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Timeshare Course 101

In spite of the very expensive retail cost of purchasing a timeshare, there are many who feel they are worth every penny. Time shares typically provide accommodations where you do not feel you need to be out of the room 16 hours a day. The resorts alone provide a great place to relax and get away from it all. Time shares are very nice for people that enjoy vacationing with friends and family, as you typically can reserve one and two bedroom units. Most units are set set up similar to a furnished apartment with full kitchens, washer and dryers, cookware, dishes, silverware, and more. Bottom line is staying at a nice resort adds a great deal to the vacation experience. Timeshare salesmen will emphasize the economics of owning a time share and for good reason, over the very long haul it can make sense. To simply state the economic benefit, time share owners will pay less per vacation accommodations then they normally would if they were to pay the normal room rates for the same accommodations. Over time the savings become larger and larger because room rates always go up, while the time share owner's requirements to book do not change. What complicates figuring out the economic benefit are the maintenance fees all time shares charge and the original purchase price of the time share. Typically you need to own the timeshare for many years and use it often to reap any long-term economic benefits. A very important downside to timeshare purchases is the resale value can be 10% to 30% of the original retail purchase price. Timeshares certainly should never be considered an investment! Timeshare owners typically pay yearly maintenance fees that are necessary to maintain the property. Since the cost to operate a property will always go up, so will maintenance fees. Most maintenance fees are property specific, while some are contract specific. Timeshares in general are property (deeded timeshares) specific. This means you buy a share of a certain property or you buy shares of a property that is part of a system of resorts. If you buy into a system of resorts you have special reservation rights to the specific property you purchased. Your maintenance fees will depend on the management of that property as well as risks to that property. There are timeshares that are contract specific (right to use), which means you have the same booking rights as everyone in the system to all properties in the system, and maintenance fee costs are shared equally by all in the system for equivalent contracts. If you are a Motel 6 type of traveler then time shares probably are not for you as you may pay as much in maintenance fees as you would pay for your room for both types of time shares. Even if you are a Motel 6 type traveler you may find the cost of stepping up to much nicer accommodations is less than what you may think. First, I will provide an example of annual accommodation savings you can easily check out for yourself. I will also point why I feel the Vacation Internationale system is a wise choice for many, including those that normally never book in high end hotels, and why my wife and I are happy owners of a VI contract. Timeshares typically sell points or weeks. If there is one place you love then purchasing a fixed week may be all you need. Many larger timeshare developers sell some sort of point system that allow you to book when you want and where you want (review differences between property and contract specific time shares), which suites most travelers. Vacation Internationale owns reservation rights to a property in Santa Fe called Villa De Santa Fe. I used Expedia.com to check out one bedroom rates for a week in April. The lowest rate I could get was $1,140 for seven nights. A 91 point per year VI contract would provide enough points for the same week. The annual maintenance fees for that contract are $600. This is a $540 savings, so the next question you should be asking yourself is what will it cost you to take advantage of this savings. The cost is what causes many timeshare presentations to be very unpleasant experiences and why free gifts are offered to simply get someone to listen to a presentation. Retail timeshares will cost anywhere from $15,000 to much, much more! In addition to the high cost of buying a retail timeshare, the other downside is low resale value, and this downside can actually be to your advantage if you buy resale. Discussing all the ins and outs about timeshare resales is beyond my area of expertise and why I strongly urge you to get involved with TUG. TUG will put you in touch with many other time share owners that do have a lot of experience in buying and selling timeshares. You can also click here for more general information about timeshares. I would like to share why Vacation Internationale was the perfect solution for my wife and I. Click here to see if VI can work for you as well as it works for us.

Timeshare Course 101

In spite of the very expensive retail cost of purchasing a timeshare, there are many who feel they are worth every penny. Time shares typically provide accommodations where you do not feel you need to be out of the room 16 hours a day. The resorts alone provide a great place to relax and get away from it all. Time shares are very nice for people that enjoy vacationing with friends and family, as you typically can reserve one and two bedroom units. Most units are set set up similar to a furnished apartment with full kitchens, washer and dryers, cookware, dishes, silverware, and more. Bottom line is staying at a nice resort adds a great deal to the vacation experience.

Timeshare salesmen will emphasize the economics of owning a time share and for good reason, over the very long haul it can make sense. To simply state the economic benefit, time share owners will pay less per vacation accommodations then they normally would if they were to pay the normal room rates for the same accommodations. Over time the savings become larger and larger because room rates always go up, while the time share owner's requirements to book do not change. What complicates figuring out the economic benefit are the maintenance fees all time shares charge and the original purchase price of the time share. Typically you need to own the timeshare for many years and use it often to reap any long-term economic benefits. A very important downside to timeshare purchases is the resale value can be 10% to 30% of the original retail purchase price. Timeshares certainly should never be considered an investment!

Timeshare owners typically pay yearly maintenance fees that are necessary to maintain the property. Since the cost to operate a property will always go up, so will maintenance fees. Most maintenance fees are property specific, while some are contract specific. Timeshares in general are property (deeded timeshares) specific. This means you buy a share of a certain property or you buy shares of a property that is part of a system of resorts. If you buy into a system of resorts you have special reservation rights to the specific property you purchased. Your maintenance fees will depend on the management of that property as well as risks to that property. There are timeshares that are contract specific (right to use), which means you have the same booking rights as everyone in the system to all properties in the system, and maintenance fee costs are shared equally by all in the system for equivalent contracts. If you are a Motel 6 type of traveler then time shares probably are not for you as you may pay as much in maintenance fees as you would pay for your room for both types of time shares.

Even if you are a Motel 6 type traveler you may find the cost of stepping up to much nicer accommodations is less than what you may think. First, I will provide an example of annual accommodation savings you can easily check out for yourself. I will also point why I feel the Vacation Internationale system is a wise choice for many, including those that normally never book in high end hotels, and why my wife and I are happy owners of a VI contract.

Timeshares typically sell points or weeks. If there is one place you love then purchasing a fixed week may be all you need. Many larger timeshare developers sell some sort of point system that allow you to book when you want and where you want (review differences between property and contract specific time shares), which suites most travelers. Vacation Internationale owns reservation rights to a property in Santa Fe called Villa De Santa Fe. I used Expedia.com to check out one bedroom rates for a week in April. The lowest rate I could get was $1,140 for seven nights. A 91 point per year VI contract would provide enough points for the same week. The annual maintenance fees for that contract are $600. This is a $540 savings, so the next question you should be asking yourself is what will it cost you to take advantage of this savings.

The cost is what causes many timeshare presentations to be very unpleasant experiences and why free gifts are offered to simply get someone to listen to a presentation. Retail timeshares will cost anywhere from $15,000 to much, much more! In addition to the high cost of buying a retail timeshare, the other downside is low resale value, and this downside can actually be to your advantage if you buy resale.

Discussing all the ins and outs about timeshare resales is beyond my area of expertise and why I strongly urge you to get involved with TUG. TUG will put you in touch with many other time share owners that do have a lot of experience in buying and selling timeshares. You can also click here for more general information about timeshares. I would like to share why Vacation Internationale was the perfect solution for my wife and I. Click here to see if VI can work for you as well as it works for us.