What are the costs to maintain a timeshare

We are thinking of buying a timeshare and try to understand what are the costs associate with a timeshare. As far as I know, beside purchase cost for the timeshare, there will be: - Annual Maintenance Costs - Property Tax cost - Annual RCI or Exchange company fee Is there any other costs that I have not listed here.

Thank you

You have covered the costs that I am aware of, but think hard about this purchase. Just remember that it is an eternal purchase--after you are gone the deed goes to your heirs and on and on. You can not get rid of the liability until you give it away or sell it. You cannot just stop making the maintenance fee payments each year, as they will come after you or your heirs. You can rent a condo much cheaper. I have found there is no real benefit to owning. In fact, in my situation, it is a liability, not an asset.

The main reason for buying a timeshare when they first started up and today and only reason to still buy is for your family vacations for years to come!

If you want to enjoy a resort every year with option to travel the world for your family vacations then a timeshare is still a good deal.

Buy resale and buy where your family could go every year and love it and you will enjoy timesharing.

I don't use the term investment because the only investment is the use your family will get over the years.

As far as cost you listed most but be careful of resorts with low maintenance fee's because many of these like Flordia area put no money a side for reburbishments of older resorts and then hit owners with special assessments on top of your maintenance fee's.

Our resort has never done this because all the plans are built in to the budget every year and have been for last twenty six years we have dealt with them. They have been warning owners of these tactics for years of these resorts that hit owners with these special assessment fee's because their game plan was a low maintenance fee helps sell units with no plans for few years down the road and all the upgrades that come up after years of use.

PHILL12

Also, be aware that the majority of maintenance fees rise every year with possible special assessments added. Before you get into the timeshare game, I would read everything you can on the subject for at least 6 months before committing to buy. Remember, it's much easier to buy a timeshare (millions on the resale market and some can't even be given away or sold for $1) than to sell one, and as a former poster stated a timeshare is yours until you sell it or it changes ownership .... it even goes to your estate upon death and the estate is then responsible for all fees.

Bottom line, educate yourself before committing .... make sure that timesharing is for you.

One more thing, if you're buying to mainly exchange be aware that you might not get what you desire in an exchange .... it seems that trade power is a game that the exchange companies can change at their own will (RCI just did a trade power change and many owner's trading power plummeted bigtime).

Many developer salespeople make it sound so easy, "if you buy this timeshare, you can trade it for any resort in the exchange wishbook at anytime", which is an outright lie as trading power is ruled by supply, demand and the exchange company and for the most sought after resorts/times you have to bank at least a year in advance.

Timesharing can be complicated and one needs to be totally educated before committing to something they'll own for the rest of their lives along with all fees involved.

We have owned three timeshares at one time and on each one, the maintenance fees continued to go up considerably each year. I still contend it's cheaper to rent a condo through Red Week than it is to buy and go through the hassle of trading.

Buying a timeshare was probably the worst financial decision I have ever made. I would advice you to think long and hard or rent rather than make a commitment that you cannot get out of (surely it is illegal). My particular resort is hitting everyone for additional fees this year. In my case $1800 on top of my $900 annual maintenance fee. I was sold the idea because of the promise of using my unit as a bargaining chip in the RCI exchange scheme. I have never stayed at another resort that was any where near comparable to the unit that I have bought.

james2460 wrote:

We have owned three timeshares at one time and on each one, the maintenance fees continued to go up considerably each year. I still contend it's cheaper to rent a condo through Red Week than it is to buy and go through the hassle of trading.

I'm in complete agreement ..... why buy and be obligated for the fees for the rest of your life, and after, if you can rent from an existing owner for the cost of their maintenance fees (plus or minus).

Unless you want to buy (on the resale market for a great price that you can live with) in a resort that you'll be using each and every year, then I honestly see no need to buy with all the many thousands of rentals out there.

Thank you all for your response. Your suggestions are what i have thought about and feel a bit uneasy of the long term obligation. I also completely forgot about special assessment that could be an additional cost. I am glad to hear all your suggestions which give me the opportunity to rethink before committing to the long term "investment". Thanks again all.

We understood all the pluses and minus before we bought a timeshare on resale. Even though we bought one, for most people, I think it would be better to rent. Remember, it is all about vacation value; it is certainly not an investment. Here was my logic for buying versus renting; so far, my logic is working out for me.

- We bought a group of resorts that we really like and we use twice a year. We never plan on trading out; we rent when we go elsewhere. - We like to take friends and family with us; we have no surprises and they love the experience. - We have a lot of nice amenities not available to renters at these resorts - There are no maintenance fees unless we use - no big deal since we use, but nice to know. - Under these conditions, we pay off our investment rather quickly - and with consistently great vacations and no hassle.

The key to me is to be realistic with your values and true costs.

Mike

james2460 wrote:

You cannot just stop making the maintenance fee payments each year, as they will come after you or your heirs.

