Timeshare woes

[Littlechickenwoman]

Back in our early naive days, we thought owning a timeshare was a great idea. Now that we're a little older and wiser, we see how crazy we were. The problem, we're still making payments ($350 a month) and the maintenance fee is $150 a month. $500 flying out of our pockets every month!! I contacted the company to see if they would buy it back, or even just take it back, nope. They said we could try to sell it or rent it out. Has anyone else been in this bind? Ideas?

[golden1]

It always seems like a good idea at the time, doesn't it?

Back when I was on my honeymoon with my husband at Disney, the first DVC timeshares were being sold, and I remember being really tempted.  At the time, I was 22 years old and loved WDW with a passion.  Now, I am glad I never bought in.  Granted, it probably would have saved us some money on trips, but I am pretty sure we would have been really sick of the place.  As it is, I am sick of it.  Granted, I probably could have sold the thing for way more than I bought it for, or rented it out, but that would have been a hassle. 

Probably the best way to get your money back is to do what the company says, sell it or rent it out.  That way you recoup at least some of your costs. 

[kpd905]

I can't imagine going to the same place every year when there are so many other places to see.

[smoghat]

Few timeshares are worth it. None if you are paying a monthly fee to them.

We bought one at Smuggler's Notch in 2010, Vermont using cash and our calculations show that we have already broken even on the purchase. For $1,500 a year of maintenance, we get a weeklong ski vacation with housing and ski passes and we get a week's summer vacation that involves free camps for two kids. Try pricing ski vacations and find out how much they cost. Due to the way the resort works, if we have more time we can always get free ski passes or camp if we come up having rented someone else's week. We know where we are going, the terrain is challenging, the kids programs are great, and we save money by eating in.

The only other timeshares that might be worth it is scooping up one with low maintenance fees so that you could use the RCI $269 last minute getaways (that's for a week… and in a timeshare you don't have to go out for dinner because there is a full kitchen). If you are flexible, you get amazing deals that way.

[Vilgan]

A lot of timeshares sell for $1 on ebay because people just want out from under the maintenance fees. You might be able to sell it for more if your timeshare has low maintenance fees but $150 a month doesn't sound like it. If you are still paying on the original purchase price, it might be very hard to sell if you are unable to pay off the remaining balance.

Generally timeshares are a terrible deal. My dad drank the kool-aid many years ago and has thrown tons of money down the timeshare black hole. These days he still is a huge fan and spends tons of $$, but now he picks up most of his time shares off ebay for $1 rather than paying retail like he did with his first one. I don't think there's an easy way out until you pay it off and just owe maintenance fees. They structure their contracts to be very binding for a reason - they are extremely lucrative for the company selling them to you. There's a reason they hand out $250+ and food just to get people to listen to a 90 minute presentation.

[pagoconcheques]

That's $6,000 a year.  Since it does not seem you are getting that much use/enjoyment out of it now (makes me think future enjoyment is unlikely as well), do whatever it takes to get rid of it. 

[Troppo presto]

There is a company called Time Share Exit team run by Reid Hein & Assoc. Check them out. They apparently have  100% success rate getting people out of time shares. I don't personally have a time share but it might be worth checking them out.

[Guesl982374]

Consult a lawyer on this one but I have heard of people doing the following: Set up an off shore company, sell the time share to said company for $1, stop paying anything on said timeshare and let it fall into default/foreclosure. Ethics aside, I am not sure of the legality of the tactic so proceed at your own risk.

[Magpie]

Buying a timeshare was the worst financial decision my husband and I ever made.  I spent the last 2.5 years trying to get rid of it.  Some timeshares can be donated to charity- have you tried that?  Ours wasn't eligible to be donated.  Be wary and thoroughly investigate any service that offers to help you get rid of a timeshare- many of them are scams too.  Do not pay any fees to a company until your timeshare is sold.  You could also try to rent out your week on EBay or some other site.  That would at least help defray some of your expenses. 

We finally got rid of our week when the timeshare property initiated a deed back program.  We paid 1 year maintenance fee in advance and titled it back to the company.  Terrible deal for us, but I was very happy to just walk away from it.  I do not want to know how much money we wasted on the timeshare.

