Maintenance Fees

joel382 wrote:

jayjay wrote:

I am in total agreement with your statements below, however not everyone is as astute as you are.

Many people go to developer timeshare presentations (mainly for the perks offered), then the salesperson tells them untruths such as; you can exchange to any of the resorts in the RCI and II wishbooks anytime you wish, you can make a profit when you sell your timeshare, buying your timeshare is a good financial investment (the only investment is insuring that your family takes a vacation each year, it is definitely not a financial investment), you can easily rent your timeshare for a profit every year that you don't use it, and the list goes on an on. Salespeople don't mention the yearly rising costs of maintenance fees and possible special assessments.

Most developer salespeople will tell a prospective buyer anything to sell them a timeshare. Then when the buyer finds out that they can't simply exchange for any timeshare in the RCI and II wishbooks anytime they please, or they can't rent for profit (or at all), or they can't sell to break even, (or can't sell at all or take a huge loss), then owners become disillusioned with the concept of timesharing altogether.

This is one of the reasons millions of timeshares are for sale in the marketplace. All the prospective buyer did was believe the salesperson. Now how is the prospective buyer going to know about the above untruths before he buys. You blame the consumer, but the consumer believes the salesperson, so, I ask you, who is to blame here?

jeffr92 wrote:

Jay Jay,

Only own at a place you can drive to and go more often. Research the company a little. Of course nowadays you will have to weed through all of the garbage to see what is factual. Don't buy impulsively. The good FEELINGS wear off.

Timesharing is a wonderful thing if you do it right. Of course you wouldn't know it for all the moaning going on these days.

Jeff

JayJay, As you know I don't always agree with you, but I have to Totally Agree with you on many of your statements here against statements made by Jeff.

Jeff, You are either smokin' some good stuff, or you work for a timeshare company or exchange company. Nobody in their Right Mind that has owned a timeshare for any amount of time, and dealt with RCI believes half of the bull crap you are dishing out here! You state we are all 'negative', well I for one still own SEVERAL weeks and still enjoy my overall timeshare experiences, BUT I for one am STILL not happy with the likes of Celebrity Resorts and others that keep jacking up the maintenance fees AND THEN HAVE THE GALL TO DO A $1000.00 SPECIAL ASSESSMENT ON TOP OF IT! DO THE MATH... For my ONE unit it costs about $700 per year in Maintenance Fees. $700 x 50weeks (not using 52 because many are not fully sold) = $35,000 for my ONE UNIT. $35,000 x let's say 50 units for an average resort = $1,750,000 for that ONE 50 unit Resort. Now, keep in mind, this doesn't include the average $10,000 per week sold, per unit in this 50 unit resort. $10,000 x 50weeks x 50condos = $25,000,000 for initial sales of these condo weeks.

If these HOA's can't properly manage a 50 unit resort on $1.75 Million Dollars per year, they need to be replaced! You can hire a LOT of people and pay for A LOT of maintenance each year with that kind of money AND STILL PUT AWAY SOME OF IT FOR FUTURE RENOVATIONS!!! P.S. By the Way, Are you one of the owners/land developers at one of these sites? This would explain your writings...

You also insinuate that if JayJay would have done her research on the timeshare resort she sold with Full Ownerships that they were 'probably' paying the same assessments. I, for one, can GAURANTEE that if any of the full ownership owners, that is, they owned a unit 52 weeks of the year, had to pay 'the same assessment as the timeshare owners' of let's say $1000 LIKE ME, that would be $1000 x 52 weeks = $52,000 special assessment. Now, how many of those full ownership owners would pay this EVEN IF THEY COULD!!?? Don't state such assinine statements on here and not expect some 'negative' responses! SINCERELY! JoeL

Does anybody reading this own 52 weeks a year? If so, can you answer some of these questions for us?

