What are your views on timeshares?
 

what would you guys say about timeshares as a long term investment considering today's market?

if anybody has any experience I'd appreciate some feedback.

I would never buy a timeshare. I see zero positive financial reasons to do buy one.

I understand the idea of a timeshare. I don't understand why anyone would want to put any money towards one.

My parents bought one in the 1970s for about $15000. Today it is worth about $5000 and I have it. Very bad investment. Also, not so good as you are committed to going to the same place every year at the same time, plus you have to pay maintenance and taxes every year. Might as well go anywhere you want without any upfront commitment. Sure, maybe hotels are more expensive, but you don't have to pay $5000 to $15000 up front. It's the worst investment ever. You can buy some cheap if you want, but still a bad investment whether it's $5000 or $15000, in my opinion. Buy some good stocks like Apple or Caterpillar for long term gain.

Horrible investment. The maintenance fee that's low in the beginning will begin to skyrocket after a few years, and there's nothing you can do about it. Then when you can't stand paying the maintenance fee anymore and want to sell it, you'll find there's no market and it's only worth 1/5 of what you originally paid for.

Most timeshares are not restricted like this. They have sister sites and you can reserve or trade weeks.

Still, a terrible investment. I used to go with my parents to get free XXXX and listen to their very good marketing.

I am a timeshare owner and I can say it's probably the worst investment I have ever made. I'd paid 8K for it back in days, they were trying to sell it for $22K. It seems like a great investment at the time. $350/year for maintenance fee + 100 exchange fee and I can get a really really nice condo in Hawaii. I used to invite my family and friends b/c I can get a 3 bedroom and 3 bathroom for less than $500 for a week. I did the same for Florida, used to be a yearly vacation for me. Now that the economy sucks, my timeshare is worth nothing and I could save my $8K. Timeshare owners are giving out their weeks for nothing. Now I am stuck with $500/yr maintenance fee (which is extremely cheap for today's standard). B/c of my busy schedule and new additions to my family. I feel I am forced to used my timeshare before it expires. I've actually lost a week last year b/c I did not have time to use it.

Where are owners giving away their weeks for nothing? I'd love to find some :)

stay away........

Just google timeshare rental [location], most of them will just asked for their maintenance fee which could range from $500 to $900, still a lot of cheaper than if you get a place of your own with a bed and tv. Timeshare condo's usually have full kitchen, living room, and bedrooms.

i read this on another website regardless the scholarships (i.e. tuition discounts) that are given to law school applicants to entice them to matriculate. i should sit thru these sales tactics to see how hard sells are done






Before we had kids, my wife and I would occasionally agree to go sit through a vacation condo sales spiel if they were offering free nights in a hotel that was actually of interest to us.

This T20 (top 20 law school) admit's story of the ever-changing scholly (scholarship) amounts reminds me of some of those experiences.

One of them started off around $28K (it was truly a very nice resort). The first salesdood, in the face of my persistent statements that we were only there for the hotel voucher, serially ran down to about $16K (each time coming down about 2K, the last couple of times after having to "go check with Bob, The Vice President").

Then we met Bob The Vice President. Bob The Vice President had more discretion when it came to negotiating and was a more serious dood, he started biting off chunks of $3k or $4k at a time.

Bob got all the way down to his final offer of $4K and actually cursed me (in front of my wife) when I said no. I held out my hand and politely asked for my vouchers, which he slapped into my hand, then politely asked him if he was willing to (i) step outside with me or (ii) apologize to my wife for cursing in her presence. Turns out Bob had more than one type of discretion, so he kept his teeth and straight nose.

Now, here's the deal. All during the (hour-plus) nego session, I could see other couples getting up and shaking hands with their sales reps. Only a few of the couples ended up still there at the end, not purchasing. I remarked to my wife on the way home that I found it amazing that, based on the time folks got up and shook hands, that many of them obviously were suckered into paying sticker, while others probably got a fair bargain, but overall it just amazed me that a product supposedly worth $28K a pop at 5 pm could still be viewed to bring profit to a company just an hour later - at 4K a pop.

Just like car dealers. Every unit they sell at a hefty profit gives them more leverage to sell a few for less.

They're still making a profit at 4k a pop, don't doubt that for a moment.

I got "sucked" into buying a timeshare too about a month ago. I needed to buy some showtickets for the family, and they provided a decent discount if I sat through one of their tours.

I felt that I negotiated a good deal, especially the ability to trade your timeshares (points sometimes) into other vacations for a small fee. Offcourse we like to take a vacation every year right? So it made sense...

After coming home I did my research, after the fact nonetheless, and found that the are a lot of people who are just GIVING their timeshares away, as long as you are willing to take over the maintenance fees. The value of the purchase price is basically ZERO for resale. Most people also do not realize that you are basically stuck for life with the annual maintenance fees, and the possibility of (sporadic) extra assestments for renewal of furniture and repairs not planned for, etc.

Anyhow, it ended up that I had a 5 day grace period, if I would return everything the had given me with a letter stating we wanted to rescind the contract, we would get all our money back and walk away scott free.
I decided to take that option and do a bit more research, and the result of that is that I'm not going to be a timeshare owner. I will however try to 'rent' into somebodies timeshare if I go on a trip with the family, as most of their condos are pretty nice places to spend a vacation in, just not worth the money and commitment they charge for the timeshare itself.

Checkout HomeAway.com. It's a pretty decent site where people rent out their timeshares. I got some pretty awesome deals at Trump Hawaii, 60% off retail pricing. And best of all I don't even need to buy a timeshare.

I owned a timeshare in FL since 2003 and all the guys have been talking were true, I spent $14K for a three BR lockout(paid off) (Sunday to Sunday) every other year with starting maintenance fee of $250, now its $900, I am planning to get away with it or just simply don't pay maintenance fee, Will it ruin my credit rating?

ah, yes, they will send you to a collection agency. Fortunately for me, maintenance isn't that bad. My sister in law got suckered into a timeshare to. She called me and asked me about it after she had purchased it. I told her it's a terrible idea and she can use my timeshare anytime she wants. It was too later however.

Nope. Why would you want to share YOUR home with 6-12 other people. Just weird to me.




But time share Jets on the other hand......

The only thing they're good for is getting free sh!t when they're associated/attached to a hotel by sitting through their pitch. Just got back from Cabo and basically got all of our food and drinks at the hotel for "free", breakfast, and other discounts from sitting through the presentation. Other than that, there's no way in hell I'd ever think about owning one.

i dont understand how ppl get suckered into buying timeshares. they'll say "sit in this sales presentation for x hours and you'll get free XYZ" and your cynicism doesn't kick up?