Timeshares are a great idea in theory. You buy into them and then you get the use of a vacation property for an extended period of time, typically one week every year or two weeks every other year. That sounds like a lot of fun, but there is more to it than that. Timeshare owners deal with so much unnecessary stress. For starters, they can’t use the property when they want to; timeshare scheduling is incredibly complex, and individuals are often stuck visiting a place at the same time every year (if they can even do that). Moreover, the people who work at timeshare resorts can be most manipulative about what they’re selling you. As terrible as those drawbacks are, the most significant disadvantage to owning a shared vacation spot is what it does to people’s finances. Here is a list of the biggest financial problems caused by timeshares that everyone should know and how to get out of them:
#1 Upfront Cost
According to 2019 data from the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), the average cost of a timeshare is $22,942 per interval. It’s important to understand that most timeshare owners aren’t paying $22,942 out of their pocket upfront. In most cases, they’re financing this amount through the resort directly to become members. The average interest rate of timeshare loans is 14% over a 10-year term. For some clubs, the interest rates can soar as high as 20%.
For this example, we will show you what the interest rate of 14% over ten years looks like with a timeshare that costs $22,942.
That’s right, the timeshare you thought you were paying $22,942 for is actually going to cost you $42,745.20 over the next 10 years. What’s worse? This is not even close to the real total of what you’re going to spend. We’ve yet to factor in a few more payments that are mandatory for timeshare owners. One of the most common is what’s called maintenance fees.
#2. Maintenance Fees
Maintenance fees are annual payments that go towards the upkeep of your timeshare property. In 2019, ARDA reported that the annual maintenance fee for a timeshare runs around $1,000 on average. Although, this fee could be much higher depending on the size of your timeshare and which resort you own.
It’s not a terrible idea to think that having everyone pitch in to keep maintaining and updating the property over the years is fair. However, when you break down the numbers it resembles a legal bank robbery. Think about it like this; if the timeshare resort has 100 units total they’re able to sell each unit 52 times because there are 52 weeks in a year. This means they can potentially have 5,200 owners at that one resort at any given time. In turn, receiving 5.2 million dollars in maintenance fees every year if we use the average maintenance fee of $1,000 x 5200 owners.
Have you ever noticed $5,200,000 worth of minor updates and or maintenance at your timeshare resort each year? On another note, maintenance fees are always required by owners to use their timeshare even if they’ve already paid off their initial purchase price. Not to add insult to injury but maintenance fees also go up 2% – 4% a year depending on who you own with. Over a ten-year span that 2% increase will result in your $1,000 annual maintenance fee going up 18% to a total of $1,220 per year. If the average entry price of a timeshare along with its maintenance fees weren’t already enough to make you question owning a timeshare the next financial pitfalls definitely will.
#3 Special Assessment Fees
By now, we are familiar with the maintenance fees that come along with timeshares, which cover general property expenses like repairs, landscaping, lawn care, and basic updates. Although maintenance fees are similar to the HOA fees people who live in a community pay, there are several other major financial responsibilities that come with timeshares everyone should be aware of.
Special assessment fees are a result of property assessments. For example, in the event of a natural disaster, the owners would bear responsibility for covering the costs to repair damages that were not covered by resort maintenance budgets or insurance policies. These types of fees can be issued at any time and in any amount. Due to their unpredictability, special assessments put people under a lot of financial pressure when hit with one, and many timeshare owners are stuck paying for amenities they will never use, like a new gym or racquetball court. It is best to avoid timeshare ownership in the first place if you’re wanting to avoid the fees we’ve stated above, but if you already own one, we are going to show you how to remove yourself from paying special assessment fees forever in just a moment. For now, let’s move on to our last major financial pitfall for timeshare owners.
#4 Losing All The Money You Spent
When you’re in the sales presentation at the resort the salesperson may state something that implies you being able to recoup some or even all of the money you’ve spent on your timeshare once you’re ready to get rid of it. We want you to understand that financially, timeshares are not an investment. You see, to be a financial investment, the product must go up in value over time. Let’s say you bought your timeshare at $22,924 this year. That means next year it should be worth more than that. At the very least, you should be able to sell your timeshare for what you paid one year ago. However, that’s not the case.
Timeshares are being listed on sites like eBay every single day for 1 penny and aren’t going anywhere. These aren’t non-name brand timeshare resorts in the middle of nowhere either. They’re some of the biggest names in the industry and in some of the nicest places. Here, check this Hawaii property out.
So why aren’t they selling? Because of the reasons we’ve listed above coupled with the fact that when you want out of your timeshare, it’s almost impossible to do so. When timeshare owners have problems who do they have to reach out to? In most cases, it’s their resort. What does the resort do? From what we can tell, they have the owner come back into one of their resorts for help and the help they receive is being sold more of the product they already have after being told: “not having enough points” or “needing a higher status” was the culprit of their issues. What do you think happens when you buy more points or a higher level of membership? The annual fees and payments go up! If you’ve been a timeshare owner for a while now you know this to be true more than anyone.
How To Get Out?
Are you a timeshare owner wanting to get out of your ownership? If so, we have a solution. There is a company called Timeshare Help Source and they are the best way for a timeshare owner to get out of their unwanted ownership. We’re going to walk you through exactly why we believe Timeshare Help Source is the #1 company to get out of your timeshare ownership.
#1 Their Proven Success Rate
Timeshare Help Source is the only company we can find that is actually accredited with the Better Business Bureau and has not even one review from a client stating they didn’t get them out of their ownership. This is after being in business for almost three years too! Pretty incredible considering we couldn’t find another business that can say the same.
#2 Qualification Process
Unlike other companies that claim to do what Timeshare Help Source does, THS will only take on certain ownerships they know they can succeed with. This has allowed them to receive the best of reviews and maintain a 100% success rate for the clients.
#3 Customer Service
You can expect the highest level of customer service when speaking with representatives at Timeshare Help Source. They genuinely care about the timeshare owners they’re helping and it shows with every interaction. You’ll see for yourself on your very first interaction.
#4 Money Back Guarantee
Should you become the first individual that Timeshare Help Source fails to get out of your timeshare, rest assured you won’t lose your money. They offer a 100% money-back guarantee to all of their clients.
While there are many other reasons we would encourage anyone to use Timeshare Help Source to alleviate themselves of their unwanted timeshare we highly encourage that one takes into consideration all of the above information before committing to timeshare ownership in the first place. The more informed you are, the better decisions you will make. Should you have any questions for Timeshare Help Source directly you can contact them by visiting their website at www.TimeshareHelpSource.com.
