8

Pros and Cons of Timeshare Ownership

In my research for Affiliate Marketing for Grandparents, I have seen Timeshare Ownership come up on more than one occasion. Some people like the timeshare idea, while others say “steer clear.” In this article I will lay out the pros and cons of timeshare ownership, and let you decide for yourself if vacationing with a timeshare is right for you.

What is a Timeshare?

Pros and Cons of Timeshare Ownership“A timeshare (sometimes called vacation ownership) is a property with a divided form of ownership or user rights. These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each owner of the same accommodation is allotted their period of time. Units may be sold as a partial ownership, lease, or “right to use”, in which case the latter holds no claim to ownership of the property. The ownership of timeshare programs is varied, and has been changing over the decades.” From Wikipedia

A timeshare is basically a condo that you own with several other owners, and you are assigned a time period in which you get to use the condo. There are several variations of how this ownership works, which I will describe below.

Fixed Week Ownership: This is the most common type. You get to use the property as designated by your deed, for one week per year, that is always the same week. An example would be the first week of February. This falls on Week 6 of the year 2020, as designated by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

 

Floating Week Ownership: This timeshare option offers a range of weeks available on a first come, first served basis. Often these will exclude holiday weeks, which often are assigned on a rotating schedule, so that everyone gets a chance at staying at the condo on a holiday week.

Flex Week Ownership: Also known as rotating week ownership, this type changes the week designation every year. On year one, you might get use of the condo on week 37. The next year, you would get week 38, and the year following that, you would get week 39, and so forth.

Right to use: This type of timeshare isn’t ownership. It’s a leasing arrangement where you sign an agreement allowing you use of the property on your allotted week, for a specific time period. For example, you would spend your week, week # 37 every year for 10 years. After that, the agreement ends, and you can lease it again, or go somewhere else.

Pros and Cons of Timeshare OwnershipVacation Points Programs: A timeshare based on points works as follows: Ownership is available in “packages” where you have ranges of how much you pay for your deed. Depending on how much you pay, you will get a specific amount of points. You can “spend” the points to stay at your condo, or any condo within that particular timeshare organization. Let’s say you bought a timeshare that allots you 20 points. 20 points gets you two weeks stay at any condo in your network. You could spend a week at one in Florida, and a week at one in Colorado. Or you can stay two weeks in Florida. And the next year, you can stay at some other condo within your network, like Santa Fe New Mexico, or San Diego California. These are the most flexible types of timeshares, but they are also the most expensive.

The Advantages of Owning a Timeshare

Your vacation home will not sit empty for most of the year. For some, it doesn’t make sense to have a house sit empty. There are repair issues that come up, such as water leaks, or break-ins, animal infestation, and any number of issues that can occur if you aren’t visiting the home regularly. And unless you’re willing to rent out your home for the rest of the year, you aren’t gaining anything.

You only pay for what you use. If you only have 2 weeks of vacation from work, you only need to buy two weeks of a timeshare, not the whole house. The costs are shared with around 50 others. In some cases, you can afford nicer accommodations than you otherwise could afford to buy a whole house.

You don’t have to worry about year-round maintenance. Snow removal is a big expense, and maintaining landscaping is another. Owning a vacation home, you will have to provide all of that to maintain the value and comply with HOA bylaws.

You have predictability. If you like going to the same place every year, you are guaranteed a place to stay.

You may be able to trade times and locations between the other owners, allowing variety in places you can stay. Check your deed paperwork to assure you are allowed to do this.

You may be able to rent out your designated time allotment. Another time to check the paperwork to be sure this is OK.

Pros and Cons of Timeshare OwnershipYou can allow your friends and family to use your timeshare if you can’t use it at your designated time.

You can offer it for free in a charity auction.

The Drawbacks of Owning a Timeshare

There are usually annual maintenance fees, an average of $660 per year, that you must pay, whether you use the condo or not.

You could be liable for special assessments. Perhaps the condo building needs a new roof or some other extensive repair. You will have to pay those or you could face foreclosure. You generally don’t have much control over when or how these special assessments are made, just a yes or no vote at your HOA meeting.

Pros and Cons of Timeshare OwnershipTimeshares are hard to sell. They usually go on the market at a fraction of the original price. If you are looking for a good deal, buy a used timeshare on a secondary market. But watch out! The Better Business Bureau has seen a lot of fraudulent activity in timeshare reselling schemes.

