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Rent or Buy (by Beck):

josephm171 wrote:

Greetings Lisa.....With the recent promotion of rentals at Redweek.com can you give us the facts on how one decides to rent for a week versa buy a time share? Do you simply look at a weeks' rental versa the cost of buying plus the fees every year? What else should we consider...... At first glance rentals seem the path to take? Many thanks Joe

I think the primary factor in making this type of decision is the expectation of savings in the future and convenience.

Right now a lot of people are basing expectations an current conditions where rentals can be had for less than maintenance. and this is an excelent example of why not to own. In a bad economy the renter can get better pricing than the owner. However, that is short sighted since in good economies the owner has better pricing.

Convenience is another matter entirely. The renter has an advantage in the fact they can choose any available unit for rent at any given time, and for planning less than 2 months in advance it is far more likely the renter will find a unit to be available. just remember that in good economies the renter will be paying a lot more, especially if traveling in a high demand location/season. The renter also doesn't have to pay the obligatory annual costs, or can choose to shop around or change to a less expensive location/resort rather than pay - they can also choose to not travel and then don't incur any cost.

But I also feel owners have great convenience. They get to choose the best units/locations on thier schedule when planning in advance, or they take advantage of thier fixed week/unit such as an Ocean Front New years week - often this component is not as available to renters because most units aren't rented out. Owners also can get better deals when exchanging, especially when the opportunity to split a lockout unit allows the owner to get two 2BR units out of the split. This provides affordability and selection which the renter is not as privy to.