I would suppose that the full owners are treated more like the owners of a condo who are responsible for their own upkeep and replacement of furniture, cleaning, etc. If so, then they certainly would not be charged the sort of maintenance fees we timesharers pay. Additionally, the full time owners probably do not require reservation services, though they may rent out some of their time independently. They should be paying their fair part of the upkeep of shared services--lobbies, elevators, pools, groundskeeping, and such.

Of course, there may well be some variation on how this is handled in different types of resort locations. Any comments from those with experience?

MD

adahiscout wrote:

joel382 wrote:

jayjay wrote:

I am in total agreement with your statements below, however not everyone is as astute as you are.

Many people go to developer timeshare presentations (mainly for the perks offered), then the salesperson tells them untruths such as; you can exchange to any of the resorts in the RCI and II wishbooks anytime you wish, you can make a profit when you sell your timeshare, buying your timeshare is a good financial investment (the only investment is insuring that your family takes a vacation each year, it is definitely not a financial investment), you can easily rent your timeshare for a profit every year that you don't use it, and the list goes on an on. Salespeople don't mention the yearly rising costs of maintenance fees and possible special assessments.

Most developer salespeople will tell a prospective buyer anything to sell them a timeshare. Then when the buyer finds out that they can't simply exchange for any timeshare in the RCI and II wishbooks anytime they please, or they can't rent for profit (or at all), or they can't sell to break even, (or can't sell at all or take a huge loss), then owners become disillusioned with the concept of timesharing altogether.

This is one of the reasons millions of timeshares are for sale in the marketplace. All the prospective buyer did was believe the salesperson. Now how is the prospective buyer going to know about the above untruths before he buys. You blame the consumer, but the consumer believes the salesperson, so, I ask you, who is to blame here?

jeffr92 wrote:

Jay Jay,

Only own at a place you can drive to and go more often. Research the company a little. Of course nowadays you will have to weed through all of the garbage to see what is factual. Don't buy impulsively. The good FEELINGS wear off.

Timesharing is a wonderful thing if you do it right. Of course you wouldn't know it for all the moaning going on these days.

Jeff

JayJay, As you know I don't always agree with you, but I have to Totally Agree with you on many of your statements here against statements made by Jeff.

Jeff, You are either smokin' some good stuff, or you work for a timeshare company or exchange company. Nobody in their Right Mind that has owned a timeshare for any amount of time, and dealt with RCI believes half of the bull crap you are dishing out here! You state we are all 'negative', well I for one still own SEVERAL weeks and still enjoy my overall timeshare experiences, BUT I for one am STILL not happy with the likes of Celebrity Resorts and others that keep jacking up the maintenance fees AND THEN HAVE THE GALL TO DO A $1000.00 SPECIAL ASSESSMENT ON TOP OF IT! DO THE MATH... For my ONE unit it costs about $700 per year in Maintenance Fees. $700 x 50weeks (not using 52 because many are not fully sold) = $35,000 for my ONE UNIT. $35,000 x let's say 50 units for an average resort = $1,750,000 for that ONE 50 unit Resort. Now, keep in mind, this doesn't include the average $10,000 per week sold, per unit in this 50 unit resort. $10,000 x 50weeks x 50condos = $25,000,000 for initial sales of these condo weeks.

If these HOA's can't properly manage a 50 unit resort on $1.75 Million Dollars per year, they need to be replaced! You can hire a LOT of people and pay for A LOT of maintenance each year with that kind of money AND STILL PUT AWAY SOME OF IT FOR FUTURE RENOVATIONS!!! P.S. By the Way, Are you one of the owners/land developers at one of these sites? This would explain your writings...

You also insinuate that if JayJay would have done her research on the timeshare resort she sold with Full Ownerships that they were 'probably' paying the same assessments. I, for one, can GAURANTEE that if any of the full ownership owners, that is, they owned a unit 52 weeks of the year, had to pay 'the same assessment as the timeshare owners' of let's say $1000 LIKE ME, that would be $1000 x 52 weeks = $52,000 special assessment. Now, how many of those full ownership owners would pay this EVEN IF THEY COULD!!?? Don't state such assinine statements on here and not expect some 'negative' responses! SINCERELY! JoeL

Does anybody reading this own 52 weeks a year? If so, can you answer some of these questions for us?