[striveforfi]

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has successfully sold their Worldmark timeshare.  While I do prefer that we have credits to use at many places vs. a week at a specific location, I would still like to get out from under the maintenance dues.

[Mr. Green]

Consult a lawyer on this one but I have heard of people doing the following: Set up an off shore company, sell the time share to said company for $1, stop paying anything on said timeshare and let it fall into default/foreclosure. Ethics aside, I am not sure of the legality of the tactic so proceed at your own risk.

Selling it would mean the current mortgager would call the debt, which is owned by the individual.  They'd still have to pay the original loan off.

[Dicey]

Why is renting it out not an option?

[Troppo presto]

Here's the url  https://www.timeshareexitteam.com 

[Megma]

Consult a lawyer on this one but I have heard of people doing the following: Set up an off shore company, sell the time share to said company for $1, stop paying anything on said timeshare and let it fall into default/foreclosure. Ethics aside, I am not sure of the legality of the tactic so proceed at your own risk.

My parents stopped paying for their timeshare like year ago and the company hasn't foreclosed on them, just keep sending statements to them. So they will probably not foreclose on you because they don't want the property. They also paid a company, I think 1500 to get rid of it and got no where.

Pretty sure I will one day inherit the damn thing. Is that possible? Someone please tell me it's not.

[h2ogal]

O NO!!!

From TimeShareExitTeam:
"But when you die, you'll pass your timeshare off to your children, who may not want it. When you purchase a timeshare, you're signing a perpetual contract that not even death can escape. Your timeshare will pass on to your descendants, unless you get rid of it. "

Holy holiday batman, that cant be right!!!  My parent's have a time share!!  Im going to be asked to be written out of the will....

[Yankuba]

What happens if you stop sending them checks?

[geekette]

O NO!!!

From TimeShareExitTeam:
"But when you die, you'll pass your timeshare off to your children, who may not want it. When you purchase a timeshare, you're signing a perpetual contract that not even death can escape. Your timeshare will pass on to your descendants, unless you get rid of it. "

Holy holiday batman, that cant be right!!!  My parent's have a time share!!  Im going to be asked to be written out of the will....

Nope. You can refuse. From here:

Regardless of how you inherit a timeshare, you are not required to accept it. To refuse a timeshare inheritance, you must send a document called a "disclaimer of interest," along with a copy of the original owner's death certificate, to the timeshare property within a specific time frame -- usually nine months after the original owner's death. If you intend to refuse the timeshare inheritance, you must not take advantage of any timeshare privileges because this may cause you to forfeit your right to refuse the inheritance.

[Megma]

O NO!!!

From TimeShareExitTeam:
"But when you die, you'll pass your timeshare off to your children, who may not want it. When you purchase a timeshare, you're signing a perpetual contract that not even death can escape. Your timeshare will pass on to your descendants, unless you get rid of it. "

Holy holiday batman, that cant be right!!!  My parent's have a time share!!  Im going to be asked to be written out of the will....

Nope. You can refuse. From here:

Regardless of how you inherit a timeshare, you are not required to accept it. To refuse a timeshare inheritance, you must send a document called a "disclaimer of interest," along with a copy of the original owner's death certificate, to the timeshare property within a specific time frame -- usually nine months after the original owner's death. If you intend to refuse the timeshare inheritance, you must not take advantage of any timeshare privileges because this may cause you to forfeit your right to refuse the inheritance.

I found that too, thank God I can apparently refuse it? And you can apparently refuse parts of an inheritance only.

Yankuba, from the experience of my parents they will just keep sending statements. Literally they haven't paid for over a year and each month they just get a new statement with the new past due balance, it's probably killing their credit score and they can't use their week stay but so far no foreclosure.

[CommonCents]

O NO!!!

From TimeShareExitTeam:
"But when you die, you'll pass your timeshare off to your children, who may not want it. When you purchase a timeshare, you're signing a perpetual contract that not even death can escape. Your timeshare will pass on to your descendants, unless you get rid of it. "

Holy holiday batman, that cant be right!!!  My parent's have a time share!!  Im going to be asked to be written out of the will....

Nope. You can refuse. From here:

Regardless of how you inherit a timeshare, you are not required to accept it. To refuse a timeshare inheritance, you must send a document called a "disclaimer of interest," along with a copy of the original owner's death certificate, to the timeshare property within a specific time frame -- usually nine months after the original owner's death. If you intend to refuse the timeshare inheritance, you must not take advantage of any timeshare privileges because this may cause you to forfeit your right to refuse the inheritance.

