timesharing 101

It's time to open the discussion about what timesharing is and has become. I bought into timesharing back in 1980. The concept was simple. They sold 51 weeks with one week for maintenance. It was based on the principle that people used the week they owned every year and split the costs of maintenance with the other owners. The first place I bought was for 13 years and then it went back to the developer. There was no need for an exit strategy.

Over the years that changed with the addition of exchange companies. It gave the owners the ability to go somewhere else by exchanging their week at a reasonable cost. That worked well for many years until the exchange companies raised their fees and started to sell the prime weeks on the open market.

Then corporate greed entered the picture and points were created. It was an opportunity to over sell properties for huge profits. People didn't realize that there are many unsellable weeks that got dumped into the pool. Weeks that nobody would ever want to go to certain resorts but for the purpose of profit they were sold to anyone who would sign on the dotted line. I challenge anyone to show me an advantage to the owners. These contracts were written by the developer for the developer.

The developers spent millions of dollars writing the laws and more millions lobbying our law makers to pass the laws they wrote. They claim that you are buying real property to lock you into a lifetime of ever increasing fees and assessments but then also claim that you don't have the right to use your property unless you have enough points that they set at their discretion .

I wanted to start a conversation and hopefully others will join in and give their views. I want to cover all the aspects of ownership over time including fees, resales and scams. Please join the conversation and hopefully we can help some people get the most out of their ownership or help them find an exit plan.

I can agree with everything stated, We bought our first time share 20 yrs. ago in Key West, when Hyatt built there first one "Sunset Harbor" we still own it only because as #1 rule, buy only where you would go back, year after year. Back then Hyatt had people suckering you in literally on every block, plus several bldgs. you enter in to get more info. Back then our MF's were around 300.00 a year, now just a shade under 1600.00 a year. OK I understand hurricane damage, taxes, and up keep on the properties. Along with a slush fund for unforeseen things that may arise. But the one thing that has always griped me was the people that you supposedly vote on the board to supposedly oversee the interest of the association Most people have life experiences that are a definite benefit, money, construction, real estate, etc. But the one that always gets me, is "developer" Now if we are talking "developer" in the truest sense, would that be the origination who's name out front, or the origination or holding company that built it. Sunset case being Hyatt has a seat, and EVERY NOW AND THEN the builder gets one in(SPOTWOOD). Now I know what you're thinking, and that true, "owner representation". Just seems funny that at certain times nothing goes in the "OWNERS FAVOR". I was privileged to sit in on a conference call, at Sunset with the board and the manager of the resort, along with another owner, As we had some concerns we wanted addressed. Given that opportunity in conclusion the question was asked by a board member "WHO ARE THOSE PEOPLE".....and here I thought we were all owners ! At that time one of the builders had a seat on the board. Have you ever tried to contact one of the people that represents you, after you voted them in ?? Lotsa luck with that. All this to say if you buy in to a time share BE PROACTIVE, attend the meetings if you can. If not when the time comes to vote on new board members, "ASK QUESTIONS"

donp196 wrote:

I challenge anyone to show me an advantage to the owners.

I am not a points owner and I don't have a very clear knowledge of the intricacies of points ownership and packages, but ones who are owners like the flexibility of points. For instance, you can stay for whatever number of days you want as opposed to a rigid week.

Also, if you own a 2-BR and for a stay, you only need one room, you can use the points from your 2-BR to get a 1-BR and then have some points left over. Or if you own in a high-demand week and you want to, instead, stay for a week during low demand, you can use your points and then have some left over for another stay.

Of course, it all depends on availability. And many detractors will argue that they can never get what they want or that the developers keep changing the amount of points required. But there are still these advantages and, believe it or not, there are some happy owners of points.

donp196 wrote:

It's time to open the discussion about what timesharing is and has become. I bought into timesharing back in 1980. The concept was simple. They sold 51 weeks with one week for maintenance. It was based on the principle that people used the week they owned every year and split the costs of maintenance with the other owners. The first place I bought was for 13 years and then it went back to the developer. There was no need for an exit strategy.

Over the years that changed with the addition of exchange companies. It gave the owners the ability to go somewhere else by exchanging their week at a reasonable cost. That worked well for many years until the exchange companies raised their fees and started to sell the prime weeks on the open market.

Then corporate greed entered the picture and points were created. It was an opportunity to over sell properties for huge profits. People didn't realize that there are many unsellable weeks that got dumped into the pool. Weeks that nobody would ever want to go to certain resorts but for the purpose of profit they were sold to anyone who would sign on the dotted line. I challenge anyone to show me an advantage to the owners. These contracts were written by the developer for the developer.

The developers spent millions of dollars writing the laws and more millions lobbying our law makers to pass the laws they wrote. They claim that you are buying real property to lock you into a lifetime of ever increasing fees and assessments but then also claim that you don't have the right to use your property unless you have enough points that they set at their discretion .

I wanted to start a conversation and hopefully others will join in and give their views. I want to cover all the aspects of ownership over time including fees, resales and scams. Please join the conversation and hopefully we can help some people get the most out of their ownership or help them find an exit plan.

I have a question for you. We bought a deeded week at a timeshare about 15 years ago. We go every year and have only exchanged once. Now Diamond Resorts has taken over and tried to get us to join their Club (the points system) but we did not. Am I safe in thinking that since we didn't join their system, we will still have our same privileges (ocean front 2 BR unit, week 33) since we didn't sell them our deeded week? I suspect our maintenance fees will start to jump up, but other than that, we haven't lost anything we've had all these years have we?

You should be able to use your week every year like your original contract states but don't be surprised if the new ownership claims they are all booked when you want to use it. The only way to find out is to actually book a stay.

I own a deeded floating week in Las Vegas and have never had a problem booking my home resort but then again it's not owned by Diamond.