Three Pitfalls of Owning a Timeshare

With the promise of lower vacation costs and having your “own property,” we understand how easy it is to view timeshare ownership as a good investment. What vacationers love about timeshares is that they can easily choose a location, a room size, and number of days to stay, but these features are also available when signing up for a travel vacation club. When choosing what to invest on, it is always wise to compare the perks of two different options, and in this case, other that actually owning part of the property, most of the services timeshares offer are also offered in vacation clubs for a much reasonable price.

Let’s take a look at some points about timeshares that we need to consider before actually going for an investment.

Most timeshares require upfront investment.

Getting a timeshare could be equated to actually buying a portion a property, and this is the argument other people use to rationalize the copious amount of money you have to shell out when buying one. In exchange for the several thousands of dollars you need to get on board, you get the promise of being able to travel for less. However, you must also consider that since this is an investment, you are locking your money in with a timeshare. On top of this initial payment, you also have to pay for annual membership fees, maintenance fees, and other fees that when summed up could still equal to hundreds of dollars.

Some timeshares are hard to resell.

The travel business is a tricky one, and in the world of timeshares, it is even trickier. It came up earlier that investments are usually locked in for a certain period with slim chances of resale. It could be because there are not a lot of buyers who are aware that they could avail twice-sold timeshares, but it’s also because there aren’t many people who would want to invest in something that is very uncertain. Questions going on in their minds are “Why are you even reselling?” or “Like you, will I be just another investor looking for a new buyer of this timeshare in a few months?” There is also the glaring fact that the chances of you reselling your timeshare for the same amount you bought it for is very rare.

There is a risk of experiencing difficulty when it comes to booking.

The idea behind timeshares is you and several other co-owners own a point in time every year in the property. So you can already imagine how hard it is to exchange or trade weeks with other property owners. It’s not like booking reservations in vacation clubs where there is a lot of accommodation types to choose from. Sometimes, you end up bumping off your trip because at the time when it’s most convenient for you, the property you want to stay in is not available.