Time to move on

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Over the years I've been able to depend on an average annual increase in various fee's (MF's, Club Fee's, Exchange Fee's, Membership Fee's) of approx. 5%. My pay hasn't kept pace and it's to the point we're beginning the divest our TS portfolio. At this point one week has been given away and we have reached a take back agreement on two other weeks.

It's a shame. We've enjoyed our TS vacations. But there's no way we'll be able to maintain paying MF's during our retirement years. Fee's are doubling every 14 to 17 years plus companies are finding creative ways to tack on club/management fee's. Last year our total MF's on 8 resort weeks was a little over $8,000. By they time I retire that figure would become $16,000. It's unfortunate but it's quickly become time to move on. Perhaps that truck and RV we thought about in the 80's may be our future retirement plans after all.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Doug, I recall you and I purchased our first Marriott's around the same time.
I only wonder if keeping your OP silver and being part of the DC could work for you. It would give you the access to rent DC points from others as needed but heck, I guess you can rent where you want to go pretty much anyway.
I have sold one of my Marriott weeks and am keeping the two others because the rental of one offsets the costs of owning the two.

I know you are not the only one rethinking what to keep and what should go. I am hoping the give back are the DRI managed resorts. Your Marriott's should have value in the resale market.

Sorry to see you go.

[ronparise Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ronparise]

Doug,
the rental of one offsets the costs of owning the two.

the ratio is different for me, more like the rental of 2 offsets the cost of owning one

I watched with some envy as many of my fellow baby boomers have been able to buy a second home to enjoy in their retirement. I cant do that except with timeshares. I cant really call it retirement because its still work keeping these things rented.

oh and regarding an RV, when I looked at them I found the up keep, storage, and fuel cost, plus the rent at RV parks not to mention the initial cost to be considerably more than a couple of months in a timeshare

I had the same problem coming into retirement, plenty of time to travel, but not enough money. So I looked for solutions to this problem in depth. My solution of a timeshare rental business, I understand is not for everyone but there are others. If all I needed was inexpensive vacations, Id look at dumping the high maintenance fee stuff in in favor of something cheap to allow an RCI membership and then take advantage of the under $300 a week last calls

or make a deal with one of the Wyndham mega renters out there. They may pass their Platinum discount on to you

There is more than one way to skin a cat... these are only 2 of them

And a third would be sell your home and move somewhere cheap where you can be on vacation all year

heres how I spent part of my 69th birthday at home.... life is good

https://youtu.be/Tv-CDl0YYPI

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I tend to agree that a motor home is not a solution, but rather an alternative. My ownership in timeshares has been up and down from 1 to 9 weeks and currently at 4. Motor homes have their problems and need more upkeep as they age.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I too purchased my timeshares as an alternative to a second home.
For now it works for me. But I live in FL, the land of timeshares.

I rent some of my points/weeks and it helps subsidize the lifestyle for now.
Hopefully I can continue to do so.

I own half of my portfolio as biennials and triennials just to avoid the MF headaches in the future.
I've done the camping thing in my youth and definitely don't want to go back to that again.
I'm too spoiled by a comfy bed, no bugs, a warm shower and resort luxuries.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

camping is totally different now Chris. We took a walk through CMV campground, some of the rigs I understand cost one million, however what shocked me was the guy sitting in his own portable hot tub.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Over the years I've been able to depend on an average annual increase in various fee's (MF's, Club Fee's, Exchange Fee's, Membership Fee's) of approx. 5%. My pay hasn't kept pace and it's to the point we're beginning the divest our TS portfolio. At this point one week has been given away and we have reached a take back agreement on two other weeks.

It's a shame. We've enjoyed our TS vacations. But there's no way we'll be able to maintain paying MF's during our retirement years. Fee's are doubling every 14 to 17 years plus companies are finding creative ways to tack on club/management fee's. Last year our total MF's on 8 resort weeks was a little over $8,000. By they time I retire that figure would become $16,000. It's unfortunate but it's quickly become time to move on. Perhaps that truck and RV we thought about in the 80's may be our future retirement plans after all.

Join the Another One Bite the Dust club.

[dcwojo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dcwojo]

I am sad to here that. Your advice to others and the pictures of resorts you have posted helped my wife and I make decisions about out units and choose where to go and what resorts to book many times.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

camping is totally different now Chris. We took a walk through CMV campground, some of the rigs I understand cost one million, however what shocked me was the guy sitting in his own portable hot tub.

Wow, that must have been some sight to see!

I am sad to here that. Your advice to others and the pictures of resorts you have posted helped my wife and I make decisions about out units and choose where to go and what resorts to book many times.

