Own a timeshare? Please tell me about it.
 

We went to a timeshare presentation this past Saturday and bought into a "points program" timeshare in San Francisco. We were told that SF is a very popular destination and that we shouldn't have any trouble trading it for another vacation spot anywhere in the world year after year. I'm hoping that some of you here who own a timeshare would be willing to share their positive AND negative experiences. I have a three day right of recision, in case I change my mind. Thanks for any advice.

Do a search for timeshare sales and rentals on the web...from my experience, you will find the same timeshare rented (without the commitment) or sold for a fraction of the price,

run screaming

I agree with Nos.........ahhhgggggg I cannot say it, but run!!!!!

Are these opinions from personal experience or anecdotal? Do you now own or have owned a timeshare? The one person I talked to who was very positive about ownership has had his for 8 years. I'm looking for a second and third opinion from owners. My first intinct was to run away also until I spoke to an owner ( a relative, not an employee of the timeshare company) and he just gushed about the benefits. The only drawback, he says, is if you buy and never use it.

Exactly where is it, what is the complex name, and what is the company?

One of our divisions: http://www.rciholidaynetwork.com/

I'll echo the "make sure you use it" advice. You'll have to pay taxes and maint fees either way.
Another option is you can rent (on your own or through the "holding" company) your time segment or swap for another location and/or time slot. There may be a charge for doing so.

They can be a good deal, as long as you don't want to trade out for a different location or timeslot - or let someone else use your timeslot. The sister-in-law had a nice timeshare in Ormond Beach (just a few miles up from Daytona), and while her week there for herself was a good deal, if she wanted to bank her week, give it to someone else that year, or trade out to another location for that year, each part of it cost her a few hundred dollars. So if she wanted to do anything but stay at the place for the week, it would cost her more than a really nice hotel room at any other location for a week.

I have points enough for a two bedroom, one week stay at any timeshare in the world through RCI but my "home base" is in SF at the Donatello Club, Suites at Fisherman's Wharf, Inn at the Opera, Peacock Suites in Anaheim and the Kona Coast resorts on the big island. The SF properties are really nice places (I visited them yesterday). Supposedly, since I'm an owner there, I can easily trade those properties for a fee of $139 domestically or $179 internationally each time. So, it'll cost me per year, the annual maintenance fee and taxes, plus the trade fee.

Timeshares can be great, but follow the rules:

1) Buy where you plan to stay. NEVER buy with the plan of trading. You may get stuck.

2) Stay with a BIG name. Go upscale. Marriott and a few others have upscale, well maintained timeshares.

3) You can save about 30% buying from a reseller.

I have friends with a two week Marriott timeshare condo on the beach in Maui. It sleeps 8 and is beautiful. They have 4 kids and love it.

i looked into time share, but being family-less it would be a stupid idea. but one thing i did notice, is that you can find preowned timeshare for less money. alot less money.

I've been looking into timeshare resells for a while and know about the good deals there. However, most of the stuff I found are in areas that are hard to trade, which is why I think they're up for sale. There's lots of inventory in Orlando and even Tahoe so great deals to be had there but who wants to vacation at the same spot year after year? I guess some people do but not I.

We have one in Stowe VT. at the Von Trapp complex and resort. It really is nice, we can use it any time between april 1 and june 30th for a week. It cost $950.00 a year to maintain it and have it avalible for that time frame. If you want the trade deal it goes to 1500.00 a year. It was given to us in to cover a debt. I won't tell you how much but, I can say the rental for those weeks does not cover our costs. It has been on the market for 5 months at, ready... 3500.00 bucks. It's waste, use the cash and go and do want you want.

Oh, by the way we are excepting offers;)

Wow. Sorry to hear about that Rick. I guess "location, location, location" applies to timeshares as well. I do know that Conde Nast Traveller reported San Francisco as the top US city for tourist destinations.

Check out http://www.tug2.net/

More info than you could possibly need.

Re: Own a timeshare? Please tell me about it.
 

If you plan on using your time in SF, keep it. If not, switch it for a location you will likely use every year. Trading can be a major PITA.

Yes, I do plan to use the SF property for weekend stays and entertaining friends and relatives. I also have rights to the Kona resorts as that's owned by the same company, Shell Vacations Club.

Thanks for the link as well. I was on that last night and found a few resells in SF but they were all asking more than what I paid the company. I think those owners are taking advantage of the high real estate prices in the Bay Area.

I'VE had one for 20 yrs and love it. My family, and now my children and their families, have been all over the world with it.
I have a place at Orange Lake Country Club, next to Disneyland in Florida. Because of its location, it is one of the most requested locations in the world. I have never had a problem trading it for any place. I just call up, tell where I want to stay and if there is an opening that week, I get it. No waiting for someone to swap since there is a waiting list for a week at Orange Lake. AND that is the secret to getting a GOOD timeshare.
If you plan on using it to travel, it does not matter where you you buy it as long as it is high on the request list. If it is not high on the list, then you are faced with long waits on your approval until there is a request for your place for your week, or you will have to pay for using the other place.
ASK questions about these conditions.
In Florida, you get a "DEED" for you week in your unit, and the state will step in and run it if the Corp. fails. Friends of mine had one for years that the state run because the developer went under. This protects you from the developer going bankrupt, leaving you owning nothing. This is important, exspecially if it is a NEW development. I don't know what the deal is on the west coast.
Good luck.
Terry Hastings

I own one, also in Stowe VT. It's a nice place, but we have it under contract to sell end of May. Had for 7 years, used it maybe 4 of those -- in those years it was an ok deal at best. Rents for less than my costs of ownership. Traded once via RCI for a nice place with small fee, but more often than not could not find anything I wanted when I had time to trade. Sell price gets me out at a loss, but stops the hemorraging.

