Time Share Advice needed

Cherryjack

Hello,

Just wanted some advice if I may :beer: OH's parents have a time share which they pay into.. £600.00 a year for a week's holiday.. they have asked if we want to have the timeshare deeded to us in the future when the worst happens (a long way off) lol sorry to be bleak :-/ they are only 50.
They have said we would need to have our names on it and we would split the fee £300.00 per year in the meantime. I figure then we would have to pay for 4 years to get a two week holiday if shared. I've been told the maitenance fee can go up. Im edging on a No thankyou..

But this is the place to ask you lovely people, hope someone can help and give some good advice. I have 2 children
Thank you :beer:

thebillet

Given the same offer from my parents I would be saying no thank you. Were you to ever share a holiday with them at any time you could stump up the £300 half share of fee. Why would I say this? If you look on Ebay you will see lots of time shares for almost nothing in terms of purchase price. This is because the maintenance fees can be very expensive and exchange rates can compound the problems. Google problems with time shares and plenty will come up. As for inheriting it in due course I have read you can't even shake off the responsibility of maintenance fees even then, the estate can become responsible. This doesn't apply to all times hares but I believe those owned in perpetuity. We have friends with a couple of time shares they wish they didn't. They are not persuaded by the idea of how easy it is to exchange weeks - the ones you want are often not available when you want them and there is a fee to exchange. Of course money is a much more efficient way of paying for holidays buy what you want, when you want, where you want. Just my two pen'th worth.

GillKav

Agree....my parents enjoyed many years and lots of great holidays with their timeshare throughout the eighties and early nineties, but the rapid increase in maintenance fees made them sit down and reconsider. They had always thought this would be a lovely thing to pass on to my sister and I when the time came, but quickly realised it would actually be a noose around our necks. I understand where your oh parents are coming from, but honestly I don't see it as a benefit. Sadly there is no resale in these now and my family are currently paying the price, after being taken in by fraudsters promising to be able to sell on their timeshares for them. I hope this helps.

LittleMrsThrifty

I can't think of a single reason why you would consider it. If you want your own time share in the future, you can buy one. They're not "gifting" you anything other than a committment to pay, probably over the odds, for something you may not even want. It sounds to me as though they want out of their time share and are hoping you'll bail them out.

budgetflyer

It really depends where it is and when.
If its a 2 or 3 bedroom unit in somewhere like Marbella or Anfi in July/August then the £600 fees are probably a bargain.
If its a 1 bedroom in Tenerife in November, then its probably not

Cherryjack

Thanks everyone we are not going to take it.. thank you for the advice.. gosh i had no idea the fee's can go up so high and they are hard to get out of. The timeshare is in florida.. and ive spoke to OH and we are likely to take children only once or twice in our lifetime as we would like to visit other places so it would not be worth it..
Thank you for your help.. i had no idea what the deal was..

socks_uk

Cherryjack wrote: »

Thanks everyone we are not going to take it.. thank you for the advice.. gosh i had no idea the fee's can go up so high and they are hard to get out of. The timeshare is in florida.. and ive spoke to OH and we are likely to take children only once or twice in our lifetime as we would like to visit other places so it would not be worth it..
Thank you for your help.. i had no idea what the deal was..

Do you mind me asking what company it is with? My sister, who has lived in USA for about 30 years, has 2 seperate weeks with the company RCI. One of the weeks is in Kissimmi in Orlando mid October but I'm not sure when and where her second week is. She often 'swaps' her weeks very easily as October in Florida is quite popular, I went there myself in 1983 when visiting her on holiday.

She has also swapped her weeks whilst visiting us here in UK and we have had holidays in Cornwall, Scotland and South Wales. We've also swapped her weeks and stayed in Eureka in North California, San Diego and also Las Vegas. My sister has holidayed all over America including Hawaii!

I think I would consider it if it was an American company like RCI if I could afford the yearly charges and also the cost of travelling to wherever I chose to swap the weeks. RCI isn't the same as the timeshare companies that pester you on beach holidays. I just wish I could afford to join RCI. You don't have to go to the same place year after year after year.

thebillet

Easy peasy to join RCI loads for sale on Ebay, mind you I would barter them down in price as none of them are selling if you go to the completed section to look. But before doing that I would google RCI and think to myself why would I convert cash into points, cash works better doesn't it? We had a meal with friends last night who fly out to a time share tomorrow and discovered by chance they had closed it for maintenance without telling them! I suppose it could happen with a hotel holiday as well but I thouht you might get a bit better service as they "own" part of the development.

budgetflyer

In the timeshare world, Florida is a bit like Tenerife and Mexico. Over sold and low trading power unless you have one of the top resorts like Disney or Marriott.
So probably not a great bargain.

BTW
RCI DO NOT actually own any weeks or resorts. They are just an exchange platform and yes, all the companies that pester you on holiday are affiliated to them.
For RCI points, a fixed/floating week is given a points value which can give you more flexiblity, Ie depending where your home resort is, and its points value, you could use 2 years worth of points to upgrade to a 5 star resort such as Marriott or visa versa. . Your contract will still be with a specific resort or group though.

South Africa has some bargains with Low maintanance fees from just over £150. You don't have to actually visit SA. Its all about exchanging via RCI, Interval International or Dial an Exchange.

gibson123

£600 for a weeks maintenance? OMG. I own an apartment in Turkey and my annual charges including Council Tax and pool and complex maintenance is just over £600. But I can go anytime of year and if I want to stay elsewhere e.g. florida, I can do a house swap. Friends on the same complex share an apartment between 4 friends, so their share of fees are £150. Now you can buy an apartment reasonably cheap in many holiday resorts at the moment £50,000 so perhaps anyone considering timeshare should just form a small consortium and buy a property for sharing, it appears a lot cheaper and you will have a reasonable re-sale value once the global market recovers.

gibson123

PS if you have a young family, you can also leave lots of stuff in your apartment like toys, and have a lot less to pack.