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Old 11-04-2010, 09:16 PM
 
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I recently did one of the "consultation" sessions for 2 hours with a "vacation points" salesman. This wasn't a timeshare...but similar.

Basically, you pay a large amount up front...and pay maintenance fees each year...and they give you a certain # of points to be used for your future vacations.

If any of you plan on sitting thru one of the sessions in the future, here are some things to think about...and some questions to ask:

1) If they tell you the price of the buy in is, say, $10,000...that is NOT the total cost. You need to keep the annual maintenance fees in mind. The offer I had was a 40 year agreement.

The maintenance fees were over $300 per year for 40 years...which totaled somewhere in the neighborhood of $13,000. Those fees inevitably increase from time to time...so $13k is a conservative estimate.

2) I was to receive 1800 vacation points each year. The chart I was shown by the salesman showed that you could take a few trips for 1800....but you had to book at the last minute to get the trip at such a low rate. You also had to travel in "non peak" times...as peak times cost WAY more points. The peak season lasted for 30 weeks!

3) Upon further investigation, any trip worth taking...that wasn't booked at the last minute....cost somewhere around 4500 points to 5000 points. At that rate, it would have taken me 3 years to have enough points to take 1 trip!

4) I was told I could "accelerate" points from future years...and use them this year....but since the good trips cost so many points, I would have used all 40 years of points in about 18 years...leaving me 22 more years of maintenance fees....AND NO MORE VACATIONS.


These agreements work for some people...but not for me. If you are considering doing one of these...make sure you know how much an average trip costs (in points)...and make sure you are getting enough points each year to actually take a trip each year. Good luck.
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Old 11-05-2010, 08:19 AM
 
2,879 posts, read 7,755,765 times
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A Chevy Volt would be a better investment. And I wouldn't want to be caught dead in one of those, either.
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Old 11-05-2010, 02:17 PM
 
12,999 posts, read 18,817,429 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by khuntrevor View Post
A Chevy Volt would be a better investment. And I wouldn't want to be caught dead in one of those, either.
Just wear rubber gloves and you won't get a shock! Seriously, if you are sure you will be going to that same spot the same time the next 10 years it may be what you want! I knew someone who did and thought it was great, but even he said it's not for everyone.
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Old 11-10-2010, 02:41 PM
 
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You would have to be a sucker to buy a timeshare except in very rare circumstances. People can't give them away these days. Go to any "used" timeshare site like Redweek.com and you'll see what I mean. However, I like to rent out timeshares on the cheap that said suckers can't afford and can't unload.
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Old 11-14-2010, 06:15 AM
 
Location: Black Hammock Island
4,620 posts, read 14,929,880 times
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The problem with vacation points and/or timeshares is that each and every one has unique costs that range all over the place. To attend one sales seminar unforunately doesn't give the whole picture about the industry, and that's frustrating.

I know three families who bought into the vacation points system - one with Blue Green and the other two with Disney Vacation - and all three enjoy wonderful vacations more than once a year. However, all three paid different amounts for membership and pay far different amounts for maintenance and for purchasing additional points (if needed).

Timeshares are somewhat the same kind of thing. My family owned five timeshares in four different places and annual maintenance fees ranged from $400 to $900. All were RCI resorts, and over the years the membership fee to RCI and the fee to trade has increased.

We own a timeshare and it does work for us (and we understand it would not work for everyone). We got it for a song; our maintenance fee is $580; we do not belong to RCI because we have no intention of trading our week for some other time or place.

Our maintenance fee has not increased in four years because we have a rock-solid HOA which does very well with budgeting. They are very translucent, so we know exactly where every dollar is going. The HOA financially plans at least 10 years out, so monies are saved for the known infrastructure repairs that will be needed.

I bring up the above paragraph because that is another aspect that requires research and knowledge when buying into vacation points or timeshares. When one buys a home in a HOA community, the solidness of the HOA along with the price of the home is taken into account -- same with buying into vacation time.
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Old 03-31-2011, 01:02 PM
 
Location: Illinois
8,534 posts, read 7,372,499 times
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WOW, I'm going on vacation to Key West and have been looking at various timeshare sites to buy there. Sure sounds good online.

I would be satisified to have the same week every year. Any advice will be welcome.
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Old 03-31-2011, 02:26 PM
 
Location: Black Hammock Island
4,620 posts, read 14,929,880 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nan5623 View Post
WOW, I'm going on vacation to Key West and have been looking at various timeshare sites to buy there. Sure sounds good online.

I would be satisified to have the same week every year. Any advice will be welcome.
That's a loaded question, nan5623, and I'm sure there will quite a bit of advice voiced here from "run away as fast as you can" to "get out your checkbook and do it".

There are many timeshares for sale online. If you go that route, I would stick with classifieds from
RedWeek Timeshare Rentals, Resales, Ratings, Reviews or
Timeshare Users Group (TUG) Timeshare Users Group or
MyResortNetwork MyResortNetwork.com Timeshare Resales and Rentals, Buy A Timeshare
and sites such as the above.

TUG has a number of articles about buying timeshares -- worth reading to avoid scams.
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Old 04-01-2011, 10:52 AM
 
3,483 posts, read 9,384,526 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nan5623 View Post
I would be satisified to have the same week every year. Any advice will be welcome.
Would you be satisfied paying $800/year in maintenance fees even when you don't use your timeshare?

Proceed with caution. Timeshares can financially work for some but don't work for the majority of people. Most of the time it is cheaper to vacation where and when you want without paying anyone a "maintenance fee." There is a reason people are willing to give timeshares away for $1. They want to unload the "maintenance fee" they are obligated to pay, year after year. There are about eight billion websites about how poor a financial decision it is to buy a timeshare. Google and decide for yourself.

The best bet is to rent some other person's timeshare who is stuck with the financial burden of the maintenance fee. Check out Redweek.com. The closer the time gets to their rental week, the cheaper they will drop their rental rate. Timeshares are a renter's market, for sure.
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Old 04-01-2011, 12:08 PM
 
26,585 posts, read 61,858,106 times
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We bought a vacation club ownership in 1998 and just sold it a few weeks ago--for a small profit in the cost of points. The maintenance fees more than covered the cost of the hotel rooms we would have rented otherwise.

We also had another vacation club ownership that we bough in 2002 and sold in 2004--for a $17K PROFIT!

Would I do it again, sure, but obviously only in the right situation. In our case we knew we'd be vacationing over and over to the places we bought at, and we more than got our monies worth out of them. They are not for everyone, and our situation might be somewhat unusual, but my point is that if it's well thought out, it can be a good investment.
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Old 04-08-2011, 09:36 AM
 
Location: Illinois
8,534 posts, read 7,372,499 times
Reputation: 14883
Quote:
Originally Posted by mels View Post
Would you be satisfied paying $800/year in maintenance fees even when you don't use your timeshare?

Proceed with caution. Timeshares can financially work for some but don't work for the majority of people. Most of the time it is cheaper to vacation where and when you want without paying anyone a "maintenance fee." There is a reason people are willing to give timeshares away for $1. They want to unload the "maintenance fee" they are obligated to pay, year after year. There are about eight billion websites about how poor a financial decision it is to buy a timeshare. Google and decide for yourself.

The best bet is to rent some other person's timeshare who is stuck with the financial burden of the maintenance fee. Check out Redweek.com. The closer the time gets to their rental week, the cheaper they will drop their rental rate. Timeshares are a renter's market, for sure.


Thank you for the info. I won't jump right into it, until I do more research!!
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