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How to make any money from renting your Time Share?

Travelclam

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Okay, so I am really new to the time share market place, so I am going to ask a (probably) stupid (or naive) question. I see from all these postings that there quite a few time share owners here to own multiple time shares, and that they seem to be making a living (or partially at least, or making quite bit of profit) from their time shares.

Now, I have been to a few of those time share seminars. All the ones I have seen costs over $10K and then another several hundreds of $$ a year for administration/owner fee/maintenance fee/ fee. That's for only about 1 or maximum 2 weeks' worth of time at any given resort.

Then I am seeing lots of time shares renting out for <$500 a week.

So, how do any time share owners make any profits from renting out their time shares?
 

NTHC

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Don't buy from the developer first off. And then spend hours studying the market.

Good Luck!

Cindy
 

Jya-Ning

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Make sure you know what you are going to do if you can not rent the week you have.

Than Make sure you own weeks that can cover your MF plus your potential SA, plus all the ad cost when rent out, than add % of potential unrentable week and you will loss them at all.

than have a % of profit based on your purchase cost.

It is your responsibility to find such weeks.

Than you start with different ad site, and figure out what is the price that allows you to rent out highest in most reasonable way and get enough taker at time early enough for you to figure out what to do when nobody takes it.

You may want to start with a point or floating system, so you can get a feeling which weeks will be them.

Jya-Ning
 

Bill4728

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When you want to rent your TS to make money, there are two huge factors in making money.
- The cost to purchase the TS
- The annual MFs to own the TS.

IMHO, If you buy from the developer and pay from $10,000 - $40,000, you'll be hard pressed to ever make money renting your TS (even if you have low MFs). On the other hand, if you can buy a TS for a few thousand dollars and it has reasonable MFs, you may be able to rent your TS for a consistant profit.

The key may be to find a high demand-low supply area. IMHO, I'd stay away from high demand but high supply areas like LV or Orlando.
 

spatenfloot

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If you are planning to buy a timeshare with the idea of renting it out for profit, don't. It takes a lot of experience and knowledge of the market to be successful at that. Even then, it doesn't always work.
 

funtime

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It seems that most people that make money renting timeshares get a little extra for their vacation fund if at all rather than a huge amount. I have one timeshare that I rent and usually clear about 300 dollars - but an awful lot of rentals that barely clear maintenance fees. Funtime
 

applegirl

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I don't know anyone here on this board who buys timeshares strictly with the intention of renting for profit. We own timeshares because we love that type of vacation experience and the flexibility of going to other terrific places. For some who owns a lot weeks it's become an addiction I think!:p

Renting usually happens when someone just can't use that week for their own use and they have to do something with it. Renting is never guaranteed and weeks go unused/unrented all the time (have you looked at the last minute rentals lately?).

Your idea of buying to make profit on renting is probably something most of us would caution you against.

Janna
 

tombo

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Trust me, it is not a big moneymaker and I am telling the truth. If you are going to buy timeshares with the idea that you can make serious money you will be seriously disappointed.

With a lot of work, luck, and a good economy you can vacation several weeks a year for free and even put some money in your pocket. However if you own 8 weeks and want to use 3 weeks a year yourself, you might only rent one or two weeks and eat 3 weeks that you have to pay MF's on. If the average MF is $600, that means you owe $4800 a year. If you rent 4 weeks for $1000 a week you will get to vacation 4 weeks for $800 total. This is a good deal and what many of us do. The risk is that the economy stays bad and gas gets worse and you only rent 2 weeks and you can't get more than $800 per week. You now only want to vacation 3 weeks but you have 5 unrented weeks. You have spent $4800 and only received $1600 making you spend $3200 on 3 weeks vacation. You could have rented cheaper with no risk. When you own a timeshare it is just a matter of time until you will get assessed for renovations or repairs. That $1000 or $2000 assessment will put you further in the hole.

I enjoy fooling with timeshares and it is a hobby (actually addiction) for me. My hobby was a lot less fun this year as I had several weeks which usually rent well that didn't rent at all, and several weeks I did rent went for a lot less than in previous years. If the economy remains poor next year I might have to dump some weeks for almost nothing because timeshares are bringing very little resale right now.

Research before you buy anything. Rent at a resort before buying there, and only buy at a resort you would like to visit every year which is within driving distance of your home. Timesharing can be fun, but remember that it is a lot easier to buy weeks than it is to sell them or rent them.
 

Travelclam

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thank you all for your feedback. I wasn't really thinking of buying time shares as the means to generate income. But I did come across a few time share owners who owned multiple TS (one claims he owns 50+ TS) and seemed to be renting them out as if they are running a business. So that's why I got curious.

I am sort of considering buying a TS which has multiple locations so I don't have to trade too often. And I was looking for ones that are in high demand/low supply areas so that if I am not going to use it, I can rent it out easily.

Anyone with any recommendations which ones I should be considering?
 

Robert D

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I've bought some TS's with the intention of renting them. For me it's more of a hobby than trying to make a lot of money, but it does help pay for your vacations at the ones you do use. IMHO, to do this successfully, you have to buy them cheap, which means paying not much over $1,000 including closing costs, and your annual profit needs to be enough to get your upfront investment back in 3 yrs. I like to buy floating weeks that allow you to reserve the peak weeks in that location. This would include spring break in Orlando, ski weeks in Vail, and weeks 51/52 in most locations. Like others have said, you also have to have low M&T's. I've yet to not be able to rent one of mine, but I only own a few that I bought for rental. Typically, the TS's that work well are independents in high demand areas and Starwood voluntary resorts that sell cheap. Most of the big name TS's like Marriott and Hyatt won't work because they either cost too much upfront or the M&T's are too high, or usually both. I own a summer platinum week at Marriott Timber Lodge in Tahoe but bought that to use - no way one like this would work for a rental. There's one other risk no one else mentioned and that is that your TS will probably depreciate over time (i.e. 5 yrs from now it will probably be worth less than it is now) so your upfront $'s are at risk too. That's why it's critical to not overpay upfront and be able to get your upfront investment back in 3 yrs. I don't think this would work as a business model for profit, at least not if your time is worth much of anything.
 
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