I would suppose that the full owners are treated more like the owners of a condo who are responsible for their own upkeep and replacement of furniture, cleaning, etc. If so, then they certainly would not be charged the sort of maintenance fees we timesharers pay. Additionally, the full time owners probably do not require reservation services, though they may rent out some of their time independently. They should be paying their fair part of the upkeep of shared services--lobbies, elevators, pools, groundskeeping, and such.

Of course, there may well be some variation on how this is handled in different types of resort locations. Any comments from those with experience?

MD

I don't own full time, but I just bought second-hand a week for $1000 total and the maint. is only $440 week in palm springs, including taxes and utilities!

I'll tell you I wish I could buy 51 more weeks and live there full time. $440 week, with all utilities, repairs, pool boy, maid service. I pay more than that where I live now and my weather is crummy, I have to do all the yard work, clean after myself and I don't live in the nicest of neighborhoods. I would gladly pay more than that to live there year-round. I hope everybody sells their timeshares so people like me can live there full time and have resort-ominiums!

orvillef2 wrote:

adahiscout wrote:

joel382 wrote:

jayjay wrote:

I am in total agreement with your statements below, however not everyone is as astute as you are.

Many people go to developer timeshare presentations (mainly for the perks offered), then the salesperson tells them untruths such as; you can exchange to any of the resorts in the RCI and II wishbooks anytime you wish, you can make a profit when you sell your timeshare, buying your timeshare is a good financial investment (the only investment is insuring that your family takes a vacation each year, it is definitely not a financial investment), you can easily rent your timeshare for a profit every year that you don't use it, and the list goes on an on. Salespeople don't mention the yearly rising costs of maintenance fees and possible special assessments.

Most developer salespeople will tell a prospective buyer anything to sell them a timeshare. Then when the buyer finds out that they can't simply exchange for any timeshare in the RCI and II wishbooks anytime they please, or they can't rent for profit (or at all), or they can't sell to break even, (or can't sell at all or take a huge loss), then owners become disillusioned with the concept of timesharing altogether.

This is one of the reasons millions of timeshares are for sale in the marketplace. All the prospective buyer did was believe the salesperson. Now how is the prospective buyer going to know about the above untruths before he buys. You blame the consumer, but the consumer believes the salesperson, so, I ask you, who is to blame here?

jeffr92 wrote:

Jay Jay,

Only own at a place you can drive to and go more often. Research the company a little. Of course nowadays you will have to weed through all of the garbage to see what is factual. Don't buy impulsively. The good FEELINGS wear off.

Timesharing is a wonderful thing if you do it right. Of course you wouldn't know it for all the moaning going on these days.

Jeff

JayJay, As you know I don't always agree with you, but I have to Totally Agree with you on many of your statements here against statements made by Jeff.

Jeff, You are either smokin' some good stuff, or you work for a timeshare company or exchange company. Nobody in their Right Mind that has owned a timeshare for any amount of time, and dealt with RCI believes half of the bull crap you are dishing out here! You state we are all 'negative', well I for one still own SEVERAL weeks and still enjoy my overall timeshare experiences, BUT I for one am STILL not happy with the likes of Celebrity Resorts and others that keep jacking up the maintenance fees AND THEN HAVE THE GALL TO DO A $1000.00 SPECIAL ASSESSMENT ON TOP OF IT! DO THE MATH... For my ONE unit it costs about $700 per year in Maintenance Fees. $700 x 50weeks (not using 52 because many are not fully sold) = $35,000 for my ONE UNIT. $35,000 x let's say 50 units for an average resort = $1,750,000 for that ONE 50 unit Resort. Now, keep in mind, this doesn't include the average $10,000 per week sold, per unit in this 50 unit resort. $10,000 x 50weeks x 50condos = $25,000,000 for initial sales of these condo weeks.

