# Timeshares?



## jtg (Dec 11, 2012)

These have a bad reputation. Anyone own one and have positive things to say? What are some things to watch out for? I'm aware of the maintenance fees, not much else. I was thinking of getting one for a week or so near resorts that I wouldn't otherwise make it to.


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## bseracka (Nov 14, 2011)

if you decide to go this route buy used. you can usually pick up other peoples points/weeks dirt cheap and then only pay maintenance


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

I have a couple. The are great as long as you use them. Get as much for free as you can before you sign. The will practically fuck and suck you off to get you to buy.....


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## jml22 (Apr 10, 2012)

Only good if you want to travel every year somewhere.
Buy them used
My parents own two and trade them every year. They pay a lot every year for them but basically end up paying 1000-2000 bucks a ear for 14-20 days at a 5 star place when they choose where they want to go so it pays off in the end.

Buy them used in like maui ro some shit and you can trade them anywhere you want.
Buy them used
buy them used
buy them used.
If you dont want to travel all the time, don't buy them just look for last minute deals instead.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

I disagree with used. If your a negotiator you can get tons of free shit during the purchase time. We actually do a timeshare presentation each time we are on vacation. It usually covers our rental jeep and a couple of active outings


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## West Baden Iron (Jan 31, 2013)

I've got timeshare points. After the first couple years I was ready to get rid of it. However, after realizing how nice the places we were staying were, I had a change of heart. We usually go on 2 separate vacations a year. I looked up the place we are staying at in Winter Park this coming spring and it would cost $2400 for the week if I didn't use points. My maintenance fee is about $800 so that makes it a good deal for me.

Like everyone else has said, get it cheap and find out the fees ahead of time.

You have to use it every year to make it worth it though. You can roll points into next year for a fee, but unless you are trying to rack up points to stay somewhere exotic, it's not worth it to me. It has let us stay in some really nice condos in some cool places that we would have never paid what it cost in cash to stay there.

Jason


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## edlo (Jan 24, 2011)

*Affects your borrowing ability*

If you are ever planning on buying a house with a loan or refinancing, check with a lender to see how that time share monthly cost will affect you. $200 a month can be a $40,000 difference in mortgage amount. Many people get student loans, car loan, get a time share, then wonder why they can't get a home loan. 

If you make enough money or never plan to buy a home , it doesn't matter.


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## Bones (Feb 24, 2008)

West Baden Iron said:


> Like everyone else has said, get it cheap and find out the fees ahead of time.
> 
> You have to use it every year to make it worth it though.


I've had them in the past and while they can serve a purpose, you really need to investigate them and put a lot of thought into them.

1) You need to use them regularly. No point in having 3 weeks worth of timeshares if you only have 2 weeks of vacation. And while you can rent them or sell the points, you'll be lucky to break even doing it.

2) Careful buying older units. I had one that was managed by a hotel. They used the timeshare units to accommodate school trips and such so they got beat up faster. 

3) Careful about management changes. One I had got taken over by Hilton Hotels and all the owners got a $40K special assessment to bring them up to Hilton standards.


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## jtg (Dec 11, 2012)

Bones said:


> 3) Careful about management changes. One I had got taken over by Hilton Hotels and all the owners got a $40K special assessment to bring them up to Hilton standards.


:blink:

That's way more than most timeshares cost to begin with! Was that just a ploy to get people to hand them over?


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## Bones (Feb 24, 2008)

jtg said:


> :blink:
> 
> That's way more than most timeshares cost to begin with! Was that just a ploy to get people to hand them over?



Sorry, $40K each unit divided by the number of owners. It was still pretty spicey and pushed it beyond the price of 2 weeks vacation. Basically I had to use my 2 weeks every year for next 5 years to see any cost savings over just buying a vacation package. I probably would have done it but a job change pushed me down to 3 weeks annual vacation.


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## RightCoastShred (Aug 26, 2012)

If you search and negotiate hard enough you can get insane deals with timeshares. For the last few years I've been able to get a timeshare in the town of park city for $500 a week flat.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

There are several people at work who have timeshares, and they're happy to rent them out. I stayed at one of them last spring for the Baker trip.


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