Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

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Wannaretireearly
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Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by Wannaretireearly »

Howdy,

In FL cocoa beach. Offered a timeshare for 44K upfront (payment options etc) plus annual maintainence fees around 1500. Was 'No' from me to quickly collect $250 ish cash bonus.

I cant think of great reasons to ever get a timeshare...my questions:
1. If you like your timeshare, what were you able to negotiate? What personal status made this a good option for you? E.g. retired, like visiting certain spots, etc

2. If your like me, just surfing for timeshare offers to grab a promo...what are the best promos youve encountered? Are they still available?

3. Ever bought timeshare on the secondary market? What was the deal? Worth it? Words of wisdom?

Cheers from FL
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Nate79
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by Nate79 »

Timeshares have almost zero value. If you really want one you can get them for free all day long as the original sucker's try to get out of their mistakes.
letsgobobby
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Post by letsgobobby »

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FIREchief
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Post by FIREchief »

I've read that the only way to get out of a timeshare commitment is to die. Think about that. REALLY think about that.

Stay a mile away from the presentations unless you are 100% convinced that they are crap and you're just trying to score a free night stay at a plush location, etc. I'm bullet proof, so I went to one in Vegas years ago. Had a great time. Met a great man (our assigned "partner") who had finished a career in Vegas casino work. Pit boss, etc. Dad was a professional boxer in Vegas in the fifties. He shared old SI articles. Told some neat stories. (he was also very smart and quickly figured out that we weren't buying anything). Also scored a pair of great show tickets, a free lunch, $50 match play in a casino (that I converted to $53 hard cash on video black jack - beat the odds that one and only time), and I can't remember what else. At the end of the day, I had some good entertainment, cash in hand, a full stomach, a good show memory and absolutely no commitment of any kind. If you can't do that...…….RUN!!! Otherwise, have fun!!!!
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ras4250
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by ras4250 »

The Disney timeshare also has value, but if you use it correctly. It is not a deed in perpetuity, but rather a 50-year lease. You are basically pre-paying for Disney vacations, so if you do so you get a discount off the retail price. In that sense (if you were going to spend the money at Disney anyway) it is "worth it". The points also consistently rent out for much more than their cost, which is nice.
Northern Flicker
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by Northern Flicker »

In FL cocoa beach. Offered a timeshare for 44K upfront (payment options etc) plus annual maintainence fees around 1500.
Is this for 1 week/yr? Would you buy the unit as an exclusively owned condo for 52*44K and take on HOA fees of $1500*52/yr? That’s $78,000 per year they are collecting for “maintenance” on one unit. If the share is 2 weeks/year, you can cut the above results in half, but they are still hideous.
HIinvestor
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Post by HIinvestor »

My friend bought two in Hawaii for $10 apiece, really. She has to pay $1000 or so annual fee but is entitled to a week every year at one and every other year at the other. When she can’t use it, she can rent it out or get points, I believe or swap with someone else.

Im waiting to see how she likes it. We aren’t very interested as we mainly travel where there are no timeshares.
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

My parents bought many weeks at Costa Linda in Aruba and either went to use the weeks or rented them out. This was a very unusual situation which I believe you can't know ahead of time where it was indeed a good value for them. Rental on one of their units was on the order of $5k for a week. The place is well run and at this point well established. They bought just before the government there instituted a 10 year building stop because of several time shares going belly up before construction was completed.

Always look on the secondary market and eBay for units if you're considering a time share. If you see units for $1, you can be quite sure that it's a nightmare rip off.

On the question of having sat through the time share presentations.....yes, my wife and I would do one nearly every year when we had no kids and went to an island for vacation. One of the best rewards was a speedboat tour that circled St Martin. That was very cool. I've never bought a time share and never would. I had the perfect excuse for Aruba....."My parents own 12 weeks at Costa Linda. Your time share doesn't stand up to how nice an end double unit there is". I'll also note that the sell in Aruba was far softer than other islands or within the US.
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jw50
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by jw50 »

Two caution (UK situation):
-you might not be able to sell
-you might be stuck with annual charge forever (death might not be the end, your heir may be settled with the continual liability)
student
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by student »

I agree with others who said that it is not worth it.
camden
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Post by camden »

As Del Shannon once sang, "Runaway, run, run, run, runaway"......
tim1999
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Post by tim1999 »