The estate, not the heirs are responsible for ongoing MFs. Heirs are not obligated to accept the TS during probate. I'm not a lawyer (and I don't play one on TV), but I think the resort has a limited time to make a claim from the estate. After probate and the estate is closed, the resort cannot come back for more MFs. Any lawyers out there? Please feel free to correct me.

michaelk397 wrote:

We understood all the pluses and minus before we bought a timeshare on resale. Even though we bought one, for most people, I think it would be better to rent. Remember, it is all about vacation value; it is certainly not an investment. Here was my logic for buying versus renting; so far, my logic is working out for me.

- We bought a group of resorts that we really like and we use twice a year. We never plan on trading out; we rent when we go elsewhere. - We like to take friends and family with us; we have no surprises and they love the experience. - We have a lot of nice amenities not available to renters at these resorts - There are no maintenance fees unless we use - no big deal since we use, but nice to know. - Under these conditions, we pay off our investment rather quickly - and with consistently great vacations and no hassle.

The key to me is to be realistic with your values and true costs. Mike

You performed your homework well ..... you bought where you want to go every year and on the resale market.

It would be nice if all resorts would have the same condition that if you don't use your week then you don't pay maintenance fees for that year .... kudos to you for being a informed consumer .... everyone should follow your example.

My husband wants to buy a timeshare. Personally, I see no reason to. We just spent a glorious week in Hilton Head, platinum season right on the beach, at a 2 bdrm 2 bath Marriott property. The timeshare plus all incidentals cost us $1883.00. That was 4 adults and 2 kids for 7 nights.

You cannot beat that cost by owning one. Maybe one day we'll find a reason to buy, but for now, I cannot imagine what that reason would be.

Laura,

The cost at my timeshare for a primetime week in a luxury 2 bedroom with large living area between with full kitchen is $837 for the week. This includes free golf, free spa, and is on the beach. It has a large water park with lazy river, wave pools, and giant slides. I believe that if one can find a timeshare (on resale) that they truly love to go to, timeshares can be a bargain. Our eleven grandkids absolutely agree.

However, it does take some work to find the right one and that can be great fun also.

Mike

Mike, what city and which timeshare was it?

michaelk397 wrote:

Laura,

The cost at my timeshare for a primetime week in a luxury 2 bedroom with large living area between with full kitchen is $837 for the week. This includes free golf, free spa, and is on the beach. It has a large water park with lazy river, wave pools, and giant slides. I believe that if one can find a timeshare (on resale) that they truly love to go to, timeshares can be a bargain. Our eleven grandkids absolutely agree.

However, it does take some work to find the right one and that can be great fun also.

Mike

I'm somewhat confused ..... you say the cost of your week's stay at your resort was $837 ? Is this what you paid for your week on the resale market or is this the maintenance fee ? You have to add in the original cost in the equation, not just the maintenance fee.

I 'd like to take this opportunity to thank you very much to all of you who had given me the helpful inputs in this particular topic. You all just saved me a big time, from carry on a headache and especially a big and long time liability that will be very hard to a get rid off. I am glad that I decided to wait and hear from all of you before making the final decision which I was very urged to do over the weekend. Wow, I feel so much better now. Thanks again to all of you and also thanks to Redweek who created this forum which gives all of us a great resource.

Jayjay, sorry - yes that is just the maintenance fee and absolutely, you have to figure in the cost of the original investment. It becomes a rather simple tradeoff analysis, but with timeshares going for almost nothing except transfer fees, I believe there are lots of bargains out there for both renters and buyers.

The mood on this and other forums today seem to be mostly towards renting - not buying - probably right in most cases. My only point is that to me it is never that clear cut; every person has different values and should really investigate their opportunities in context with their lifestyle. For me, buying this timeshare made sense for us financially and funwise, but realistically, another important advantage is we don't have the time or like the hassle of renting; we end up not doing anything.

Laura had mentioned that her husband liked the idea of owning. We do also; we like to watch progress, complain a bit, get to know the people, and for the right price, can be a bargain also.

Mike

If we didn't buy our original TS in the early 90s, we probably would not have travelled to the places we did. The TS gave us that opportunity through exchanges.

Back then, before the wide use of the internet, I don't think I would've been searching for private rentals. So even with the MF (and II fees) plus the "amoritzed" original purchase for a 2 BR unit, we felt it was still a bargain.

I am sure there are some good deals out there to be had in timeshare purchases. I suppose the options are almost endless, if your interests/flexibilities are endless. We have a very narrow window, that being...#1 we are beach people. We do not ski, golf, play tennis, or do hiking or mountain climbing. #2, we have two kids, one school age and one soon to be, which limits us to the platinum season for the beaches (summer vacation and winter break). #3 neither I nor my husband have any interest in travelling out of the country, especially at this time in our lives with two young children. #4, we spent many years working for high end hotel companies, which makes us somewhat snobbish, I suppose you could say, about where we stay. We now hate staying in hotels for the most part, and would be most unhappy with an old, not very well maintained timeshare, and we cringe if we walk into a place that is not clean. For us, this really narrows the range of choices and options. I doubt we could own a timeshare at the type of place and location we would want to own, in the season we would need to own, for less than we can get renting. Everyone is different, you have to work within your own parameters, whatever they may be.