Why buy a timeshare (even resale)?

[vemmajhose]

Our reason to timeshare...

Many of you posted some great reasons but I'll throw mine out too since it differs from what was mentioned. We are a family of teachers and don't get much time off during the school year but we do have summers to play with. Too often we get bogged down w/ the planning and end up with no vacation. With this set up....we are more likely to go because we pay our mf monthly so not all of our money has to be paid at the time of the vacation. Also, we have already paid it so we are sort of forced to take a much needed break. The main reason though is probably that we do not just get our week. We get bonus time for nothing or next to it. We own at a silverleaf and can take a day here or there when we are able. We are about 2 hours from the closest one and about 4 hours from another so it is realistic. We haven't spent our week at our resort but exchanged since we are able to go to other silverleafs on bonus time. I came across a great deal and couldn't pass it up.

 

[GreenMum]

Sumarui great points!

I guess everyone determines their need or lack thereof for timesharing. It sounds as if many people on this thread like people who prefer to rent since they use/rent their unit at their convenience. (If I had the time, I might do that as well.)

Having many children, I personally love timeshares, for the cost, atmosphere & vacation experiences it has created---it has pushed us outside our little circle w/ less anxiety for the attempt.

I suppose that's why there are still people willing to buy & hooray for people willing to rent as well!

 

[Dave*H]

Actually we feel very good about selling our timeshares when we did and we have no regrets since there are now so many rental sites on the internet now.

I still think it depends. During peak times at some locations, it can be very difficult to get accommodations anywhere close to as cheap as an MF. If you manage to snag a good deal on the original purchase price, you can quickly re-cope the cost.

 

[timeos2]

Renting isn't a long term answer

And Carolinian above makes a valid point. We haven't checked any of RCI's sites yet.

If no one owned the units then there would be nothing to rent. While RCI is currently rolling in rentals (we won't go into why or how) there are deals to be had at or even well below annual fees. But it can't last as no one - not the resorts, the developers or the individual owners are in timesharing to lose money. If an owner doesn't use the time, if the trades they are offered aren't appealing, the resort and owners can't cover costs with the rental rates then the resort will fail. It goes back to own what you like (and want to keep around) and use trades only as a bonus. If all you want to do is trade it does appear that renting is, at least for now, a cheaper way to go in the slower times and much more expensive in the popular times. But you aren't tied to an annual bill, a resort, an exchange company or having to lay out the purchase cost. Short term it works. Who knows after that and maybe the typical renter doesn't care.

 

[MON2REY]

I'll chime in here, too. We bought our first and only timeshare just this year and can't even use it until 2008. We bought it as an investment; not as a financial investment but as an investment that will reap pleasurable experiences for years to come for both my wife and I and also our adult children and our grandchildren. I'm sure we spent more than we should have (we bought from the developer) but the facility will be first class for years to come. At first we purchased an Island View and then several months later visited the site and decided to upgrade to Ocean Front. Neither of our children are wealthy by any means and would normally not be able to afford a stay on Ka'anapali Beach but this timeshare will allow them to visit Maui every year if they so desire. If we (or our children) do not use the unit, then we could easily rent out the unit(s) at several times the annual MFs.

 

[talkamotta]

Im glad you feel good about selling your timeshares. Its good that you are still vacationing. I hope that doesnt change.

The traveling/timeshare industry needs people that are willing to rent instead of buy. You take the risk of not getting the week or destination you desire but you dont have the committment either.

 

[sage]

Many good reasons for purchasing timeshares.

Samuri,
It’s great that you’re happy with your decision to buy then eventually sell.

Timeshares are not suited to everyone.​

We originally purchased 20 years ago but rescinded due to everyone telling us what a mistake it was.

After visiting relatives in the US several times (who all had multiple timeshares), five years we went along to a presentation with our eyes and wallets wide open. We bought the equivalent of a week in a 2br per year and have never, ever looked back.
We looked at it in this light:
Purchase price divided by the no. of years available to us = $250 per year (before maintenance fees)
Total yearly cost = about $850 per year using a points based system.
For that, we’ve had numerous holidays at home; traded for weeks in Fiji (twice), Sedona, Capistrano Beach, Las Vegas (twice) & Thailand. Had we rented these weeks it would have cost much more than we paid.

We have worked out that our 1st timeshare paid for itself in 3 years of travel.
We are currently using our points based timeshare for trading at short notice and get roughly 3 – 4 weeks a year. Our most recent purchase (whilst overseas) is for trading power against our local timeshare market. II implied we could get just about anything we wanted if we deposited our Vegas week.

Our families still think you have to go to the same place each year at the same time. Not so! They still think we’re crazy but are slowly coming around as timeshare is just starting to become really popular in OZ. Every time we say we are traveling our families ask “Where to NOW?” and most have been gobsmacked when they see pictures of the places we stay saying “It must have cost a fortune to rent that!”