I could never understand how these could in any way be a better deal or otherwise more favorable than just renting a hotel room for a week in the location you want to vacation at.
lstone19
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by lstone19 »

tim1999 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:13 am I could never understand how these could in any way be a better deal or otherwise more favorable than just renting a hotel room for a week in the location you want to vacation at.
There is a huge quality of life difference between time-share apartments and hotel rooms. Most time-shares are full apartments with a kitchen, living/family/dining room, and one or more bedrooms. We spend three weeks a year in Hawaii at a time-share we own and love it. But I'm usually up an hour or two before my wife and there's a world of difference between sitting in the dark in a hotel room and just heading into the common rooms, make coffee, and do whatever I want without disturbing my wife. I don't even want to think about what comparable space would cost in a hotel. Not to mention that having a full kitchen allows us to prepare a lot of our own meals.
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8foot7
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Post by 8foot7 »

jw50 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:42 am Two caution (UK situation):
-you might not be able to sell
-you might be stuck with annual charge forever (death might not be the end, your heir may be settled with the continual liability)
Wow. I would assume in the US an heir could simply disclaim the inheritance of that property. Is that not possible in the UK?
lazydavid
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by lazydavid »

We own quite a bit on a common account with my parents, and the only points we regret are the relatively small number we paid full price for before we knew any better. All of our resale points we still consider to be a good value.

Ongoing costs are also high, but we feel we get value out of it anyway. Collectively between us we pay almost $700/mo in maintenance fees. Which is a lot, no question about it--that's a hefty car payment or a very small mortgage. But this year that's getting us 72 nights (2.5 months!), mostly in 2- or 3-bedroom units. And we'll still have some points left over to forward to a couple of years from now when we want to spend 2-3 weeks at various resorts across the Hawaiian islands, most of which are quite "expensive" from a points perspective.

There's no way we could get rooms like we stay in, with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, full kitchen (saves on food) and laundry (pack lighter) for ~$100/night. So it's worth it to us. Might not be for everyone. But just as an example, next month we're spending a week in a 2,000 sqft 3 bed, 3 bath unit inside Disney World, at a resort with multiple pools and tons of activities. Some of our friends who live a few hours away are going to come to stay with us while we're there. A room with 1 king bed at a comparable Disney hotel (Coronado Springs, which is in the "Moderate" category) is on special right now for $487/night--and we'd need three. So that's $10k right there, and we'd all be in separate rooms with no common living/dining area, kitchen, or laundry. Our cost if we tried to break it out is around $1,300 for the week.

Like others have said, once you're in, you're in, and it's difficult to get back out. So make sure you are really happy with the product vs. the maintenance fees before you jump in. And never, ever buy from the developer.
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by lazydavid »

lstone19 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:19 am There is a huge quality of life difference between time-share apartments and hotel rooms. Most time-shares are full apartments with a kitchen, living/family/dining room, and one or more bedrooms. We spend three weeks a year in Hawaii at a time-share we own and love it. But I'm usually up an hour or two before my wife and there's a world of difference between sitting in the dark in a hotel room and just heading into the common rooms, make coffee, and do whatever I want without disturbing my wife. I don't even want to think about what comparable space would cost in a hotel. Not to mention that having a full kitchen allows us to prepare a lot of our own meals.
This is me exactly. We just spent Memorial Day weekend in Wisconsin Dells, at a resort with 8 waterparks on site. Most mornings I was up about 90 minutes before anyone else, so I just made a pot of coffee, grabbed my kindle and went out on the balcony to read. Incredibly relaxing. And anybody who's been to the Dells knows that the breakfast/lunch food there sucks. So we brought up food to make in the room for those meals, and just went out to nicer restaurants for dinner. After pooling and go-karting into the early afternoon, grab a couple of beers from the fridge (also brought from home) and relax in the living room or out on the balcony while others are cleaning up for dinner. After dinner or a show, come back and sprawl out across the couches and watch part of a movie as a family before heading to bed. Run a load of laundry while we're at dinner, and we come home with suitcases full of clean clothes. So the relaxing continues when we get home, until we have to go back to work that is. :P

A regular old hotel room at the same place with 2 queen beds, no bathroom, balcony, kitchen, laundry or even sitting area, is almost $300/night. Something about 1/3 the size of what we had but with 2 bedrooms and a kitchen is $400/night.
boglegirl
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by boglegirl »

lazydavid wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:24 am We own quite a bit on a common account with my parents, and the only points we regret are the relatively small number we paid full price for before we knew any better. All of our resale points we still consider to be a good value.

Ongoing costs are also high, but we feel we get value out of it anyway. Collectively between us we pay almost $700/mo in maintenance fees. Which is a lot, no question about it--that's a hefty car payment or a very small mortgage. But this year that's getting us 72 nights (2.5 months!), mostly in 2- or 3-bedroom units. And we'll still have some points left over to forward to a couple of years from now when we want to spend 2-3 weeks at various resorts across the Hawaiian islands, most of which are quite "expensive" from a points perspective.

