Has anyone sold a Timeshare?

[shauni27]

Jan 14, 2020 13:07:23 GMT -5 @sameoldstory said:

bex1973 , It is location/weeks based. In hindsight, it was just a really poor decision. I actually think that had we done something points based we would have actually gotten use out of it. We dropped the RCI option so can't even swap out for different resorts or anything so we're stuck with one crappy week in Vegas a year. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Jan 14, 2020 15:34:29 GMT -5 @sameoldstory said:

Jan 14, 2020 15:22:49 GMT -5 lolalolalola said:

My parents were able to pay their timeshare company $3500 to take it back. But I think that is unusual.

Sorry :-(

I’ve heard of selling them on eBay but haven’t done it myself. Be prepared to get almost nothing for it. Your main goal should be to get rid of the annual fees, vs recoup your costs.

I'm starting to realize that. Ugh. From what I'm reading, I'm likely going to need to pay a company to get me out of my contract. So on top of the $15K we stupidly paid for this, another $3K we've pain in annual fees, and don't even get me started on the interest that we paid on the stupid loan, now we're going to need to pay to get out of this. I feel so foolish. What a kick in the gut. 

I just wanted to give you a big old hug and say I am sorry. My parents basically got scammed for their timeshare in Mexico in the early 2000s and we never once were able to use it. They finally sold it back to the company. It was such a financial kick in the ass for them and they were so mad at themselves. Don't be too hard on yourself.

Jan 14, 2020 17:44:18 GMT -5 isabel said:

I feel like timeshares should be illegal or something. They seem like such a scam.

Right?? I agree, based on my family's experience.

However, my aunt and uncle are part of a time share where they can go stay at properties all around the world. They use it a few times a year and love it.

[lolalolalola]

We have a fractional ownership. It’s deeded like any other real estate. We treat it like a timeshare because we can trade it, etc. but it’s not actually a time share.

It’s been good for us, but a) we can plan way in advance to get the desirable trades, and b) we actually like the location we own at.

[bex1973]

This is now somewhat off topic from the OP but we have a timeshare and as much as I love it and how much we have used it I would not recommend buying one to someone else. When we go for our owner updates (which I only go to for the gift card they give us) they always ask for referrals and I don't provide anyone. When people travel with us they'll sometimes comment about maybe buying in and unless they're going to get the deal we got (which is unlikely) I really try to talk them out of it.

But we bought at a really low price and we're points based so we're not tied to a location or time frame and we've got the luxury to travel at non peak times. And our yearly fees are less than what we would pay to book a hotel in the places we've been. And we've learned how to get the most bang for our points but that came with trial & error & research.

[5thofjuly]

My grandparents bought in early to 5 weeks in Hilton Head, so they never had trouble swapping weeks, changing locations, etc. HOWEVER, when I've looked at it, there are only a few options: stay at Hilton Head during those 5 weeks, stay at pretty much at any mid-sized city in the midwest or southeast or literally not get to choose a location I wanted to be in.

It worked well for them because, as retirees and flexible people, they were cool with saying, "Hmm...we'd like to go to the southwest this spring" and could find something in the spring, in the southwest, but it may have been March-April-May and it could have been an hour and a half outside of Phoenix-Tuscon-Reno-Salt Lake City-Santa Fe. They didn't really get to pick and that was OK with them. And, if they didn't like any of their options, they went to Hilton Head (which is not my idea of a vacation.)

They were always all about, "You can stay in Ireland or Germany or Portland!" Yes, but there's exactly one property in each of those very large places and the odds of claiming it were next to none even WITH extremely flexible travel plans.

They passed on to my parents. The fees aren't too bad (and my grandparents left 10 years worth of fees in a trust,) but part of why I never want them is that by the time they'd come to me, I imagine it'll be special assessments for maintenance out the wazoo (plus we'd never use them.)

I suspect AirBnB is part of what took the wind out of a lot of condo sales. In fact, some of the AirBnBs we stay in are other people's timeshares. I also think that were never designed to be an "investment" in the first place---just marketed that way.

[expatjen]

Yes. I just “sold” my timeshare in Hawaii back to the company. It was a PITA, but I was able to basically give them back the timeshare (after paying the annual maintenance fee for the current year). It took about 45 days, but I no longer have that cloud hanging over us each year when the maintenance is due.

[pandorica]

Jan 15, 2020 8:03:44 GMT -5 ECB said:

Jan 14, 2020 16:56:53 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

I don't really "get" timeshares entirely, I don't think.

I mean, I get the concept (you have access to this or the chain of properties on an annual basis).

What I don't get is why they're such a bad deal for the consumer. And impossible to offload. Does the mob run this whole thing?!

Enlighten me!

I can only speak to what I've seen with FILs timeshares - while the concept is a great concept, I think the practice ended up not being as great as first imagined (when timeshares were really popular).  

FIL has 2 timeshares in the middle of Africa.  He'll never ever go to the actual location - he uses them to swap and stay in other locations.  

But I've found that when trying to find other locations to swap - it can be SO HARD to find the dates you want, or to find a unit that offers the amenities that you want, or while in the city you want, you can't find a timeshare in the location you want.  And then the units that we've stayed in that he uses - they're very "eh". 

So, when he's offered to give us one of the timeshares, we've said no.  The way DH and I travel - we want to have more options, more flexibility.  Big picture, paying the annual fee and IF you can find a place to go - sure, money wise, it may be a great deal.  But I felt that - at least FILS - timeshares were really limiting us in our options and I don't want to be confined to these options because I feel I "have" to use the timeshare to make it worth the $$.  

even if there are timeshares that are better, I'm sure I'm far from the only person with the above experience (or something close to it) and it's soured people on wanting to own timeshares.  So, no demand! No one to sell to. 

This has been exactly our experience with ILs timeshare. Using their points to find a place to stay sounded like such a good idea in theory, but there was never a place available anywhere we wanted to go. And none of them were ever pet friendly.