We look at it as an investment – one that will pay for itself over and over again as holiday rentals skyrocket. Maintenance fees may rise but it still makes it a relatively cheap way to holiday.
It is an investment to make sure that when we are retired we do enjoy ourselves unlike our parents who put off traveling until they were too old & frail to do all the things they’d dreamt of.
The other investment is that of memories. We’ve all heard it in the presentations “Can you remember what you got for your last 5 Christmas’s & birthdays?” Bet you can’t but you can remember your last 5 holidays.
We are giving our teenagers the gift of family holidays and great places they’ve visited.
You honestly can’t put a price on that!!!!!!

Sage

 

[Rent_Share]

If we (or our children) do not use the unit, then we could easily rent out the unit(s) at several times the annual MFs.

You may still be under the influence of the presentation . . . . .

 

[Dave*H]

If we (or our children) do not use the unit, then we could easily rent out the unit(s) at several times the annual MFs.

You may still be under the influence of the presentation . . . . .

If you are smart about what you purchase, this can be true. Not that it is easy to find such a property, but it can be done.

 

[Rent_Share]

If you are smart about what you purchase, this can be true. Not that it is easy to find such a property, but it can be done.

Did not realize that you bought Westin however MANY Times your annual maintenance fee is a tall order

At 45 K Buy in you need to clear $2250 over your maintenance fee for a 5 % ROI

Hawaiian T/S maintenance fees are always proportionately HIGHER than any where in the workd

 

[bigrick]

One year we traded for NYC at the Manhattan Club. We needed an extra night which I found at the Crowne Plaza at the United Nations for $129 on travelzoo. 7 times 129 is 903 plus all the taxes (state and city) puts the price of a week over $1000 which is cheap in NYC. Our cost for the exchange (exchange fee + maintenance fee) was $600. The clincher for me always is the room size. Plus the hotel room was crowded whereas the Manhattan Club room was spacious.

I like the size of timeshare rooms. And the price is less than renting.

 

[Dave*H]

Did not realize that you bought Westin however MANY Times your annual maintenance fee is a tall order

At 45 K Buy in you need to clear $2250 over your maintenance fee for a 5 % ROI

Hawaiian T/S maintenance fees are always proportionately HIGHER than any where in the workd

Am I confused? You quoted me, but I never said I bought a Westin. Nobody on this thread ever said anything about 45K, and nobody said they were able to get many times their MF (although I believe there are some select properties/dates where this is possible). I do believe there are a number of properties/times where several (i.e. 2-3) times MF is quite realistic.

 

[bruwery]

We look at it as an investment – one that will pay for itself over and over again as holiday rentals skyrocket. Maintenance fees may rise but it still makes it a relatively cheap way to holiday.
It is an investment to make sure that when we are retired we do enjoy ourselves unlike our parents who put off traveling until they were too old & frail to do all the things they’d dreamt of.
The other investment is that of memories. We’ve all heard it in the presentations “Can you remember what you got for your last 5 Christmas’s & birthdays?” Bet you can’t but you can remember your last 5 holidays.
We are giving our teenagers the gift of family holidays and great places they’ve visited.
You honestly can’t put a price on that!!!!!!

Sage

Yikes, I think Sage is an undercover timeshare salesperson. This sounds an awful lot like the obligatory "guilt trip" spiel they pull out of their pocket during the final 15 minutes of a sales presentation...

That being said, however, Sage is exactly right.



Ultimately, Rent vs. Buy is purely subjective and personal, and this is an interesting thread with some very logical points of view on both sides of the coin.

Based on my readings, I'm going to draw a conclusion that the average TUG user is more intelligent than the average "Bumpkin" (to borrow a term Perry used in another thread).

Interestingly, I notice a lot of people seem to be handwringing over the return on investment of a timeshare. I work in finance, so I live my life very conscious of the value of my dollar. Naturally, then, I'm prudent about what I spend on travel and where I want to stay. Ultimately, however, vacation is for fun and while I'm always going to seek a fair value, life's too short to calculate the ROI on my timeshare.

If renting seems like a good value for you, if you're fairly flexible, and you enjoy shopping for rentals, by all means, renting is the answer. I had my first timeshare rental experience a couple of weeks ago. What a great deal! I'm officially addicted.

If you have an area you want to visit every year, and a place you really like to stay, then buying may be the answer for you. I bought my first timeshare a couple of months ago. It's in Orlando, so I think it has only moderate trading power, and I don't doubt that I could find something with lower maintenance fees, but it's in a place I will likely visit several times. I'm not a Mouse fan (although my DS and I are taking the kids and outlaws there in Feb), but there's a heck of a lot to do within a 60-70 minute drive of Orlando. I was happy with the purchase price, and while I haven't actually seen the place, it seems by all accounts to be a nice resort. That's good enough for me. No screwing around with trades or shopping for a rental bargain. All I have to do is pick up a phone, and say "I'd like to reserve x". (Now if I could only buy my own airline...)

