Tell me about timeshares. Are there any good ones?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Joining a timeshare is like joining a gym...if only makes sense if you use it as much as possible.
And most people don't.

But a gym makes sense because you probably don't have all the equipment anywhere else. A timeshare has all kinds of competition: hotels, airbnb, resorts...etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We inherited 2 timeshares from IL's and are stuck paying maintenance fees that are up to $2000 a year even if we don't use them. They're in a location we aren't interested in at this time. So we pay MORE for an exchange company, RCI We can use the points to stay somewhere else if we can find it available. It all costs more than just booking what we want. Maintenance fees go up regularly and it's out of our control. Some timeshares have a set number of years, but ours are considered deeds and they stay in our family forever. I think we can try to transfer them to someone else if anyone wants to take on the fees. We might try that eventually. Right now our RCI points are expiring because there aren't any exchanges where we're travelling.

If you want to buy a timeshare, don't buy it from the salespeople at the resorts. You can find them online from owners like us, sometimes free. You pay a small transer fee, do the paperwork and take over the maintenance fees.

Yup, I posted earlier that it cost us $5000 to turn the inherited timeshare back in.

pp here. Did you pay the resort $5000 to turn the timeshare back to them? We started looking into it, but were told by timeshare staff that because ours are deeds we can't. We couldn't even find the contracts that inlaws signed so we don't know what our rights are to dump these.

I don't understand what you mean when you say, you were forced to takeover the deed through an inheritance. I can't think of any state that would enforce someone to accept a piece of property through an inheritance. You can decline an inheritance.

Agreed. Why would the children need to pay fees for a property they never agreed to own? It makes no sense. Tell the company they can take the timeshare back, but you won't be paying another red cent. You're happy to sign over any rights back to the hotel/timeshare company. You don't want that asset.

[Anonymous]

My ILs have a timeshare in New Orleans that they bought in the 90s. I have done a lot of research into this timeshare, and timeshares in general, and am the defacto family timeshare expert now (because of the general reaction the family had when news of this timeshare became public...the reaction being "what the hell is wrong with dad that he let mom talk him into buying a timeshare??").

I can't recall exactly how much they paid (around $10k I believe) for the timeshare itself, but they bought it so long ago that it is really a non-factor at this point. The annual maintenance fees are very low--just about $475/year. So they are paying $475 for a week (1st week in October I think) in a one bedroom condo right in the French Quarter. Which, if you go, is a great deal.

Sadly, DH and I didn't find out about this timeshare until after we had kids. We are more than welcome to use it any year we want. But our kids just aren't old enough yet to want to deal with a week in New Orleans w/them. So, we can't wait until our kids are a little older so that we can take them to New Orleans to experience family-friendly New Orleans. We also cant wait until a few more years after that when we feel comfortable leaving them with family so we can go by ourselves and experience debaucherous New Orleans

I have no idea the last time this timeshare was used, TBH. Or how many times it was used by my ILs. They just pay the $475/year and rent it out through the management company, making back the $475 +/- a few dollars. The management company makes bank on my ILs renting the unit out through them--they get 50% of the fees they take in! But, it is easier for ILs to do it this way vs rent it themselves on one of the timeshare rental websites. And they are pretty much breaking even on the maintenance fees every year so they aren't losing any money (other than the money they lost in the 90s when they bought this thing, that is).

The timeshare management company lets owners trade for different weeks (other than Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras) if were so inclined, on a first come, first served basis. So, we could do this but would have to really plan ahead to make sure we got our trade request in before anyone else. They also have some properties that they have a good relationship with where you can trade your week in New Orleans for a week in, for instance, Myrtle Beach or Williamsburg or Lake Placid. These seem like ok options, but we just haven't gotten around to doing so, because of the aforementioned small children. Short local trips are what we specialize in at this point. And, TBH, I don't know if we would actually want to spend a week in Lake Placid.

ILs could also trade their deeded week for a membership in Interval International, where they would get points worth what II believes the week is worth, then use those points at any Interval property worldwide. But this costs like $2k. So they aren't keen on doing so. I haven't done the research into this part of the deal yet to determine whether the $2k investment would be easily recouped after a few years of vacations/how easy it actually is to book a good II vacation (dates you want, location you want, for the amount of points you are "alotted" per year).

I believe that you can get a good deal w/a timeshare, and you can get screwed. If you can buy a used timeshare from someone off of eBay or one of the timeshare rental sites--someone who just wants to offload it--you can do ok based on what they want to sell it for. As long as the maintenance fees aren't crazy and as long as you actually want to go to this place one week/year for the forseeable future. Or, if it is a points situation (vs a deeded week) you need to be able to actually plan a vacation you want to take, when you want to take it, where you want to go, with the points you are given. So, research is required for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We inherited 2 timeshares from IL's and are stuck paying maintenance fees that are up to $2000 a year even if we don't use them. They're in a location we aren't interested in at this time. So we pay MORE for an exchange company, RCI We can use the points to stay somewhere else if we can find it available. It all costs more than just booking what we want. Maintenance fees go up regularly and it's out of our control. Some timeshares have a set number of years, but ours are considered deeds and they stay in our family forever. I think we can try to transfer them to someone else if anyone wants to take on the fees. We might try that eventually. Right now our RCI points are expiring because there aren't any exchanges where we're travelling.

If you want to buy a timeshare, don't buy it from the salespeople at the resorts. You can find them online from owners like us, sometimes free. You pay a small transer fee, do the paperwork and take over the maintenance fees.

Yup, I posted earlier that it cost us $5000 to turn the inherited timeshare back in.

pp here. Did you pay the resort $5000 to turn the timeshare back to them? We started looking into it, but were told by timeshare staff that because ours are deeds we can't. We couldn't even find the contracts that inlaws signed so we don't know what our rights are to dump these.

I don't understand what you mean when you say, you were forced to takeover the deed through an inheritance. I can't think of any state that would enforce someone to accept a piece of property through an inheritance. You can decline an inheritance.

Agreed. Why would the children need to pay fees for a property they never agreed to own? It makes no sense. Tell the company they can take the timeshare back, but you won't be paying another red cent. You're happy to sign over any rights back to the hotel/timeshare company. You don't want that asset.

Honestly I don't know all the details since it was my ILs, but I gather the ILs put the kids name on the deed at the suggestion of the slimy time share sales guy. They were not very financially savvy (hence the time share ownership) and probably thought it was a nice thing to do. I do know that the "heirs" tried to get out of it. 2 of the 3 kids are lawyers and they supposedly consulted with an expert on this and the advice was to pay the $5000 to get out of the obligation. Perhaps that was bad advice and your answer is right, but it didn't seem to be an option. They did try to sell it for about a year for $0 online but got no takers.

I'm also not sure about being able to decline a portion of an inheritance. Can you pick and choose which assets and liabilities you want? Not sure about that.

[Anonymous]

Just to give you perspective:
DH and I have been on a sales tour of Marriott's Ko Olina in Hawaii - beautiful resort!!!
Marriott was selling 2 bedroom units - 1 week for $60K.
Resales on Redweek.com are about $8,000 for annual use, $5,000 for every other year.
Maintenance fees are the same no matter where you bought.

[Anonymous]

Only if you buy an "interval" where you get so many weeks per year in the same house. This is a big thing in fancy beach resort homes. Often 10 intervals are sold and no rentals are allowed. Everyone gets an established number of weeks per season. An administrative fee is paid to someone who keeps up with regular property maintenance. (Don't buy one without maintenance unless you want a constant argument about trimming shrubbery, painting trim and reroofing.