There's no way we could get rooms like we stay in, with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, full kitchen (saves on food) and laundry (pack lighter) for ~$100/night. So it's worth it to us. Might not be for everyone. But just as an example, next month we're spending a week in a 2,000 sqft 3 bed, 3 bath unit inside Disney World, at a resort with multiple pools and tons of activities. Some of our friends who live a few hours away are going to come to stay with us while we're there. A room with 1 king bed at a comparable Disney hotel (Coronado Springs, which is in the "Moderate" category) is on special right now for $487/night--and we'd need three. So that's $10k right there, and we'd all be in separate rooms with no common living/dining area, kitchen, or laundry. Our cost if we tried to break it out is around $1,300 for the week.

Like others have said, once you're in, you're in, and it's difficult to get back out. So make sure you are really happy with the product vs. the maintenance fees before you jump in. And never, ever buy from the developer.
How did you get the week at a 3br @ Disney World and still have points for another 2.5 months elsewhere? I have a family member who has a similar cost to you (spends almost $10k/year on maintenance fees) and they stay for 2-3 months per year. But they stay in places like off-strip Vegas 2br units for 3 weeks in June. :? Never any nice beach or other desirable vacation places, imo.
lstone19
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by lstone19 »

letsgobobby wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:13 am Only buy resale.

Strongly suggest you only buy a branded hotel in Marriott, Starwood, HGVC, etc.
I agree with only buy resale. I disagree with buying a brand. For the branded time-shares, their interest seems to be more in enriching themselves through their name. Once such a project is fully-sold, the only interest that hotel brand company has is in managing the resort, usually via a very long-term management contract they wrote when they first developed the project and owned 100% of it.

We're "blessed" to own in an independent time-share in Hawaii that is self-managed and managed very well. The developer built it out of love for the area with the goal of fully selling it and then getting out of the project. There is no "name" associated with the project but it does very well. Employees stay a long time and almost always when we walk in almost a year from our last visit, are greeted warmly by staff that remembers us. The Board of Directors, all owners themselves, have our interest at heart because they pay the same maintenance fees and are subject to the same rules. We started with one week (bought from the developer before we learned about resale) and have since added two more weeks bought resale.

The flip-side is the mistake we made buying into a "name" time-share that the developer can grow forever and therefore never lose control. Unlike most timeshares which are single properties so once fully sold, the owners control it rather than the developer, this one is a collection of properties throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico so the developer can keep growing it and never lose control. In addition, since it's a point system rather than deeded ownership, by manipulating point values for properties and the selling price of points, they can devalue the interests of existing owners. A majority of the Board is employees of the developers who own a token amount so that they are qualified to be on the Board but seem to put the developer's interests ahead of the owner's interests (and because of the sheep who give the Board their proxies, are also able to select the independent directors so the owners essentially have no voice on the Board). But as I said, it was a mistake and I have no intention of ever putting another voluntary dollar into that project as I believe the Board and developer has put the project on a path to make my current ownership worthless as they make decisions to entice new sales. I also would not buy into any other point system - deeded ownership only.

Timeshares can make sense if they're somewhere you want to go every year like we do with Hawaii. We rarely exchange elsewhere. But almost all time-share marketing is about what else you can do with your ownership other than using it at the home resort. Things like exchanging to another resort, exchanging it for airfare and other travel benefits (rarely a good value proposition), or even buying gift cards (another bad value proposition). The best value will come from using it at your home resort so make sure you're buying where you want to go.
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LarryAllen
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by LarryAllen »

It's not too hard for a timeshare to be a great rental property. I don't recall the particulars but here are the basics of our experience. A Marriott in Hawaii. We purchased on redweek for $18k plus closing costs of about $500 so all-in for $18,500. From Marriott would have been $75k. Annual dues were about $2k. We rented our week out through Redweek. Each year was a bit more: $3,200, $3,800, $4,200 and $4,400 or something about like that. It might have been $5k the last year I don't recall exactly. The ad on Redweek was about $50 each year and the rest was profit above the costs of the MF's and the time value of the initial investment. We never used it while we owned it so finally sold it for $19k net so came out ahead on the sale. Very easy to rent through Redweek. In fact, we usually rent others there. Just wait until the lat couple months and/or find someone that doesn't know what they have and/or negotiate. Pretty easy.
Horsefly
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by Horsefly »

I would think AirBNB / VRBO / HomeAway would be making timeshares even less attractive. We have friends who have timeshares, and they mention the same advantages over hotel rooms that have been mentioned here. When we vacation we almost always go with a short-term rental from VRBO or AirBNB, and we can get pretty much as much of a real home as we want, with separate rooms for different activities, kitchens fully equipped, etc. And we don't have to figure out how to "use" our allotment every year.

