What’s the best way to buy a timeshare without getting ripped off? it’s a great question. How do I get a great timeshare cheap? an even better question.
In general, most peoples experiences with buying a timeshare are not very good some are a nightmare. The sellers typically use high-pressure sales tactics and when they finally understand the meaning of “NO” or “we’re not interested” they simply move you on to the next salesperson with a lesser offer for less money.
In truth in one of our experiences, we were put through 4-5 sales persons the price went from 30k to 5K (with less time or weeks of course) I’ve never seen my wife so mad… ever in my 22 years of knowing her.
The reality is a timeshare can offer great value, but it is not for everyone.
How it works
When you buy a timeshare you are buying a week during the year at a particular resort. These weeks have more value during certain parts of the year. If it’s at a ski resort the weeks during ski season (Jan-March) are more desirable so they are more valuable = more expensive.
If the resort is a golf destination the weeks during the summer are going to be more desirable because it’s really hard to golf in the snow or cold.
These more desirable weeks are called RED weeks and have more value. I’ll explain value further down. At the end of the day, you pay more for red weeks than weeks that are not in Peak periods.
Paying for a timeshare
There will always be an upfront cost. That cost can be anywhere from $4000 to $30,000 and up depending on where and when you go. As well, there are yearly costs. These costs are for ongoing maintenance of the property that every timeshare holder is responsible for. These maintenance fees can be a lot, mine is relatively low at approx $350 a year but some are well over $1000 a year.
You have to figure that out in terms of whether it’s worth it or not when you compare renting, hotels or even buying. You can find a quality timeshare cheap.
Trading Your Weeks
You decided to buy your timeshare. Instead of going to the small resort every year you do have the option of trading your week with Exchange Companies.
There are two large companies RCI and Interval International that you can place your week with and then exchange the value of that week for another week at another destination resort. There is a fee, currently, with RCI it is approx $300 per year to have the privilege of doing this but it does provide you literally thousands of options around the world.
Benefits of a Timeshare
For families it’s awesome.
1) As a family with young children having a timeshare was such a benefit most Timeshare properties offer more in the ways of amenities like I mentioned above some are ski resorts, some are beach resorts so if you have a family that likes those types of activities timeshares are great! We went to one that had a Water Park.
2) Another benefit is beds, there are beds or pull out beds for the family so you not sharing in a hotel setting.
3) Another huge benefit is kitchens, you can eat in. If you have small children you know how beneficial that its to be able to cook your own meals when you want.
4) Most have washers and dryers in the units so that is a huge benefit as well with smelly kids! Lol!
5) If you join an exchange network you can exchange your week for thousands of other weeks that are available worldwide
6) For a fee, you can shift the week to future years if you can’t use it.
Negatives of a Timeshare
1) Can be very expensive
2) If you don’t use it you still have to pay for it
3) If you decide you don’t want it anymore it is difficult to sell for what you paid for it.
4) Sometimes the timeshares are “tired” and need work. You have to rely on reviews
5) You don’t have control over increases in fees or trading power.
6) You may outgrow your timeshare. If you have a one bedroom and need a two bedroom because your family has grown you can’t just upgrade to a two bedroom.
The Best Way to buy a Cheap Timeshare – How We Did It
Here’s how we avoided the crazy high costs some people pay for a timeshare.
Don’t get caught up in the hype of a high-pressure sales pitch. I’m sure at the time when someone is selling you the benefits of a timeshare your thinking “Man, how can I not buy this?” The reality is don’t there are people literally looking to unload perfectly good timeshare weeks for next to nothing.
There are always people looking to Unload their timeshare. The reasons are plentiful, too expensive, not enough time, they haven’t figured out the secret or they got caught in a moment and never should have bought the timeshare in the first place.
There are Timeshare resellers but stay clear of these as they will charge you a higher price than you can find elsewhere.
The better way to find a cheap timeshare is to look online using Craigslist, Kijiji or my favourite site www.tug2.net (timeshare users group 2) for a very small annual fee ($10 the last time I checked) you have access to forums, reviews, updates and yes a marketplace for people to sell, buy and trade timeshares.
In our case, we purchased a week from a relative. My uncle is the timeshare master, at one point he had 6 weeks at different resorts (he and his wife are retired so they had time to use them) Once they had traveled most of the world he decided to sell some of his weeks. I purchased one of his weeks for $100… Yes, $100 for a red week.
Now everyone laughs but our week is at a resort in South Africa and we live in Canada so it’s not like we go to S.A. every year. We joined RCI and trade our week every year to travel to other resorts.
You can find the same deals on Craigslist, Kijiji or TUG2 because there are people like my uncle or others looking to unload one or more of their weeks just to get rid of it. I have found weeks for friends for the same $100 price via TUG2 and Kijiji.
Our total cost each year is the following
Yearly timeshare Maintenance fee $350
RCI yearly fee $80
Trade Fee $200 (fee paid when you trade your week)
Total $630 for a week away for 4 people
When you compare the Timeshare cost to an all-inclusive resort or hotel or rental you can see there is significant savings BUT YOU HAVE TO USE IT!
A Few More Things
Another upside is that with RCI, they frequently have sales where they sell weeks for $200. These are generally weeks that are going unused, non-peak times or last minute but if you have the flexibility you can take advantage of these amazing deals.
What we try to do is when these sales pop up we’ll book a sale week for the $200 and then use our week to trade in succession to get a 2-week vacation for less than $900 for accommodations for 4 people.
As well, you can book all-inclusive vacations as well you just pay a fee for the all-inclusive part. We have done this as well and it was one of our best vacations. It was in Mexico for two weeks with an upgraded room from what you would get from Expedia or other sellers of all-inclusive vacations.
Sorry one more thing, you can let friends and family use your week as well. There is a $100 fee for them to do this, but it may provide an opportunity for others to share in vacations.
That’s it for now. As always if you have any questions or are interested in how I created this Blog drop me a line.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclaimer for more info.