Is it really worth it to buy into time share? Considering all the fees and payments, even becoming a member of RCI, is it worth all the money to buy into timeshare?

Some deals have you purchase a deed for a week or more at one resort. You own it and can use it, sell it, gift it, or put it in your will for your children or whoever. Is it a scheme or is it actually worth it?

Should you buy a timeshare? Yes and no is my best answer. Let me explain. I have spent the last 25 years showing people all over the world the benefits of timeshare and I know that the vast majority of them are happy with this type of vacation. I know this because for the last 5 years I have only dealt with people that already owned a timeshare and were interested in more. So that’s the yes part of is timeshare a good deal. Many millions of people all over the world have invested billions of dollars in timeshare and many more will do so in the future.

Then why do I also say no?

Because it’s not for everyone. If you bought at a location that you would love to return to every year, it works great, but if you bought it to exchange like many do, then there are better choices available. There are travel networks that allow you to stay in these very same timeshare locations each year as much as you want, at a fraction of the original timeshare investment and without the expensive yearly maintenance fees. 

My best advice if you decide to get a traditional timeshare is to be sure that you buy resale. Every timeshare being sold by the major companies is available on the resale market for 50 to 70% less. You can find connections to resale brokers all over this site.

Finally, for those of you that already have a timeshare that’s not working for you, don’t give up. There are ways to get great benefits out of the exchange company that only the real timeshare experts know. Check out “Secrets to Exchanging Your RCI Timeshare”.

So, should you buy a timeshare? The answer is yes…if you know where and how to buy it and you learn how to use the exchange. This site can help answer these questions for you and give you the information you need to make the best choice and save the most money. Start with the categories and then sort through some of the recent posts and links. Chances are your answers are there already. Happy Vacationing.

What is a timeshare? I listen people talk about that they have timeshares but i dont know what it is. How does it work?

Timeshare at its core is essentially a group of people sharing the cost of a vacation home.

The word "timeshare" has grown over the decades to include a wide variety of vacation products and plans. Also known as "vacation ownership" "holiday ownership" and "interval ownership" , its umbrella covers traditional deeded timeshare ownership, fractional ownership, private residence clubs, points clubs, and more. Some would even broaden the term further to include campground memberships and the " condo hotel" concept, in which a condo is purchased outright but the owner is only allowed to use it for a specific periods of time and it is rented by a hotel management company for the remainder of the time.

Regardless of how loosely or rigidly you choose to define the term, the basic premise of timeshare is simple. You and a group of other people share the purchase cost of a vacation accommodation, in increments of one week (or more) per year of use, thus guaranteeing your ability to use that accommodation during the period of time you choose, either for life or for a specified number of years. Accommodations range from hotel rooms to condos, from cabins to luxury houses and castles, from yachts and cruise ships to RVs and houseboats.Owning timeshare in the traditional sense means a condominium/villa/house/hotel unit, etc. is subdivided into 52 separate units of time (52 weeks in 1 year), and usually sold to a maximum of 51 owners (leaving one week each year closed down for annual renovations and/or maintenance). Each owner would own 1/51 of the unit. Each share repesents one week of vacation. Each owner is entitled to ownership rights and privileges of the shares that they purchased.

This system makes vacation home ownership possible for many people who cannot afford a second home or who otherwise would not be able to enjoy such resort facilities. It is important to remember that purchasing timeshare should never be viewed as a financial investment with the expectation of gaining a profit in either reselling it or renting it to someone else. Timeshare is an investment in lifestyle, in future holidays, in family time together, and when viewed that way it can be a good investment indeed.

We purchased our timeshare 2 years ago, and it just doesn’t fit our lifestyle.

search the web, look for a reseller that does not demand an up front listing fee and if you get close to 50% of what you paid for it, take it.

If someone could please explain the point system ( ike diamond resorts uses) why it is good or bad. I have heard why the regular timeshare is bad, but the point system seems different. Anyone with personal experience would be great.

Point systems were created because the resorts where running out of things to sell. If they deed weeks they can only sell 50 weeks per unit. Obviously that puts a cap on how much the resort can make. With points there is no limit to how many points they can sell because a point is fictitious and has no value compared to a physical deeded week. Usually they do have a set amount they can sell specified in the resort docs however it is usually always stated that they can increase that amount. The nice part to points is you can use them at many resorts especially if you are talking Wyndham, Diamond, or even DVC. This gives you a lot more flexibility.