The IRS will not let you claim a capital loss if you sell your timeshare at a heavy discount, like they would other investments or real estate.

If You Still Want to Buy A Timeshare

Here are a few considerations you should contemplate if you still think a timeshare would work for you:

A Timeshare isn’t really an asset. Think of the costs of depreciation, travel, and maintenance, plus the uncertainty of whether you get to use your condo or not. Compare those costs to just going on a regular vacation. The costs might outweigh any gain you would perceive.

Take a good look at your previous vacation tendencies. Do you really want to go to the same location year after year? Do you really want to take the same two weeks off year after year? If you prefer going more places and doing a variety of things, then perhaps to buy a timeshare with limited locales and limited time frames is not for you.

Pros and Cons of Timeshare OwnershipIf you are expecting family members to use your timeshare, be prepared for less use than anticipated. Flying a whole family to a far off vacation home IS expensive, and more of a one time deal than a yearly event. I speak from experience of spending nearly $2000 to buy four airline tickets. Can your kids afford that? Also, lining up the same week every year is difficult when you have a family of four to think about and schedule. You may not be using your timeshare as much as you anticipate because of these factors.

Borrowing for a timeshare isn’t a great strategy. Timeshares depreciate in value very quickly, so most banks will not lend you money to buy them. Often, the developer will arrange financing for you, but at a much higher interest rate than banks that do make the loans. What’s more, usually in a foreclosure, the outstanding mortgage balance and the unpaid maintenance fees are higher than the timeshare’s value, which creates what is called a deficiency. Then, lenders can go after your other assets. If you must borrow to purchase a timeshare, you have no business buying one.

Timeshare sales campaigns are often a shiny object designed to attract you to buy something you otherwise wouldn’t. They offer a “free trip” or a “free stay” where you must attend a sales meeting, and then you’re free to enjoy other activities. During that meeting, there will be some heavy arm twisting for you to buy the shiny object. If you don’t agree to make a purchase during their sales meeting, the sales team badgers you for the rest of your “‘free stay” until you finally break down and buy the timeshare.

Beware of sales people who avoid answering your questions, or won’t be up front about the purchase price.

More legitimate timeshare deals allow for a grace period, for you to change your mind before committing.

Never pay anything until you have seen the actual unit. If you are not allowed to see the unit, that’s a big red flag that you are being defrauded.

My Personal Experience

Pros and Cons of Timeshare OwnershipMy parents owned two timeshares, one with a fixed week ownership. It was for two weeks in February, and it was for only that building in that particular ski area. I never stayed at it, because I could not afford to be away for my job that long. I was never convenient for any of us kids. My parents didn’t ski, so they only used it once or twice themselves, if I remember correctly.

The second timeshare was a little more usable. I think we got two weeks, based on availability at any condo in their network. Also, we could make a reservation and stay over non-blacked-out weekends, and just pay the “maid fee” which was around $100 for the weekend at the time. We used the weekend aspect more often than anything, but it was still only once or twice per year, because who can afford to get away that often? Not me obviously. My parents used their two weeks in Florida one year that I remember. We kids were invited, but none of us could go.

I remember when my mom said they were selling the timeshares, I think she expected us to all protest, but none of us really did. It was always more convenient, and priced similarly, to just get a hotel room where we wanted to stay. I do know they let the condos go for far below asking price, and ended up paying into the timeshares long after they were sold to make up the deficiency.

A Better Way to Get That Dream Vacation Home

As you know, if you’ve been reading my blog, I’m an advocate for learning affiliate marketing, and of the training you get from Wealthy Affiliate. This is a great place to start a part-time or even full time job that will eventually earn you passive income, which you can apply to buying the vacation home of your dreams, or just skip the vacation home, and go on some really nice trips.  Please see my review and other articles I’ve written about Wealthy Affiliate below.

Wealthy Affiliate ReviewWhy Are Cookies Used On Websites

Common Wealthy Affiliate Complaints

Wealthy Affiliate Testimonials

More Info on Wealthy Affiliate

===>Click here to start your free membership at Wealthy Affiliate<===

===>Click here to get $30 off your first month of Premium Membership at Wealthy Affiliate!<===

In Conclusion

Don’t buy a timeshare on the spur of the moment. Think it through. Run the numbers. Truly assess your vacation needs and that of your family’s. Weigh all our options. Don’t throw your money away on a shiny object, promoted by a sales person with a quota to meet and an offer too good to refuse, and a really hard sales push. Once you have considered all the issues, and a timeshare still looks good to you, be cautious when you buy it, and watch out for fraudsters.