I hear people talk up their timeshares / points like some are in this thread, but I just don't get it.
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by goblue100 »

lazydavid wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:37 am
lstone19 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:19 am There is a huge quality of life difference between time-share apartments and hotel rooms. Most time-shares are full apartments with a kitchen, living/family/dining room, and one or more bedrooms. We spend three weeks a year in Hawaii at a time-share we own and love it. But I'm usually up an hour or two before my wife and there's a world of difference between sitting in the dark in a hotel room and just heading into the common rooms, make coffee, and do whatever I want without disturbing my wife. I don't even want to think about what comparable space would cost in a hotel. Not to mention that having a full kitchen allows us to prepare a lot of our own meals.
This is me exactly. We just spent Memorial Day weekend in Wisconsin Dells, at a resort with 8 waterparks on site. Most mornings I was up about 90 minutes before anyone else, so I just made a pot of coffee, grabbed my kindle and went out on the balcony to read. Incredibly relaxing. And anybody who's been to the Dells knows that the breakfast/lunch food there sucks. So we brought up food to make in the room for those meals, and just went out to nicer restaurants for dinner. After pooling and go-karting into the early afternoon, grab a couple of beers from the fridge (also brought from home) and relax in the living room or out on the balcony while others are cleaning up for dinner. After dinner or a show, come back and sprawl out across the couches and watch part of a movie as a family before heading to bed. Run a load of laundry while we're at dinner, and we come home with suitcases full of clean clothes. So the relaxing continues when we get home, until we have to go back to work that is. :P

A regular old hotel room at the same place with 2 queen beds, no bathroom, balcony, kitchen, laundry or even sitting area, is almost $300/night. Something about 1/3 the size of what we had but with 2 bedrooms and a kitchen is $400/night.
I'm glad you have fun with your timeshare, but lets do some math. The OP said it was 44,000 + 1500 yearly. Over 20 years that is $74,000. You get to use the condo one week a year, so that is 140 nights. Actually might only be 120 nights, but lets use the full week of 140. $74,000 / 140 =$528 a night. And that is assuming the dues don't go up.


If you can get it for $18,000 plus the $30000 in dues your nightly average comes down to about $200 a night. That could be a value if you want to go to the same place every year. (I know they say you can do exchanges, but those cost additional fees.)
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letsgobobby
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Post by letsgobobby »

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lazydavid
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by lazydavid »

boglegirl wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:37 am How did you get the week at a 3br @ Disney World and still have points for another 2.5 months elsewhere? I have a family member who has a similar cost to you (spends almost $10k/year on maintenance fees) and they stay for 2-3 months per year. But they stay in places like off-strip Vegas 2br units for 3 weeks in June. :? Never any nice beach or other desirable vacation places, imo.
The week at Disney--which is at the only resort inside the WDW gates NOT owned by Disney--costs about 300k points. We have 1.4M every year, plus some forwarded from previous years (our usage is sometimes uneven), and some bonus points left over from a small purchase that my parents foolishly did to "lock in" our status. My parents go a lot more nights than we do, at less-expensive resorts--they used a little over half of our shared points this year for 45 nights.

Also funny that you mention being off-strip in Vegas over the summer. We do that almost every year for 2.5 weeks, in a 2br (upgraded free to a 3br last year) 2 blocks east of the strip (on Koval). :sharebeer My wife loves the heat. This year we're doing Florida instead.
lstone19
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by lstone19 »

goblue100 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:50 am I'm glad you have fun with your timeshare, but lets do some math. The OP said it was 44,000 + 1500 yearly. Over 20 years that is $74,000. You get to use the condo one week a year, so that is 140 nights. Actually might only be 120 nights, but lets use the full week of 140. $74,000 / 140 =$528 a night. And that is assuming the dues don't go up.


If you can get it for $18,000 plus the $30000 in dues your nightly average comes down to about $200 a night. That could be a value if you want to go to the same place every year. (I know they say you can do exchanges, but those cost additional fees.)
It's the $44,000 that's the killer but you're not going to find prices like that on the resale market. Where we own in Hawaii (mentioned above), our most recent resale purchases were $7,000 for a 2BR and $3,500 for a 1BR with maintenance fees well under $1,500 per year per week. Even the first week we purchased from the developer was "only" about $15,000.
tech_arch
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by tech_arch »

We did our research and bought several Wyndham timeshares through the secondary market. Each one only cost us that year's maintenance cost and had full points, so we essentially got the deed for free. The sellers also paid closing costs.

