Buyers Remorse

[Ron98GT]

Let me see if I have this straight. So far the OP has only signed an agreement to purchase, last week, The OP has put down a $3000 deposit, the TS's may or may not be in escrow, the OP has not signed any closing doc's that we know of, and at this time the OP owns nothing.

If the OP fails to proceed with the closing, what can the agent do: sue for specific performance, I doubt it. If the agent wanted to legally pursue the issue, it would probably wind up in small claims court. If the OP lives in another state than the agent and/or where the property is located and does not show up in small claims court, the OP loses the deposit. If the OP does show-up in small claims court, appears before the judge, and explains that this is a resale TS, the judge will probably dismiss the case, because everyone knows TS's are worthless.

What's the worse that can happen to the OP: lose a $3000 deposit? Can his credit report be dinged by a TS agent/salesperson for not completing escrow: I doubt it?

Is this person a broker? TS's are real estate and the sales of real estate, including TS's, for a commission or any kind of fee must be conducted by a real-estate/TS broker, or by an agent working for/under a real-estate/TS broker. Can this person legally sell this or any other TS? Was this a legal transaction? The OP may want to check with the Real Estate Commission in which the "agent" resides, to have a better understanding of that states RE laws and if this "agent" is conducting TS sales legally and if not then file a complaint.

Sounds like the worse thing the OP can due is complete the closing!

 

[csxjohn]

Gaozhen, thank you. I was starting to think I was losing my mind. Although I'm not always the sharpest knife in the drawer I can usually figure out what people are saying, but my head has been spinning after reading all of these responses. I'm sure that there is an entire aspect to timesharing (more than one in all likelihood) on which I am completely ignorant, but I've always thought that in the "old school" way of looking at it, participation in a timeshare meant that you were in essence buying real estate in the form of a deed to a particular unit for a particular week at a physical location (resort, condominiums, whatever), and that the cost of of what you bought was based on whether it was in or out of season (such as for a beach location), the size of the unit, and what kind of amenities or trappings came with the unit. For this purchase you would pay a lump sum up front for the "deed", which committed you to also paying your share of the annual maintenance fees necessary to pay the expenses of maintaining and managing the property (Which I always figured were calculated more or less by taking the total of all annual shared costs and dividing it by the product of the number of units in the resort x 52 (or 50, if the units have two "maintenance weeks" per year)).

What I think I am buying is 2/52nds of the year for a specific 2br/2bath unit with a jacuzzi and sauna, during the prime season on HH, same weeks every year. The acknowledgements I signed referred to these as fixed weeks. The buyer's remorse that prompted my original post came from a couple of things: (1) converting these weeks into RCI points - after reading on the various websites that RCI points can be purchased for like $1 for 100,000 points I felt like the world's biggest patsy; and (2) buying the second week's deed (for $3,000) and thinking it was a good deal, due to believing that getting another 62,500 RCI points for only another $523 in maintenance fees would give me a lot more options for places to exchange if we decided to take the points for both weeks in a given year instead of going to HH that year.

My thinking that lead to buying the timeshare in the first place was that it will take about 6 years or so to realize enough savings in our annual vacation accommodations expense to make up for the initial cash outlay, and then for the next 15 or 20 years (assuming I live that long and can travel) we would be getting two weeks of pretty decent vacation accommodations per year for a pretty modest maintenance fee (+ the annual RCI membership fee if we continue participating). Also thought that some years we might rent out the second week - I would think I could get at least a grand for a week on Hilton Head in a decent place, even if it is a five minute walk to the beach. When I someday decide to sell these two weeks, I figured I'd find some schlub like me who was looking for the same thing I was when I bought them. I'm not planning on making much if any money when I sell the deed to those weeks, and in fact am guessing, based on what I have read, that I'll probably lose money at that time. But by that time I'll probably be at death's door anyway and won't really care.

Before digging more into this bulletin board, I never realized that there were other ways to do timeshare that would end up getting me access to resort style accommodations for what sounds like a couple of dollars a night. I've always been skeptical of situations that sounded like I would be getting something for nothing (or almost nothing), but maybe I really could have if I had investigated a little better. This has certainly been an enlightening experience.

If you are spending the money anyhow to go there and you can save enough in 5 yrs to make it pay for itself you did pretty good, I think. Not the way I'd do it but it sounds like a good fit for you.

There are other ways to exchange without paying for RCI points at this resort as you have learned.

Your MFs will almost assuredly go up in the future but would renting in the area go up so from what I see you did OK.

 

[dominidude]

Sounds like the worse think the OP can due is complete the closing!

Hear, hear!

 

[Jason245]

I would think I could get at least a grand for a week on Hilton Head

I am sure everyone from the below threads would love to know who you are renting to at that rate and how they can rent to those people.


http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231028
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231033
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230819
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230628

 

[SCTraveler1979]

I'll never tell.

 

[theo]

<snip> after reading on the various websites that RCI points can be purchased for like $1 for 100,000 points I felt like the world's biggest patsy <snip>

Don't. There is really no well founded reason to feel that way. As previously addressed, there is no such thing as RCI Points "standing alone" without an associated underlying deed and annual maintenance fee obligations. If a RCI Points ownership of that size is actually offered for a buck (...very rare, I suspect), then there is a very good underlying reason; that reason is likely atrocious annual maintenance fee obligations lurking behind the scene and / or a resort under profoundly bad management.

