Anyone here own a time share?

[sonvolt]

I have been thinking about buying a time share of some sort - some investment that will allow me to take my family on regular vacations, etc.

Any recommendations on companies, advice on buying, etc.?

 

[Snakebone]

Don't do it. For the price you pay for the yearly maintenance fee you can rent a nice house, condo, townhome etc. directly from owners on websites like www.VRBO.com, www.vacationrentals.com or www.greatrentals.com. There are many more than this that I used to advertise my place in Florida on. I had a 4 bedroom 3 bath place at a resort near Disney in Orlando that I would rent for $600/wk at times. I have a timeshare and it was the worst thing I've ever bought.

 

[todd_k]

My parents have one through RCI. I would recommend getting one that is reasonably closeby, within a couple hours of your home. Don't buy one in Hawaii or some place that's hard to get to because you want to be able to use it every year rather than give it away. My parents trade their week and usually go someplace else so make sure your week that you pick is during the "peak" season wherever you chose, so pick during the ski season if you get one in the mountains or don't get one during hurricane season if you get one in Florida or someplace like that.
Watch out for the maintenance fees and other hidden fees. Also never accept their first offer, or their second offer, tell them all the way through that you don't want one, the offer will get better and better as they pass you on to other "closers".

 

[david_42]

I worked (IT mgr) for one of the larger timeshare companies in Nevada. It is not an investment. It is a very expensive way to lock yourself into limited options for vacations. There is no upper limit on monthly fees and re-sale values are a fraction of your costs. Even counting exchanges, is a very bad idea.

It's an industry where 25% of the total costs are the sales pitches. They spend more money selling it to you, than they did building it.

 

[the_bird]

My wife made me sit though a sales pitch for time shares so that we could get some free, but completely worthless, gifts. Biggest waste of time. Felt like I needed a hot shower after we left. Be prepared for every manner of salemanship known to man, every little trick in the book.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

The only people I know with timeshares are the ones trying to get rid of them. I'm sure they work for some demographic (they sure sell them no doubt), but I don't know what it is.

 

[EdWort]

Take the money you would spend on it and invest it. Combine the earnings plus the outrageous annual owner fee and go on vacation anywhere anytime you want.

If you don't go on vacation this year, then you have double your money for next year.

Time Shares are not a good inventment IMHO, but some folks are happy with them.

 

[sonvolt]

Well . . . the verdict is in.

Anyway, I now have a family of five (perhaps 6 before all is done), and I want to be able to travel regularly w/out spending too much $$$.

It doesn't look like time sharing is the way to go.

Back to the drawing board.

 

[david_42]

For the cost of a timeshare, you can get a used 24-26 foot Class C RV that will handle six.

 

[Spyk'd]

If you're into Disney, you should check out Disney Vacation Club:
http://dvc.disney.go.com/dvc/index


You can pass this down from generation to generation...or so I've heard.