Would you buy a timeshare?

[Darth Urious]

Isn't hurricane insurance outrageous?

we just bought a 40' camper at the beach, and plan on going pretty much every weekend of the year...

after we add it to our insurance policy, the estimate we got was like $300 and some change a year...

it is already setup, has a deck built onto it...

the lot rent includes cable, sewer, water, lawn maintenance, and various other campground perks... the electricity bill is around $40 a month, and that is being down there every weekend...

aside from what we bought it for it comes to around $315 a month carrying cost (not including gas to get down there, though)...

we just spent two nights at Atlantic Beach for $158 a night... $316 for one weekend...

the best thing about actually owning this will be that if we eventually get tired of the area or decide that it just isn't for us, I'll hook my truck up to it and pull the sumbitch home and do something else with it... since it is OURS now...

that's how I look at it... totally worth the investment... especially considering it is about an hour and 45 mins away, and we can leave stuff down there so we can jump in the car and leave as soon as we get off work on Friday afternoon... no packing involved...

[mush]

usually timeshares are bad investments. annual dues/taxes/maintenance, then locked into one week you may or may not want year in and year out. After all is said and done there's no way it's cheaper than just going on priceline the week you want to go and naming your own price. Most of those destinations you're not in the room that much anyways why lock yourself into an annual contractual payment. Circumstances change over time and you may change your mind or lose your job then it's a burden you can't get rid of or lose your investment.

we have thought about them through the years but I usually only go to one or two cities consistently each and every year and it's always different weeks in the summer, and then we just go priceline and get 4 star hotels for cheap for the few days we vacation there....timeshares are often inflexible for a whole week and few people vacation for a whole week nowadays anyway.

[Jackofalltrades]

Yes, in a heartbeat.

[bleys]

seems people are coming to terms with what a TS really is... I used to work a sales job getting people out of these things and would have 30 minute discussions on why all they owned was a piece of paper.

and that piece of paper wasn't worth poo. lol

[Davidson Deac II]

My parents had a very bad experience with their timeshare. Had to schedule any of the good places a year or two in advance. They ended up going to Virginia Beach a couple of times and that was about it. Personally, I get bored if I stay at any vacation spot anymore than 3 days. Hotel rooms are definitely best if you are only going for a few days and don't want to plan a year in advance.

[Kevin Greene]

To me a time share is like buying an expensive motor home...I mean RV. Pay 50k for the damned thing, then pay to park the fugger somewhere unless you want this lump of poo in your front yard 24/7. Then you have to maintain the sumbitch and clean it every time you use it. Cleaning the shitter tank is fun!

So pay 50k, then 2k a year to store and maintain it, minimum.

My buddy has a new RV and is planning to drive it to Yellowstone this summer, we live in SoCal. It's going to cost him a Thousand Dollars just in gas round trip.

No thanks, I'll fly or car it someplace, stay in deluxe accomadations and save huge bucks. :rant:

[davos]

[bleys]

My parents had a very bad experience with their timeshare. Had to schedule any of the good places a year or two in advance. They ended up going to Virginia Beach a couple of times and that was about it. Personally, I get bored if I stay at any vacation spot anymore than 3 days. Hotel rooms are definitely best if you are only going for a few days and don't want to plan a year in advance.

someone mentioned earlier in this thread that they aren't calling them timeshares anymore, so maybe all these lawsuits are finally paying off..

all too often TS companies started making it harder to get a time slot by renting those times out to people online.. how fuged up is that, lol

To me a time share is like buying an expensive motor home...I mean RV. Pay 50k for the damned thing, then pay to park the fugger somewhere unless you want this lump of poo in your front yard 24/7. Then you have to maintain the sumbitch and clean it every time you use it. Cleaning the pooter tank is fun!

So pay 50k, then 2k a year to store and maintain it, minimum.

My buddy has a new RV and is planning to drive it to Yellowstone this summer, we live in SoCal. It's going to cost him a Thousand Dollars just in gas round trip.

No thanks, I'll fly or car it someplace, stay in deluxe accomadations and save huge bucks. :rant:

great analogy.. except you can sell an RV, a timeshare ain't worth poo..