Timeshare Prices Plummet to $1

[Newsjock]

http://blogs.smartmoney.com/advice/2012/04/04/timeshare-prices-plummet-to-1/

Unable to sell his parents’ ocean-front timeshare for the past year, David Suder became so fed up he offered to give it away. They paid $8,000 for the Orange County, Calif. unit a decade ago, but since there are no willing buyers, and his 81-year-old mother, now a widow, can no longer afford the monthly maintenance fees, Suder says he doesn’t have a choice. The San Diego-based real estate investor is offering the unit for free in the hopes that someone will take it before his mother dies. “I don’t want to inherit it,” he says. “I want it to go away.”

While real estate – and even vacation real estate – is starting to show signs of recovery, timeshares remain in freefall. During the first quarter, the number of for-sale-by-owner postings doubled compared to the same period a year ago on RedWeek.com, a popular resale site. Another site, SellMyTimeshareNow.com, says owner sales are up 20% during that period.

Experts say even in better times, most sellers never saw a return on their investment. “Very few timeshares increase in value,” says Alisa Stephens, executive producer at RedWeek.com. As values sink and desperation grows, the number of owners giving their timeshares away for $1 – or less — has doubled in the past year, says Brian Rogers, of Timeshare Users Group, an owner advocacy group. “There’s never been a worst time to try to sell a timeshare,” he says.

[elehhhhna]

1. timeshares are appropriate for retired wealthy-ish people

only

generally speaking

[demosincebirth]

2. Ah, those monthly maintenance fees are the ones that get you.

[MrScorpio]

3. …And yet, we still have a homelessness problem in this country

That's getting worse and worse every day

[exboyfil]

4. My wife and I have done several timeshare/vacation club presentations over

the years to get the goodies. We made out like bandits in Hawaii (easily saving over $300 for the investment of 3 hours in two vacation club presentations). I actually enjoy seeing the presentations and dreaming (and that is what it is dreaming because I could never afford it). Saying no is a skill as well, but we have come up with many creative ways to do it over the years. I also enjoy seeing the properties, and we have rented them in the past with great results.

I remember the first timeshare presentation. They wanted almost as much as the mortgage on our first house for one week + the maintenance fees. If they had not started out of the box so high, I might have snapped being young and foolish. Renting is the best option - they are nice places to stay especially the ability to cook your own food and the extra space.

In Hawaii they are no charging a per stay fee (a form of lodging tax) on top of everything else in the timeshare. My wife's uncle, who is up to his neck in debt and with two timeshares, had to cover it for us when he used points to rent a timeshare we paid for. It was a great place and nearly as cheap as a bottom end hotel (note this was not a special family deal - we could have done as well on the internet). It was more a family place and not on the beach, but it was perfect for us.

[mmorales]

5. Spam deleted by OKNancy (MIR Team)