Timeshares are attractive – spending your vacations in an exotic place or in a tranquil spot surrounded by mountains is what we all want and the expenses of those wonderful vacations also seem reasonable. However, timeshare ownership can have downsides as well – here are a few negative aspects of being a timeshare owner, reasons to not buy a timeshare.
Increasing Fees
Most timeshare contracts include a clause that allows the seller to increase the maintenance and other fees payable by the buyer without being required to obtain the consent of the buyer. It is not sure that your seller will use that clause, but if they do, you might end up paying much more for your vacations that you initially planned, maybe even more than you would pay if you arranged for visits to the location of your timeshare spot via a travel operator.
Getting Rid of Your Contract Might Be More Difficult than You Expect
Timeshare contracts in most states are required to include a grace period during which buyers are allowed to change their minds and to cancel the agreement, but many buyers realize that they don’t want or can’t afford the timeshare only after the grace period has expired, leaving them searching for the process of selling timeshares. There are several ways to get out of unwanted timeshares even after the grace period is over – you can offer it for a buy-back to the initial seller, you can add it to real estate listings or advertise them on bidding websites –, but the process is usually very lengthy and the right buyer might be difficult to find.
It Might Be Difficult to Find Financing
Financing institutions are not very keen on offering financing on timeshare properties, especially if your ownership is only a right of use and not a deeded ownership. The reason is that they do not find properties that the owners are entitled to use only for a couple of weeks a year sufficiently solid to be used for a mortgage, so if you are planning to finance your timeshare from a loan, you might encounter difficulties.
Spending All Your Vacations in the Same Place
The first few vacations spent on your exotic timeshare property are surely great and exciting, but after a while, the perspective of spending all your vacations in the same place can become more of a burden than a pleasant experience to look forward to. Many timeshare owners start regretting their decision to have jumped into a timeshare contract after a few years, when they already their know the vacation spot and its surroundings inside out and they start longing for exploring new places.
Timing Problems
The period that you can spend in your timeshare resort is locked and it is the same each year, which also means that you must take out most of your yearly time off work in the same period each year. Work in most companies and in most positions does not allow for this kind of long-term planning, so you might find it difficult to make yourself free in the same period year after year.