Buyer Fees and other costs

[SquatchHunter]

Hello, what are typical fees when buying a timeshare or vacation points?

Obviously the purchase price and maintenance fees (do you pay current year and next year?)?

How much are closing costs, etc?

Example - If I find a deal for a $1 but maintenance fees are $1000, what else can I expect?

Thank you

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

.

These are negotiable items and it comes down to whatever the buyer and seller agree to (make sure you put it in writing).

If a seller is hungry to give away a "free week" then he/she may be willing to pick up the 2024 maintenance fees and help out with the closing costs.

I suggest you go on the Legal Title Transfer website below and consider using them to handle the transaction. Well favored by TUG users:


www.LTTransfers.com


Click on their website above just above this line and read all about them.

Best of luck and welcome to TUG.






.

 

[ScoopKona]

Example - If I find a deal for a $1 but maintenance fees are $1000, what else can I expect?

I would be very, very careful. There are $1 timeshares which are ridiculously overpriced. And you will discover why someone was so desperate to be rid of it.

There are also $5000 timeshare resales which are considered an unbelievable bargain. I wouldn't think of going shopping until I had narrowed it down to a particular timeshare program, location, and season.

The wrong timeshare is much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much worse than no timeshare.

 

[montygz]

Many times with "free" or "nearly free" timeshares, the costs you incur will be when it is your turn to pass them along.

For example, you acquire a timeshare for "free," then 10 years later you advance pay the maintenance fee and some transfer fees, costing you $1,500, as part of the deal to give it for "free" to the next owner. Thus you are paying $1,500 for the timeshare, only that cost comes at the end of your usage when you don't want it anymore.

Of course, there may be timeshares you can give back to the developer, but there is usually some kind of charge for that as well.

You definitely want to consider how easy a timeshare is to get rid of when you are done with it. It is always easier to acquire one than to get rid of one, especially if it isn't popular.

 

[vacationtime1]

Closing costs can range from $0 (when negotiated with the seller), to ~$250 for transfer agents such as LT Transfers (see post #2), to ~$1,000 for a formal escrow (required for Hawaii TS's).

Additional costs can include enrollment fees. For example, Hilton charges hundreds for enrollment (I will let HGVC members chime in as to how much), but my understanding is that after those fees are paid, a resale purchaser is treated the same as a developer purchaser.

 

[ScoopKona]

that cost comes at the end of your usage when you don't want it anymore.

People should avoid acquiring one of those in the first place. There are a dozen programs worth looking into. Some can be dismissed immediately. Others will need to be looked into seriously. For any earnest new buyer, there are probably four programs worth seriously studying. (and those will change based on the buyer). For instance, I think Disney is a fine program. I want no part of it. It's not for me. But it's a fine program. And for the people who want that, they should head straight out and buy one.

EDIT -- Unless someone doesn't want a program. But instead wants to own a prime Miss Mosquito Pageant week at the Leaky Lake Lodge in East Swampitude, Florida. Then just buy that.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Hello, what are typical fees when buying a timeshare or vacation points?

Obviously the purchase price and maintenance fees (do you pay current year and next year?)?

How much are closing costs, etc?

Example - If I find a deal for a $1 but maintenance fees are $1000, what else can I expect?

Thank you

Every resort system charges a “transfer fee.” That fee varies wildly from resort to resort, from as low as $25, to literally thousands. So question 1 is: What resort system are you looking at? The resort system I own the most at, Wyndham, charges $399 per transfer, by way of example. Marriott charges very high “junk” transfer fees (but is an otherwise good product and resale owners get nearly the same benefits as direct purchasers).

The other closing costs such as deed recording and document prep are usually pretty minimal and are negotiable. LT transfers (quoted downthread) I believe charges $250 for this service. Others can be more or less.