If you are looking at Timeshare points as a way to save for vacation I suggest a savings account and renting a timeshare. I rent timeshares a couple times a year and love it. I usually pay $500 to $1000 depending on what resort I am going to. I would suggest you rent a timeshare a few times and see if this is something you want to then buy into. You don’t want to buy it then never use it like most people do. Check out http://www.buyatimeshare.com that is where I get most of my rentals.

We own a few timeshare weeks that we typically rent out. We’re looking for an easy way to track our expenses and income. We use Quicken Deluxe. Neither of us has any accounting experience so don’t know the "correct" way to do this. I tried creating an asset account in Quicken, but when I did a deposit in our checking account with the category being a transfer to the timeshare asset, it came out as a decrease in the asset. Should we just do two transactions instead of trying to tie the them together? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I don’t think you need the asset account for a timeshare. In my experience, the asset account is good if you have a liability account (loan) associated with it and you want to see equity calculations (asset value minus loan balance) and you want to track increases in value of the asset or sale/disposition of the asset.

The easiest way to track these things is to create categories for your expenses and income. I’m not sure what Quicken Deluxe is missing from Quicken Home & Business (what I use), so sorry if you aren’t able to do what I suggest:

You probably only need a couple of categories – I’m assuming you report income associated with the timeshare on a Schedule E tax form? If so, consider creating a category group called "Rentals" or "Timeshares". Create a category within that group that is in the "Income" group and call it something like "Rent". If you take security deposits, you may want to create a separate asset account for that, or at least a separate category, because those deposits often have to be treated differently, and aren’t considered income until you actually get to keep them. Create a category within the "Rentals" category group that is in the "Expense" group and call it something like "Rental Expense". You can create subcategories within this category or create more categories if you want to track more detail (i.e. cleaning, legal expenses, office expenses, miscellaneous, repairs, etc.).

If your Quicken version allows it, associate these categories to the related tax form (Tax Line Item Assignments) to make reporting at tax time easier.

I created an account called "Undeposited Cash & Checks" to enter any cash or rent checks, etc., that I receive. I assign them one of my rental income categories. When I deposit those into checking, I record it in my checking account as a transfer from Undeposited Cash & Checks. When I write a check for an expense, I associate it with on of my rental expense categories. The same goes if I use my credit card to pay a rental expense.

I hope this makes sense – email me if you need more help…

I just purchased a timeshare property with my sister who is still in college. I’m just wondering if her name is on the deed if she will have to claim that somewhere on taxes this year?

Not until it’s sold, or if you rent it out and make money from it rather than using your time yourselves.

I bought the timeshare with my friend in Cancun with Club Regina 6 years ago. Both of us are tired of paying the maintenance fee. Does anyone know how to give up? The timeshare is paid in full.

there are places that buy and sell timeshares
do a search and contact some

I have a timeshare that a can no longer afford to pay for. The financial services department of the resort says it will count as a foreclosure and is very bad for my credit. Is this just what they say to get you to pay? What’s the worst that can happen?

2 things will happen.

1. The foreclosure will be visible on your credit history. Lenders will take it into consideration that you didn’t pay a debt before loaning you additional money. You will either not get the new loan or will pay a much higher interest rate.

2. The timeshare lender will report the foreclosure to the IRS. They will show the amount of money that was still owed at the time of the foreclosure as well as the value of the property at the time it was sold.

Let’s say you paid $10,000 for the timeshare, had a remaining balance of $8000 and the timeshare is now wroth $4000. For tax purposes you have a $4000 non-deductible loss (timeshares are personal use property) and a $4000 cancellation of debt income. If you are not insolvent or bankrupt, the $4000 will be added to your income in the year of the foreclosure as "other income." (The loan is considered separately from the property so the $4000 loss doesn’t reduce the COD income at all.)

My uncle wants to give me his timeshare in Reno. I live in New Jersey. I took a liking to cruising over land based vacations. I would like to take it but need to know the pitfalls. If I decide later after I have taken it can I just surrender it without any credit damage?

The ease of renting your Reno Timeshare is determined by the quality of the property. If it is in a highly desirable building you may be able to trade for Cruise based time shares. It really depends on the quality of your property. If your property is in demand it opens all kinds of doors for you and resale should be possible etc, good luck