Timeshare vs renting private condo (non-TS)

We own a TS in Princeville, HI (Kauai) and just stayed there a couple of weeks ago (Hanalei Bay). We had a great time, but when on the Big Island, I rented a condo via cyberrental.com and it was very nice too. I paid $10K for the 2BR/2Bth timeshare EOY and maintenance fees are $956/EOY so excluding upfront cost it's $956/week. On the Big Island, the 3BR/3BTH 1900 sq ft. condo was $155/night (I realize it's a different market but it got me thinking). It was much nicer than my TS because the private owner did things "right" wrt appliances, etc. Also it had all the toys including coolers and snorkel gear.

So I got to looking in Princeville on cyberrental.com and found a privately owned condo at Hanalei Bay which rented for $350/night so $2450/week. Yes it's higher than my maintenance fee, but there would be no risk on my part for special assessments and increasing mainenance fees (I know fees and rent probably go up together). Also the privately owned rooms at Hanalei Bay were significantly nicer (and I assume cleaner... we had issues). Also if I want to go somewhere else, I don't have to mess with trading, I just rent somewhere else. I know there have been discussions on renting a TS, but this is not really that. Thoughts??

In anycase, I'm considering selling my TS. Luckily I bought it resale so I won't lose too much if any.

Renting condos from owners is another good vacation option. You are right that renting alleviates the hassles of timeshare ownership.

Another popular url for condo rentals is www.vrbo.com (vacation rentals by owners) and Ebay has some good rental offers.

Before we got into timeshares we rented from owners many times for the Alabama gulf coast and the Florida panhandle.

So what is your primary motivation for owning timeshares considering several rental options exist? The need to own something? "Assuring a vacation"? I'm just curious.

When we got into timesharing there were not that many rental sites on the internet such as Redweek and others. When those sites started coming online we sold all of our timeshares due to rising costs (maintenance fees, exchange company fees, special assessments etc.) It's more hassle free and more cost effective (for us) to merely rent now.

However we saw some beautiful areas of this great country that we would not have seen if not for timesharing, but from what I've been reading lately good trades are harder to get these days. We never had any problem getting trades we wanted when we belonged to both RCI and II several years ago.

norman116 wrote:

So what is your primary motivation for owning timeshares considering several rental options exist? The need to own something? "Assuring a vacation"? I'm just curious.

We've found that by owning a TS, we feel "forced to take a vacation". Otherwise, it seems that there is always something else more practical that we should be spending our money on. Time as a family, though, is priceless--especially with both of us working. We always hear that TS ownership is a bad investment, but perhaps we're investing in time rather than the financial investment.

melindag12 wrote:

We always hear that TS ownership is a bad investment, but perhaps we're investing in time rather than the financial investment.

melinda, you've hit the nail on the head above. One should never buy a timeshare thinking they are a financial investment (actually, the opposite is true since 99% of developer bought timeshares lose their value bigtime once you sign on the dotted line .... another reason to buy resale .... you get the same product for 1/4+- to 1/3+- of what a developer timeshare costs).

But timeshares ARE a family investment ... taking vacations together in very nice accomodations and those memories that children, and you, will remember forever.