Why not just rent rather than buy

[ladycody Member Find all posts View Profile Close ladycody]

No...it probably doesnt make sense for you....but as someone else mentioned...for me...with a family of 4...it works. The properties you're looking at are pricier (albeit they hold value better than most) and the dues are higher than I would pay.

In addition you mention special assesments...which was one of my biggest fears when looking at TS's. It's one of the reasons I liked WM.

Look at a traditional TS development that has 12,000 owners and has a major problem requiring $25,000,000 worth of repairs...it would result in over $2000 Special Assesment per owner.

With WorldMark...we could rebuild the entire Seaside resort (I figured about 90 million) for about $350 per owner without even touching our reserve funds. For WM owners to receive an assessment as large as the one above ($2000 at a typical ts)...we'd have to plow through our reserve funds and still have $500,000,000 in damages. I liked that particular feature...having seen people who have a 5 year $1200 assesments and $3000one time assesments for their resorts.

Again...I also believe that my ownership costs will not increase as rapidly as inflation in the hospitality industry. Hotel rooms and rentals have, in my experience and on average, doubled about every 10 years. I could be wrong....but my belief is that by the time my mf's have doubled...retail rates would have doubled about twice...so my $1500 (figure slightly more than double) would now be getting me the retail equivalent (even if just getting one week of vacation) of about $4000.

Alot of people scoff at that...but the reality is that when I was a kid, people's minds would have been blown if they could see what would be charged for that same little motel (no great shakes) in our little town (not exactly a destination location) 30 years down the road.

So I guess I'm hedgin' a bet (not sure that's exactly the right term)...but I'm covering my bases and I think it'll work out.

Regardless...I, who never traveled, now travels more than I thought I ever could and stay in places I never could have/would have. I'm good with owning. You need to do what works for you.

[samiam Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close samiam]

I believe, if you like staying in up-scale, as opposed to economy, accommodations, timeshares are the most economical choice in the long run.

Sam

[Rick Lasker Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rick Lasker]

Dear Readers,

Before you buy a timeshare you should analyze your options by doing proper investigation. My experience dictate that travelers can and will find better prices online than by using or renting a timeshare; specially when it comes to Mexican timeshares.

I will repeat it tirelessly, investigate before you purchase the timeshare; in mexico fraud related with timeshare is something extremely common.

Rick Lasker.

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

We have owned for more than 20 years and have done more than 120 exchanges.

Given everything there is to be considered, we would never buy today. There's too much else available, almost all the time, almost anywhere, via the Internet.

Timeshare is a sentence for which there is no reprieve.

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

I wonder why this old thread suddenly got resurrected? There has really been no change in the equation since RCI kicked the props out from under the ownership / exchange model of timesharing by starting its massive rentals of exchange deposits to the general public program, thereby flooding and depressing the timeshare rental market and destroying the exclusivity concept in timeshare. Timesharing has been in a downward spiral ever since, and it may well become a death spiral.

[Maple_Leaf Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maple_Leaf]

As timesharing crumbles, the answer to the rent vs. buy question becomes impacted more by better, cheaper rentals.

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

I have been a timeshare owner for 24 years and we have had many wonderful vacations in some awesome locales. Having said that, I would NEVER buy a timeshare today. I would rent which we have done. It is simply not true that you are limited to off-season weeks by renting. We rented a 2BR unit at the Wyndham Waikiki Beachwalk for less than the M/F during prime time. The M/F is not your only charge. There are exchange fees and membership fees to deal with assuming you want to go to different locales.

There are so many rentals available today at just about every resort at just about any date. Check MyResortNetwork for rental and you will see tons of them, many at very reasonable rates. There are tons of Wyndham rentals just about anywhere.

http://www.myresortnetwork.com/

There many other rental sites like Redweek, etc.

By renting you are not obligated to anything.

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

It seems like more longtime owners would not buy now than those who got involved more recently.

To me, that suggests that timesharing is not the value it once was.

For many of us, all we are any more are people non-owners can rent from.

The lack-of-exit-strategy issue will only be getting worse, as more boomers want to get out.

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

There has really been no change in the equation since RCI kicked the props out from under the ownership / exchange model of timesharing by starting its massive rentals of exchange deposits to the general public program, thereby flooding and depressing the timeshare rental market and destroying the exclusivity concept in timeshare.

