take into account inflation.

That being said........he did have an option or 2 for us.
1. He could write a letter and offer them an additional 20% to let us out of the deal. We probably wouldn't have gotten our deposit back either. So a huge financial hit right out of the gate. We passed on that option.
2. Having purchased the every other year deal from TV, they gave us a letter with the option to upgrade to a yearly week that is good for the next 6 months. He thought they might consider selling us the upgrade at a reduced cost if they new we wanted out completely. After finding TUG, and realizing that we would still be overpaying by going that route, we didn't want to do that either.

So....here we are, learning absolutely everything we can about this business so we can pay off the financing early by renting it out, trying to plan some nice trips for ourselves and actually beginning to relax about the whole thing! It's a much better feeling to have arrived at a decision and a plan. I know I wouldn't feel this good without this group!

One other thing we did - initially we took their financing at 16.9% just to close the deal. When we got home we went to our credit union and got a home equity loan at 6.25%. We got this all accomplished within the 30 day interest free period from Consolidated so at least we can feel like we beat them there!

I wish you not only good luck but hope you come to some sort of terms with your decisions.

 

[JLB]

Don't beat yourself up over biased advice you read on an internet forum. Typically, that is just people saying, "Why are you not like me?" because they believe that what they believe should apply to everyone.

Keep in mind that TUG was started by and the bulk of the veteran users did exactly what you did. Some of us have our old fuddy-duddy deeded Weeks timeshare, bought from developers at retail prices. Some dumped them and now have resale deeded Weeks timeshare. Some converted to Points. Some started in Points.

So what?

As my signature says, we have done 100 exchanges in Weeks, are are still plodding along with it. We are booked through '09. For ten years we accepted what I now consider to be lesser exchanges, because we did not know any better, and we tickled pink. If I had never found TUG, we would probably still be trading into lesser resorts, and still be tickled pink.

I am fairly confident that in the not-to-distant future we will slide back into getting lesser resorts.

Would that be bad if we are happy and satisfied?

There is no unequivocal right or wrong.

Palace View is on my upper tier list for Branson. Have you deposited and searched with it?

It is true that there are a lot more plans than just the RCI/II choice many of us faced, and that the industry is different than it was back then.

 

[JLB]

I am not a Points expert, but an option you have is to convert to Points and use your current ownerships in Points.

Not that I am suggesting you will do any better, because when I have compared with others with our Weeks weeks, we were not able to. But it may give you more options.

 

[michamato]

I also bought from the Developer at Tahiti Village on 7/17/07. Luckily, when we returned to our hotel room, I looked up on TUG and knew to rescind quickly. I received my downpayment back within 5 days or sending the rescind letter and I received an e-mail from them asking why I decided to rescind, I told them price and location.
I just signed a contract on a Marriot Aruba Surf Club annual 2 bedroom that was 11K less (if it passes ROFR) than the EOY for the Tahiti Village that I orginally signed.

I am glad that I rescinded when I had the chance, it is a beautiful property though.

 

[tlpollard]

good information and ideas

After reading the response to my first post I was pretty bewildered.

A couple days later I had settled in with the fact that I am going to have to stick it out.

There is a lot of possibilities I have considered, but will have to learn about if I want to enjoy my timeshares.

I banked my week in Branson but dont completely understand the exchange process. Do I have to wait for someone to request MY week before I can choose another resort, or does depositing my week allow me to get an exchange regardless. The week in Branson is week 10. Feb - Mar float, not the most popular time to visit the Ozarks.

Also, are the Cruise vacations worth checking out that are offered as a II Gold member? Is it possible to trade your week toward cruises?

And another thing, is it necessary to be a GOLD member, are the benifits really worth the extra $135.00 a year?

 

[spatenfloot]

I banked my week in Branson but dont completely understand the exchange process. Do I have to wait for someone to request MY week before I can choose another resort, or does depositing my week allow me to get an exchange regardless. The week in Branson is week 10. Feb - Mar float, not the most popular time to visit the Ozarks.

Also, are the Cruise vacations worth checking out that are offered as a II Gold member? Is it possible to trade your week toward cruises?

And another thing, is it necessary to be a GOLD member, are the benifits really worth the extra $135.00 a year?

You can make an exchange anytime after the deposited week shows up in your account. The cruises are not worth exchanging for since you'll end up paying about as much as it would cost elsewhere+your week. You don't need to be a gold member. I don't see much benefit to gold membership, but others might.

 

[JudyS]

...I am fairly confident that in the not-to-distant future we will slide back into getting lesser resorts....

Jim, why is that? Do you mean because availability through the exchange companies is diminishing?

And, do you feel that it would still be worth exchanging if this happens, or would it be more worthwhile to rent?

...I banked my week in Branson but dont completely understand the exchange process. Do I have to wait for someone to request MY week before I can choose another resort, or does depositing my week allow me to get an exchange regardless. The week in Branson is week 10. Feb - Mar float, not the most popular time to visit the Ozarks...

