Post: #1

My parents have a timeshare with interval which tends to give you places that are hard to drive to and remote. Its a nightmare trying to get places you actually want to get to. They recently purchased RCI which claims you can go anywhere at anytime, and spend 229 a week. This sounds like bullshit to me.

Should they try to get out of this before the sale finalizes?

Post: #2

(07-02-2017 10:26 AM)kbell Wrote:  My parents have a timeshare with interval which tends to give you places that are hard to drive to and remote. Its a nightmare trying to get places you actually want to get to. They recently purchased RCI which claims you can go anywhere at anytime, and spend 229 a week. This sounds like bullshit to me.

Should they try to get out of this before the sale finalizes?

Yes
Bad investment
Most people end up losing money on TSs becasue they end up just trying to dump it.

Post: #3

(07-02-2017 10:26 AM)kbell Wrote:  My parents have a timeshare with interval which tends to give you places that are hard to drive to and remote. Its a nightmare trying to get places you actually want to get to. They recently purchased RCI which claims you can go anywhere at anytime, and spend 229 a week. This sounds like bullshit to me.

Should they try to get out of this before the sale finalizes?

It's a terrible idea to buy a time-share from the developer. You wind up paying massive commissions for something with almost no resale value.

If they really want to do this, they should buy one from a sucker who bought originally from the developer.

You can often buy the same timeshare for 90% less than the list price from a desperate seller who doesn't want to pay the annual fees to keep it.

You can look on eBay, this site or others to find listings.

http://www.tug2.net/

Of course, you must do your usual due diligence, but it's never the right answer to buy direct from developer.

Post: #4

The fees are like 430 a year, but I'm sure there are hidden ones. This feature is what interested me the most. Its a Travel Club.
http://www.iceenterprise.com/what-we-do/

Post: #5

Most time shares are known cons - overpriced property, far lower resale value, hidden costs, overstated revenue stream (for those that let you sublet the property). Anything that requires massive strong-armed sales tactics is known to be bad for the customer.

Post: #6

None of the convenience/reliability of actually owning a property outright, combined with none of the flexibility of just renting AirBNBs when or where you want to. Timeshares are the worst possible holiday option. Tell them to back out now.

Post: #7

Absolutely urge them to ge out of the deal ASAP

Post: #8

I've done a few shitty jobs when I was young and broke. I worked for a few months as a time sharing sales agent in Rhodes. Free accommodation, free drinks-meals-use of facilities in an all inclusive 5* hotel and 800 euros basic salary+commissions. What's not to like in your 20s?

A charming guy was fishing for customers in the town of Rhodes and was getting 50 euros just for an appointment, even if it did not lead to a sale. That guy was making 200-400 euros per day. Of course there were some bad days, but very few. He was offering to the customers (families or couples) a free day at the hotel, with the obligation to attend a time sharing presentation. The sales techniques that we learnt were really amazing and I would say I've been successful for the first two months earning 2000 euros in commissions.

Then, I just got bored of the whole customers emotional exploitation, selling a product that did not have any actual value, and just quit and headed to Crete to party for a month with some Irish dancer.

I agree with everything that has been said about the product, no need to repeat.

Post: #9

(07-02-2017 10:53 AM)ascotpudding Wrote:  

(07-02-2017 10:26 AM)kbell Wrote:  Should they try to get out of this before the sale finalizes?

It's a terrible idea to buy a time-share from the developer. You wind up paying massive commissions for something with almost no resale value.

If they really want to do this, they should buy one from a sucker who bought originally from the developer.

You can often buy the same timeshare for 90% less than the list price from a desperate seller who doesn't want to pay the annual fees to keep it.

I'll second all these points, ... very bad idea, look at secondary market (be the the second, third or fourth owner). Watch for any punitive transfer fees.

Post: #10

Never understood the point of timeshares. It's no mystery, just run the numbers - never seen one that makes $$$/sense.

Did they pull the trigger?

Post: #11

There is another big con that is even more widespread - life insurances.

And by life insurance I mean the investment part of the life insurance. Anyone knows in the industry that almost all customers would be better off by buying a death benefit life insurance (that secures you against death) while investing the cash in any case of fixed income or letting it sit in the bank with very low interest rates. The fee structure is designed to work against you, the premiums of the massive sales force need to be paid as well, the customer barely gets his money worth out of it. Even if he takes a high-risk aggressive-stocks life insurance investment product, then he could have gotten 3-5x as much if he put it long-term into solid stock funds.

But alas - the insurance industry would not be where it was without that product.

Post: #12

They decided to keep it. I tried to get them to get out of the contract but I failed.

Post: #13

My buddy sells them although they call it fractional ownership to get away from the bad branding of timeshares. He says most are absolute shit and impulsive people buy them. The people that buy are usually the same people that are likely to get involved in pyramid schemes, prepaid legal, penny stocks, and constantly attend Tony Robbins seminars and still be dunces.

However, my buddy sells some seriously legit fractional homes. High end stuff, usually for people that will be using them for 20+ years and know for absolute certain that they only want to vacation in this one place where he sells.

He says never buy anything in Florida. It all sucks.