Timeshare Madness

[Acousticado]

The only good thing about timeshares...listen to their diatribes with the plan to take advantage of all the freebies you can without any commitment. You can spend some nights at pretty nice places for nothing, except giving up a bit of your time.

[Chicago Sandy]

We’ve used ours at least twice a year—we originally bought a studio in South Beach, but we’re not hip enough for the hood and FL’s property taxes are high. We traded up to a 1-BR on the n. end of the Vegas strip, but it was cheaper and had lower maintenance fees. We recently traded up to a 1-BR a few blocks of Central Park, and we love it. We can stay anywhere in the network that has availability when we want it—and we’ve even used it to go to Tuscany. We view it as prepaid vacations without the hassle of comparing hotel prices, and at an ultimately lower cost per stay. We also got several freebies (including next week). We harbor no illusions of its value as an investment.

Yes, abandoning yours is cheaper than taking a huge loss, but you paid zero so you’re coming out $500 ahead if you bite the bullet and sell. If you abandon it and either of your names are on the deed, your credit rating will drop.

We walked away from the FL retirement village condo my mom left us—she still had a balance on it that was more than its value after Hurricane Wilma, the maintenance was very high, and it was old and needed updating. Then we found a (slightly) short-sale all-cash buyer, but the bank refused to approve the sale because it appraised the unit at $15K higher than the buyer was offering. We let it be foreclosed—and the bank sold it for $800 (no, I didn’t leave off any zeros). But our credit rating was untouched, as the estate was the legal owner, not us—we weren’t even listed on the deed as administrators or heirs.

Originally Posted by Jim Owen

. . . . . "Crooked timeshare," I said. "Don't be redundant," he replied.

Lol!! Hilarious.

[RP]

In my younger years, I'd been tempted to purchase a timeshare but never did. What it came down to for me was that I never spent that much money on vacations to justify the timeshare costs. Case in point, recently my lady and I watched the Weather Channel carefully and then made a dash for Virginia Beach. It's an hour or so away from her Richmond condo, and the weather is amazing. People are actually swimming in the ocean. It's not real crowded here, and we can watch dolphins and ships in the water from our oceanfront digs which cost $65 per night. I despise the beach in the summer due to heat and crowds so coming down in September or October is a real joy for me. Expensive timeshares that dictate when and where I go away to regardless of weather??? I think not....

[Nailpicker]

Originally Posted by Mark Stone

You bet. However, these days a repo'ed timeshare on a credit report translates to higher interest rates, generally speaking, and not denials (except for credit cards). Also, I haven't used credit for anything in the past 6 years lol -- Add to that the fact the timeshare is owned by me, not my wife, and this will not affect her credit.

Actually you probably have used credit. If you have auto and home owners insurance, these days insurance companies check your credit rating and raise your premiums if you do not have a good rating.
Also, if you change jobs, many prospective employers will also check your credit rating before hiring you.

[Truckjohn]

Since you got it for nearly nothing - consider donating it to a charity... pay a lawyer a little and sign it over to the charity.. Done and done.

This way - it won't hurt your credit....

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by Nailpicker

Actually you probably have used credit. If you have auto and home owners insurance, these days insurance companies check your credit rating and raise your premiums if you do not have a good rating.
Also, if you change jobs, many prospective employers will also check your credit rating before hiring you.

...and every time somebody checks your credit rating, that dings the rating because the credit reporting agencies don't differentiate why your rating was checked and therefore assume that it is to get more credit. It is a rather silly system that becomes more serious than annoying when the agency doesn't protect your personal data from hackers as we have recently seen. We froze our credit with all three agencies in an attempt to protect ourselves from that debacle.

Tony

[Mr. Jelly]

I agree with the OP. He supported everything about time shares that I came to understand about them. Now days it's easy and cheap to rent a home anywhere in the world for a couple of days, a week or longer. Anywhere.

[jrs146]

About 10 years ago my mother-in-law bought a rather expensive timeshare (technically a vacation club package). The sales people did a fantastic job of leaving out and not disclosing all the fine print with regards to fees, flexibility...you know the important stuff.

That being said and really being stuck our family has made very good use of the vacation club and we have all gone on dozens of amazing vacations over the years. I know that the current value of these memberships is way more expensive than when she bought it and I’m pretty sure in the end the membership will more than pay for itself compared to the rack rate. Plus it encourages the family to vacation together which is nice.

So all in all I’d NEVER buy one but I sure love using one lol.

Originally Posted by Nailpicker

Actually you probably have used credit. If you have auto and home owners insurance, these days insurance companies check your credit rating and raise your premiums if you do not have a good rating.
Also, if you change jobs, many prospective employers will also check your credit rating before hiring you.

No sir -- According to my free service I use to monitor Experian, the last time someone checked my credit was over 6 years ago (I bought a car for one of my daughters). I'm old and retired, own my home and car outright, bicycle everywhere, and have no need to maintain a credit rating. Frankly, if I was younger (40s? 50s?) I would definitely be considering this in my decision, but right now I'm ready to switch to my retirement income and am done with credit ratings.

[Nailpicker]

Deleted...

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by jrs146

it encourages the family to vacation together which is nice.

I think this the primary benefit: if you have a place that is yours for a week or 2 every year, and everyone in the family enjoys something about the location, it exerts a pull to make it happen. The predictability and familiarity can be a comfort, as well.

[Ruppster]

I agree with all the negative and cautionary tales about timeshares, but, oddly enough, my father loves his. He was a high school coach/AD/teacher. With four kids to feed we never had much disposable income and didn't vacation very often. After he retired he bought a timeshare based in Vegas(??!?). Now, he is never at home. He's on the road more than a hobo, using his "points" to visit places all over the country.

For years he and my stepmother urged me and my family to take advantage of it but we resisted. Decided to try it a few years ago and have had several great trips to the Gulf Coast.

We are going to inherit whatever it is that he has and I'm not sure if it'll be worth keeping but I have to say I am happy to see my dad enjoying the retirement he worked so hard for.

[dbintegrity]

We belong to a different type of time share.... the only type I'd get involved in (but only once)..... X amount of 8day 7nights all inclusive vacations for a one time fee, upfront...when they're used up its over..... very good deal..... no fees.... 5 or 6 high end all inclusive resorts on the ocean..... the only reason I say I would only do it once is because we would like to do other things as well.