Do you ever wonder how seemingly ordinary people can take exotic vacations every year? Do you wish youcould do the same? Well, unless you've been living in a cave you know about timeshares, but most people have a misconception of these creatures. We remember them as having a locked in window of time that you could actually use your property and usually it was the same weekend each *year. Now, I don't know about you but I like to go different places each time I vacation and I like to go on my schedule. So timeshares have never held much appeal for me. But several years ago my husband and I were in Las Vegas and were approached by a timeshare person to view their presentation. We had no intention of purchasing and promised each other that we absolutely "WERE NOT BUYING ANYTHING". OK. I admit, I am the weakest link. I got completely sucked in and got the vision of our traveling future. I caved in and actually got mad at my husband when he stuck to our original plan.

The presentation was pretty hardsell. When we said no they brought out a closer, and when we said no again, they brought out the closer's closer. This went on for some time and finally on the fourth closer we agreed to purchase a trial version which they called the "Discovery Package"

The NEW Timeshare in case you didn't know is not a static one place, one time prize. They are mostly all currently based on a points system. You purchase a points package and then you can in effect spend your points to go on your vacation. There are some variations of course. Wyndham (Formerly Fairfield) has a resort directory that breaks down the point costs by how many bedrooms you want and what time of year you'll be traveling. You have off season prices and then there are "RED WEEKS" which are the most sought after times so those will cost more.

So our Discovery Package gave us a one time trial of the point package they wanted us to purchase, I believe it was 154,000 pts. If you buy this package normally you receive those points each year, or every other year on the anniversary of your purchase date or sometimes Jan 1. depending on the company. With our trial package we had 2 years to use the points and they also threw in a freebie trip to Australia. So for $2,000 we went to Australia for a week and since that one was free we used our points and went to Hawaii as well. While we were in Hawaii we agreed to view the presentation again since they threw in 50% discount tickets to all the local attractions. This presentation was different because the salesman didn't want to waste his time so when we told him we were just there for the freebies, he gave up. But when he went to get our vouchers, we talked it over and decided that this property was cheaper than the one in Vegas so we bought the every other year package. The price was around $15,000 and the one in Vegas had been $26,000 so we felt we got a good deal. We've used it several times and because you know you've got it you're motivated to plan and actually take
your vacations. We've had wonderful times and planned on buying a second one. But in the interim I did some research and discovered that even though you can sell your timeshare and transfer the deed they do lose value, so it doesn't make sense to buy them from the Timeshare Company when you can purchase them waaaaay cheaper on the secondary market.

We decided that when we were in the market for the next one we would purchase it that way. Well, when you own a timeshare you get on the list and start receiving offers from other companies to come see their presentations. We got a call from one saying that I had filled out a form to win a car or something at a home improvement show. I probably did. I don't remember, but we decided to go anyway. This one was Monarch Grand and was again a long hard sell. But we actually just sort of looked at each other and decided to take the plunge, so we filled out the paperwork for another $15,000 every other year package. (Our first one was even years and this one was odd so we were happy) But later that day I was on ebay and noticed exactly the same package we had just paid $15,000 for and it was for sale BUY IT NOW for $2,700. So we immediately bought it and cancelled our earlier purchase. As I began to look around I noticed that you can pick up these packages pretty easily all day long on ebay. These properties are real and you can sell them and you can also leave them to your children in your will. That is very appealing to us. We want to buy a few more so that we can give each of our kids one in the will.

The way the Timeshares work these days is that your TS company has a certain number of it's own properties that you can choose from. Beyond that they have an exchange company which expands your pool of properties to choose from. Wyndham uses the RCI Exchange and Monarch uses Interval International. RCI has more properties to choose from but theirs range in quality. Interval has less properties but they are all 4 & 5 star resorts. The facilities are beautiful and full of amenities. Most have kitchens and laundry facilities in right inside the condo. It's so nice to come home from your vacation with clean clothes. There are reasonable yearly maintenance fees to help with the cost of upkeep and things like mad service etc.There is usually one 800 phone number to call and you will reach the TS travel office. They make all your arrangements for you and usually also have discounts on air fare and car rentals as well. And incidentally if you have enough points you can swap them for things like air fare and car rental and even cruises.

So for $2,700 we have a lifetime of vacations to look forward to. The advantages are:

* We don't have to worry about upkeep on our vacation
* We can go somewhere different each time
* We stay in luxurious accomodations
* Can get more bedrooms and invite family along

We feel blessed to be able to take our grown kids and grandchildren along on our vacations with us, and we know that we wouldn't be able to do that without our timeshare. We love it. This sure aint your daddy's timeshare.

 

Link: http://timesharediva...this-aint-your-daddys-timeshare.html