My advice is save your money and rent someplace when you go on vacation. Then, you'll always get what you pay for. That's my plan from here on out. I think it only makes sense if you go to the same place every year and expect to continue doing so....

Easy to get into, tough to get out of. For the cost, fees, taxes, domestic and international "transfer" fees, I'd prefer to have a choice of where I want to go every year.

Don't understand the finer points of time shares so I may be totally off base

You pay an up front fee and then a yearly maintance fee.

I went to one of those freebie weekends once where they hard sell you on a time share. After hearing the numbers I could not for the life me figure out why some one would pay (in my case)

$20,000 up front
$1,000 a year

For $21,000 I can take a hell of a nice vacation every year and not have to be bothered with trying to trade or getting stuck going to the same place over and over.

As far as I can tell timeshares are a low-cost version of a holiday home, where you can find one in a place you like & escape there annually with the added bonus that if you occasionally feel like something different you can sort out a swap. They seem to be an extremely expensive & inflexible alternative to a vacation (hotels, rental condos etc) however.

I don't lease cars, and I don't do timeshares. If I want to go on vacation, I'll decide when and where. And it better have room service.

We had a great 6 days in Yosemite recently. About $1500 all told, and we didn't have to cook a single meal, hiked, swam, hung out, and when we were done, we were done. No muss, no trading, no fuss.

Right. Timeshares make great economic sense to the developer/marketer, not so much to the consumer. UNLESS you know that you'll be returning to the same spot for 20+ years...

I agree with Nostatic, pick your spot, and it better have room service! (A good bar doesn't hurt either).

OK...I used to be a real estate broker in New York State. The few times I had a client with a timeshare, they wanted to get rid of it. Problems that were noted included things like not being able to use it when the person's time slot came around, maintenance costs, cleanup after the last user, and depending on the location, the near impossibility of selling it quickly and cleanly at a price commensurate with what they had paid.

Would I own one? Not even in Shangrila.

I went to one of those "introductory" meetings in S.F. with a friend and a half open mind about the perspective.

The pitch started with a teary film about how nice vacations/family were and then we got the pitch from the guy.
It started out with a "no pressure" promise from him, but after the numbers were revealed it started sounding like a ripoff.
The meeting ended with the salesmans pulling out pictures of his kids and saying he'd be homeless if this sale didn't go through, and if we couldn't afford the whole deposit we could just give him all the money we had in our pockets. We did get a free trip to a dump in Vegas though. Twice.

There's no way I'd buy into them just because of a community/support image the company's advertising.
They purposly avoided questions about the company open-booking system, where profits went, would the fees change over time, what were the points on all the properties etc...etc...
Why would they do that, if it was such a good deal?

Let's say $20,000 deposit for a week, they sell 51 weeks a year, that's $1.02 milliion for that one unit, plus say $1,500/year in fees, another $76,500/year, nice money for someone (not you).

STAY AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!

DO NOT DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did I yell loud enough????

My wife and I periodically go to these when they offer a great freebie for just showing up. We know the deal is bogus and have no intent to buy as many noted already.

We will arrive at the correct time. Point out that they told us that they had xx minutes (whatever they told us up front) and the clock is ticking. When the salesman arrives, we tell him that we will be glad to listen to the pitch, if he needs to practice, but we will not be buying today. More often than not, we are hustled to the door and given our present within 15 minutes. If they want to practice their sales talk (we did agree to listen to it), when they ask about our objections, we state flatly, "we just don't like it". When pressed for detailas, we tell them, "we just don't like it", if they press again, we tell them, "we just don't like it and we are here to get our gift, thank you".

Great analysis. We just got back from Myrtle Beach after sitting through one of these presentations. We were going to Charleston, but with a baby in the car and poor weather, decided that MB was closer.

Stopped at the "Visitor's Center" where they got us a discount room. We figured out what it was pretty quick but signed up for the visit anyhow. 5 miles down the road found tthe "official visitor's center".

Never been to one of the sales pitches before. Interesting value proposition. The guy hard pressed us with the baby: "something you can hand down to your son..." Please, it's *vacation*; if I can't afford it in the future, I won't go. LOL.

Left, and didn't buy a THING! So proud of ourselves.

