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Re: How do timeshares work? (by Don P.):

Timeshares are considered real estate. Once you sign on the dotted line you are committing yourself to a lifetime of never ending increasing maintenance fees and assessments. My advice is to rent one from a n owner rather than buying one. You can find listing for renting them on this site and many other websites sometimes for less than the owner pays for their maintenance fees.

If you get the desire to buy one make sure it is a resort that you want to visit anually. Exchanging your timeshare for another location can be a hassle. If your are looking for a specific location and week you will probably be disappointed. A lot of the desireable weeks are taken up immediately if they are available at all.

NEVER purchase a timeshare from a developer. The secondary market offers you the same resort for a fraction of the price a developer charges.

NEVER buy points. A fixed week or floating week at a resort is the best way to go. Read through some of the threads in the forum and you will see how hard it is to get anything unless you have a huge number of points and that number can change yearly so they can sell you more " points ". Along with the extra points comes additional maintenance fees and assessments. It's a never ending cycle than can put you in deep debt.

Going back to the begining I would advise you to rent before you buy and my advice is not to buy one at all and just rent them and not commit yourself to the process that always favors the developers.