Home Sale

When the word “timeshare” is heard today, many people shy away. I understand as well since timeshare solicitations have a bit of a “sneaky” feel to them. I personally think a timeshare is a great idea. This article is to objectively define for you what is and what isn’t a timeshare.

A timeshare is a name given to a piece of property shared among number of owners.

Timeshare properties used to be tied to condominium resorts but they have evolved now to also be included as offerings by hotels, campgrounds, and even cruises. The options continue to grow every day.

Timeshare first originated in the middle 1900′s when property was so expensive that it was getting increasingly difficult for people to afford a full time vacation resort property. Similar to owning a condominium in a condo complex, all owners also share in the costs of maintenance of the timeshare property.

How a timeshare property differs from a regular real estate property is that you can only use the property for a specific time duration.

The time that you would be able to use that property used to be more strict but as rules and policies evolve, the options of when you can spend time in your property are becoming much more flexible.

The most common timeshare ownership duration is a week.

The cost of a property will of course vary depending on where it is, how desirable it is, and even what season the ownership is. Like basic economics, supply and demand will determine the pricing of a property and its “trade in” value.

Timeshare offers not only a great vacation but can also be a great investment. However, they should not be purchased only as an investment.

Timeshares are not purchased to be sold. They are purchased to have forever. That is where you will realize the value of a timeshare unlike regular real estate just because the resell value is so low. Similar to real estate, timeshares can usually be inherited to your children like any other real estate property. Most people rent their timeshare to others when they do not use their timeshare. This has a double advantage. You earn rent also along with appreciation of the property with passage of time. Timeshare properties are exchangeable and can be traded with other properties in most of the cases. While it may be easy for the owners of the red season timeshares to exchange their unit with other owners in any season it might be impossible for owners of low season timeshare owners to get a high season timeshare unit in exchange. That is why timeshares can be a good investment. Selling your timeshare is difficult though and that is why timeshares should not be purchased only for investment purposes.

Timeshares are NOT for everyone.

Buying a unit is buying real estate. In the same way you would do your research and due diligence when purchasing a house, you must go into purchasing timeshare units in the same way. Know what you are getting, know the costs, and figure out if it is worth it for you. Know if you will actually use it or not or be able to rent it, because that is a lot of the value it provides. If you don’t use it, it will possibly not be a wise purchase for you.

On a personal note, we are part of a family of timeshare owners. It is a good investment for us because we know we will use it. And similar to a house with a 30 year mortgage, when this timeshare is paid off we only need to pay maintenance fees and can enjoy the “property” for the rest our lives and even pass it on to our heirs. Besides that, we find a lot of value in our timeshares because it “forces” us to take a vacation together. We personally live hectic lives and this really holds us accountable to relaxing and taking a vacation with our loved ones.

I hope you have found a lot of good information in this article and that it helps you to decide if a timeshare is for you or not .

Looking to find hints on how to sell timeshare, then visit atimeshare.typepad.com, a site full of tips and advice related to all things a timeshare and more.

Timeshare solicitations are commonplace these days. And if not, you can easily get on a call list by just inquiring about one online at a timeshare website. Many people attend these presentations to get the freebies and gift cards, but during these presentations people get some exposure to what a timeshare is and the financial considerations for timeshares. This inevitably results in a common question: does it make sense to buy a timeshare?

The main point of timeshare ownership is exactly that: you own your vacation resort. The question then becomes just like any question involving real estate: does it make more sense for you to rent or own?

One of the most traditional answers could be that you own it, but when you rent something you don’t own it. Then the question is do you vacation often enough that it is worth your while to own the timeshare? That is one reason the timeshare industry grew is because many people did find that they wanted to vacation in the same spot almost every year and decided to look for ownership opportunities instead of renting every year.

Timeshare math is no different than real estate math. If you end up vacationing every week for thirty years, you can envision the payments and how they would compare. With hotels, you pay the full week rental of the hotel for thirty years. If I take a nice round number as an example, say $1000 for a week. That would be $30,000. You could also pay the same amount in monthly loan payments towards ownership, or you could pay the entire $30,000 up front and own your property. Taking into account on the renting side that the full week of rent is not protected against inflation and comparing that too ownership where only the maintenance fees are not protected against inflation, you may find the costs will be fairly close.

And now to look at some differences:

A benefit is that you only pay maintenance fees after you own. So if you had a loan payment for thirty years which was comparable to a hotel rate for thirty years, after thirty years you only pay the maintenance fee where if you rent you continue to pay the full rental fee for a hotel.