Yup, me too!

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

I too have loved your pictures and all of your advice. Keep one and stay around Hugs, Shaggy

[stan2u Member Find all posts View Profile Close stan2u]

Time shares, motor homes, trailers, house-swapping -- you know, there just isn't one answer for everyone. We went through a big readjustment about 10 years ago, going from 6 weeks a year in TS to now 2. But we've always had a trailer of some sort, too, and have used them quite a bit. Now that my wife and I are older - and have more time and less money - we find that the living comforts just aren't as important to us as is getting out into the countryside. So we have our sights set on a small class B motor home with enough facilities to be comfortable but not so much so as to break the bank.

I've often looked with amazement at all those folks full-timing it in huge rigs. Seems that all they are doing is to find a different place to sit and watch TV. And now there are some who manage to full-time in timeshares! Not that it matters to me - whatever works for them is fine for me.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Over the years I've been able to depend on an average annual increase in various fee's (MF's, Club Fee's, Exchange Fee's, Membership Fee's) of approx. 5%. My pay hasn't kept pace and it's to the point we're beginning the divest our TS portfolio. At this point one week has been given away and we have reached a take back agreement on two other weeks.

It's a shame. We've enjoyed our TS vacations. But there's no way we'll be able to maintain paying MF's during our retirement years. Fee's are doubling every 14 to 17 years plus companies are finding creative ways to tack on club/management fee's. Last year our total MF's on 8 resort weeks was a little over $8,000. By they time I retire that figure would become $16,000. It's unfortunate but it's quickly become time to move on. Perhaps that truck and RV we thought about in the 80's may be our future retirement plans after all.

Has your moving on been orderly? Has it been fairly easy for you to get rid of them? Can you offer Exit Strategy advice, like you offered advice on using them?

Someone, somewhere once said that every owner will someday not want them any more, not need them anymore, and not use them any more for one reason or another.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Doug, I always enjoyed your pictures of the resorts that you have visited and of Mac and Molly too. I hope you'll stay around.

I also hope that you will keep your favorite Marriott resort a little longer. You seem to really like Ocean Pointe where you own an oceanfront condo. You could always use points one year to go back to HI again. That worked out really well for you with DRI but the fees from these big developers are getting out of hand and they all seem to go that way.

[mpumilia Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mpumilia]

I, too, always looked at my timeshare as a second home of sorts, since we cannot afford a second home. I so want one right now as it would suit our circumstances and would provide a place for our son to live and a place for us to go on long weekends or holidays, etc. Plus, one of our timeshares is close by and we could use the facilities. But- alas- no can do. I found the perfect little home for us in a community and am so sad we cannot afford to buy it. It isn't even expensive, but we really need the proceeds from our home to buy another home.

We just have 3 timeshare weeks, so the fees will be manageable for a little while but our goal is to first- try to sell our home in NY in 7 years when we retire and move to either Vermont or NH (probably NH- where our son currently lives and hopefully still will years from now when we are ready).

Once we move and are settled, then we will probably try to give away the timeshares, unless our son's financial picture changes by then (Gosh- I hope so!) and he maybe wants one of them. We will be 70, if not close to 70 by then. If we want to travel somewhere, we will just rent timeshares going forward after that. Meanwhile we are updating our home to make it comfy. We live in a really nice rural area (actually NYC people and others from all over come up here all the time for leisure and many have second homes up here). Only problem is it is tax hell hole NY! And we are a bit isolated- not suitable for aging when we could have mobility issues and so forth in the future.

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

Keep one and stay around

That's the route I would go, as well. I suppose it depends on when and where you want to go, but RCI still has plenty of Last Calls that appeal to us, and when we're retired we'll have the time and flexibility to use them! Plus within our points system, our favorite resort is still well under $1000/week for a 2 BR, because it's been with the system so long. We don't plan to rely entirely on Timeshares when we retire, but it's still a nice option to have.

I'm wondering how being on the tail end of the baby boom is going to change things. I would guess it'll make it harder to sell Timeeshares, just because there will be fewer buyers in the usual age bracket. That might mean that rentals are cheaper, if people hang onto their unit when they can no longer make use of it. Or it might mean a collapse of the whole system, if enough people just bail. IMHO it definitely means the system has to change, particularly since alternatives are getting steadily more easier to get hold of (not just sites like VRBO, but also Trip Advisor and the like are listing rental units now). But of course I keep thinking the Internet will have more impact, as more buyers get informed and make use of the resale market, and that doesn't seem to have made much difference yet (in the sense of paring back the sales cost of TSs), so my predictive powers are not overwhelmingly accurate.