I found that too, thank God I can apparently refuse it? And you can apparently refuse parts of an inheritance only.

Yankuba, from the experience of my parents they will just keep sending statements. Literally they haven't paid for over a year and each month they just get a new statement with the new past due balance, it's probably killing their credit score and they can't use their week stay but so far no foreclosure.

You might want to look into it further. From what I read, you can disclaim it, but if you are an heir to the residual estate, you then have to disclaim that as well.

[aspiringnomad]

Perhaps the most anti-mustachian family of all time, the family profiled in Queen of Versailles, made their money from timeshares. They nearly went broke during the financial crisis, but sadly have made quite the comeback as the economy has recovered and common sense has taken a hit. Sorry this isn't helpful, other than to add to the chorus of posts warning future readers against timeshares.

[patrickza]

How are these contracts even legal? Surely you should only pay for a service as long as you want it? Pass it on to your children automatically on death! Thank goodness my parents never took to this con, we did however use other people's weeks for the odd holiday.

[CommonCents]

How are these contracts even legal? Surely you should only pay for a service as long as you want it? Pass it on to your children automatically on death! Thank goodness my parents never took to this con, we did however use other people's weeks for the odd holiday.

It's not passed automatically.  My understanding (I'm not an expert, I just googled a bit) is that the parents think they are doing something nice for kid A passing on the timeshare so they will it to kid A.  Kid A says, heck no, I don't want it.  The issue is that then (assuming they didn't say "and if not Kid A, then Kid B" who accepts it and resolves the problem) anything the parents own not specifically set out in the will goes to the residual estate.  The parents should have a clause in the will that effectively says "and anything else I didn't specifically state goes to Kids A and B equally."  The timeshare, having not been passed out in the specific bequeaths because Kid A disclaimed it, is now part of the residual estate.  So what I understand is that Kid A must also disclaim the residual estate to not accept the timeshare.

Of course, someone may not have made a will so then the property passes through the intestacy laws of your state.  First anything where you've set out a beneficiary upon death goes to that beneficiary.  In my state, a certain amount (can't recall - $200k maybe) goes to the spouse, and then the remainder depends if the spouse and deceased have kids, and if they are joint kids.  In other words, the division is different if he has kids, she has kids and they have the only kids.  (In my case, neither of us has kids, so the remainder would be split between me and his parents.  He doesn't want his dad to get anything so every so often I remind him he ought to make a will.) 

[big_slacker]

Interesting discussion, my parents bought into worldmark way back and have made it known they're passing it down to us.

We've used their points a few times and it's definitely cheaper and much nicer than a hotel if you vacation every year. Especially if you have kids. Cook in the condo instead of going out, etc. And they're all over the place. We went to HI for next to nothing (points for airfare, points for rental car, condo cost like $70 for the cleaning fees).

With that said, I didn't realize it carried monthly fees, I assumed it had some small yearly charge. Now I'm going to check to see if it is indeed small.

[Roland of Gilead]

I kind of want to go to one of these timeshare presentations where they give you a free dinner or whatever and just act like a complete asshole.

[gt7152b]

I kind of want to go to one of these timeshare presentations where they give you a free dinner or whatever and just act like a complete asshole.

That's easy, just keep saying no thank you and they will eventually look at you and treat you like you are the biggest ahole in the world.

[fishnfool]

A friend of mine went to a timeshare presentation in Oahu after being promised cash, dinner and a free excursion. Well after a afternoon of drinking beers on the beach him and his wife showed up drunk to the presentation. They were turned away because by law they're not allowed to steal from someone that is inebriated. They first tried to deny them their free offers for showing up, but after some haggling my friends walked away with their free dinner and excursion as they were never told they couldn't drink beforehand....lol

So if anyone else wants to give this a try and enjoy some freebies without being suckered, have at it!   Timeshares are a complete joke and I feel badly for anyone who gets scammed into buying one. IMO, its better to not even get coaxed into taking their free offers cause nothings free in the long run. Sitting through their 2 to 3 hour presentations are a complete waste of my precious vacation time!