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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.

Millions of people attend a timeshare presentation every year. Millions more are invited but do not attend. You are probably one of those people, and if you’re not, it is pretty easy to get yourself invited to one. I honestly love sales presentations, but that is because I know sales tactics which helps me see them for what they are and survive them. That being said, I find many of them to be informational and fun, and the fancy snacks and “free” gift offered are not shabby either.

What exactly is a timeshare presentation?

It is no more than a sales presentation. It is usually dressed up a bit with some nice snacks or brunch, a possible video on the merits of vacationing and owning a timeshare, and it usually is accompanied by a nice gift for your time. Following the presentation is a one-on-one meeting with a sales person who will now pitch the timeshare to you. Just like life, some people are pleasant, some are nasty. So you may have a nice pleasant experience, or a horrible experience.

I have probably been in six presentations personally. I believe we purchased one on the fifth. And I do not regret making that purchase at all. In fact I am very happy we did. I am saying that because I want to set the context of these survival tips.

1) Be rational, not emotional

Any sale which is made on emotion has a higher likelihood of buyer’s remorse. A rational decision can be explained that it was a good idea at the time and in that circumstance. An emotional decision is one that may not have been made otherwise which could lead to bitter feelings. So be careful of how you are feeling during the sales meeting. Rationally, you want to know what you are getting, know what it will cost you, so you can decide if it is the right decision for you. Ask rational questions about cost and about what you are getting. Once you decide “no”, make sure it is a business decision that just doesn’t make sense. In this way you do not have to harbor ill feelings. You can justifiably say “no”. Responses could simply be “Okay, I understand. I can see we are not going to make use of this so it’s not in our interest to spend money on it.” A popular sales response is “Well, how much can you afford?”. You can be realistic and say that if the price were low enough you’d consider it, but if you don’t think you will ever use it, a fine answer is that as you will never use it, there is no reason to spend any amount of money on it. Realize that for your gift you agreed to give them their time so you will get more attempts at sales. So be polite and thank them for your gift.

2) Be confident in yourself and your decision

Expert salespeople are able to break resistance down. If you know your decision, remain absolute about it. Keep a polite and open mind, but also be confident in what you want and what you don’t want. We had been invited to a presentation a few years back and were offered a $75 gift card for our time. We were interested in the gift card and knew that there was a slim to none chance we would want what they were offering. As they did make the offer, we accepted. We still kept an open mind but could tell early on we would not be interested. In the one-on-one, we were steadfast about our decision. The sales person tried quite a few times but as we remained absolute he could see that any more time on us would be wasted time when he could be selling to someone who would be more likely to buy.

3) Remain objective and keep an open mind.

An open mind will open opportunities to you. Realize that it is possible that what they are offering will be of interest to you. Going in with a closed mind will make you feel anxious when they start trying all their sales tactics. In the same way it will make a sales person anxious if all they wanted to do was present facts but you are being stubborn about it.

For the timeshare purchase we made in Hawaii, my wife and I had beforehand sat down and discussed owning a timeshare. We realized that we love Hawaii, could see ourselves traveling at least every other year to Hawaii, and from that point we just had to find out if it made financial sense. So we kept an open mind and after finding the costs fit in with what we wanted, we made the purchase.

In the presentation a few years ago that offered us the $75 gift card, even though we knew the likelihood of our purchase was slim to none, we still had an open mind to see what was offered. As expected, we were not interested. However, in this second case for the Hawaii timeshare, we kept an open mind and open conversation (even in front of the sales person) and realized that it did make sense for us so we purchased. And we are very happy still about this purchase, but had we gone in with a closed mind we would have missed out on something which has enriched our lives.

Keeping an open mind will help everyone be at ease, and help you make the decision rationally and logically. Don’t worry, it’s okay to be undecided with an open mind because eventually there will be a point in the sales presentation where you will have enough facts to make your decision of “Yes, it fits in with what we want”, or “No, not at this time”. Having this open minded logical decision will help you remain steadfast and confident particularly when the decision is “No” and more sales tactics are thrown at you.

In conclusion, you can think of a timeshare purchase like an automobile purchase. Some sales people are friendly and courteous while others are pushy and intimidating. Do not let a bad experience with a car salesperson influence your thoughts of what a car is. Cars are great for those that need them. Similarly, don’t let a bad timeshare presentation influence what you think of timeshare properties. Buying a timeshare is a great opportunity for those that will benefit from it. So when you go to a presentation, just keep these tips in mind: Be rational, be confident, and be open minded. You will have a much more pleasant experience that way .

Want to find out more about how to buy or sell a timeshare, then visit Emil Yau’s site to learn more about selling timeshares and other timeshare information.