I could take the time to multiply my maintenance fees by my actuarial life expectancy and add the purchase price divided by the inverted square root of the going Holiday Inn rate added to the past five years' average CPI multiplied by the Jan 1 2006 Fannie Mae rate, and divide the resultant 85 decimal product into 72, thereby discovering that I overpaid by $15.43, but I don't have the ambition. Hopefully, I can have some good vacations in spite of my laziness.

I go to Vegas at least once (usually twice) every year, and I'm getting tired of shopping for hotel bargains, so I'll likely buy there at some point, too. Sure, it's overbuilt and it's easy to rent in that town, but I'm picky (actually, I'm not, but I'm married to the original Mrs. Picky), so it's not easy to effortlessly grab what I want at the time I want (unless I spend $$$ on a super trader in someplace that I'd only visit occasionally), so in my case, I think buying makes sense. I don't need an ROI calculation to tell me that, however.

Onward and upward,

MB

 

[Jollyhols]

I am on the negative side of t/s ownership.

I bought after a developer presentation five years ago and regret my purchase. I still think it is only economical for families sharing whereas only myself and partner use our t/s. Even bearing in mind the original purchase price, we could get a reasonable hotel for the price of the maintenance and that isn't taking into account exchange fees for the second week (we have a lock off so always have to pay at least one set of exchange fees). If we took accommodation with the company from which we purchase our fly-drive, we would get our flights cheaper, but of course we cannot take advantage of this.

My t/s has been on the market for less than half the price we paid for nearly a year on Timeshares Only. There is already a glut of the resort we own at up for rental so we haven't bothered with that (except on TO, but we haven't had any interest from that either).

As I have said some time ago, timeshare ownership is great for large family get-togethers where it no doubt works out economical, but not for a couple.

 

[Dave M]

My t/s has been on the market - for less than half the price we paid - for nearly a year....

It's probably time to examine your selling strategy. For some practical advice on how to successfully sell your week, see the "how to sell" article located at the top of the list of topics for this Buying, Selling, Renting forum.

 

[sumauri]

I also have another valid question? Why, after your initial investment in a timeshare do you have to pay a maintenance fee? It would seem to me that the initial investment would include maintenance fees. It looks to me like you're investing money (sometimes lots of money) and also renting yearly by paying maintenance fees.

It seems like a double edged sword when you can rent for the maintenance fee or perhaps a little more than the maintenance fee without buying and even if you rent for a LOT more than the maintenance fees you are still coming out ahead money-wise.

Like I said earlier when we first got into timesharing there weren't all the hundreds of rental sites on the internet like now. That's why I have changed my mind concerning ownership at all.

 

[Dave M]

You are kidding, I assume.

Asking that question is a lot like suggesting that when you buy your home, the initial price should include all of the utilities, repairs, remodeling, property taxes, insurance, new furniture, trash pick-up, maid service (if you have it), landscaping and other costs associated with your home for as long as you own it.

That's what maintenance fees are for.

 

[sumauri]

You are kidding, I assume.

Asking that question is a lot like suggesting that when you buy your home, the initial price should include all of the utilities, repairs, remodeling, property taxes, insurance, new furniture, trash pick-up, maid service (if you have it), landscaping and other costs associated with your home for as long as you own it.

That's what maintenance fees are for.

Yes, I understand the concept of upkeep. What I don't understand is why when 51 people that own one timeshare unit have to pay such high yearly maintenance fees. Take a unit where the maintenance is $700, multiply that by 51, that's $35,700 dollars a year for just ONE unit at a resort (I realize this includes grounds, pools, housekeeping etc.) And say there are 1000 owners at this resort, this would total $35 million $700 thousand maintenance dollars for the resort yearly. That seems like an astronomical amount. I can surely see why there are so many timeshare developers out there.

Food for thought.

 

[Jya-Ning]

Yes, I understand the concept of upkeep. What I don't understand is why when 51 people that own one timeshare unit have to pay such high yearly maintenance fees. Take a unit where the maintenance is $700, multiply that by 51, that's $35,700 dollars a year for just ONE unit at a resort (I realize this includes grounds, pools, housekeeping etc.) And say there are 1000 owners at this resort, this would total $35 million $700 thousand maintenance dollars for the resort yearly. That seems like an astronomical amount. I can surely see why there are so many timeshare developers out there.

Food for thought.

TS is more close to hotel. Wear and tear and replacing rate is higher than a regular home. Also, you have front-desk, cleaning lady, and the tower and bedsheet will be steam clean at least once per week if not more frequently. That is the reason the cost is high.

