| | |  Travel & Outdoors 
Sidebar: Ask the Big Questions
 Jim Moore - The Oregonian
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March 22, 2010
| | (Tim Lee/Oregonian) | |
Here are four questions that can help you determine whether buying a time share is a good idea for you:
• Can I mentally write off the entry cost? Don't consider an upfront purchase price to be the value of the thing you're buying, because you're highly unlikely to recover it if you ever sell. It's just the price to play.
• Do I want to go to one place every year? As much as the option to trade your week is enticing, in reality you're better off buying into a weeks system only if you want to stay at one place the majority of the time. Otherwise, go with points or just do vacations on your own.
• What are the real costs? Be careful about what that week or those points are really costing you. In particular, find out about annual fees, and whether they're capped in terms of increases. One week a year at my resort currently costs about $680 a year in maintenance fees. That's just less than $100 a night to stay there, but it's not a complete steal. If I trade my week, there's a transaction fee of $100-plus in addition to the cost of membership in the trading vendor's system.
• Does ownership offer any side benefits? There often are additional benefits to time-share ownership. For example, at the resort where I own, I can stay anytime they have an open unit, for $50-$70 a night. That is a steal, but I can only book it one week ahead of time. Still, I've used that benefit dozens of times over the years.
Do your homework
Here are some resources before you take the plunge into time shares, or some navigation tips after jumping in:
American Resort Development Association: This site may represent the owners of the very resorts trying to sell you a time share, but it has some great resources for buyers as well. Follow the link to Vacationbetter.org, where you can get insight on time-share resales. Also check out the Timeshare Datashare section, with monthly statistical reports about time shares. It's also a good idea to see whether the resort you're considering is an ARDA member.
Timeshare User's Group: This site is not very professional, and it wants you to be a paid member ($15 per year) to access some areas. But it also includes some instructive free articles on time-share scams and frequently asked questions. Membership allows access to ratings of various resorts, sales history data and member forums.
Resort Condominiums International and Interval International: These are the two big players in time-share trading. Looking around their sites will give you a better idea of what's available and how it works. |
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