OT: What can happen to time shares
- Thread starter vacock#
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There’s plenty of opportunity in the timeshare game if you’re invested in the right places. In my opinion, I wouldn’t consider the grand strand to be one of those places.
I have one there that was bequeathed to me. My parents thought they were doing me a favor. Instead, they wound up paying me back for all the grief I ever caused them. I use it every fall, but it is an anvil around my neck in terms of divesting myself of it. Good, ocean-front unit with only one bedroom. I literally have tried to give it away - twice - and can't do it.
I really don't know. I have a credit score above 830. I sort of like having it. But I really don't know. I guess they would just take something I don't want anyway. I've only known one person who just stopped paying. He didn't blow up or anything.
I have known some people who bought them, none of them were very happy with their purchase.
They are a huge ripoff. I had one with Marriott Vacation Club. When I purchased it, I was told that Marriott would buy it back at any time if I wasn't satisfied. That was Lie #1. Their program assigned points based on the amount you paid that you could use at any Marriott Vacation Club property. I was able to make one reservation, but every other time I tried to make one, I was told there was no availability, even though, I could go to the Marriott.com website and pay the normal nightly rate to make a reservation at the property I wanted to use my Marriott Vacation Club membership.
Marriott Vacation Club is a huge scam. Not sure about the others. Buyer beware.
Marriott Vacation Club is a huge scam. Not sure about the others. Buyer beware.
Never done a time share and never will. I do know people who swear by them, but I know I'd want the exact same week(s) that a thousand other people would want. Guess they are good if you're a retiree and have lots of flexibility. Otherwise, timeshares just conjure images of cheesy hucksters.
I have 2 Marriott timeshares - one in Orlando and one in Hilton Head. I use the Hilton Head timeshare every year - it’s convenient and less expensive than staying elsewhere on the island.
I typically rent my Orlando timeshare every year - never had a problem renting it out in the open market for more than I pay in maintenance fees annually. I didn’t spend much for it, and even if I tried to sell it for $0.01, Marriott would likely take it back as part of right of first refusal. That would prevent me from paying any further fees should I no longer want the commitment.
Sometimes I wonder if folks just make the wrong investment decisions or don’t fully understand how to leverage their investment.
Commercials now run for businesses that help people get out of their time shares. Time share use to be a positive word that meant unlimited exotic vacations. Now it's a negative word that means money pit.
Neither. It's the ever-escalating, never-ending "maintenance fees" that are really nothing more than another yearly rental on top of the initial expenditure. It's the endless attempts to get you to up the ante through the purchase of points to go elsewhere and at different times, which is nothing more than escalating your commitment to a flawed business arrangement. I go down to Myrtle Beach in the middle of October. My maintenance fee has now risen to about $550 for the year and it goes up every year. That exceeds $78 per might - for "maintenance", mind you. And that goes on for 52 weeks a year with every unit there. At that time a year I can sleep at a lot of decent places for less than that or not much more. It's a perpetual rod job. People like my parents, who got in early, didn't see what it was going to become. Better informed people have wised up - well, the smart ones have.
Maybe 11 years ago we were buying a company in Orlando. We spent a lot of time down there. To save money they once booked us at a Marriott time share where we were expected to listen to a sales pitch to receive a special rate, we didn't.
I've listened to the pitches. I even have to be "invited" to one in order to pick up my key every year. Put it this way, timeshare sales people have rendered used car sales people comparably honest.
So my friend went to a time share sales thing, they promised a free gift, like a clock or Swatch watch or something. So they get there with their letter where they can buy in for $34,000. The salesman does a great acting job, pulls his hair and explains there has been a terrible mistake the timeshare was supposed to cost $68,000. He gets up and runs to tell his boss screaming about the mistake all the way down the hall. He comes back and say the boss says they have to honor the $34,000 price, it was supposed to be $68,000. They decline and leave with their cheap Swatch knockoff watch. As they are leaving a different salesman exits a sales room screaming about the mistaken sales price made on some letter.
Right. I've made some dumb moves over the years but this one is at the very top. Once you are in, you are in. There are also tons of silly fees. When you call HGVC to reserve it, there is a booking fee. When you want to roll your points into the next year, there's a fee. Roll your points into Hilton Honors points: Fee. Never ends. Rip job of the century.
That free dinner and free two night stay you are offered will be the most expensive weekend of your life. And the maintenance fees never go away and only go up.
I had one for over 10 years and the ex - wife wanted the purchase value to go to my claimed assets....ugh.....NO !!
You get crappy picked-over places unless you book a year in advance, plus the really upscale ones cost more points than you have, so you spend additional money plus processing fees when booking.
A previous poster was correct, you can't give them away. I finally sent the Deed to the selling property so I wouldn't have anymore annual association fees or whatever they call it. It was O,K, while my kids were growing up but not again....nope.
You get crappy picked-over places unless you book a year in advance, plus the really upscale ones cost more points than you have, so you spend additional money plus processing fees when booking.
A previous poster was correct, you can't give them away. I finally sent the Deed to the selling property so I wouldn't have anymore annual association fees or whatever they call it. It was O,K, while my kids were growing up but not again....nope.
My parents literally have about 5 weeks with Interval International between 3 or 4 places. The longest one being held for close to 30 years now. Something tells me they will try and pass them on when they die, but I have to find a way to decline politely without hurting some feelings.