As Spatenfoot said, you can get an exchange regardless of whether someone takes your week or not. What the exchange company will do is, at the time you offer them your week, they will make a judgment of how much demand there is likely to be for your week. If they estimate low demand for your week, then they will only offer you other weeks that are fairly low demand. However, II cares about quality and unit size rather than just supply and demand, so you may still do OK.

 

[Zac495]

After reading the response to my first post I was pretty bewildered.

A couple days later I had settled in with the fact that I am going to have to stick it out.

There is a lot of possibilities I have considered, but will have to learn about if I want to enjoy my timeshares.

I banked my week in Branson but dont completely understand the exchange process. Do I have to wait for someone to request MY week before I can choose another resort, or does depositing my week allow me to get an exchange regardless. The week in Branson is week 10. Feb - Mar float, not the most popular time to visit the Ozarks.

Also, are the Cruise vacations worth checking out that are offered as a II Gold member? Is it possible to trade your week toward cruises?

And another thing, is it necessary to be a GOLD member, are the benifits really worth the extra $135.00 a year?

No, you don't wait until someone wants your week to get something. You can put in a request and wait for what you want, or you can search and see what is available right now. I don't know about the cruises and II. I never became a gold member. It LOOKS like you get 25 dollars less on a getaway week. Other than that, wait for other responses. But start dreaming - where do you want to go? Then look and see if it's there on II (you'll go onto II and learn the system online or call them). If not, put in a request. Also, II will call you and try to get you to take something even if it's not what you want. Be sure you know the value of your week (I don't know that timeshare, but others will) and be sure NOT to accept something you don't want just because it's the first call. II will try to get you to take a lesser week.

HAVE FUN with this now. You bought it. As Judge Judy would say, "Calm down. It's money. No one was hurt." Just don't let it ruin your credit. If you are really stuck, rent it next year instead of depositing it. Then you don't have to pay II either - you can opt out of being part of II and rejoin anytime.

 

[Jollyhols]

Hi, I did a similar thing - purchased a Westgate from developer a few years ago and am still trying to sell as it is not really suitable for the way we like to take our vacations.

If you cannot rescind then try and make the best of it, as we have done.
I will not pretend that we are totally happy with our timeshare purchase (or the developer in particular) but on the other hand the place is quite nice and we have pretty much enjoyed our stays there. Exchanging can be tricky depending on where you want to go, but we HAVE managed to exchange into some quite good places. For example, this year we have exchanged our Westgate studio for a one bedroom Marriott Ocean Pointe, which can't be bad. Whilst you are looking to sell, I would suggest using your weeks and enjoying them, and if you no longer like your home resorts then exchange into somewhere else.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Jane]

Also, are the Cruise vacations worth checking out that are offered as a II Gold member? Is it possible to trade your week toward cruises?

And another thing, is it necessary to be a GOLD member, are the benifits really worth the extra $135.00 a year?[/QUOTE]

We too bought our timeshare EOY in Florida from a developer. That was 3 years ago. We have been learning as we go. We have had many days wondering if we did the right thing. It truly is a learning curve. I think we are finally coming to terms with all the stuff thrown at us. We just joined TUG last month and the people have been great and a wealth of information to make timesharing more enjoyable, and yes also lots more to think about. But we have travelled every year and our extended family have used the getaways 4 times. We have been to Florida the year we bought. The next year on this timeshare deal we went to Cayman. This year we have successfully traded for one week in Puerta Vallarta.(even though we do not have as they tell us a great trader) Awaiting the 2nd week.
We have now come to terms with
1. Wished we knew about TUG before we bought
2. Bought red but not all red is equal
3. Trading power different with II
4. We are going to use our home resort EOY and enjoy it to the fullest. Oh yes there are bigger and nicer and better trading power. But also bigger maint. fees etc etc etc. There will always be bigger. Yes we could have gotten it cheaper but did not pay a huge amount.

We tried exchanging for a cruise. It depends on your location, size of unit, trading power. But go for it. You pay your exchange fee for them to look into it for you. They will check it out and then get back to you, and you can say yes or no. Then we got our exchange fee placed back on our card. When we checked out the cost of the cruise and what they were going to give us for our resort we decided against it but will probably check again. Just check it all out with II and make sure you know what you are doing. Do not be afraid to ask lots of questions. Also we got the gold membership. Really the only thing it gets us is $25 off the getaways.We are decreasing the II to basic, just for others to get the getaway. The gold is not needed. We bought our TS so we could go somewhere warm in the winter, not stay in a hotel, be able to cook our own meals, have affordable accommadation, and force us to travel. We have all that and more and now need to enjoy it. We are and so is our family.Take care keep asking questions, reading and learning.

 

[mamiecarter]

Put your weeks to work

If you live in Missouri there are lots of timeshares within driving distance. Or you might want to fly and try Texas, Florida or California.If you can not sell them or give them away then use them.Take vacations.

Look at what Dial and Exchange and Platinum Interchange have available for trade. They list all of their weeks online and you can join for free. DAE is really simple to use. One week trades for one week. anywhere, any time, any size. Branson and Vegas are both popular destinations so you will get decent trades from most of the exchange companies if you are not to picky and can be flexible.