Question of the Day - 12 April 2022

[Editor's Note: We handed this one off to the Dekester and here's his answer.]

Sure. Happy to. Thanks for asking.

Though the timeshare concept got its start in Europe in the 1960s, it didn't arrive in the U.S. until 1974, when a Fort Lauderdale-based company began selling fractional ownerships to condo properties in the Virgin Islands. Timeshare units caught on in Florida and expanded at a rapid clip starting in the mid-'70s. 

When the Jockey Club opened in 1974, it was a whole-ownership condo-resort. In other words, the 348 units were sold as year-round residences: $29,000 for one bedrooms and $40,000 for two bedrooms.

It wasn't long, only a year or two later, before a group of investors imported the timeshare idea to Las Vegas for the first time. They started buying up blocks of 30 Jockey Club condos and dividing ownership of each by 52 weeks. In all, they purchased nine 30-condo blocks and those same 270 units make up all the timeshare units at the Jockey Club today (14,040 intervals).

The remaining 78 condos are still wholly owned and some owners actually do live in them year-round; I've met a few in the elevators over the years. Other owners show up for vacations or rent them out by the night, week, and/or month. 

Anyway, in 1977, my father's sister-in-law, my Aunt Irene, bought three timeshare units, two large one-bedrooms (one and half baths) and one small one-bedroom (one bath). Irene had done very well investing in southern California real estate in the 1960s when she and my Uncle Jack (my father's brother) moved there from the east coast. Jack was a rocket scientist, literally, who went to work at Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) in Pasadena, while Irene made a killing buying, renting, and selling properties there and in the vicinity. 

She was also a gambler and loved to visit Las Vegas, where she played dollar slots, mostly at the Dunes in those days, then Caesars later. When the timeshare units went up for sale at the Jockey Club, right next door to the Dunes, she determined that they would not only be a good investment, but that she and Jack could use them when they came to town. 

I still have the original deeds and financial paperwork from those sales. Irene paid $100,000 for the large one-bedrooms and $75,000 for the small one-bedroom.

Yes, that was a lot of money in the 1970s and, yes, in hindsight, my old auntie might not have made the greatest investment.

On the other hand, she used her units religiously for the next 35 years, her home away from home on their Vegas vacations and gambling sprees. In addition, it's true ownership; there's no term. I inherited the units from Irene and my kids will inherit them from me and so on down through the generations until someone along the line no longer wants to pay the maintenance fees and sells them. 

In case you're interested, the fees are $733 per year for the large one bedroom and $605 for the small one bedroom.

Of course, I could trade my weeks through a timeshare exchange and do very well. The Jockey Club is highly sought-after in the timeshare world, given its location right at center Strip between Cosmo and Bellagio, with full kitchens, shuttles to supermarkets and shopping malls, privileges at Cosmo, and the last free popcorn on the Strip (that I know of). Also, the large one bedroom sleeps six comfortably (two queens and a hide-a-bed), the small one bedroom four (a king and hide-a-bed). Of course, when my kids stay with their friends, I don't even want to know how many people they stuff into those units; the couch cushions can sleep another couple and with the floor space, it could be in the dozens.

In addition, though I have assigned weeks for each unit, my stays there are eminently flexible. If I call far enough in advance (two-three months depending on the time of year), I can almost always get a full week. 

I love using my weeks. I save up a lot of LVA research on the Strip for when I stay there and can walk just about everywhere.

Bottom line: I believe that at just over $100 a night for the large unit and $86.50 for the small, my Jockey Club timeshares provide me with excellent value.