chewie
TUG Member
So my wife and I watch a lot of HGTV. We were watching House Hunters International yesterday and a couple from Pennsylvania were buying a vacation property in the Punta Cana area of the Dominican Republic. Here is a link to the episode: http://www.hgtv.com/video/dominican-republic-escape-video/index.html
The property that they bought was a "fractional" purchase, but for a one month interval, instead of the typical week interval that we are all familiar with. They paid like $57,000 for the (2) 2 bedroom / 2 bath unit, and were something like 1/12th owners of the property.
I thought this was very interesting, as it seems to be the same old timeshare idea that we are all familiar with. They had a maintenance fee, as well as initial purchase price. The only real difference is that they are 1/12 owners, instead of 1/50 owners. So...I did a little research on this idea on the internet, and although popular now in the DR, others are starting to pop up in Hawaii, as well as around Naples, Florida.
I am wondering what some of you veteran TUG folks think of this. My initial thoughts are... There is still a management aspect that seems to oversee the ownerships. After the initial purchase, would the maintenance fees seem to get out of control like most of the N. American timeshares? Also, since these are 1/12th ownership, would the initial purchase price be something that could be sold in the future? Or, is this just a new facelift concept to the same old timeshare concept that we have all bought into? Will the same thing happen here as happened to all of the N. American timeshares? Meaning, initial purchase price goes to $0 after you buy in, and then the maintenance fees go through the roof and it costs a fortune to use???
Knowing what I know now, and applying the logic of 'today's' timeshare landscape, I know that there are plenty of people (suckers) out there that would buy with aspirations to rent out units (the salesman's magic wand). Therefore, there would likely always be rentals out there for the time that we wanted to go down and we would probably always get a better deal that way.
Thoughts?
The property that they bought was a "fractional" purchase, but for a one month interval, instead of the typical week interval that we are all familiar with. They paid like $57,000 for the (2) 2 bedroom / 2 bath unit, and were something like 1/12th owners of the property.
I thought this was very interesting, as it seems to be the same old timeshare idea that we are all familiar with. They had a maintenance fee, as well as initial purchase price. The only real difference is that they are 1/12 owners, instead of 1/50 owners. So...I did a little research on this idea on the internet, and although popular now in the DR, others are starting to pop up in Hawaii, as well as around Naples, Florida.
I am wondering what some of you veteran TUG folks think of this. My initial thoughts are... There is still a management aspect that seems to oversee the ownerships. After the initial purchase, would the maintenance fees seem to get out of control like most of the N. American timeshares? Also, since these are 1/12th ownership, would the initial purchase price be something that could be sold in the future? Or, is this just a new facelift concept to the same old timeshare concept that we have all bought into? Will the same thing happen here as happened to all of the N. American timeshares? Meaning, initial purchase price goes to $0 after you buy in, and then the maintenance fees go through the roof and it costs a fortune to use???
Knowing what I know now, and applying the logic of 'today's' timeshare landscape, I know that there are plenty of people (suckers) out there that would buy with aspirations to rent out units (the salesman's magic wand). Therefore, there would likely always be rentals out there for the time that we wanted to go down and we would probably always get a better deal that way.
Thoughts?