Everyone and everything in life has pros and cons. whereas pros may be essential to some of them and cons to some. It depends on how you estimate the benefits of buying a timeshare with your lifestyle and financial condition.
For some, it may be a miniscule portion of their wealth but for some it can be hard earned savings of their life. In either case, a smart person will always look into pros and cons before investing his/her money.
Firstly, let us converse about the pros. Beginning with, timeshare properties they are more reasonable compared to buying a piece of real estate property for life and only using it once a year. Evaluate this with buying a property for lifetime for $200,000 with timeshare which may be only $10,000 plus annual maintenance cost of $500 for the life. If we assume the lifetime period of 30 years the calculation will be as follows:
$10,000+30 years x 500 = $25,000 for the lifetime
Compare it with buying a real estate property for lifetime you will save $175,000. Isn’t that a lot of money? Is it wise to invest that much extra money for once a year use?
Let us compare this with the cost of Hotel. Suppose if you spend $1,200 every year on a hotel, let us consider the cost for 30 years:
$1,200 x 30 years = $36,000 which is still more than $25,000 you pay for timeshare for the lifetime.
Apart from saving money you get the comfort of your home. In a hotel you might get only one suite. But a typical timeshare condo has two or three bedrooms, one or two bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room and even a laundry room. Also timeshare units are generally fully furnished. Most of the timeshare properties have an indoor or outdoor pool also these days. In addition to that you also get resort facilities. What more somebody might want when they get all these facilities and comfort of home?
If you have a timeshare you don’t have to worry about the upkeep and maintenance of the condo. It is taken care of by the developer. Now compare this with buying a real estate property for the life, you have to do all the maintenance.
About the Cons of timeshare, it has become an avenue for many scammers and frauds. The timeshare business has been overwhelmed with variety of scam and fraud related problems. People are invited to attend a ninety minute presentation completely free and then they are subjected to the techniques of pressurized buying which is dishonorable in sense. Do not fall prey to these tricks. Always read the documents carefully specially the fine prints before signing any agreements. Research the timeshare company well and know their reputation.
By paying a huge upfront fee your money is tied up for a long time which means you are losing money’s worth in addition to paying interest if you have taken a loan for the rest of the amount. One of the major cons is the appreciation. The timeshares don’t appreciate much. They may be stagnant or even depreciate with time.
And last but not the least; timeshares may not be flexible enough for you to use it every year at a specific time. Although some companies offer flexible timeshares but it is only on first come first serve basis many other timeshare owners might also be planning to do that.
