What is the downside of buying second hand time share condos?
Posted on Mar 22, 2010 under Time Share | 2 CommentsYou can buy a one week time share anytime on E bay for $100 or less if you take over the maintenence fees (which is why the owners are selling them). You get the deed. Is there a catch? Can you still trade weeks for other sites?
Ugh…. the issue is the maintenance fees are forever paid by you unless you can later sell the unit to someone else. You can’t stop paying the maintenance fees even if you no longer want to use the unit.
And, the maintenance fees are often more expensive than paying for a hotel room in that same general area. If the maintenance fee is $1,000 a year, and you hold onto this $100 bargain for 10 years, you will pay $10,100 in total.
In theory, you can still trade weeks for other sites to the extent you find a partner willing to trade with you, but if you can’t find a trade, you still owe the maintenance fee even if you don’t want to take your vacation at the site you bought.
It’s a messy situation. If you have never owned a Time Share before, try renting one from an owner a couple of times and see how much you like it. And, take the time to educate yourself about owning a timeshare, including the difficulty of selling it later if you change your mind.
Theres nothing complicated
If you’ve got a timeshare, there may come a time when you want to sell it quickly. Here’s how.