Worth the education. :)

We got bought one in Puerto Vallarta (Nuevo Vallarta, actually). We wish we had never done it, but we are now out from under the initial cost. Our yearly dues are only about $400, so I guess that's pretty good. We have Interval International which is another $100-200 a year, but with that we can "trade" at the drop of a hat, very, very easily. We traded to Cabo San Lucas about a year ago and it was a great. We'll probably continue to trade from time to time, and that won't be a bad deal, but like no static said, it's easier just to pay for a yearly vacation. I have a buddy that bought into one in the San Fran area. I think his was pretty cheap and the shares are actually trailer homes, but he also has Interval International and has done the easy trade thing several times and loves it. (Funny thing, he actually traded to the place that we bought for his honey moon.)

We got lucky and screwed, we were there with my wifes mother and her husband (a long time, successful, used car salesman) and my wife's sisters. The used car salesman absolutely drilled them, got us a group discount, a bunch of extras, etc... The worst part is that if he hadn't been there we wouldn't have gotten the deal that we got, but we also wouldn't have bought into it. He sold it to us as well. I'd love to have his ability to sell anything to anyone.

WE WOULD DEFINITELY NOT DO IT AGAIN, AND WOULD VEHEMENTLY ADVISE AGAINST ANYONE ELSE DOING IT!

Good luck.

No kidding, SoCal My wife and I are pretty cheap and pretty bright people. Essentially, we attended this to see how it worked. I have sat through an Amway presentation for the same reason. We looked around the room at the other folks in attendance. I'm not sure how many of them knuckled under, but it wouldn't sureprise me if it was a lot.

I think the best part of that sales pitch (for the developer) is you're buying "real estate" at 17.99% interest. No credit check. Everyone qualifies. No repossessions, they just turn off your membership. Brilliant - for the guy that thought it up. Wish it was me! :)

I have had fun throwing numbers back in their face.

Investing in real estate, you say? Let's look at the numbers and ask some questions, and watch the salesmen squirm.

Then I pronounce it a lousy deal, and ask them to "help me understand" and watch them squirm some more.

A friend has a time share, and uses it every year. But I notice that while new ones at that location are for sale for $22,000, there are plenty of used ones with four weeks a year are for sale around $3000.

Wow, this thread is almost two years old. Thanks for resurrecting it because I always meant to provide an update and to thank Moses for the link above.

I rescinded my offer on the timeshare at the Suites at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Great property, great location but the asking price, if I can remember correctly, is about $28K to get in and $700 annually for maintenance.

I went onto the link above and found a reseller who had the same property for $4K! I snapped it up in a heartbeat. I've used the property twice since then and traded it twice too. The seller had extra weeks unused so I got those included in my offer. Best vacation/real estate purchase I've ever made. Christmas shopping at Union Square, dinner at the Wharf and dessert at Ghirardelli - nice.

Re: Own a timeshare? Please tell me about it.
 

Funny, no matter where you go they say the same thing.

Use it.


Timeshares are a great way for developers to make $1m on a $150k condo.

In the past I attended a time share presentation with my ex since they offered somehting of value, I forget what it was. We arrived a confirmed that "there was no obligation with the sales person." We go in and watch the video presentation and grab some lunch. When the movies over I ask if we have completed the presentation as I would like my gift so I can leave. The salesperson was soooo pisssed, saying things like accusing us of never intended to even give it a try. I agreed, and reminded her that I had clarrified that no obligation was required to obtain the free gift. Anyways, I got my gift and walked out. SmileWavy

It was a waste of time. There was also a little tension when we ran into the salesperson the next day at a restraunt.

Edit: Didn;t know this threade was revived from the dead. Anyways, that my opinion which with $5 will get a a cup'o'joe at Starbucks.

Sorry for the late response Procon. Yes, PM me if you have questions.

I bumped it back up because I know how to use "Search" :D

One of the best parts was where the sales guy and the "manager" came over an acted out a little "play" before me about how the sales guy was about to be promoted and he wanted to see how well he did. "Remember what we talked about this morning? Tell them about that...."

I guess he didn't get the promotion. :D

Yeah, I'm in sales and some timeshare salespeople make me ashamed of my profession.

Actually, the more I'm around high pressure salespeople, the more I like it. It hones my ability to say no to stuff I might like just on principal.

FWIW - I own 2 units in Atlantic Paradise Island, The Bahamas. I chose the Atlantis resort because we would return there year after year on vacation. Rooms in the hotel start at $400 a night and go up from there. We paid close to $30K for the two units. Yearly fees run about $1200.

We used it 2 years straight then traded for Palm Springs last year. This year we are heading back to Atlantis with my brother and his family. Because we have 2 units we always invite family or friends to come with us. That alone, to us, is priceless.

We own the last week of May right as the Carribean gets hot again. The water is a little cool but decent.

It is worth it to us, we toyed with selling, but cannot do it, we love the property too much. Plus we never have trouble trading either. We checked into what a resale price would be for our units and they are selling for about 10K more than we paid. So ours is an instance where it is not cheaper to buy on the resale market. This property is not huge and they are building the last few buildings now so if you want to own in here you will have to look to resale soon.

BTW- The sales staff was ZERO pressure, no show, they just showed us the property and let it sell itself. Trust me it sells itself. Atlantis is a class act and the timeshares are too.