Caveats:
  • If you're buying into a large system, consider where you want your "home" based. This is how your maintenance costs are determined and you often get priority when booking there. For Wyndham, you can book at our home resorts three months earlier than others
  • See if it includes an RCI membership. RCI allows trading and booking into other resorts. They often had cash deals for other places during the off season. Example: I've gone skiing in Virginia, renting a 2 bedroom unit for only $200 for the week.
  • Secondary market purchases don't count toward the program's VIP status. You won't miss it.
  • Make sure you understand how reservations work, including any fees and housekeeping restrictions.
  • Wyndham in particular is slow in title transfers. We've had it take 2-3 months for them to finish their paperwork.
Overall, we find our timeshares cheaper than hotels or renting condos and consistent.
mptfan
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by mptfan »

lstone19 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:19 am There is a huge quality of life difference between time-share apartments and hotel rooms.
I agree, but there is a similar quality of life difference between non-time share apartments and condos compared to hotel rooms. Try AirBnB or VRBO. No maintenance fees or contracts or long term commitments.
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Sandtrap
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by Sandtrap »

In the short and long run. . . . . . viable alternatives . . . some might consider.
1 VRBO
2 AirBnB
3 Short Term Rentals
4 Hotel
5 Resort
6 etc.

Pros: No strings. No ties. No contracts. No "buy in". Flexibility.
Cons: Not "fractional ownership", not "time share".

Perhaps a "Boglehead" approach would be. . . buy a condo in desired area. . rent it out as a VRBO. . block out times as needed for self.
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fourkids
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by fourkids »

letsgobobby wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:13 am Only buy resale.

Strongly suggest you only buy a branded hotel in Marriott, Starwood, HGVC, etc.

Read tug2.net

But probably you should not buy
ditto.
I bought one 13 years ago. we go mostly every year (it's a property that sells out routinely over spring break), and a couple times have traded it for other great locations. I'm very happy with it.

If you are considering it:
- only buy resale (you can often pick one up for free or under $500, but really look into the ongoing maintenance fee)
- only buy where you want to go (if you like going to a different place for every vacation, a timeshare is not a good fit. you can trade, but it is extra work)

you can pick up cheap or free timeshares on tug2.com, redweek.com or ebay. If you are seriously considering, read tugbbs.com for tips and pointers.
lazydavid
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by lazydavid »

goblue100 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:50 am I'm glad you have fun with your timeshare, but lets do some math. The OP said it was 44,000 + 1500 yearly. Over 20 years that is $74,000. You get to use the condo one week a year, so that is 140 nights. Actually might only be 120 nights, but lets use the full week of 140. $74,000 / 140 =$528 a night. And that is assuming the dues don't go up.

If you can get it for $18,000 plus the $30000 in dues your nightly average comes down to about $200 a night. That could be a value if you want to go to the same place every year. (I know they say you can do exchanges, but those cost additional fees.)
Hence the reason I said not to buy from the developer. I paid $1500 for one of my resale deeds, and $2200 for the other. Could have gotten equivalent-sized deeds for as little as a buck, but I was specifically looking for resorts that have low MF and was willing to pay a little more to do so.

Depending on where I go and what size/class of unit I book, this gets me anywhere from 3 to 8 weeks (would only be 2 weeks in the 2-story 3-bedroom penthouse in Waikiki with 3 balconies that we stayed in a couple years ago, but that's a crazy outlier), for about $4k/year. I have literally never been to one of the resorts I own, and I've had it for over a decade. I've never once paid an exchange fee, which only comes in to play when you exchange outside the system. I believe it would cost me $79 to trade into a week at any RCI-affiliated resort (plus the associated points, of course), which is not the end of the world if I chose to do that.
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

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djpeteski
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by djpeteski »

We are all over any good timeshare deal that can be had. We are bullet proof, as someone else mentioned, knowing that even if it is something that you want it can be had for pennies on the dollar on the secondary market.

One thing to keep in mind: when you buy a point based timeshare you are also subject to "currency risks". That is you are essentially buying a currency, that is controlled by the hotel company, that can be exchanged for hotel rooms. At any time they can devaluate that currency. When you purchase perhaps those points buy a week at your resort of choice, but in the future it may only buy 3 or 4 days. This happened with Marriott time shares a few years back. And you have no recourse.
LarryAllen
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by LarryAllen »

To the people who are negative about timeshares have you ever stayed in one? As others have said having a living room, kitchen and separate room for the kids makes it an actual VACATION! No comparison to a hotel room. Not even in the same universe.

The advantage compared to renting somebody's house or condo, important to us, is you get hotel amenities. We like hotel pools, hotel poolside service, etc.... At the timeshares we stay in we get that. If we rent some guys condo we "save money" but in most cases lose those type of amenities we enjoy.

