MemberI hear a lot of bad things about timeshares and people avoid those time suck “meetings” with sales representatives at all costs. I am wondering if they are viable vacation options – does anyone have one? Are you happy that you do, or do you wish you didn’t?
Member@MrsPanda99: My mom has a timeshare in Hawaii, and it’s nice if you are willing to take trips off-season or go to the same place each year. She goes off-season, so she can “trade” with anyone else who has a timeshare in the world. She’s done Paris, Australia, places in the Bahamas, a cabin in Utah, a cottage in Napa Valley, etc. She also frequently uses her Hawaii one, but doesn’t always feel like doing the 12 hour flight.
I think she pays $3,000 per year, which gives her 2.5 weeks. She thought about going up to the 4 week plan, but she decided she would just rather pay for other vacations separately. Last time we used her timeshare was in NYC, and we kind of wished we had just booked a hotel of our choosing outside of the timeshare, because ours ended up being wayyyyy to central/close to Times Square.
But altogether, it’s nice, but just kind of pointless. I guess it gives you access to things that you might not otherwise get, like small cottage rentals and such.
Member@QueenOfSerendip: That was my thinking too…it does seem kind of pointless. Right now we just pay for the trips that we take and it seems to be working. One of our friends recently got a timeshare and she loves it (I think that may just be because it’s recent :P) so she put the bug in my ear.
Membermy dad’s father and wife own a timeshare. they love it.
MemberI do, and I wish I did not, in fact I am looking into selling mine. Let me know if you want to know why I hate it!!!
Member@stephee: Yes, please. I want all perspectives, including hate, lol.
MemberI do not have one but DH and I go to a million timeshare presentations for free trips. We got a free hotel stay in vegas for one, discounted rates to San Fran, and lastly a free trip to catalina. Oh we also did a wine tasting for free and a drunken harbor cruise. LOL, we did purchase a “mini-sample” to go to Aruba.
Member@NovaRising: The presentations are terrible! And you can’t escape. We went to one and we had to get “signed out” or else lose the discount…guess how easy it was to get them to sign us out 😛 The presentations are a huge turn off for me, lol.
MemberOk, I bought mine from an elderly family friend who coudln’t use it anymore, so that part was great! No real initial investment, and we transferred the deed over and all, so it is mine.
Here are my complaints:
1. It’s expensive- $700/year or so for our week. Now, that’s not terrible considering we get a week’s vacation for a year and ours sleeps 6 people (two bedroom plus couch bed). But! It started out at $500 year when I bought it four years ago, and they can just raise your cost every year without asking or telling you (Yeah, they have meetings I could go to, but I can’t travel just for that, and you have to go in person to vote on things). So, now I am locked into $700/year when I only wanted $500.
2. You also have to pay to transfer it!!! Ours is based in the Poconos, but I have only used it there once. We went to New Orleans, Florida, etc. It costs an extra $80 a year just to be eligible to transfer and $140 more to actually do a tranfer, so thats an additional $220 more per year if we want to travel elsewhere.
3. Even though it sleeps 6, no one ever travels with us, our friends are at the age where they have small kids or no money so they won’t go away for a week. If I had this later in life, it’d be more worth it maybe?
4. It’s more difficult to get out of than a marriage or mortgage, I am finding, ha!! I’ve wanted out for 1+ years and haven’t made it work. I feel stuck with the purchase. I’d rather pay more for a hotel and not be locked into paying this price yearly. Yes, weeks carry over, but only for a few years then they expire.
5. Even though I own a timeshare, they still hound me!!! When I am using it, they call, they come to the door, they offer us special deals with strngs attached etc. And I am an owner there!!!!
In the end, I am unhappy that I bought something with a fixed payment per year, that they can just raise. It’s gone up $200 in the past 4 years, I know it will keep rising. I am unhappy that they make it so hard to sell them or get out of the purchase. I am unhappy with all the extra fees I incur when I try to use it away (even though it may sometimes still be cheaper than a hotel- we wouldn’t do the trips every year though like we have to now).
