Community

If you think you are not so sure now, wait till the annual maintenance fees start coming in. I'v looked but always decided against buying, just not for me, but I know others that have them, and love it. But then, I've been told I'm cheap..
There are also a lot of timeshares on the resale market, usually below initial cost, so maybe we're not alone. Yours may be there someday.

You can buy them from previous owners for a fraction of that cost!

Look into buying from a private owner, and you will get that SAME great deal without that huge price tag!

The bad thing about timeshares, most people end up not using them!

Did they make a big deal of everytime someone signed? Ring a bell or something? Get out the champain? They did at everyone I looked at (went because the EX would believe the hype until we got there and I could tear it apart logically and she would agree that we didn't want THAT one.) It makes it a big deal, and everyone wants to get in on the fun.

don't fall for it! As soon as you own it, its value is about HALF of what you paid for it!

GET OUT! DON'T WALK, RUN TO GET OUT OF IT!!!!

But you have to look at them with the correct perspective. If you are looking at them as an investment, you will be very disappointed because they won't appreciate over time. If you look at them as a way to take really nice vacations at a relatively minimal cost, they are OK. But it takes years before you get the average cost of your vacations down to where you are actually saving money on your trips. Of course, that's assuming that you want to trade and not just go to your home resort every year. I go thru RCI and haven't heard of II so the first question would be the number of resorts available for trade. The other would be the actual possibility of getting the trade you want for the time you want. If you want to go in a peak season, you need to plan up to a year in advance to have a chance of getting in. I write my own schedule at work so I can plan that far out, but many people can't.
But the others are correct. You should never pay full price. The paper always has private individuals selling off cheap. I refused to pay full price and said I was going to look for resales in the paper and they suddenly remembered some that had been foreclosed on and I saved about 40%.

Thanks you guys for the advice and info. I realized that there's plenty on the secondary market and I bailed out the one I bought last Sunday. I appreciate your time.

Mambo

.
In fact, a timeshare is usually not a real estate investment at all, per se, but rather more like a club membership. Timeshare interests are rarely finalized with deeded real estate, and most are financed with personal loans not secured by real estate, thus the interest is not deductible; or they are just paid for with cash.

Unless you plan on being some sort of jet-setter, a timeshare is lousy investment. Most owners trying to sell unwanted timeshares get as little as 50 cents on the dollar. Eleven thousand dollars could buy a lot of very nice hotel accommodations for a long time.

Put the eleven grand into an interest bearing investment account instead, and withdraw from it ONLY when you want to use it as payment for vacation accommodations, but not for travel or other expenses, and my guess is that the eleven grand balance will remain constant or perhaps even increase over the years.

That's just one guy's opinion, of course.

A buddy and I have been renting time shares in Arizona for the past several years, when we've extended the ski season a bit plus wanting to golf. Never been in the same development twice. One was older and a bit seedy but otherwise most were nice and fairly luxurious and comfortable. When I heard what the initial asking price had been and having been offered resales I'm glad I never got sucked into that. What I did get involved with is yacht chartering. You buy a yacht and then lease it back to a charter company who rents them out, insures them and maintains them. You are supposed to recover your purchase price and maybe even make a bit of money along the way. At the end of the lease back, usually seven years, you end up with a saleable asset and one that doesn't require a lot of fixing up prior to sale. I actually bought two of these. The older one (5 years) was a bit of a mistake, being only 36 feet but it has broken even. The newest one (3 years now) is 51 feet and actually is showing a small profit. Both boats are in the Virgin Islands. Both are fully insured and so far have had no serious damages due to huricanes. I'm entitled to six weeks every year but not necessarily on my own boats. I went with an outfit that has operations throughout the Carribean and Florida that lets me trade time at various locations but my boats are based in the Virgins. It's nice having a boat available in an area where I like to sail without the attendant hassles of sailing to get there. I keep track of the selling prices for these boats and so far I'll end up making a good profit. Just remember, you buy and own these things outright from the get go. If for some reason you want to cut the lease back short, you will have to cough up any balance of sale outstanding.

Dawg ]:)