If you do very much homework at tug.net you will find timeshares are far superior to standard hotel rooms and condo rentals... at least in our extensive experience.
lazydavid
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by lazydavid »

letsgobobby wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:14 am Lazydavid, are you in HGVC?
No, Wyndham. For our Hawaii trip, I wish I was in HGVC, because the Hilton Hawaiian Village is awesome. But otherwise we're quite happy with it.
Gr819406
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by Gr819406 »

I do not see how a timeshare could possibly be worth it in this day and age especially with air bnb. I try to avoid hotels at all costs as I find if I am staying somewhere for a week vacation a house is so much more convenient. If it is a 1 or 2 night stay then a hotel is fine. If I were debating this I would run the numbers on how much would a hotel cost me per week or 2 weeks or an air bnb for where ever you were looking to buy. I set thru a few sales pitches and it also seems you could go elsewhere if you trade weeks/points/save points/etc but typically not peak weeks in prime destinations.

Maintenance fees can be quite high which does not include the cost to get to your timeshare.

I could possibly understand getting one on the secondary market if someone was looking to dump it if you really like the destination, but buying directly from the place it seems you'd be better off just setting the money aside and paying for your annual trips.

To me if you are interested in a timeshare seems you could just buy someones week each year which may ultimately end up being cheaper and ultimately I'm not a huge fan of doing the same vacation each and every year, but some enjoy that.
lstone19
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by lstone19 »

djpeteski wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:15 am One thing to keep in mind: when you buy a point based timeshare you are also subject to "currency risks". That is you are essentially buying a currency, that is controlled by the hotel company, that can be exchanged for hotel rooms. At any time they can devaluate that currency. When you purchase perhaps those points buy a week at your resort of choice, but in the future it may only buy 3 or 4 days. This happened with Marriott time shares a few years back. And you have no recourse.
Which is why I said above to only buy deeded ownership, not point systems. And why I said that the developer of the point system we made the mistake
of buying into is putting it on a course to make our ownership worthless. Point are an "intermediate currency" that do not have a free-market value. The developer controls the value. In the system we own, it used to be 10,000 points got you a 2BR peak time week. But newer resorts added are seeing that 2BR peak time week getting up to 20,000 points. So my 10,000 points don't get me a full week at the new resorts. And when they add such a unit to the system, that's 20,000 points for them to sell to owners who quickly realize why that the older resorts are a bargain. And as this system has no home resorts (a resort that your points are considered to have come from) and therefore no home resort preference (where I'd have a preference (earlier booking window) in reserving my home resort), it essentially allows them to keep reselling the older resorts which, because they're a bargain relative to the new resorts when it comes to owners using their points, increases demand for those resorts.

Another way to look at this is it lets the developer discount the sale of new points relative to what older owners paid and shifts equity from the older owners to the new owners.
mptfan
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by mptfan »

Gr819406 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:36 am To me if you are interested in a timeshare seems you could just buy someones week each year which may ultimately end up being cheaper and ultimately I'm not a huge fan of doing the same vacation each and every year, but some enjoy that.
Life is so unpredictable, there's no way I would commit to going to a specific place during a particular week every single year. There are so many things that can and do come up...what if I can't go on vacation that particular week this year or next? I don't want to deal with that headache.
SimonJester
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by SimonJester »

My vote would be to take that money and go experience different parts of the world. Why lock yourself into a single location or even company. As other have pointed out AirBNB, short term rentals, of heck just rent the timeshare from someone else are all alternatives.
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
tech_arch
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by tech_arch »

lstone19 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:40 am
djpeteski wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:15 am One thing to keep in mind: when you buy a point based timeshare you are also subject to "currency risks". That is you are essentially buying a currency, that is controlled by the hotel company, that can be exchanged for hotel rooms. At any time they can devaluate that currency. When you purchase perhaps those points buy a week at your resort of choice, but in the future it may only buy 3 or 4 days. This happened with Marriott time shares a few years back. And you have no recourse.
Which is why I said above to only buy deeded ownership, not point systems. And why I said that the developer of the point system we made the mistake
of buying into is putting it on a course to make our ownership worthless. Point are an "intermediate currency" that do not have a free-market value. The developer controls the value. In the system we own, it used to be 10,000 points got you a 2BR peak time week. But newer resorts added are seeing that 2BR peak time week getting up to 20,000 points. So my 10,000 points don't get me a full week at the new resorts. And when they add such a unit to the system, that's 20,000 points for them to sell to owners who quickly realize why that the older resorts are a bargain. And as this system has no home resorts (a resort that your points are considered to have come from) and therefore no home resort preference (where I'd have a preference (earlier booking window) in reserving my home resort), it essentially allows them to keep reselling the older resorts which, because they're a bargain relative to the new resorts when it comes to owners using their points, increases demand for those resorts.

Another way to look at this is it lets the developer discount the sale of new points relative to what older owners paid and shifts equity from the older owners to the new owners.
I disagree and love the points system at Wyndham. We reviewed the cost in points for various locations during various times of the year before we bought and found them competitive. The points system also makes it easy to book anywhere we want to go, without the hassle of trying to trade. We have our "home" resorts in Hawaii and Tennessee, but we've also stayed in Florida, DC, and NY and had great experiences. Yes, a weekend in San Francisco is more than a week in Orlando, but you have that arbitrage no matter what - if your deeded week & location isn't valuable you won't get much for it in trade, either.