If these HOA's can't properly manage a 50 unit resort on $1.75 Million Dollars per year, they need to be replaced! You can hire a LOT of people and pay for A LOT of maintenance each year with that kind of money AND STILL PUT AWAY SOME OF IT FOR FUTURE RENOVATIONS!!! P.S. By the Way, Are you one of the owners/land developers at one of these sites? This would explain your writings...

You also insinuate that if JayJay would have done her research on the timeshare resort she sold with Full Ownerships that they were 'probably' paying the same assessments. I, for one, can GAURANTEE that if any of the full ownership owners, that is, they owned a unit 52 weeks of the year, had to pay 'the same assessment as the timeshare owners' of let's say $1000 LIKE ME, that would be $1000 x 52 weeks = $52,000 special assessment. Now, how many of those full ownership owners would pay this EVEN IF THEY COULD!!?? Don't state such assinine statements on here and not expect some 'negative' responses! SINCERELY! JoeL

Does anybody reading this own 52 weeks a year? If so, can you answer some of these questions for us?

I would suppose that the full owners are treated more like the owners of a condo who are responsible for their own upkeep and replacement of furniture, cleaning, etc. If so, then they certainly would not be charged the sort of maintenance fees we timesharers pay. Additionally, the full time owners probably do not require reservation services, though they may rent out some of their time independently. They should be paying their fair part of the upkeep of shared services--lobbies, elevators, pools, groundskeeping, and such.

Of course, there may well be some variation on how this is handled in different types of resort locations. Any comments from those with experience?

MD

I don't own full time, but I just bought second-hand a week for $1000 total and the maint. is only $440 week in palm springs, including taxes and utilities!

I'll tell you I wish I could buy 51 more weeks and live there full time. $440 week, with all utilities, repairs, pool boy, maid service. I pay more than that where I live now and my weather is crummy, I have to do all the yard work, clean after myself and I don't live in the nicest of neighborhoods. I would gladly pay more than that to live there year-round. I hope everybody sells their timeshares so people like me can live there full time and have resort-ominiums!

Jayjay you are so right. If anyone I knew wanted to buy a timeshare I'd advise them to buy a resale - much cheaper.

ednab2 wrote:

orvillef2 wrote:

adahiscout wrote:

joel382 wrote:

jayjay wrote:

I am in total agreement with your statements below, however not everyone is as astute as you are.

Many people go to developer timeshare presentations (mainly for the perks offered), then the salesperson tells them untruths such as; you can exchange to any of the resorts in the RCI and II wishbooks anytime you wish, you can make a profit when you sell your timeshare, buying your timeshare is a good financial investment (the only investment is insuring that your family takes a vacation each year, it is definitely not a financial investment), you can easily rent your timeshare for a profit every year that you don't use it, and the list goes on an on. Salespeople don't mention the yearly rising costs of maintenance fees and possible special assessments.

Most developer salespeople will tell a prospective buyer anything to sell them a timeshare. Then when the buyer finds out that they can't simply exchange for any timeshare in the RCI and II wishbooks anytime they please, or they can't rent for profit (or at all), or they can't sell to break even, (or can't sell at all or take a huge loss), then owners become disillusioned with the concept of timesharing altogether.

This is one of the reasons millions of timeshares are for sale in the marketplace. All the prospective buyer did was believe the salesperson. Now how is the prospective buyer going to know about the above untruths before he buys. You blame the consumer, but the consumer believes the salesperson, so, I ask you, who is to blame here?

jeffr92 wrote:

Jay Jay,

Only own at a place you can drive to and go more often. Research the company a little. Of course nowadays you will have to weed through all of the garbage to see what is factual. Don't buy impulsively. The good FEELINGS wear off.

Timesharing is a wonderful thing if you do it right. Of course you wouldn't know it for all the moaning going on these days.

Jeff

JayJay, As you know I don't always agree with you, but I have to Totally Agree with you on many of your statements here against statements made by Jeff.

