Is it worth a timeshare or condo, if you visit at least twice a year?

[mickeydreams]

My family and I go to Disney at least twice a year. We go so much we often thought about it being worth to get a timeshare or even a condo. We usually stay on site so we do not have to get a rental car but for one day to go to the outlets to buy cheaper trading pins. Anyone have any experience or helpful tips to share?
Thanks!

 

[dougsmom98]

We do not have a timeshare or a condo but we have talked about it and decided not to. There are so many amazing places to stay in the Orlando area. We have decided for the same or less money than the monthly fees would cost, we would be able to try all these wonderful places and not be tied down to a single location. If Orlando ever stops being fun for us, we won't feel obligated to go there either. If we did do anything, we might consider a town home or condo to use and to rent out, but from what some of the owners have said on this board, it takes a lot of time to have a successful rental unit. We don't have the time for that in our lives right now.
Good luck with your decision.

 

[spiceycat]

buying an offsite timeshare won't work to well.

they are still mostly on the old plan - you buy one week and you go for that one week. You can change but it will cost you.

DVC points are different. very different. I like to go muliply times - so DVC works best for this. Right now you would need to buy 160 points from DVC - but you can find a resaler who would allow you to buy less.

for 40 points at OKW during most of the fall I can stay 5 days in a studio. So you can see how this allows multiply stays.

now using points you don't want to stay Fri or Sat - these are just too expensive. a whole week at OKW is 80 points - so 20 each for fri or sat.

if you need a whole week then go with a regular timeshares. that say I won't buy in Orlando. Orlando is a very, very easy trade. So you buy something close to you then trade it to Orlando.

some places allow you to use their recreation, activities even when you are not staying there, if you are a member. others don't!!!!

 

[spiceycat]

forgot a big one.

right now don't know about buying.

you can generally rent for less than annual fees.

www.skyauction.com
www.doorlando.com


if you like II instead of RCI
www.condodirect.com

Orlando has high annual fees.

these are pretty close to what the maintence fees are - these are owners not RCI or II who are renting here
www.myresortnetwork.com
www.redweek.com
www.tug2.net

 

[5mins2disney]

I can give you some tips or at least our experiences having owned a condo for over a year in the area now... (well...a townhome in Windsor Hills). It's well worth it IF you plan to use it a bit...the other big advantage is that you can deduct 2 trips a year / write them off on your taxes, since you're travelling to check up on your investment property, so it's like getting a significant discount built into your Disney trips. You can also qualify for the FL resident discount AP passes to Disney, which is another nice perk. (Just travel, food, etc, not park passes of course!).

Now, a condo or home, what not, will hopefully be a piece of real estate that will appreciate over time. I say hopefully, since the real estate market is terrible right now (this is not really a secret!). On the other hand, if you're in it for the long haul, you can look at this as a big real estate "sale" opportunity not to be missed, in 10 years you might be kicking yourself for not buying property now when it was so cheap! (At least we feel this way!).

Those are the upsides...the downside? Well...to rent out your home, the one thing I tell anyone thinking about doing this...it's a LOT of work. It's like having a part time job. If you're not prepared for this, don't do it.

A timeshare, well, that's a means of having a pre-paid place to go and vacation basically...it's not going to appreciate like a home would. Personally I think they're a bad investment, I'd rather just buy other people's unused timeshare days if we were going to go that route...there's always people looking to dump their unused timeshare days...the answer is simple...most people end up not using all of their time...and this is precisely why I think they're a bad investment. They're also hard to sell down the road, and generally tend to go down in value on the resale market, not up.. (feel free to disagree with me, this is just my opinion!).

We also think Orlando / Disney real estate is pretty cheap for what you get, we were looking in Colorado as well at ski homes, and couldn't afford anything there. That being said, there's a lot of housing there, and a lot of competition for vacation rental homes for guests / bookings, which is why you can rent places there so cheaply for what you get!

Hope this helps give you some ideas! My suggestion...before you buy a home, condo, or timeshare....go rent in one of the resorts or places you're considering buying in...and experience it yourself first hand, then you'll have a much better idea of what it's really like there.

 

[ldo]

wealth of info on TUG. IF you love onsite, buy DVC, if not consider another TS, but read TUG for at least a month 1st. Also, most hotel "points" systems have nice Orlando places as well as many other destinations. Again, TUG is the place to start when researching timeshares.
ps--we have been staying in (parents) Orlando timeshares for 5 years--they are great!

