Why buy? Am I confused?

Helo all!

Just returned from WKORV this morning. Stayed at my parent's unit. Anyhow, I have been thinking of buy a 2/2 annual floating island view for several month now. I went on the tour but obviously the $56k quoted for this through the developer is nuts. My question is what really is the real advantage to buying a unit? When I search for rentals, it seems I could pick up a week for a little less than the annual fee or right about at it. Why would I spend the money up front if I could just rent and save that up front fee? I ask because I want to make sure Im not missing something, which I may very well be doing.

Thanks! Quinn

You just answered your own question. It's better to rent than buy. NEVER buy from a develepor. Their prices are so inflated it boggles the mind how people pay so much to buy them. If you decide to buy a resale you can sometimes find one for absolutely nothing if the owners just wants to get out from under the anual cost of never ending increasing maintenance fees and assessments which brings me to the reason to rent rather than purchase.

Everything looks great when you're on vacation enjoying a resort. The developer uses that to entice you to sign on the dotted line and commit yourself to a lifetime of fees. Maintenance fees and assessments are forever increasing and usually way beyond inflation. You have to pay them even if you decide not to use your resort that year. Some developers have found that they can control the board of the HOA and use your fees as a piggy bank for themselves.

I would never purchase a timeshare in this market. Like you said .. why buy when you can rent without obligating yourself to a lifetime of increasing fees.

Thanks for the response. I would obviously but on the resale market as the same units are around $18,000. VERY nice resort, but it seems I would just be dropping an extra $18,000 or more over just renting. Sounds like we share the same view.

ditto to donp's post.

If you want to travel in May or Septembr or one of the quieter months (even though there is no off season some months are more popular then others), you might as well rent, especially if you are not overly concerned about view. If you want whale season in Maui or school summer holiday times in a two bedroom with an ocean front or even ocean view room you will be paying a fair amount more than mf's to rent. So if you plan on using the unit every year it sometimes makes sense to buy a resale unit but you still need to shop around. Not everyone's asking price is reasonable in today's market especially when you consider the high mf's.

In general island views do not hold the value because rental rates aren't going to be much higher even in the more demand times. While an ocean front unit has the same mf but can command a rental price that is 2 times or more higher.

Thanks, Tracey. I sincerely appreciate the insight.

Quinn