Please place your comments and questions below, and thank you, as always, for reading!

references:

https://www.seniorliving.org/timeshares/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeshare

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2014/09/16/buying-a-timeshare-the-pros-and-cons/

Rhonda Stetson

8 Comments

  1. Well! As much as I would like to see the cons associated with this timeshare, I cannot dispose the prosof this platform. To be honest, I really fancy all you have written about timeshare. They really look very convincing and I think I can go for the vacation plans since that can cater for my shelter over some times during my next vacation. I’m quite impressed

    • Hello Rodarrick, thanks for visiting my website again.  It is a great idea to compare pricing and really weigh the pros and cons, so you make the best decision for you and your family.  For me, even if the price ended up being a good deal, I don’t want to go to the same place all the time.  There’s too many places I want to see, and I don’t want to depend on whether there’s a condo in network (haha like health insurance) where I want to go. So yea, weigh everything carefully.  Thanks again Rodarrick, for reading and commenting!  Rhonda

  2. Hello Rhonda. It’s the first time I’m reading anything on time share online because whenever the topic is brought up, everyone keeps trying to shy away from it. I do not know why many people do not like the discourse but after reading this, itseasy to say that they really don’t want to have any loss. The fact that one has to pay up to 600 annually is quite a thing. Thanks for teaching me this from your experience.

    • Hi again Henderson.  Thanks for visiting my website again.  Yea, when I was researching this article, knowing what my parents went through with their timeshares, I found that I was shaking my head a lot and agreeing with what they said.  It was exactly the things that happened to my parents.  The scarier thing is the “special projects” like a new roof or a water main break that you have to pay for, even after you pay your membership fees.  Yikes!  So I’m in the “shy away” crowd when it comes to considering a timeshare.  Anyway, thanks again Henderson, and I’ll see you next time!  Rhonda

  3. Hello Rhonda, I haven’t tried anything like this before, but just admit it seem like a really nice idea for me even with clear knowledge of it’s cons. Having a place to settle in when you travel to a particular place would save you lots of stress of finding a good hotel and all. Aside families, can a company take part in a timeshare ownership ?

    • Hi Benson, thank you for visiting my website.  I think there are companies that have timeshares for employees as part of their benefits.  I used to work for a giant corporation that owned a park where there were cabins you could stay in for free, which is kind of a similar situation.  However, that company has since sold the park to a municipality.  So, it’s something that was more prevalent back when corporations were more concerned with retaining their people.  I think that if it’s important to you, it wouldn’t hurt to ask around.  Anyway, Benson, thanks again for reading and commenting!  Rhonda 

  4. I’ve always heard the term timeshare but i’ve never even thought to look at what it actually means before.  This post on the pros and cons of timeshare ownership has really been eye opening for me.

    Correct me if i am wrong here but am i to understand that some timeshares can actually be shared by over 50 people who all agree to use the timeshare, each person for one week of the year?

    If i got the correct understanding then this is a novel idea and i can see an immediate benefit for those among us who would love to vacation for a week in an exotic locale but find the high costs of accommodation in such areas to be prohibitive.  If they can find such a timeshare that they can be a part of in that particular area they can then they will be able to have their vacation.

    Tell me, is it possible to withdraw from a timeshare arrangement after say 3 or 4 years?

    • Hi Donald!  You asked some very good questions, and I appreciate your comments.  

      Yes, there are timeshares where 52 people share one property.  In those cases, there is a manager that keeps everyone straight and enforces the schedule, etc.  There are 52 weeks in a year, so presumably, if everyone gets one week, 52 is the highest membership number that can be achieved.  

      The only timeshare configuration I know of that you can limit to a few years is the property lease situation.  In the end of that type of arrangement, you have nothing to show for your money except the vacations you used.  Most timeshare arrangements end with you owning a fraction of the home, so if you think about owning a home, there’s usually a 30 year mortgage, so you are in for the long haul.  

      So it’s best to make sure you compare pricing.  With the maintenance fees, interest payments, etc, the cost of a timeshare could exceed the cost of taking vacations for a few years.  It’s best to weigh your options.  

      So anyway Donald, I hope that answers your questions.  Thanks again for reading and commenting!  Rhonda

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.