We still generally pay less as points owners than we would as renters, and we have more flexibility. I think a resale points ownership can be good value if it fits your vacation style. We like going back to the same place multiple times and could make use of the RCI Last Call resorts if we wanted more variety, plus we tend to prefer the older, quieter, and less snazzy resorts that seem to show up as LCs in the first place. What matters most to us is clean and large, and that second one especially seems off everyone else's radar. If we liked going new places or always having "the best" or always being right on the scene (location), wouldn't work so well.

To me, that suggests that timesharing is not the value it once was.

I think it's clear that it isn't. But my question is whether it's the best value for us, right now, and that still seems to be the case. But we'd pay more for a place that has a full kitchen, etc. so the value isn't just financial. But since we're traveling with our kids and would be getting two hotel rooms otherwise, it always costs way less to get a TS than it would to get comparable (or usually far superior) hotel rooms.

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

I think it's clear that it isn't. But my question is whether it's the best value for us, right now, and that still seems to be the case. But we'd pay more for a place that has a full kitchen, etc. so the value isn't just financial. But since we're traveling with our kids and would be getting two hotel rooms otherwise, it always costs way less to get a TS than it would to get comparable (or usually far superior) hotel rooms.

I thought the OP question was if it makes more sense to rent than to get involved in timesharing.

Yeah, I read it again, and not only get involved, but it sounds like through the retail system.

As for those already involved, many can justify it (seems like more of the newer owners), just as many cannot any more.

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

I thought the OP question was if it makes more sense to rent than to get involved in timesharing.

We'd buy in now, because owning gives us deals I haven't seen otherwise -- and I like the control of owning my own points. But we would have been good with a much bigger investment in TSing five or ten years ago than we are now. Partly because the economy is iffy enough I don't want a bigger yearly fee hanging over us should hubby lose his current job. The one we have now would be livable even if he had to take a serious pay cut, and I would recommend that anyone who is thinking about investing consider that possibility. But that's been in the back of our minds from the first -- the one and only TS salesman we've talked to gave up on us when I said, "But what would I do if hubby croaked and I had those bills hanging over me?"

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

the one and only TS salesman we've talked to gave up on us when I said, "But what would I do if hubby croaked and I had those bills hanging over me?"

Our last TS salesweasel three or four years ago, at one of the first resorts we toured 20 years earlier, after the "pre-talk", said, "I don't believe we have anything for you. I'm going for a smoke. Sit here another 45 minutes, and then go get your gift."

The "Pre-talk" was a little survey discussing how you normally get accomodations. Our answers were that we were checking into a 3-bedroom at OLCC (our first tour 20-plus years ago) on Saturday, and Hotwiring the days before @ $40/day.

[colin heath Member Find all posts View Profile Close colin heath]

Would there be a rental available ?.. You are then limiting your choices to our people's listings.
I don't think you would be able to plan a 2 or 3 week road trip using rentals.

Colin

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

Just sitting here talking to DW, about how I am with TS industry people every day, and have to pretend that they are real, sincere, and look past their bragging about their $40,000 a month income. In this discussion, and in every one, for me it boils down to "what do you do for your owners when they are done with their timeshares."

Wish I could just ask them that, but I can imagine how I would be regarded by 100 Wyndham or Bluegreen sales people or prominent Westgate people.

It would not bother me so much how much they rip people off going in if they provided a way out.

It is the selling of something for thousands and thousands of dollars that can't even get a buck on eBay that should be a crime.

There's not many things that you are stuck with, and have to keep paying for, forever, once you are done with them, and the industry knows that, and totally does not care.
- - - - - -
So, if the question is renting or buying, even if it costs more to rent, which it does not in most cases, why agree to be obligated forever when you can just pay as you go . . . and then leave?

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

Would there be a rental available ?.. You are then limiting your choices to our people's listings.
I don't think you would be able to plan a 2 or 3 week road trip using rentals.

Colin

You don't sound like a person who has searched timeshare availability for where and when they want to go almost every day since 1997, and documented availability dwindling, and then totally disappearing.

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forum...s-on-the-Beach