Jeff, You are either smokin' some good stuff, or you work for a timeshare company or exchange company. Nobody in their Right Mind that has owned a timeshare for any amount of time, and dealt with RCI believes half of the bull crap you are dishing out here! You state we are all 'negative', well I for one still own SEVERAL weeks and still enjoy my overall timeshare experiences, BUT I for one am STILL not happy with the likes of Celebrity Resorts and others that keep jacking up the maintenance fees AND THEN HAVE THE GALL TO DO A $1000.00 SPECIAL ASSESSMENT ON TOP OF IT! DO THE MATH... For my ONE unit it costs about $700 per year in Maintenance Fees. $700 x 50weeks (not using 52 because many are not fully sold) = $35,000 for my ONE UNIT. $35,000 x let's say 50 units for an average resort = $1,750,000 for that ONE 50 unit Resort. Now, keep in mind, this doesn't include the average $10,000 per week sold, per unit in this 50 unit resort. $10,000 x 50weeks x 50condos = $25,000,000 for initial sales of these condo weeks.

If these HOA's can't properly manage a 50 unit resort on $1.75 Million Dollars per year, they need to be replaced! You can hire a LOT of people and pay for A LOT of maintenance each year with that kind of money AND STILL PUT AWAY SOME OF IT FOR FUTURE RENOVATIONS!!! P.S. By the Way, Are you one of the owners/land developers at one of these sites? This would explain your writings...

You also insinuate that if JayJay would have done her research on the timeshare resort she sold with Full Ownerships that they were 'probably' paying the same assessments. I, for one, can GAURANTEE that if any of the full ownership owners, that is, they owned a unit 52 weeks of the year, had to pay 'the same assessment as the timeshare owners' of let's say $1000 LIKE ME, that would be $1000 x 52 weeks = $52,000 special assessment. Now, how many of those full ownership owners would pay this EVEN IF THEY COULD!!?? Don't state such assinine statements on here and not expect some 'negative' responses! SINCERELY! JoeL

Does anybody reading this own 52 weeks a year? If so, can you answer some of these questions for us?

I would suppose that the full owners are treated more like the owners of a condo who are responsible for their own upkeep and replacement of furniture, cleaning, etc. If so, then they certainly would not be charged the sort of maintenance fees we timesharers pay. Additionally, the full time owners probably do not require reservation services, though they may rent out some of their time independently. They should be paying their fair part of the upkeep of shared services--lobbies, elevators, pools, groundskeeping, and such.

Of course, there may well be some variation on how this is handled in different types of resort locations. Any comments from those with experience?

MD

I don't own full time, but I just bought second-hand a week for $1000 total and the maint. is only $440 week in palm springs, including taxes and utilities!

I'll tell you I wish I could buy 51 more weeks and live there full time. $440 week, with all utilities, repairs, pool boy, maid service. I pay more than that where I live now and my weather is crummy, I have to do all the yard work, clean after myself and I don't live in the nicest of neighborhoods. I would gladly pay more than that to live there year-round. I hope everybody sells their timeshares so people like me can live there full time and have resort-ominiums!

Jayjay you are so right. If anyone I knew wanted to buy a timeshare I'd advise them to buy a resale - much cheaper.

Definitely cheaper, but be sure you know the maintenence fees and whether or not resale ownership will or will not qualify you for all resort chain perks. You may not be able to get all the same VIP privileges as owners who bought from the developers or be required to buy some developer points in addition to the resale purachase to qualify. Find out why the original owner is selling!

MD

I don't see the point of anyone owning 52 weeks. Surely it would be cheaper to buy a place outright.

I've never heard of anyone owning 52 weeks of timeshare. The initial cost and maintenance fees would be outrageous. I HAVE read of people owning several weeks of timeshare at one resort, but nowhere near 52 weeks.