 

[mickeydreams]

Thank you all for your great advice and tips! Greatly appreciated! I will reply the outcome!
*Have a Magical Day! **

 

[luv2crash]

BlueGreen is on the points system similiar to DVC and does not make you lock into a particular week.

 

[TotoToo]

Just to name a few timeshares that are readily available at great value purchased resale and offer float time use (you are not locked into a specific week nor does it cost to change use dates each year).

Wyndham (formerly Fairfield) . Points based like DVC and others - very inexpensive on resale offers 5 resorts in Orlando including one within the property roads (but technically not on property). If you should tire of Disney they offfer 130+ resorts to visit with no additional cost.

Sunterra. Also points based. 80 resorts including 3 in Orlando all near Disney (one within a mile of the gates)

Resorts based on weeks but not tied to a specific use date ("float" time use) such as 3 bedroom units at Cypress Pointe Resort. You can choose your use dates each year rather than having a specific week assigned.

There are plenty more. If you go there that often owning a week or two or a points system that can get you a two or three (or more) bedroom condo each visit will spoil you quickly - evn if you do have to rent a car.

 

[Brian Noble]

The key to any of them is to be very careful when you shop. It's surprisingly hard to make ownership in Orlando work out financially, but it can be done.

The trick is to compare rental costs to the cost of ownership. You have to pay to buy the deed. If you had instead invested that money in, say, the S&P 500, you could use your earnings to help pay for your annual vacation. In such an investment, you could expect a long-term average after-tax return of about 8%. So, each year you own "costs" you 8% of your purchase price in opportunity cost. Plus, there are annual fees to pay for the upkeep and operation of the timeshare.

You need to find an ownership interest where the opportunity cost, plus the annual fees, comes to less than the cash rental cost of the week. Here's an example of what I mean. This Vistana 2BR unit recently sold on ebay. It's in the Fountains section; an older section of the resort. It floats any week of the year, so you can reserve it for any week you want, provided you plan far enough in advance. Its total purchase cost was $2399: the $2000 purchase price, plus $399 in closing costs. So, its annual opportunity cost is $187.12. Its annual fees are $784, so the total cost of ownership is $971 per year.

Compare that to the cost of renting---here are some rentals offered at Vistana. If you want to go for Christmas, owning saves you a little bit of money. If you want to go during Summer or Easter this year, you about break even owning vs. renting. If you can rent the week you want for $971 or less, renting is a better deal. If you have to spend more than that for the week you want, owning is a better deal.

There are some intangibles to consider, too. Owning is nice because you spend very little time finding and negotiating for your lodging. That time has some value to you. On the other hand, renting gives you the ultimate in flexibility---for example, when my kids get a little older, I may decide Orlando is no longer for me. This is the advantage of a system like Wyndam or WorldMark---you "own" at lots of resorts in lots of different places.

I'm also ignoring any residual value when you sell your week, but in many cases, that value is just about zero. Plus, if you hold for even a decade, the impact of residual value is pretty small.

 

[Acklander]

We love our timeshare. It has the flexible week (so not locked in) If we just vacationed one week a year it probably wouldn't be worth it, but since we go about 4 weeks a year ( usually 1 week per season) it's well worth it. We just pay for the one week that has the maint. & taxes on it, and for the rest of the weeks we use the extra get away weeks. I think we pay, on average, about $150 a week for a 1 or 2 bedroom condo for the extra weeks. So over all, even when you add in the annual dues, it still makes for a very cheap vacation. I have no regrets. DH wants to do a swap for one of the river boats and spend a week doing that. I'm not so keen on that idea though

 

[dameodie]

My parents own a condo in Windsor Palms, which they enjoy having, but they've had it over a year and did not "break even" with it last year. I suppose that's normal given the fact that there's got to be a learning curve involved in this kinda thing, but between condo fees, cleaning fees, the mortgage, utilities, etc, it can be a real drain on your finances if you don't get enough renters in there.

Of course, letting their daughter use it for two weeks in August isn't exactly helping their bottom line any, but you didn't hear that from me!

They do like having it though, I'd say they go down there maybe three times a year. They're talking about doing the snowbird thing for like January through March once my mom retires...