Before digging more into this bulletin board, I never realized that there were other ways to do timeshare that would end up getting me access to resort style accommodations for what sounds like a couple of dollars a night. I've always been skeptical of situations that sounded like I would be getting something for nothing (or almost nothing)....<snip>

Don't beat yourself up over baseless hyperbole. That "couple of dollars a night" is just a non-existent pipe dream in any possible or imaginable scenario. There are always annual maintenance fees associated with any timeshare ownership, regardless of the initial cost of acquisition. Rentals are never for "a few dollars a night" either. Rarely if ever are annual maint. fees less than $500 per week for any place worth occupying in the first place --- and can easily be two (or even three) times that amount.

You're obviously and certainly smart enough to know that ultimately "there ain't no free lunch". Yes, you've overpaid for what you bought (assuming that you complete this transaction), but take some solace in the fact that many others before you have paid (and many others after you will pay) much more to get considerably less.

 

[SueDonJ]

I am sure everyone from the below threads would love to know who you are renting to at that rate and how they can rent to those people.


http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231028
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231033
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230819
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230628

Note those are ads placed on the TUG forum's Last-Minute Rentals board which has rules pertaining to the dates of stay and nightly dollar limits. Those rules naturally result in any intervals being offered there, "distress" rentals. But if an owner reserves a year out and offers HHI properties on other established sites (including the TUG Marketplace) that don't have such "distress" rules, $1,000+/week at a good resort is definitely doable.

Admittedly I don't know the product that this OP is considering - I only posted here to shed light on the HHI rental market.

 

[Jason245]

Note those are ads placed on the TUG forum's Last-Minute Rentals board which has rules pertaining to the dates of stay and nightly dollar limits. Those rules naturally result in any intervals being offered there, "distress" rentals. But if an owner reserves a year out and offers HHI properties on other established sites (including the TUG Marketplace) that don't have such "distress" rules, $1,000+/week at a good resort is definitely doable.

Admittedly I don't know the product that this OP is considering - I only posted here to shed light on the HHI rental market.

If they ended up there, then simple economics says they couldn't be successfully rented elsewhere. .

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[SueDonJ]

If they ended up there, then simple economics says they couldn't be successfully rented elsewhere. .

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That's not necessarily a given - folks might find themselves in a last-minute situation for many reasons other than non-performing established rental sites. That's why that board shouldn't be used as a barometer of normal rental activity. The TUG Marketplace is a much better indicator and there the OP will see many instances of $1,000+ rentals at Hilton Head.

Anytime somebody has as many questions about a purchase as this OP seems to have, I agree with the TUG mantra to reconsider/rescind while within the rescission period. It's always best to know as much as possible before making an ongoing financial commitment to timeshares. It's not necessary to misrepresent rental expectations - either up or down - to make the point that this OP may have too many questions at this point to continue with this transaction.

 

[theo]

Not necessarily true or correct...

If they ended up there, then simple economics says they couldn't be successfully rented elsewhere.

Sometimes people have family or medical situations arise unexpectedly, learning only shortly before their intended travel that they won't be able to use their timeshare as originally planned --- hence some "last minute" discounted prices that might very well have been twice that amount (...or more) if it had been a pre-planned rental.

In short, your conclusion is simply unfounded, citing a few different LMR postings, maybe none of which were initially planned to have been offered as rentals.

 

[Jason245]

Sometimes people have family or medical situations arise unexpectedly and learn only within a very few weeks of their intended travel that they won't be able to use their timeshare as planned -- hence "last minute" dicounted rental prices that might very well have easily been twice that amount if it had been a planned rental.

In short, your above quoted conclusion is unfounded.

1 listing and I would agree with you. . 4 listing and I start to ask questions. .

Ultimately, unless you are an experienced renter with knowledge and expertise, I generally believe that you should not buy a TS with the the assumption that renting for more than Mf is easy and painless and effortless.

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[theo]

<snip>...unless you are an experienced renter with knowledge and expertise, I generally believe that you should not buy a TS with the the assumption that renting for more than Mf is easy and painless and effortless.

No argument there. Buying a timeshare with the expectation of consistent or easy profit as a "landlord" is a slippery slope at best and maybe a fool's errand, at worst.

 

[SueDonJ]

1 listing and I would agree with you. . 4 listing and I start to ask questions. .

Ultimately, unless you are an experienced renter with knowledge and expertise, I generally believe that you should not buy a TS with the the assumption that renting for more than Mf is easy and painless and effortless.

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I don't disagree - it's not a good idea to assume anything involved with timeshare ownership will be easy and painless and effortless!

But if somebody is gathering information about all aspects of ownership, the TUG Last-Minute Rentals board isn't a good representative sample of rental expectations. Any of the TUGgers who regularly play in the rental sandbox will agree.

 

[vacationhopeful]

And my pet peer with the LMR thread is almost every ad I run gets responses like - I can't spend much as I am retired/laid off/run of bad luck/need new car/helping my relative/deserving a vacation/have to buy 8 plane tickets/only can use it 2 days ...etc ... SO will you let me have it for $200 max because .... I am helping YOU out with you at least something ....

Yes, it is a $1200 rental in PRIME season beach block and I am trying to help the people who DID pay me that money as one of them had a stroke, broke a hip or has died. So, I usually will change a regular ad, call other guests at a resort for them to stay on or find a customer by calling other contacts ... as getting emails & calls from the LMR thread is just too much and too thick of a sludge. It is a downer.