Member@MrsPanda99: LOL, my hubby just waits for me to say no. I just consistently say no or tell the sales person from the beginning that we have no interest. I’m pretty firm and never get uncomfortable in the situation. It can last up to two or four hours but the trip to vegas but hubby’s bday was worth it.
MemberDooooooooon’t do it!! I currently foreclose on timeshares and they are a mess to deal with. They are expensive for what you get and they nickle and dime you. Not only do you have to pay for the timeshare itself, you may also have to pay maintenance fees, assessments, etc. If you are delinquent on your maintenance fees, they can foreclose and you’ve lost any equity you may have built up over the years.
Member@MrsPanda99: My parents have time share properties with M Private out of Calgary. It’s a bit different from your average timeshare, but also quite a bit more expensive. However you aren’t going to meetings or things like that. I’ve gone to their properties in Kelowna, Whistler, New York, Cabo, Palm Springs, Paradise Valley and Hawaii and they are all amazing. That’s only a small share of the places available.
Member@MrsPanda99: I don’t own one but I just watched an interesting documentary on them. I think they keep raising in price every year because the companies that lease the time shares are in big trouble with the banks. Basically, think of time shares as a mortgage: the time share company gets a loan for the entire amount of what the time share costs from the bank (let’s say $100,000 over someone’s 30 year package). Then the time share company charges you the monthly fee to “pay the mortgage.” Well the main time share company was selling these costly packages to literally anyone with credit. Once people realized they wanted out of the package because they didn’t like going to the same place year-in year-out at the same time of year, every year they and the economy started to go to crap, the “owners” started defaulting on their payments to the time share company. Then the time share company was defaulting on their payments to the bank. Just like the housing bubble burst in America, there’s definitely a time share bubble burst that is in the process of happening. (I know you live in Canada)
I would say stay away if you don’t want to be locked in to a bunch of things you have no say in or control over!
Member@MrsPanda99: I think they are stupid, just rent a place. In fact, rent one of those timeshares that the owner cannot get rid of.
You can’t sell the things and you are forever on the hook for the maintenance fees which are, of the ones I’ve seen, the same cost or more of simply renting a place for a couple of weeks. You do NOT build up equitiy, there is no market for resale of these things.
Don’t buy one. To convince yourself, look at the obligations you are “buying” not what you are getting. That’s a lot of obligation for little pleasure.
And for me, I don’t want to go back to the same place eac year, same time, for the same vacation. A lot of sameness. That’s boring.
Member@MrsPanda99: I do. I like it so far. I bought it because I was interested in making a property investment (to raise my credit after taking the student loan hit) but did not have a lot of spare capital at the time. Also, I did not have the budget for our honeymoon, so I needed an option once I learned that I would be paying for it by myself. I bought a fully deeded timeshare in the US (although I do not live in the US), and financed through the timeshare company itself. Their interest rate is a little high, but I paid it because they guaranteed the amount based on my income and did not run a credit check first. This was attractive to me, again, because I don’t have a lack of income, what I have is less-than-pristin credit that I’m trying to improve and was happy to avoid the credit inquiry hit I would otherwise have taken on such a big purchase.
They initially tried to offer me this super expensive package, but unlike many people, I came to the table knowing what I wanted. I negotiated down to about 30% of what they initially wanted me to pay. One reason I like the package I bought is that I can use it anywhere in the world. Also, I’m entitled to 2 weeks per year, not just one. And they gave me another week as a bonus for purchasing same-day. I pay less than US$200/month and an annual maintenance fee around US$350. In addition to the worldwide availability, they also offer extremely discounted vacations that you can pay for out-of-pocket if that’s what you want. For our honeymoon, we’re spending a week at a 4 star resort in the Caribbean at about half price. I paid for it out of pocket, but it was inexpensive, I had plenty of time to save, and all 3 of my weeks are still intact to use at another time.
One thing I can say I don’t particularly care for is the fact that being able to exchange your week at another property depends solely on whether another owner wants to switch with you or whether the other property has availability. So rather than choosing anywhere in the world, you kinda have to choose one of 30 or so resorts (on 6 continents) that happen to be available. That’s not exactly slim pickings, but we wanted a bit more customization because it was our honeymoon. For future trips, I expect we’ll be more flexible and this will be less of an issue.
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