Hazelmn

I'm interested in timeshare ownership stories that people might have. I did a search of the past few years of posts and didn't see anything directly addressing this question.

Very interested to hear from people who have done it. Was it good or bad? We're looking at ski-town timeshares, but any experiences will be valuable to us.

Thanks!

ChristieP

www.tug2.net is a much better place to ask.

I will tell you this: BUY RESALE, *NEVER* FROM THE DEVELOPER!!!! You can find amazing resale bargains on the above website, too.

gail

Add up your ownership costs, including annual fee (that can usually go up as much as they want). Then pick a reasonable time period - I would say 10 years, since most of us have no idea what our vacation and travel preferences will be beyond that.

Divide ownership costs by this number. In every case I have seen, it would be cheaper to rent a place for the 1 or 2 week period than to own a from-the-developer time share. And some I have seen you can never walk away from - you are stuck with this maintenance fee forever, unless you can seel the unit/weeks to some other sucker - which is often very difficult.

All the other nonsense about how it is an investment, that is has resale value is just that - nonsense.

Some people I have spoken to who buy timeshares report successful "trading", but I hear far more horror stories from acquaintences unable to trade.

This is just my opinion, I am sure others will disagree. But even with this opinion, I have gone to the "get something free" timeshare talks and been tempted - until I can think clearly after I leave. (Maybe they put something into the coffee at these talks).

Cargillman

Christie - great link and I'm sure the site will more than answer my questions.

sludick

Best thing we ever did. Before then, our vacations were a bust. We were always looking for somewhere to stay, spending too much time driving, getting tired and cranky, etc. And we never took enough time to really have a vacation, mostly just long weekends. Now, we pick a location for our timeshare week to "anchor" us, and then build out a second week with 2 day stays within driving distance. For example, here is our itinerary for our vacation this fall - we're taking friends who have never traveled:

- Fly into Reno (from Orlando), stay a night at a casino.
- Next day drive to Lee Vining, stopping at Bodie State Park to see the Ghost Town. Stay in Lee Vining, see Mono Lake (friends have never seen this type of country, so that's why).
- Drive into Yosemite. 2 nights.
- Drive to Monterey. 2 nights.
- Drive to San Francisco (up coast). 2 nights.
- Drive to Lake Tahoe for a week (timeshare).
- Last day, long day trip to Lassen and then last night in Reno again.

Our timeshare is in Daytona Beach, but we never stay at it. We belong to RCI, and have always been able to trade ours out for anywhere we want.

A couple of suggestions:
- As ChristieP said, BUY RESALE.
- Buy something that will trade well. We bought on the beach for that reason. It's close enough to home that we can also use the facilities as day guests, if we want. Beach property is usually very tradeable.
- Look at the rating for the property and the week you are buying. Get a Gold Crown property if you can, and a red week (high season week). Getting a "fixed" week is not so common these days; more often you have points and a floating week. Buying resale would give you a better chance of getting that fixed week.
- Look at maintenance fees. As gail said, you can end up paying a lot more than you might otherwise. Of course, most timeshares have a full kitchen, living room, laundry facilities, etc., so you are getting much more than a hotel room.
- Is the resort a member of a group? If so, you may be able to trade within your group and not always need to go to RCI - that will save you an exchange fee (around $149).
- For ski-town timeshares, look for a property that offers 4-season vacations in addition to just snow months. That will help you with trade-outs.
- Avoid high-pressure sales presentations. Again, BUY RESALE. Don't believe the salesman if he tells you RCI only takes members from them and not resale, or such tripe.

We found that by buying our timeshare, we were forced to take vacations - real vacations, not just long weekends. I'm always planning a vacation (I start a couple of years ahead, so I typically have one in the chute and one in the longer planning stages).

Do your homework, and make sure it's right for you. . But our experience has been very positive, and we'd encourage you to go for it.

antlori

Sludick, sorry if this is a stupid question, but what is RCI?

happytourist

RCI is the company that handles the trades. Many companies that own timeshare developments don't own enough properties to make trading possible or desirable, so their owners can join a trading group like RCI where they can trade to other properties. There is an annual fee, something like $85. This allows you several thousand properties to choose from for trades.

I agree that buying our timeshare allowed us to have some very nice vacations. However, listen to the advice to buy resale. And if you join RCI, you really need to own only one week as there are lots of specials and bonuses available. I really don't understand people who buy multiple weeks--they must get a lot of vacation time!

antlori

Thanks for the explanation, happytourist. My family and I just got back from a trip to Hawaii and we're trying to figure out how we can afford to go back there every year.

ChristieP

There's another company that handles trades, called Interval International, or II. There are also smaller exchange companies, too. Don't believe anyone who tells you RCI is your only option.

The timeshare owners' trade magazine is called Timesharing Today, and it is a very worth it if you are into timesharing.