A good percentage, the HOA are owned by owner, not developer, some may no longer maintain by the originally developer.

Jya-Ning

 

[Dave M]

I can surely see why there are so many timeshare developers out there.

And I can surely see why you sold your timeshares. Good choice - for you.

In a sold-out resort, the maintenance fees don't go to the developer. They go to the HOA, which is usually elected by and controlled by the owners. The HOA, with the same interest as other owners in maintaining high standards for the resort at a reasonable cost, endeavors to keep maintenance fees as low as practical. As owners, it's in their interest to do so!

 

[Jya-Ning]

A new condo close to my house is charging 300 per month for maintain. That is just the common area. They don't even have a front desk, no people will come into their room for cleaning, and the furniture will not be replace.

FF Kingsgate, for example, will replace the furniture, the carpet, the bed in 10 years. The drape, the other soft stuff in 5 years. These will all come from the month MF. And they don't have owner to repaint/redecorate the unit themselves. If you add all these costs into your home maintainence fee, I guranatee it will not be the same you pay to your home HOA or not what you think you are paying. And with 50 Owners owns the same unit, some of them just not responsible, so it probably only has 47 pay owners

And since not many HOA has Warren Buffet or Alan Greespan, the money they keep in the reservation funds are sometimes not able to keep against the inflation. A simple natural disaster will increase their insurance premium. You will see even a best intend HOA will sometimes need to have SA.

It is probably much easier to just rent then own.

Jya-Ning

 

[elaine]

ok--I'll chime in--4 TS, all different reasons--love owning

1 is summer week at Hilton Head--bought resale for a decent price. Reason for buying was that we loved the place and it had a 1-4 rule and we wanted to go more often and (almost) free golf was only available to owners. Since the golf saved us $300 in one week, we factored that into our carrying costs and decided to buy, after staying there 2X with trades.

2 is strictly a trader---got a low-ball deal on ebay for a good trader--will use to try to get really great trips at peak times. It's a GC summer float at hilton head, and sometimes when we need more space for TS #1, we will actually use it for friends, family, etc.

3 is a summer beach week nearby that we bought on ebay. We use every year, same unit and have made friends with others there who come every year. We consider it our annual family beach week---renting would be 2X maint. fees and we would not get our plum location next to the pool, etc.

4 is a cabin at a campground type place 30 minutes away--paid next to nothing for it, maint. fees are low and we get day use of pools, games, etc. (which we use 1-2X a year) and then we spend 1 week each summer with the kids and commute part-time to work. We enjoy giving our kids a "camp" type experience with crafts, games, fishing, canoing, and bonfires while staying in a 2 BR cabin with AC, cable TV and a great alke view.

WE also enjoy trading my parents "dog" trader for trips to Williamsburg, ORlando, etc. We love TS, but I think we are done for now--but never say never!! Elaine

 

[sfwilshire]

Yes, I understand the concept of upkeep. What I don't understand is why when 51 people that own one timeshare unit have to pay such high yearly maintenance fees. Take a unit where the maintenance is $700, multiply that by 51, that's $35,700 dollars a year for just ONE unit at a resort (I realize this includes grounds, pools, housekeeping etc.) And say there are 1000 owners at this resort, this would total $35 million $700 thousand maintenance dollars for the resort yearly. That seems like an astronomical amount. I can surely see why there are so many timeshare developers out there.

Food for thought.

I check the financial statements from my resorts every year and don't see any costs that appear way out of line. Just the staff is expensive. Utilities outgrageous. Good reserve figures for replacements. My oldest resort has raised maintenance fees $5 - $25 a year for the ten years I've owned there and keeps everything in good repair.

Just got my first special assessment ever from my newest acquisition, however, and haven't even seen the place yet. Received a bill from Tybrisa for an additional $115 for 2006 for taxes and insurance that had gone up a lot. Maybe buying there wasn't as good an idea as it seemed when I made that eBay bid.

Sheila

 

[ava]

Renting

I am finding rentals on a variety of sites for over $2000 a week. True these are high end resorts but I would never pay that much for a rental.

 

[rickandcindy23]

The developer makes the initial profit, not the HOA. I am afraid they do not share their profit to the HOA for the ongoing expenses of the resorts.

Most of our units' maintenance fees are $440-$595. I think that is a bargain. Our Hawaii weeks are more, but upkeep on oceanfront properties' exteriors are more, plus it costs more for all services. Property taxes are also high.

Budgets are clearly written, an HOA board is in place to make sure no money gets into the wrong hands and we all vote for our boards, so it is very democratic and fair. As for the developer-run HOA's, there is little assurance that money is being spent on our behalf, but that is why developers need to leave

You used to own at Orange Lake? I understood that from seeing your posts on those threads. Sounds familiar, a former Orange Lake owner that sold all of their timeshares.