SueDonJ
Moderator
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2006
- Messages
- 16,873
- Reaction score
- 6,244
- Location
- Massachusetts and Hilton Head Island
- Resorts Owned
- Marriott Barony Beach and SurfWatch
I'm not unsympathetic to people who want out of timeshares, especially timeshares that don't perform as expected (whether the fault of sales reps or otherwise.) But I also don't just excuse people who bought into what is essentially an ongoing financial commitment and want to just walk away. "Help" comes in many forms and it's the suggestion that simply walking away with no regard for the other owners is the one that doesn't make any sense to me, not here anyway on a social media site dedicated to owners making the best of their timeshares.I wanted to say something else about this: Other owners encourage fellow owners because of empathy. They know the pain and embarrassment of what happened to clueless people in a manipulative, untruthful timeshare presentation. I see really nice people on this forum. They've been there. They know the pain. They want to help others to the extent that they can. For my part, I'm vocal with others about "hey: don't go to a timeshare presentation" and I let them know about the horrible experience that I had, because I want others to NOT go through it, I want them to learn from my bad example. At no point do I ever think, "hey, if more people buy timeshares, maybe my MFs will go down." First, that's not how the math works. Secondly, even if I did see some sort of break (which again, would never happen), I wouldn't share something unethical with unsuspecting people. THAT-- not the non-payment of MFs--would make me as bad as the TS.
I also don't think that if more people buy the same timeshares as me it will cause my MF's to be reduced, and that's not what I said. My MF's do increase, though, when owners default. The cost to me is right there in black and white on the Bad Debt line item in my resorts' Annual Budgets, and the right of my resorts' Developer/Manager to put that liability on all of the other owners is right there in black and white in the governing docs.
Like I said, it's one thing to be forced to default due to financial hardship. It's another thing entirely to walk away from an ongoing financial commitment without expecting that there will be repercussions on the person walking away and possibly others. And just like I want the management companies of the two HOA's where I own homes to go after non-performing owners who are able to perform as they contractually agreed, I want the same from my timeshare company/OA.