Suze Orman said timeshares are a silly investment

[Mono~rail]

Dh and I were watching Suze Orman last night. A caller had a question about whether or not they should purchase a DVC membership. Suze said ALL timeshares are a silly investment! Dh and I were shocked to hear her say this. Her financial advice was to just pay each vacation as it comes up.

Who here thinks timeshares are a "silly" investment?

Who here thinks timeshares are a wise investment?

 

[MichelleB]

I say to each their own. That being said, no way will I part with mine!!

 

[sandy6879]

I've wrestled with DVC for awhile...my biggest issue is that it's never fully mine, I still have to pay maintenance costs on it each month, even when it's paid off, and if we don't want to do something that is included with their membership, we would still have to pay the cost. That, coupled with the cost of it vs just paying each vacation as it comes up, has made me less than eager to buy into a timeshare plan. It works well for some people - I just don't think it's the wisest thing for us at this stage of our lives.

 

[BethR]

In my opinion, I don't think that it is at all wise to consider a Timeshare a good INVESTMENT (that you will make money on your money).

A timeshare may be a good BUDGETING TOOL for vacations, but not a good investment.

 

[svalencia1]

I saw that and the funny thing is on he commercial break before this question came up my boyfriend and I were talking about DVC. Guess we'll be waiting even longer now that Suze had to chime in with her 2 cents.

 

[Hedy]

I don't think of timeshares as an investment...more of an excuse to take a vacation.

 

[Mono~rail]

In my opinion, I don't think that it is at all wise to consider a Timeshare a good INVESTMENT (that you will make money on your money).

A timeshare may be a good BUDGETING TOOL for vacations, but not a good investment.

Excellent point, Beth!

 

[ladysoleil]

Dh and I were watching Suze Orman last night. A caller had a question about whether or not they should purchase a DVC membership. Suze said ALL timeshares are a silly investment! Dh and I were shocked to hear her say this. Her financial advice was to just pay each vacation as it comes up.

Who here thinks timeshares are a "silly" investment?

Who here thinks timeshares are a wise investment?

Given Suze's general stance on things, I'm not that surprised. I would imagine she wouldn't "endorse" a timeshare purchase unless someone truly had zero debt, a paid-off mortgage and one heck of a retirement plan already. And even then she'd probably just tell you to go buy a condo unit somewhere you wanted to vacation if you were planning to be there enough, I'd bet.

I don't think timeshares are an investment at all, but an expense/luxury item. I could see buying one eventually, but I view it more as a convenient package method for vacationing, not a financial product with value as an investment property, if that makes sense?

I'm not against them, per se, but given that you see people selling them at far less than what they paid for them and the big money saving tip is to buy on the resale market, obviously many of them don't retain their full value.

 

[Mono~rail]

I say to each their own. That being said, no way will I part with mine!!

Neither will we!

 

[Stein]

Personally, I don't think they are a good idea and would never buy one. But, people could just as easily say that about my boat.

That said, it appears that DVC is better than the rest of the pack in that there is a secondary market and you can easily rent your points.

I don't want to be locked into anything and the payoff period is just too long. The average person will borrow money to buy it and not use all of the points every year, or trade out for another property or DCL which means they will pay an incredible premium for what they use.

 

[BrerMama]

Our family goes on vacation 2-3 times a year, for a total of almost 3 weeks. We go to the same 2 areas -- Branson, MO and Orlando -- both have plentiful timeshares. We've discussed buying a timeshare often, but when we pull out the budget and look at it, the yearly maintenance costs alone are as much as or more than we pay for those same 3 weeks in a hotel or cabin with comparable amenities -- and hey, if we want to go cheaply, it's even less. That doesn't even include the initial investment for purchasing the timeshare. What I've never been able to figure out is how it would be a good investment. It might be a way to guarantee our vacations and take some of the "where will we stay" out of the planning, but it's certainly not a way for us to save money.