Overall, I think this comes down to doing your homework and researching before buying. There are pros and cons to both systems, but I think points are better.
tech_arch
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by tech_arch »

SimonJester wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:53 am just rent the timeshare from someone else are all alternatives.
We've done this, too. There is even a cottage industry of people who buy timeshares just to rent them out.
SuzBanyan
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by SuzBanyan »

We have owned points at WDW through Disney Vacation Club (DVC) for over 10 years and have also added points at the hotel at Disneyland. We like the easy walking access to the theme parks. We also use the points for an annual stay at the Aulani Resort on Oahu. We feel like we get a fair economic value from owning the points and would have to pay capital gains if we were to sell.

Based only on annual fees, we pay about $80- 104 per night for a studio at the Boardwalk at WDW in early December and about $210 per night for a studio at the Grand Californian or Aulani (ocean view). A 2BR at the Boardwalk runs about $240-$280 per night in early December and at Grand Californian it’s about $416- $520 per night in early December.
letsgobobby
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by letsgobobby »

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bob60014
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by bob60014 »

It's like the two best days of a boat owners life, the day it's bought and the day its sold!! Run, don't walk, away from this, it's not worth it.
LarryAllen
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by LarryAllen »

Gr819406 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:36 am I do not see how a timeshare could possibly be worth it in this day and age especially with air bnb. I try to avoid hotels at all costs as I find if I am staying somewhere for a week vacation a house is so much more convenient. If it is a 1 or 2 night stay then a hotel is fine. ....
This is why websites like this are so useful as it's good to be reminded that everybody sees things differently. I see it the exact opposite of you. I love timeshares and hotels and dislike airbnb and the like. Makes the world go round....
Spirit Rider
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by Spirit Rider »

8foot7 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:23 am Wow. I would assume in the US an heir could simply disclaim the inheritance of that property. Is that not possible in the UK?
An individual heir can disclaim property, an estate can not. Unless the estate is already insolvent. The liabilities of the timeshare will still burden the estate.
wolf359
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by wolf359 »

lazydavid wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:24 am We own quite a bit on a common account with my parents, and the only points we regret are the relatively small number we paid full price for before we knew any better. All of our resale points we still consider to be a good value.

Ongoing costs are also high, but we feel we get value out of it anyway. Collectively between us we pay almost $700/mo in maintenance fees. Which is a lot, no question about it--that's a hefty car payment or a very small mortgage. But this year that's getting us 72 nights (2.5 months!), mostly in 2- or 3-bedroom units. And we'll still have some points left over to forward to a couple of years from now when we want to spend 2-3 weeks at various resorts across the Hawaiian islands, most of which are quite "expensive" from a points perspective.

There's no way we could get rooms like we stay in, with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, full kitchen (saves on food) and laundry (pack lighter) for ~$100/night. So it's worth it to us. Might not be for everyone. But just as an example, next month we're spending a week in a 2,000 sqft 3 bed, 3 bath unit inside Disney World, at a resort with multiple pools and tons of activities. Some of our friends who live a few hours away are going to come to stay with us while we're there. A room with 1 king bed at a comparable Disney hotel (Coronado Springs, which is in the "Moderate" category) is on special right now for $487/night--and we'd need three. So that's $10k right there, and we'd all be in separate rooms with no common living/dining area, kitchen, or laundry. Our cost if we tried to break it out is around $1,300 for the week.

Like others have said, once you're in, you're in, and it's difficult to get back out. So make sure you are really happy with the product vs. the maintenance fees before you jump in. And never, ever buy from the developer.
I know someone who did very well by their timeshare for years. They could stay at facilities that they otherwise might not have afforded, and could get great value from it. Then their kids grew up, they themselves moved out of the country for a few years, they're 30 years older... ...and they still own it. They project that when they are in their 70's, they will still own it. They enjoyed it, got their value out of it, and are done with it. But they can't get rid of it. They can't donate it, and they can't give it away.

I'd say that if you do it, only buy a resale, and know your end game.
Last edited by wolf359 on Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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HomerJ
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by HomerJ »

lstone19 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:19 am
tim1999 wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:13 am I could never understand how these could in any way be a better deal or otherwise more favorable than just renting a hotel room for a week in the location you want to vacation at.
There is a huge quality of life difference between time-share apartments and hotel rooms. Most time-shares are full apartments with a kitchen, living/family/dining room, and one or more bedrooms. We spend three weeks a year in Hawaii at a time-share we own and love it. But I'm usually up an hour or two before my wife and there's a world of difference between sitting in the dark in a hotel room and just heading into the common rooms, make coffee, and do whatever I want without disturbing my wife. I don't even want to think about what comparable space would cost in a hotel. Not to mention that having a full kitchen allows us to prepare a lot of our own meals.
You can easily rent condos with kitchens and living rooms nowadays. The choice is not "hotel room" or "time-share" any more. Time-shares are pointless in this day and age.

