I just got scamed into buying two timeshares from developers? Help???????

In march of 08' i went on vacation to myrtle beach, south carolina, with some friends. At the time i knew very little about timeshares(i havent traveled much in my life, im 25. Some guy promised me many things if only i would attend a 90 min. presentation. i was like sure, when is it? After all is said and done, i got robbed for over $20k for 2br lckoff in starwoods' sheraton plantation. Now fast forward to october 08, when i book to a trip to DR from starwoods exchange company II. The resort was horible(old and nasty). While i was at the beach, a guy aproach me and told me that i could spend the rest of my vacation at a much better 5* resort at no extra cost. The guy took me to a salesperson who told that his company would buy back my resort at myrtle beach for whatever amount i bought it for and the price would then be deducted from the total price i would pay to buy into their club. I told him i just bought the thing a few months ago and i have a mortgage on it, he reassured me that he would still be able to buy it from me. The whole thing sounded interesting to me(plus, i like DR). things such as no yearly maint. fees, you pay a fee only when you use your week. I can use my 4br villa all 52 weeks of the year as apose to other timeshares when you only get one week out of the year. The salesperson took me for a tour of the resort, i have to admit the place was amazing. you get a golf cart to ride around, a personal chef and your own private pool... so i bought it, knowing that thay will buy my other timeshare, which im paying over 1k for yearly maint. fees. about 2 months ago i called the resort in DR telling them that im ready to sell them my other timeshare. You know what they told me... they can buy it only if its payed in full. I told them the salesperson told me that this wouldnt be an issue, they told me that i might have heard him incorrectly. Now im stuck with 2 timeshares and tens of thousands of dolars in debt.

i forgot to mention the name of the resort in DR, its lifestyles hacienda resorts... Well, a few days ago while i was searching for any info on the net regarding my timeshares, i stumble unto sites like this one and tug2. when i saw how much these timeshares are going for in resale, i actually got sick to my stomach. i was already upset to begin with at my dumb purchases, now im finding out that these things are selling for a fraction of what i payed for them...you cant even begin to understant of what im feeling right now, im quite discusted... Now since selling them is out of the question, i want to know how can i go about renting them? what are the procedures? and if i do post them for rent, how successful will i be in finding a renter? are there people out there who would want to stay at these 2 resorts?

It is sad to hear how much you believe the sales people. Your the type person that these companies love and live off of.

Remember when these sales people's mouth are moving most of what is said is a lie.

Many of us on these forums spend hours warning people of these problems and to alway do your homework when dealing with timeshares buying or trying to sell. Always get everything in writing or its useless.

You can blame these people but bottom line is you went for the freebies and set through 90 minutes of mostly lies and then could have still said no thank you and walked out .

People of all ages fall into your problem and as mad as you are as a adult you should be able to see what is happening and say no.

At this point about only thing you can do is make payments and enjoy your timeshare vacations and spend some time learning about exchanges and how to use your unit.

Many thousands of timeshare owners are very happy with timeshares because they bought for right reasons and the whole point of buying a timeshare is for your vacations for many years.

PHILL12

Many people (including me) bought their first timeshare from a developer at full cost to later find out that they could have bought the very exact product on the resale market for much less.

Since you still owe money on your purchases, there's a zero chance anyone would buy them from you. And, when they are paid off and you get ready to sell them, they will bring only a fraction on the resale market of what you paid .... that's the nature of the beast.

The best thing you can do is chalk it up to a very expensive lesson and learn to use, trade or rent your timeshares. Forget the negative and start focusing on the positives.

If you do choose to rent (or when ready to sell), whatever you do don't pay an upfront fee in the hundreds of dollars to anyone to rent it for you. You can do just as well, actually better, by listing your rentals on Redweek and other timeshare listing sites.

Don't beat yourself up over your purchases .... try to get the most out of them .... you are not alone.

BTW, Starwood is a very popular system. Go to www.tugbbs.com and click on Starwood to learn more about how to get the most out of your purchase.

nathanc26 wrote:

i forgot to mention the name of the resort in DR, its lifestyles hacienda resorts...

I don't know what DR stands for. Are they in the Starwood system?

Thank you for your replies. Yes, i do plan on using my timeshares. i plan on vacationing as least twice a year, i actually already book a trip to cancun this march at Le Meridien. Its a starwood 5* resort. I booked it using my starpoints, which i got 90,000 of when i made the purchase.

As far as my purchases, i went to the presentations blind folded, i didnt know what to expect. These salespeople are really good at what they do. at the time all i knew about timeshares was that most of my friends parents had them and they would go on vacations all the time. Im not actually upset that i bought them, but at the fact that i could have bought them at a fraction of the price in resale.

In another note, sheraton gave me loan for the purchase. They are charging me an insane 15.9 in interest. If i took the whole ten yrs to pay it off, they will have pocketed over 20k in interest alone. Thats why im planning on paying it off in the next year or so.

sorry, DR stands for dominican republic

nathanc26 wrote:

In another note, sheraton gave me loan for the purchase. They are charging me an insane 15.9 in interest. If i took the whole ten yrs to pay it off, they will have pocketed over 20k in interest alone. Thats why im planning on paying it off in the next year or so.

