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Timeshare
Concepts
Buying a Timeshare
Resale
It is not enough to just steal a timeshare on the resale market.
Have you ever bought an inexpensive car only to
find that upkeep and dissatisfaction made it more expensive that if you
had just bought a better one in the first place? The
same is true in timeshares. The “satisfaction
quotient” of a timeshare will actually be determined by your buying the
right one in the first place. This is true whether
buying a developer’s timeshare or a resale. The
only difference is that you will buy the resale for one third to one
half the price. Consider the following attributes
when purchasing:
¤ Location – Is it in a demand area? Can
you walk to shops, restaurants and other off-site amenities?
Does it have major attractions close by?
The property on the beach is better than the
property a block back. Some resorts feature
solitude and a “get away” location with great views of the wilderness.
What will suit your lifestyle and desires?
¤ The
Design – Was the project a
motel conversion or purpose built? Some motel
conversions are excellent. Others result in turning
a substandard motel into a substandard timeshare. Is
the property a mix of Studio, One and Two Bedroom units? Is
it attractive and well laid out or just a box? The
more attractive the physical layout of the property and the unit
floorplans, the better.
¤ The
Maintenance – First and
foremost: Are the units clean? Look for dust,
non-working windows, squeaking doors, seedy landscaping, etc.
The better maintained the property, the higher the
value. Does the appearance please you?
¤ The Unit Size – As a general rule, the people who buy the
larger units are the happiest. The ability to bring
friends and family along on a vacation is not to be overlooked.
Two bedroom units offer this possibility.
In other cases you may not want this
possibility to exist so a smaller unit will be the best selection.
Think it over not only for the present, but also
for the future. Young singles have bought studio
units. They don’t work so well after the marriage
and the third child.
¤
The Season – Buy the high
season if that is what you wish to consistently use. If
the summertime is high season and you are a school teacher who can only
vacation then, you should go ahead, bite the bullet and buy that
season, even though it may be at a premium price. If
you have school age children the same applies. Sometimes,
the reverse is true. For example, we have many
Owners of Southern California beachfront resorts who live in the east
and Midwest and have specifically purchased the ”off season” because it
gets them out of the cold. It works perfectly for
them.
¤ The Price – This is last on purpose. You
are looking at buying a lifetime possession. If you
get the wrong one, the dissatisfaction will be present long after you
have forgotten what you paid for it. At current
resale prices, I don’t think there is any way to lose. Resale
Timeshares are like antique furniture. They will
either hold their value or increase with time.
Look at resales as
though they will not really cost you money, they will save it.
The worst that will happen is that you will have a
lifetime of incredible vacations and at the end you will sell it and
get all or most of your money back. The longer you
own, the better it will be because alternate accommodations (hotels)
will only cost more in time due to inflation.
Obviously it is not
a major a purchase, but time spent betting the right product is
absolutely worth it. Remember, you will own it for
years.
All this may be
summed up by one phrase: BUY
QUALITY!
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