Why I love owning a timeshare.

A flexible schedule certainly helps and you do have to watch maintenance fees. On the other hand, this last trip I gave up three hours for an owners presentation. When, after 15 minutes the guy realized I wasn't going to buy anything , he told me I could either leave or sit there for two hours. I pulled out my kindle, watched a movie and got a $125 AMEX gift card. At Grandview, I got a buffet at Silver Point and a tour of their new timeshare tower. Not a particularly hard sell and got four $25 gift cards I used at Outback. I look at it as a $225 rebate on my fees. I have one week left and I'll get $100 for that one,as well. Brings my cost for three weeks in resorts to $900. Roughly $40 a night.

A word of caution to those who love their timeshares......I used to work for a timeshare transfer company and dealt with many people who loved their timeshares for years until they were unable to travel anymore. At that point, they were still liable for maintenance fees (anywhere from $600-$1500 per year) even though it went unused. Many of these people tried to give their deeds away to anyone who would want them without any luck (check out how many timeshares are available for $1 on eBay with no bids). Their only option typically was to pay in the neighborhood of $4000 to a transfer company to free themselves (and their heirs) from these fees which continued to climb. Its great if it works out for you now, but the loving relationship between timeshare owner and property usually disintegrates over time.

That is the fate of a great many uneducated timeshare owners. However anyone who educates themselves can get out of one pretty easily. Timeshares do not pass on to heirs. They have the option of taking it if they want, but an heir does not inherit debt. I know thats a hard sell from transfer companies but its not true. You can surrender a timeshare anytime after the legal purchase price has been paid. You'll get a fight, but its legal.

Thanks for sharing that information. I never thought of the time when you maight be unable to travel anymore.

About ten yrs ago my wife's parents got a letter in the mail concerning their timeshare in Bryce Va. It was very cleverly disguised as a urgent meeting of all the owners, they made it sound like some meeting being held in a hall with all attending.

It sounded a little fishy to me. My in laws have hearts of gold and are the nicest people one will ever meet, but when it comes to things like this they're pretty naïve. I figured my wife and I should tag along.

When we got there it was an ambush. They grouped everyone in a hall and started calling the owners in one by one. The other room was nothing but cubicles and we were directed to this one with a guy who was shady from the start. He started scaring the shit out of my father in law, inferring they could lose their house and we could lose ours after they pass, blah, blah,blah. I pulled My FIL outside and told him to "forget about this asshole, he's full of shit and not worry about it. Let's get out of here,total waste of time".

Oh yea, they guy said they could probably get out of it if they wrote a 4K check right now. I realized about two minutes into it this was a total sham.

My sister owned a Wyndham contract, that she had bought on ebay for about $200. When she died, I contacted them to inform them of the death. The first guy I spoke to told me the property now belongs to her children and would I be so kind as to give them their information and address to be sure the transfer went smoothly. I told them they weren't interested. He said they were legally bound, ect, ect. I said I was the executor and the children weren't interested. He transferred me to a woman who tried the sweet approach- this was a great opportunity for them. The contract would normally be 25000 but they were getting it for free, all they had to do is pay a $500 transfer fee. That went no where, as well. A couple days later, a third man calls and says that if I am sure no on wants it, that I , as executor, could return it to Wyndham for a one time payment of $1,000. Then it was $500, finally $250. I' got a call every few months after that but they got farther and farther apart and finally stopped.
They do like to prey upon the unknowing and the elderly, just like casinos.