That is smart to pay it off as quick as possible.

We did same thing on our unit buying from our resort resales dept and had a loan paying $110.00 a month. We paid $300 a month for fourteen months and then paid it off.

We knew going in this would be a short time loan.

As stated in above post many of us bought first timeshare from resort,our first one in 1983 had no forums to learn from and nothing about resales at that time.

Just kick back for few years and enjoy your vacations.

PHIL

Can you get a Home Equity Line of Credit and use that to pay off your loan? The rate will be less and the interest is deductible (depending on your tax situation).

I think you would also be able to rent out your Lifestyles Unit pretty easily. Are you, as an owner, able to get your guests a discount on the AI fee?

As of right now 80% of the loan is in a 0% introductory rate/15 months credit card from Bank of America, which is due to expire feb. 2010. I think i should be able to pay it all off by then.

As im finding more info regarding my lifestyles unit, i see that most owners are not resaling their units, due to the fact that they are not paying any yearly MF's and they can use it all 52 wks/yr and its also becoming a popular resort. Yes, as an owner i can get all guests my discount AI fee which right now i think its about 47.50/day for all villas, few dollars less for penthouses and suits. I think RCI is charging ppls $800.00/day for that. It was an expensive buy, but im gonna enjoy it and try to go there at least once a year. Im also going to try to rent it as often as i can, i see alot of ppls are doing that because its such a bargain renting directly from an owner.

nathanc26 wrote:

The guy took me to a salesperson who told that his company would buy back my resort at myrtle beach for whatever amount i bought it for and the price would then be deducted from the total price i would pay to buy into their club. I told him i just bought the thing a few months ago and i have a mortgage on it, he reassured me that he would still be able to buy it from me.

On another note, what a timeshare salesperson tells you and what's in the written contract are two completely different things. If he assured you he would buy your previous purchase, even though it still had a mortgage on it and it wasn't stated in the written contract, then the point is moot. That's why people should read their contracts backwards and forwards and inside and out BEFORE signing anything.

Many (not all) timeshare salespeople will tell you anything in order for you to sign on that dotted line, and then it's all over ..... they have you exactly where they want you whether they told you (verbally) the truth or not. At least you know that now when you're young.

Harborside at Atlantis, in the Bahamas is a Starwood resort and is one of the most popular resorts out there. You might think of trading there sometime with your Starwood property. Check on Redweek what Harborside rentals run .... they are out of sight high, although in this bad economy rental asking prices aren't necessarily what owners will get.

Good luck, and I'm glad you made the choice to enjoy your timeshares.

nathanc26 wrote:

As of right now 80% of the loan is in a 0% introductory rate/15 months credit card from Bank of America, which is due to expire feb. 2010. I think i should be able to pay it all off by then.

If you are paying off the 0% card in 15 equal payments, then you should look into opening one of those online bank accounts (ING, Capital One, etc) which pay 2%-3% interest. Then pay only the monthly minimum on the CC while setting aside the extra $$.

When the 0% promo is nearing it's end, you might be able to find a new 0% promo and transfer the B of A balance to a new CC (if you are not charged a large fee for this privilege). I did this for a few years while paying off some of my daughter’s college tuition.

There are pitfalls, especially forgetting to pay the minimum or forgetting to pay the balance at the end of the promotion.

Of course, my credit report is probably 3 inches thick, but even in today's "crisis", I was never turned down.

Thanks for the advise, i've done that a few times already and actually have made a couple thousand dollars on the cc company. back then it used to be that the cc company would charge you 3 or 4% transfer fee with a max of about $75 or $85, which was a good thing because you can take out a whole lot more money, but these days they are doing away with the max and charging you a full 4% on the whole amount transfered which cuould mean hundreds of dollars in transfer fee depending on how much money you're taking out.

nathanc26 wrote:

Thanks for the advise, i've done that a few times already and actually have made a couple thousand dollars on the cc company. back then it used to be that the cc company would charge you 3 or 4% transfer fee with a max of about $75 or $85, which was a good thing because you can take out a whole lot more money, but these days they are doing away with the max and charging you a full 4% on the whole amount transfered which cuould mean hundreds of dollars in transfer fee depending on how much money you're taking out.

I know what you mean, the last time I did a balance transfer, the max fee was $99. For $15K, that's less than 1%.

If you have to pay 3% tansfer fee for 12 months of 0% interest, then you are basically paying an APR of around 5.5%. With a 12-month, 3% simple interest loan for $10K, you only pay about $160 in total interest.

The only way I've seen to get a "cap" on the transfer fee is to open a new account (and you might get some perks such as airline miles as well).

If someone can't get a low interest loan, then even a 3% transfer fee can be a good deal, but only for a period of 12 months or more AND if they can pay it off at the end of the term.

The other "trap" is that you can't use the card to buy anything else. All payments go towards the 0% balance first. Other charges continue to "rack up" interest at the high rate.