Tell me about time shares

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Love our DVC and the ability to vacation when ever. Some time shares require you to vacation during a certain week of the year but DVC does not.

If we plan things right we can take two vacations a year and not pay for a room.

 

[webprinter]

We own points with Wyndham and love it. The main thing is you have to realize you are not going to make money and you need to use it from the beginning and every year thereafter. With Wyndham we can stay in nice places with a full kitchen and a 1-3 bedroom condo for motel prices. Yes, they are not cheap but they are much nicer than a hotel room. We purchased our points at the resort with the lowest maint. fee but are able to use our points at any of their resorts all over the country and Mexico and the Caribbean. It has worked well for us and if we want to go somewhere other than where Wyndham has resorts, we just exchange with RCI. This is a great time to purchase a timeshare as was previously mentioned because you can purchase them for pennies or even find one for free.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

You can buy timeshares on ebay for as little as $0.99. Try to get a timeshare with a 2 or 3 bedroom. Always check the price of the maintenance fees. I own at the vacation village at parkway. It is just across the freeway from disneyworld. It is a 2 bedroom with a lockoff. Lockoff means you can close off part of the condo and only use one half. This year we traded on side of the lockoff for a 2 bedroom in orange lake right next store to disneyworld and the other half of the lockoff for another 2 bedroom condo. So we got 2 weeks in disneyworld for just trading one week at our condo by trading both halfs, good deal! And the maintenance fees are low at vacation village at parkway.

You can also buy a condo that works every second year. Just make sure you buy a condo with a gold crown don't get the bottem of the barrel because they have low trading power.

But you don't have to buy a condo to use condos. All you have to do is buy a membership at RCI and book vacations and only pay about I think it is about $150 for a week.

If you have kids, a condo is where you want to be, hotel rooms are to small for a family.

How do you join? That is interesting.

 

[eliza61]

I've always been interested but it seems so overwhelming and I'm afraid of getting scammed.

Would need to be a "deal", reasonabley priced, and must be able to go to Mexico because we love it there.

We've looked into DVC but I don't think it would make much sense for us because we mainly go to DL.

Few things.
1) Time shares are luxury purchases just like yachts. Don't buy either one if you are going to whine about the up keep (maintence fees or docking fees and insurance).
2) They are not investment properties. They are for vacationing.
3) Don't buy one if you are a "budget" individual where getting the lowest price is the most important thing. I love my DVC but if you are just as happy staying at Pop then DVC will not work for you.
4) Do your homework and be completely honest about how you travel.
don't buy with the intention of trading out to where you really want to go.

that being said. We own two. One is a DVC (beach club villas) and one is in the Carribbean (Aruba). We love them and have never regretted them. We've gotten our inital cost back many times over now.

Not sure why people say they are so hard to get rid off though, I have had some other dvc memberships (OKW) and sold those puppies through the timeshare store within 2 weeks.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

would that be because it was DVC and not some random rci property?

 

[eliza61]

would that be because it was DVC and not some random rci property?

Could very well be. also we sold them back around 2004, people were still feeling flush with cash and credit so that may have helped also.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

that makes sense. I've friends with Powhatten Point who would love to get rid of it.

 

[Mas17]

We belong to BlueGreen Resorts and love them. The best advice, is USE IT!! If you're not sure about using it, don't do it. Rent first. Do your homework.

Check out this website as well. www.timesharforums.com. Lots of info.

Bev

GO COTLS!!!

 

[Halle]

To the OP, DVC now has a vaction club at the Grand Californian in Anaheim, which is gorgeous. We stayed at the Shell resort in Napa, we were impressed with the accomodations but not the upkeep. It seemed to have quite a bit of wear and tear for a new resort. We own 2 DVC contracts (OKW and BWV) and were considering buying into Shell but decided against it after our recent visit.

 

[swilshire]

But you don't have to buy a condo to use condos. All you have to do is buy a membership at RCI and book vacations and only pay about I think it is about $150 for a week.

My understanding is that you would need to own an RCI affiliated timeshare to become a member. If you later sell it, you can still remain a member, however.

They do rent weeks to their members for various prices. Great bargains for off season, less popular locations and at the last minute. Not such good prices for higher demanded properties. Some things would never show up as a rental.

They are also affiliated with some other companies to rent out low demand weeks with no membership at all required.

All of the above is also true of the other big player in timeshare exchanges, Interval International.

Sheila

 

[dsanner106]

I own a bunch of timeshares and if you know how to handle them they can be a great way for your family to travel inexpensively. Do your homework, you need to buy for where you want to stay, or for flexibility. I have Wyndham points and love those, as I can book 1 night or 10 at their resorts or RCI nightly stays. Wyndham and Rci have the same parent company so the RCI membership everyone else pays for is free. I also own weeks at a local mountain resort. My maintanance fees are 300.00 per year, or 25.00 a month and traded that unit for one that rents for 471 per night in December, so saved about 3000.00 on that deal. I paid about 200.00 buying the unit on ebay to begin with, so that one trade saved enough to pay 10 years maintanance. You want 2 br if possible and red season with RCI for trading strength, look on the resale market for a deal. Take your time, good deals come along regularly send me a message if you have any questions, and good luck

Drew

 

[MrsPete]

I suggest the book Timeshare Vacations For Dummies by Lisa Ann Schreier. She used to sell timeshares, and her book explains many details that new purchasers don't understand (and perhaps don't know to ask). For example, she discusses the difference between owning points and owning weeks, she discusses how to trade locations, etc.

Most importantly -- unlike the timeshare salesperson -- she isn't trying to sell you anything. She's unbiased. I think people who are unhappy with their purchase are usually the ones who didn't look into the timeshare world closely enough, and especially those who assumed that the salesperson was a friend looking to help them get a nice property, rather than a salesperson looking to make a sale. The timeshare people do work very hard to look this way, and their presentations are seamless assaults on your emotions and your pocketbooks.

In my opinion, there are a couple unbreakable rules when considering a timeshare purchase:
1. Tour all the big-name properties, but REFUSE to buy on the day you tour. You owe it to yourself to be well informed before you jump in, and you can get some nice deals on short vacations.
2. Never, ever buy "new". The resale market is so much cheaper!
3. Never, ever finance a timeshare purchase. It's a luxury item. If you can't buy it outright, you can't afford it.
4. If you want to trade for other locations, choose a top-notch property that other people will want to rent; if you get a older, hole-in-the-wall place, you have no trading power. If I remember the book's advice, Orlando and Vegas are good bets.
5. Consider how you're going to want to vacation in the future; consider what you're likely to do when your children are out of the house, when you have grandchildren, and so forth. For example, once we really thought about it, we realized that the first timeshare that caught our eye wasn't really for us -- it was wonderful, but we really wanted something on the ocean.
6. I'd only purchase a timeshare within driving distance of my home. It makes it more likely that you'll be able to use your "home property" every year.

My personal opinion on the best product out there: I like Marriott's two-bedroom lock-out properties. They give you the flexibility to either use your two-bedroom property as is, or you can "split" your two-bedroom property into two one-bedroom one-week stays (for a $99 fee). On the other hand, my parents, who are retired, are completely sold on their Hilton timeshare because it's on points, and they have the flexibility to travel only mid-week when their points stretch farther.