More Tips for Buying a Timeshare

If you do decide to buy a timeshare it is a good idea to fly to the vacation resort and check it out first. This is the only way to really determine whether or not you are about to buy a lemon or a hot vacation spot. You should never buy a timeshare sight unseen.

If you want you can take advantage of free or overnight stays that most vacation resorts offer to potential buyer. You don’t necessarily have to take part in a program or sit in on a big lecture. One of the most intelligent and practical things you could make an appointment with someone in sales and ask to see a unit. Just tell them you are a serious buyer and do not want to sit in on a sales presentation and most agents or sellers will be willing to comply.

However one benefit to sitting in on sales presentations is that they are very thorough and do provide a lot of information about buying a timeshare. They can be beneficial in terms of explaining the resort’s perks, fees and rules as well as provide a platform from which you can learn from questions asked by other people.

Here are some tips to buying a worthy timeshare –

1. Buy in prime season. Prime season time shares are coded red in timeshare catalogues. These are easy to resell or exchange and widen your possibilities should you want to trade with another timeshare owner.

2. Buy in a high demand area. A high demand area is a vacation hotspot. Examples of high demand areas are the coast of California, the Orlando Florida area, the coast of California, the Banff ski area and Las Vegas. This makes your timeshare easier to trade, rent, exchange or sell should the time come.

3. Watch out for hidden or inflationary fees. Read the fine print before you buy to see how much the maintenance fee. Reasonable is $300 to $400 a month. Also see how much the maintenance fee is raised every year. It is very common for fees to be increased as much as 4% every year without a cap!

4. Buy as inexpensively as possible. This means shopping for a bargain and buying a timeshare from a reseller as opposed to buying from a retailer. A brand new timeshare can be from 50 to 90 percent more expensive then one that you buy “used.” Very often you can find reams of timeshares for sale for pennies on the dollar for what the owner paid for it in newspapers, travel magazines and on the World Wide Web.

5. Remember to buy from a large and reputable company. Check out the reputation of the vacation resort’s owner before you buy. Ones owned by hotel chains such as Ritz Carlton or Marriot tend to have better management systems. Another benefit of buying from a large company is that it becomes easier to trade or exchange your timeshare. A good example is the company RCI that puts out a color coded catalogue of timeshares that need to be traded every season. The larger the company is that you buy from, the more your holidaying options will be expanded and the better your property is likely to be taken care of.

6. Make sure you are buying timeshares from licensed real estate broker who can hold your funds in escrow in a trust account until the sale closes.

7. If you are buying a deeded (fixed week) property make sure that you also receive Title Insurance.

As you would with any kind of real estate transaction make sure that your understanding of the way the timeshare works is the same as the sellers and that both of you agree on all of the terms and conditions of the timeshare contract!