You’re sold on the concept of purchasing a timeshare and would love to invest in an exciting new way to vacation. You’ve done your research online and you’ve found the most beautiful little place! It’s right near the water, brand new, and there is even a Jacuzzi in the master bedroom for you and your wife to relax after a long day on the beach.
What could be better?
You review and then double-check the purchase agreement to ensure that there are no hidden fees and then purchase the place… $10,000.
It comes to that time of year—vacation time, I mean—and you board the plane to your timeshare destination. You exit the airport in a taxi and give the driver your address. 10 minutes pass and you begin to wonder, “Where is this place? Should I have looked into the neighborhood a bit more?” Your negative thoughts soon intensify as you see broken windows, abandoned buildings and most of all, trash. The streets are littered with trash.
The driver stops and you skeptically ask, “Is this the place?” as you glance toward the “resort” he has parked in front of. You pull the folded piece of printer paper containing a picture of your new timeshare out of your pocket. “This can’t be the place…oh [insert expletive].”
What did you do WRONG?
You forgot to do your local real estate market research! You forgot to look at secondary market listings for the property that you already purchased. While the timeshare itself is new, the location is not at all what you expected and the property is probably not worth as much as you paid for.
Do you want to know the worst part?
Developers put a very large mark-up on new inventory. You try to sell your timeshare only to find that the resale value is half of what you paid for it.
While this is a sad situation, it happens all too often. Do research on the surrounding area and the location of the property itself to ensure that you do not get burned. Always get at least a secondary valuation and ask for the contact information of another tenant in the same development to ensure you get maximum feedback before making your purchase.