OWNING a vacation home gives some benefits. Owning one week of a vacation home offers nothing over just renting one week of a vacation home.
"The best tools available to us are shovels, not scalpels. Don't get carried away." - vanBogle59
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HomerJ
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by HomerJ »

LarryAllen wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:24 am To the people who are negative about timeshares have you ever stayed in one? As others have said having a living room, kitchen and separate room for the kids makes it an actual VACATION! No comparison to a hotel room. Not even in the same universe.

The advantage compared to renting somebody's house or condo, important to us, is you get hotel amenities. We like hotel pools, hotel poolside service, etc.... At the timeshares we stay in we get that. If we rent some guys condo we "save money" but in most cases lose those type of amenities we enjoy.

If you do very much homework at tug.net you will find timeshares are far superior to standard hotel rooms and condo rentals... at least in our extensive experience.
All those time-share rooms are also rentable. One can get everything you wrote above without owning a time-share. I 100% agree with you that there is no comparison to a hotel room. We also avoid hotel rooms.

For full disclosure, my wife owned a Orlando time-share before I met her. The annual maintenance fees kept going up and up until it cost nearly as much as renting for a week. She managed to sell it a few years after we got married.
"The best tools available to us are shovels, not scalpels. Don't get carried away." - vanBogle59
neilpilot
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by neilpilot »

SimonJester wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:53 am My vote would be to take that money and go experience different parts of the world. Why lock yourself into a single location or even company. As other have pointed out AirBNB, short term rentals, of heck just rent the timeshare from someone else are all alternatives.
Which is why we've use our week in Hilton Head only about once every 4 years. We've traded for weeks in the UK, France, China, St Marteen, Portugal, as well as numerous locations in the USA and Spain. Trade fees have been under $150/week. The timeshare week cost us around $3k at foreclosure a year after the unit was built, plus $1200/yr maintenance fee. It's been good for us.
LarryAllen
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by LarryAllen »

HomerJ wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:49 am
LarryAllen wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:24 am To the people who are negative about timeshares have you ever stayed in one? As others have said having a living room, kitchen and separate room for the kids makes it an actual VACATION! No comparison to a hotel room. Not even in the same universe.

The advantage compared to renting somebody's house or condo, important to us, is you get hotel amenities. We like hotel pools, hotel poolside service, etc.... At the timeshares we stay in we get that. If we rent some guys condo we "save money" but in most cases lose those type of amenities we enjoy.

If you do very much homework at tug.net you will find timeshares are far superior to standard hotel rooms and condo rentals... at least in our extensive experience.
All those time-share rooms are also rentable. One can get everything you wrote above without owning a time-share. I 100% agree with you that there is no comparison to a hotel room. We also avoid hotel rooms.

For full disclosure, my wife owned a Orlando time-share before I met her. The annual maintenance fees kept going up and up until it cost nearly as much as renting for a week. She managed to sell it a few years after we got married.
Agreed. I like renting timeshares and is what we do now that we sold our timeshare (for a profit!). We have gotten some incredible deals, last minute, on Hawaii rentals. I lined up a deal last year with a person (who I spoke to on phone and background checked her credentials to be safe) for a 2 bedroom ocean view at one of the Hilton properties on the big island for $1,000 for the week. It was Christmas week no less which is probably normally $5k or more for a week on the rental market. Their plans had changed last minute and they couldn't go. Flights were expensive but not really that bad considering ($850 instead of normal $500) it was last minute. I came up with another plan and we didn't do the Hawaii deal but incredible deals are out there if you are patient. We use redweek, ebay, vrbo, etc....
Admiral
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Re: Timeshare ever worth it? Please share details

Post by Admiral »

We have a timeshare in the mtns (actually my parents but we use it). It's fine, nothing fancy, two weeks a year with the option to buy other weeks at pretty reasonable rates. I think they maybe paid $20k like 10 years ago, only because they knew they would keep going back every summer (which they do).

The issue for me, now, is with Airbnb and VRBO, why bother? The timeshare maintenance costs are around $1500 year. For a bit more than that, you can rent a house for a week. Factor in the $20k you're saving and it's a no brainer.

I think that before Airbnb etc, when one was comparing a timeshare to a hotel room, the equation was different. Know, with all the new options, I really don't see how it makes sense financially. You're simply not going to make any money on a resale.
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