 

[corndog]

I recall running the numbers recently, and if you put what it would take to buy enough points to stay for 1 week in regular season (I think), just the interest off that money would pay for 1 week's stay at a moderate resort, and you wouldn't have to pay maintenance fees and you would still end up with the money at the end, where as the Disney property goes away since it's a time share of a lease instead of the whole bundle of sticks.

And before you say, "what about the rising costs of room rates?" If that's a concern you can just add your 'maintenance fee' to your principle in the bank, and the interest will escalate right along with the room rates.

Plus you would have a huge liquidity bonus.

 

[nbodyhome]

I don't consider a timeshare an investment - you pay maintenance fees, often you pay interest on a loan, and such. It is a vacation payment, but I'd never consider it an investment.

 

[disnutt]

It wasn't an investment for us just a way to have our vacations budgeted for and for me to 'own' a piece of the magic.

 

[rie'smom]

Suzy Orman woud say taking vacations or buying Christmas presents and using a CC to pay for it isn't a good idea either. How many people listen to that advice?
We have a DVC timeshare and I can promise I'm with the others,I'm not parting with mine either!!Sometimes buyng with your heart is mmore important than buying with your head(if you can afford it).

 

[mickeyfan2]

Dave Ramsey said the same thing a few weeks ago. It made for great reading on the DVC boards.

Yes it is a silly investment, because it is NOT an investment. DVC tells you that is a prepaid vacation.

Onve you have all of your finances in order - retirement, kid's education, no CC debt etc. then if you have "extra" money and want to buy DVC then go ahead. DVC is a want and not a need or investment.

 

[Mono~rail]

We bought our timeshares aftermarket. Our first we bought at Liki Tiki Village, and our maintenance fees are more than I would like them to be, but still cheaper than rates would be for a 2 week stay (which is the length of our visits to WDW).

Our other 2 timeshares were also purchased aftermarket, but they are in South Africa. Maintainance fees on these 2 are obscenely cheap! The yearly maintainance fees combined are less than one night of hotel costs. No, we don't vacation in South Africa, but we use the points to trade into U.S. resorts.

I feel like we did make an investment with our timeshare ownings because we come out ahead financially.

 

[MichelleB]

Wow is this a hot topic! I will say that we are anti-timeshare, but DVC works great for us. My husband made a very in depth spreadsheet when we were looking at purchasing. We weren't looking to "make money" but to see that we would break even. We broke even this year and from here out it's all bonus. My DH is Vice President of his company and works very hard, long hours. He wouldn't vacation if given the choice, but DVC alleviates that arguement for us...we own it, so he'll use it. When we purchased we thought we'd use it to trade out to other locations and 7 years later, we've yet to do that. We absolutely love Disney and go at least one or twice a year. We are a family of 5 that would choose Poly over any other resort except the villas. The villas give us more space, separate bedrooms, and a washer/dryer. We tend to not use the kitchen much but it's a nice option. With the washer/dryer in the unit, we pack less and just toss in a load before going to bed. With 5 of us to pack for, this alone is a huge incentive. By the time our years run out, we'll be too old to care and will have enjoyed MANY years of fun with the kids and given them many memories. So I guess I look at it more of an investment in my family instead of a financial investment. Would I make that step if it was going to cost us more than we've paid into it...nope, but like I said, we've broken even and will have come out ahead in the end because we'd be vacationing at Disney anyway.

 

[nbodyhome]

Personally, I don't think they are a good idea and would never buy one. But, people could just as easily say that about my boat.

That said, it appears that DVC is better than the rest of the pack in that there is a secondary market and you can easily rent your points.

Or you can rent points from someone else, which is cheaper than paying through Disney (and you don't have to pay any fees to do it!)

 

[ilovejack02]

My close friend is a financial advisor and also a HUGE disney fanatic. He spent a year working at WDW and they go pretty frequently as a family now. They stay off prop some, but also stay on prop too. He said he has looked a DVC several times and has said it just doesnt make sense for his family. I was also watching a dif. financial guy on tv the other day who basically said timeshare investments are not a good idea.
My thoughts are no you arent going to make money off it, but if you can pay cash for it and dont have to finance the "mortgage" then it can be a good deal in the long run if you use it enough.