Original Message:
Re: I worked at a timeshare SCAM....I want to tell you about it. (by Stu M.):
lancec13 wrote:markl18 wrote:At the end of five years you would have spent about $4000 on maintenance fees. Your total sunk cost for five weeks of vacation -- purchase price plus maintenance -- would be about $6500 for 35 nights or about $185 a night. Is that a "good deal" or not? You decide.For some, that is a good deal. For others, mmmm, not so much. In the Orlando area, you can get a decent motel/hotel room for $75. True, you don't get the laundry, bedrooms, kitchens, or resort facilities. But is all that worth an extra $110 per night? Some say Yes and some say No. And then, even if you do want to stay in a timeshare, often you can rent from an existing owner for less than the maintenance fees and there's no buy-in price. But then, hey, there are many timeshare owners who are happy with what they own and make good use of them.
YES! That's the point.
But there's something else to consider: Suppose instead of buying on the secondary market for $2500, you buy a bargain basement timeshare on Redweek or TUG or wherever for $1. And suppose the seller covers closing costs or at worst you pay, say, $750-ish. Now, using the original maintenance fee numbers, your cost per night is about $135 or slightly less over five years. A $75 motel room plus those predatory local tourist taxes will be $90-ish. Further, suppose you trade your $1 timeshare thru RCI every year and cough up about $1100 in exchange fees. Your cost per night goes up -- to about $170. And in your own or an exchange timeshare you just might be on or across the street from a sandy beach in San Diego County -- not in a Motel Six located between a Waffle House and a Wal-Mart.
In any case, all this pencil-pushing makes it comparatively painless when you want to get rid of your timeshare. Sell it for a grand if you can, or sell it for a dollar. It hardly matters. What you paid up front will have been amortized over the number of years you used it. Just never, never, never buy from a "consultant" in the "welcome center." You can't live long enough to make the math work for you.