Ricky Rooster. You better or you will lose all your feathers!
If it is when they are dead, how can you possibly hurt their feelings?
Step 1: They die.
Step 2 You decline.
Step 3 You wonder why you were worried about hurting their feelings.
I am a member of the Disney Vacation Club. I say it is a timeshare because that is, by definition, what they sell. They call it vacation ownership because timeshare is a bad word. But wait, I actually do like what I have. I’m tied to a certain week because they use the points system like many have started doing. You can stretch your points by booking off season, but not required. I haven’t found booking that difficult, except maybe Christmas week or some Spring Break week, but I ain’t going there at that time anyway. I’m going to use about two years worth of points that I have (about $2K/yr, maint fees) to spend 10 days at the Disney Resort in Hawaii. We are going to have one 3BR condo and one 2BR condo. Those two places for 10 days for $4k on Oahu isn’t too bad IMO. Now paying airfare - that is another story. Hadn’t booked that part yet, but me, my wife, son and his wife, daughter and seven grandkids probably isn’t going to be cheap. Me and my wife likely free on frequent flyer points, but the others will hit the wallet. LOL. But, it will be a bucket list trip for everyone and a nice family vacation.
One of the biggest players (probably the biggest) sold my grieving father enough "points" to take our entire family on a cruise to Alaska. The company did not have cruises to Alaska. The sales guy tried to keep all of the dealings oral. Thank goodness my Dad had one or two emails where he mentioned Alaska. It was enough to convince them they better refund the money or face the wrong end of a lawsuit.
Buying a timeshare is like being in a partnership with no upside potential. You can't get your money back. In fact, you have to pay someone to take it off your hand. And your partner can jack up its fees on you. And if the other owners bail, guess who is holding the bill for taxes, etc. In a nutshell, you have no equity -- just unchecked liability for future costs and possibly no way out. Sounds great, right?
That said, they had nice properties. But you did have to pay more and more it seemed for the right to stay in your own place during certain times. How people ever believed that was consistent with the concept of being an "owner" is something I will never understand.
Buying a timeshare is like being in a partnership with no upside potential. You can't get your money back. In fact, you have to pay someone to take it off your hand. And your partner can jack up its fees on you. And if the other owners bail, guess who is holding the bill for taxes, etc. In a nutshell, you have no equity -- just unchecked liability for future costs and possibly no way out. Sounds great, right?
That said, they had nice properties. But you did have to pay more and more it seemed for the right to stay in your own place during certain times. How people ever believed that was consistent with the concept of being an "owner" is something I will never understand.
The question is, can you sell it? If you can sell it, can you buy from other owners? My timeshare did not give any points to the person who buys the timeshare making it worthless to the buyer.
Yes, you can resale, but Disney Vacation Club has first right of refusal. They will step in and buy if you try and sell too low.
Well because more than likely they'll tell my brother and I what they are planning to do with them BEFORE they die, and probably try and split the timeshares between us in their wills. Telling them we don't want them will quite possibly hurt their feelings just because of the time and money they've put into them, including the many memories we've made using the various weeks.
You used to be able to go down to Myrtle Beach and find where they were selling the time shares. Show up, sit through a couple hours of their sales pitch and walk out with a $50 Bass Pro Shops gift card or a free dinner somewhere. They’ve gotten wise to that now and I think the gifts have gotten much worse or they will make you sit there basically all day instead of 2 hours.
If you get one go resale. We bought both of ours off Ebay for a very low price. We have a two bedroom townhouse in Lake Lure we have used every year except once and we traded for another location. Our timeshare in St Thomas we use most years but have rented it out a few times.
All timeshares are not the same. They used to sell a deeded room and week in Hilton Head. I bought mine about 20 years ago. Not many people will do that now but they are available on the resale market. I go the 25th week (end of June) of every year and stay in the same condo. It has been a good investment. The best part turned out to be the relationships the kids made with other 25th weekers.
Stepmom and dad bought one - NYC, two blocks south of Central Park, 5 blocks north of Times Square. Worth a ton in exchange value - I stayed in Park City back in March 7 days for $300 fee. She stays in Myrtle Beach all summer in her points. And she has extra weeks she never uses in a year. The right property can be very valuable....
Neither did I. I purchased my timeshares on an open market. I could just as easily sell mine for as much or more than I paid for it today. Sometimes you just have to be knowledgeable about your purchase. Most people are not...
That’s a typical timeshare agreement in a reputable system. Perhaps those who have been burned aren’t spending their money wisely.
This money was spent in 1979 by a couple of retirees during the nascent stage of this enterprise. And, no, most people selling timeshares aren't guaranteeing to buy them back, and some who are won't follow through. In other words, it had better be in writing and you'd better have your lawyer on speed-dial.
I have zero concerns about my timeshare selling of/when I want to divest of it. Seems to me that a lot of folks who’ve been burned either bought into a less than reputable system or have had their timeshares for a long time...
How much is your free time on vacation worth? I don't think I'd give up a few hours for a fifty dollar gift card.
I'm glad your experience has been satisfying to you - honestly. But think of me as a Farmer's Insurance agent: I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two. As I stated - twice - I entered into this arrangement because it was free to me - initially. Had the decision been mine and had it been presented to me fairly recently, I never would have entered into it. I turned down an escalation just 10 months ago.
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