subject: Here are my timeshare buying tips [print this page] Here are my timeshare buying tips Here are my timeshare buying tips
We love a great family vacation but we can't afford vacation ownership or purchasing a timeshare. As a family we enoy two good vacations annually but as our family continued to grow in size it became increasingly difficult to find places that could comfortably accommodate our family. When our family grew to 6, we found ourselves resorting to listening to timeshare sales pitches in order to be able to stay at the really nice resorts for an affordable price. We didn't have any idea that there was a timeshare-alternative available.
After doing this a few times we started to actually think that maybe a timeshare was something we should purchase. Who wouldn't want to stay at a really nice family resort in Orlando, Gatlinburg, Hawaii or any other luxurious destination around the world. For example, the typical 2 bedroom resort is spacious enough for my family of six to really relax and really enjoy the living space. I am willing to bet that these resort timeshares are nicer than how the average family currently lives. The last place we stayed in had real wood kitchen cabinets, granite kitchen counters, genuine leather furniture, plasma televisions in every room, real burning fireplace and an indoor Jacuzzi that could fit 4 adults comfortably. It is truly a luxurious experience that has created some incredible memories for my family. It is an under statement to say, you will not want to vacation any other way! Find the link to my video so that you can see first hand the type of place we recently stayed in.
Belive it or not, I truly felt guilty that we were staying at such a great resort. After all, we were really getting to enjoy how the people with a lot of money get to vacation without having to pay the high cost. However, my guilt only lasted up until the that we had to listen to the vacation ownership sales presentation. Then everything drastically changed.. You see there is an actually price you pay that costs more than money and that we had to pay that made me wish we had the money to buy a timeshare so that I could avoid what I called the timeshare torture chamber.
I know what you might be saying, how bad could've been but in my opinion it completely stunk. There is no other way to phrase it. We had to listen to a very skilled timeshare salesman pressure us into buying their "cheap" vacation pacakge. The conversation often went something like this, "Consider this sir, for only 28,000 dollars you are buying a lifetime of vacations for you and your family. Oh, and don't let the 28,000 dollars scare you, we offer financing that will reduce that price to only a few hundred dollars a month for seven years." The barrage continued throughout my courteous "I'm sorry but it is still too expensive" and after the 9th time of me telling them that we really weren't interested but still having to hear about other specials and one time only manager "get away packages", me and my wife made a promise to ourselves that we would never subject our family to another "relentless timeshare sales tatic" again. I am not kidding when I tell you that it was rude experience! When we finally said no to every timeshare package the nice tone discontinued and we were asked to leave.
We thought our only option would be to take purchase multiple no frill hotel rooms and try to get adjoining rooms. We are glad that we didn't give up on our dream to luxurious vacations without having to spend a fortune.
So, I started searching for a timeshare alternatives. I immediately discovered that that a lot of people who purchased these types of vacation packages for 20-30K were trying to sell their timeshares for a fraction of the cost. We almost purchased a timeshare through this method. The deal sounded really good and then I noticed that there were many people trying to sell their vacation ownership package on the internet. This made me question why so many people were dumping their timeshares for 50% or more of what they paid for them or upwards of 80% of what a new timeshare purchase was being sold for. So, I decided to continue to investigate for a better timeshare-alternative.
I am glad that I did my "timeshare scams" research. My research exposed legitimate options when looking for a lifetime vacation option.
Here are my findings and your current options:
You can either purchase a new timeshare at a very inflated price and a really expensive annual maintenance fee. You will then have to become familiar with vacation ownership terms like points, RCI, red week, interval international, exchange rates. I wasn't interested in learning this new language.
You can purchase a vacation ownership from someone who is trying to dump their timeshare and hope that the company that owns the timeshare "allows" the sale to go through because they often have the right of first refusal. Plus, if you get pass that hurdle you will have to still pay a high maintenance fee and make sure that the timeshare "points" mean the same today as they did when the person who is trying to sell actually purchased the timeshare.
You can just forget about timeshares or other types of vacation ownership all together and simply pay premium prices for these resorts which can cost several hundred dollars a night. Just go to Orbitz, travelocity, expedia or other agencies and see for yourself what a 2 bedroom suite cost in a exclusive resort destination. This wasn't an option for us either.
You can bargain shop on the popular online travel outlets and hope the you negotiate a good deal that works with your travel/vacation plans and only pay a few hundred dollars a night instead of several hundred. I found that all I did was search and search and was simply settling for less.
You can use the same timeshare solution that we found. We paid a one time fee and now have access to thousands of the same timeshare destinations and can stay in those resorts for less than the cost of the timeshare maintenance fee we were quoted. No worries about learning a new language in the vacation club society.
I don't want this article to seem like a sales pitch, so make sure to do your own research about the best timeshare-alternative option. If you are looking for a vacation ownership realize that there is an alternative to the traditional timeshare. Don't get pressured into buying a timeshare. If you do, realize that you have a rescission grace period that will give you an option to cancel the purchase without penalties.
We were certainly happy and excited about our decision and I am extremely confident that you will feel the same way.