We also find it very helpful to have the convenience of a full kitchen when we travel. Although we love to eat out, it sure is nice to be able to eat at least breakfast, and the occasional dinner, at the timeshare.

sludick

happytourist, you are SO right! We take advantage of RCI "Last Call" vacations on a regular basis. (That is when they have excess inventory, and put it up at a steal within 45 days of the scheduled week -- we're getting a 2bedroom, 2 bath in April at a great resort for $219 -- no other exchange fees, no need to trade a week).
There are other companies besides RCI -- Mariott has their own, for example. But RCI has something like 70% of all timeshares out there worldwide. I'm looking at New Zealand at the moment - last fall we went to Banff (Canadian Rockies).

trippinkpj

I agree. Buy resale not new, and take advantage of exchanges and other deals like through RCI.

HonestAbe

We had looked at a timeshare for an upscale ski resort in Utah. The deal was that you could buy-in for $30,000 - $70,000, depending on the unit. You would then share that unit with 7 other owners. There were a handful of other properties that you could swap out for. This place was brand new and they operated as a luxury hotel. You could put your week into the "rental pool" if you weren't going to use it.

It sounded like an OK deal... paying $30,000 for a 1/7 share of a luxury condo in a place where it is hard to find a ski townhome for under $300,000. However, we decided against it because of some very hefty association fees, and the fact that of 7 weeks of use, you are lucky of 2 of your weeks actually fall during ski season!

Neopolitan

Here's another thought. When you own a timeshare, you may end up being liable for other costs. The time share near me lost their roof and had other damage during Wilma last year. Each owner was assessed a major amount (rumors are that it was something like $5000 per unit per week of ownership). Many owners who have already owned there for 10 or more years and seldom use them anymore, decided it was time to quit, and simply walked away from their "investment", losing their supposed "lifetime" of ownership. Their are similar stories of people being assessed after a few years when the units need major refurbishment and there was not enough allowance for their annual fees to cover it.

I get the impression they are best for people who need to be "forced to take a vacation" (a problem I surely can't indentify with) or for those who simply can't save otherwise but need the requirement of buying it so they will be able to travel each year. Over all I agree with gail above. Invest the same amount of initial downpayment, add your yearly fees and you could do very nicely each year renting anywhere without all the restrictions and complications of possible trades for perferred locations and times.

gail

Following my "do the math" theory - look at data from honestabe above. Unit costs $30,000-70,000 plus "hefty association fees".

He also admits that for the 7 weeks he would get it, perhaps 2 would be during ski season. (Own with 7 others).

Let's call the price $50,000. Let's even say he uses it for the 2 weeks that he has during ski season. And use my 10-year figure. Even without financing costs and association fees that is $2500 per week. Add those fees, and you see what I mean.

And the part about being forced to take a vacation - I also know enough people who feel "forced" to go to their timeshare every year, although they would prefer to stay home or go elsewhere.

I think the glow goes off these things very quickly.

A_Traveller

There's no right or wrong answer to this question. For every time share "rave" you'll hear a "rant". There are so many variables - where is it located, who operates it, how flexible is the useage policy, do they offer trades at other locations, how much you pay, what are the yearly assessments, etc., etc. I am not a big fan of time shares and it seems to me that of the friends and accquaintances I have who own time shares they all are very enthusiastic for the first several years of their ownership but after a while the glow wore off and almost to a person they couldn't wait until they were able to unload their unit, usually at a loss. As Gail pointed out if you invest your down payment and are disciplined enough to put away your monthly maintenace fees and other time share related assessments & costs you'll have more than enough to take a fine vacation every year at more places than you can imagine. To me time share just don't make good economic sense.

mclaurie

http:/http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1&tid=34514602

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...1&tid=34494243

http://www.redweek.com/help/timeshare-pros-and-cons

lvk

Another thread with interesting viewpoints:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34530742

socialworker

hi--I was going to leave this to all the others but here is my 2 cents...I was the most anti-timeshare person going until a few years ago. We started with Disney "points", ie not a fixed week.We bought there b/c we could get Boardwalk--a premier location--as our "home resort" for what seemed to us a reasonable price. Then a couple years later, the place where we usually stayed on Cape Cod, a relatively modest--one might say seedy--motel directly across from the ocean, converted to timeshares. They did an incredible gutting and redoing of the entire place.

I only go into such detail to make my point. There was no way that Disney--which we go to frequently--could be a bad investment. There is such a dearth of ocean front property on the Cape, that that could not be a bad investment either. Plus, this is a place where we go every year and intend to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. Altho I should *not* call either of them an investment, despite the BS language that the timeshare sales people use. A timeshare is a purchase, an expenditure, and if it is a logical expenditure for you, then do it, but only for your own use. So the answer to your question is yes--for some it is money well spent and for some it is a big mistake!!

LLindaC

We own 2 RCI properties, one on points, the other on weeks. The weekly one is in Orlando at Orange Lake, very popular.We've used it twice, the service was horrible and we had other problems with them (read my report on tripadvisor) We've tried unsuccessfully four times to trade, unsuccessfully to get airline tickets and finally settled on using points for car rental and Disney Passes, which wasn't a great bargain. I'm very disappointed with RCI and wouldn't recommend this option. Too many other great last minute, auction, etc. deals out there.

mikemo

Big mistake anytime, anywhere, imho.
I have no personal experience as the feedback from knowledgeable folks has been so negative for so many decades.
M