It doesn’t stop there because a third benefit is that these properties can usually be passed down and inherited. You will need to check with your developer to find out if that’s the case with your unit. A deeded timeshare property can be passed down so for years to come only a small maintenance fee need be paid to enjoy a full week of vacation in a nice room with amenities instead of paying the full rate for a hotel stay.

There is a caution that this definitely makes financial sense, but only if you realize that this means vacationing in the same destination every year. If you do not vacation every year, you can spend extra time to rent your unit the years you do not travel. Another option is if you want to travel elsewhere to look into exchange programs.

If you can easily think of real estate in terms of homes, this comparison may make things easier to understand:

What is the purpose of buying a home if you do not use it? In the same vein, why buy a timeshare if you do not plan to use it? Moving on, with a home there is the option owning with the purpose of renting it. With a timeshare there is also an option of renting it though it may be more time consuming since you have to find new renters every year where as a normal home you can sign leases for a specific amount of time. Unlike a home, however, there is an advantage of exchange programs if you want to vacation elsewhere. Can you imagine doing that with your home? Deciding that for a month you want to live elsewhere? Probably won’t happen, but with vacations that is a definite possibility.

Still the bottom line is that if you don’t vacation often, it is probably not worth it. If you really enjoy takings vacations, it is definitely worth looking into. If you take vacations in the same spot quite often, then it really is worth looking into. And finally, some timeshare developments now offer an every other year proposal instead of every year, so if you think you may travel to Hawaii every other year, it almost doesn’t make sense not to own a timeshare in Hawaii. I use this last bit from personal experience as that was the logic we used when we purchased our Hawaii timeshare.

I hope this article has provided you with some great food for thought on owning a timeshare. Best of luck in your timeshare endeavors.

Looking to find hints on how to buy a timeshare, then visit Emil Yau’s Squidoo Lens a site full of tips and advice related to all things buy a timeshare and more.

Many people would agree that reselling a timeshare is not as easy as buying one.

When you are buying a timeshare, you get loads of invitations in mails; get courtesy calls and emails to attend a timeshare presentation. They offer you bounties and favors in return for attending a presentation. Why all this? To convince you buy a timeshare. Buying is as easy as making a simple inquiry and many companies come knocking to your house to sell a timeshare.

This has to make you wonder if selling one that you have purchased is as easy as buying one. The fact of the matter is that it is difficult to resell your ownership. That is why it is wise to not think of this only for investment purposes. Unlike real estate, selling is difficult and you will often sell for a loss. It is an investment in life and vacations, but not necessarily financial returns.

Most people who buy a timeshare property do know this going in and plan to use the vacation, but it is not uncommon that unforeseen issues come up which force owners to resell their unit whether that is financial hardship or even just scheduling issues permitting them to ever use their purchase.

For that reason, I wanted to write my five tips which will hopefully ease the burden of selling your timeshare unit.

1. Check with the developer whom you originally made the purchase through.

Sometimes the property developers will offer some sort of buy back options or even assistance in reselling the property. If that is not the case, you can also see if your property is associated with a licensed broker to handle resells.

2. You have to be realistic in your expectations.

Even though a timeshare unit is considered real estate, the resell value is more like a used car than a used home. Even if your property is in the most desirable location and during the most desirable season, it still may only sell for half the purchase price. So make sure to go into your selling campaign with realistic prices and goals.

3. Be creative and consistent in using resources with ready prospects.

Besides your timeshare agents, check out both real estate agents and travel agents. Timeshare ownership would be interesting to both those who have seen value in purchasing real estate as well as those who like to travel. Just be ready to pay a finder’s fee or commission. And if these agents do not ask for one, be nice and offer one.

4. Post Your Own Ads Online.

The internet has no shortage of classified advertising opportunities or auction opportunities. And many of these will be very cheap or free. Craigslist and Ebay are two giants off the top of my head but there are many more you should be able to find with a little internet digging.

5. Reconsider keeping your property and trying a few alternatives for the weeks you miss your vacation.

Because resale value is so low, it may be worth it financially to try to keep it and do something else with your timeshare for the years you do not use it. For example, you can rent it out every year. For renting it out you may get a lot closer to earning back your purchase price. Another example is donating it each year you don’t use it and see if that will allow you a nice tax write-off (consult your accountant!).

After reading this article I hope you are able to have a good and quick sale. You may end up finding it more financially constructive to see if you can rent your unit every year instead of selling it. Whichever you choose, I wish you well.

Looking to find hints on how to get rid of a timeshare, then visit Emil Yau’s Squidoo Lenses, a site full of tips and advice related to all things sell timeshare and more.