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Buying Timeshare? (by Ginger I.):

I support this posting... as it very closely follows my own experience, including one bad property ownership that went under. I haven't used points, so no experience there.

I'm up to three timeshares now - one I use every year, one that I use frequently and trade sometimes, one that is a red week with good trading power and lower maintenance fees that I almost always trade. My expense (maint. fees, etc.) gives me more than just booking a rental.

christinea70 wrote:

We are fans of timeshares having purchased our first 2 weeks in Spain in 1986. We followed that with a week in Idaho, US, when we made one of our first exchanges and later an odd year week in Kona, Hawaii (our favorite island). The week in Idaho is a fixed red week and we usually go there every year. The weeks in Spain have converted to points and we have only been there once but have used this resort to exchange for many places around the world. Over the years we have added to the odd year week in Hawaii so that now we own a total of 6 weeks at the same resort (2 weeks were bought last year). The weeks we own are all in winter floating time so we can escape some of the Canadian wintertime although we sometimes will exchange our Kona time for other places. All our weeks are deeded so we can rent them, gift them, and will them. We had one bad experience with a timeshare we bought which ultimately went bankrupt. It was a leased type and the developer skimmed the maintenance fees. We frequently rent condos for added vacation time as well, but to get equivalent timeshare quality and be able to stay where we want to be we have found the rental fees generally exceed the average cost of our timeshare maintenance fees. Here is a summary of our do's and don'ts and the benefits when considering whether a timeshare is for you.

Do: - Choose one you would visit often - Choose a fee simple property (deeded not leased) - Buy on the used market - Check rating for exchanging (prime/red time?) - Consider ones using points - Ask about condo fees (Currency? When payable?) - Investigate whether or not the owners are involved in the decisions Don't: - Treat the purchase as an investment - Buy if you can't plan ahead - Expect condo fees not to increase - Expect exchanges to always work Benefits: - Prepaid quality accommodation - Not tied to one place - No maintenance chores - Can start small - Can exchange around the world (Join RCI or II)