There are resorts that have full ownership units. I once owned a timeshare week at a resort that had full ownership units and the timeshare owners carried the burden of maintenance fees to keep the resort in shape. I would never consider buying into a resort that had full ownership units again for that reason.

ednab2 wrote:

I don't see the point of anyone owning 52 weeks. Surely it would be cheaper to buy a place outright.

ednab2 wrote:

I don't see the point of anyone owning 52 weeks. Surely it would be cheaper to buy a place outright.

I know of more than one person and know there are several working in that directon. according to the person that owns the most, It is far cheaper when you figure the expense of the pool and upkeep, the gym membership, security, remember that utilities are included, many detergents, somebody else does the cleaning, keeps up on the grounds, etc...

They say it is far cheaper for everything that is included. Also you can go everywhere and they get extra time to rent out so they can pay the maintenance fees.

Quite a retirement lifestyle if you asked me.

Jeff

jeffr92 wrote:

Jay Jay says the answer is to get rid of them and just rent. That will work until every one gives them up and then there is no one to rent from. And then we have the gall to say they are charging us too much to rent for a week. Give me a break!

Stop and think before you type to hear yourself typing. Now maybe we'll give the developers a break thisweek and trash the exchange companies. Next week we'll change up again and talk trash on Redweek.

Are you that perfect? I think not!

Jeff

So obviously you represent a resort.

1. If you sell your timeshare to someone that means someone else has BOUGHT the timeshare! so the Maint. fees will be paid regardless. So there will never be a shortage of rentals EVER!

2. Most resorts sell 50 of the 52 weeks available on each room. (they factor 2 weeks in down time and maintenance) So say a resort has 100 units. Say the resort charges $10,000 for each week (i'm sure thats a low number). Just for the purchase they recovered $500,000 per unit. Now multiply that by 100 & thats $50 Million dollars!

Lets do some more math. lets say on the low side the maint. fees are $500 a year. Multiply the 500 X 50 = 25,000 (thats how much they make per unit per year) now multiply the 25,000 X 100 (total units in building) you get $2.5 million!

Resorts are in business to make money, and annual Maintenance fee's are the biggest money maker!

eric572 wrote:

jeffr92 wrote:

Jay Jay says the answer is to get rid of them and just rent. That will work until every one gives them up and then there is no one to rent from. And then we have the gall to say they are charging us too much to rent for a week. Give me a break!

Stop and think before you type to hear yourself typing. Now maybe we'll give the developers a break thisweek and trash the exchange companies. Next week we'll change up again and talk trash on Redweek.

Are you that perfect? I think not!

Jeff

So obviously you represent a resort.

1. If you sell your timeshare to someone that means someone else has BOUGHT the timeshare! so the Maint. fees will be paid regardless. So there will never be a shortage of rentals EVER!

2. Most resorts sell 50 of the 52 weeks available on each room. (they factor 2 weeks in down time and maintenance) So say a resort has 100 units. Say the resort charges $10,000 for each week (i'm sure thats a low number). Just for the purchase they recovered $500,000 per unit. Now multiply that by 100 & thats $50 Million dollars!

Lets do some more math. lets say on the low side the maint. fees are $500 a year. Multiply the 500 X 50 = 25,000 (thats how much they make per unit per year) now multiply the 25,000 X 100 (total units in building) you get $2.5 million!

Resorts are in business to make money, and annual Maintenance fee's are the biggest money maker!

first off, the timeshares will from now on be a fixed number and all wear out if it only comes down to resale. Think about it.

Secondly, I don't know how it is with your timeshares, but the maintenance fees are controlled by the owners association which have annual meetings to decide what the fees will be. The developer only sits in as a rep at these meetings and doesn,t have a controlling interest. So where does all this profit go, to the owners? I guess we know how involved with their own owner's associaton a person is who would make such a statement.

Finally, of course the developers are in it for a profit, duh! Tell me what product anywhere is not in it for the profit. Everything you buy has a mark-up. Otherwise why do it in the first place? Do we work for free? Are we not thinking of that next raise? Does that make us bad?

One thing I have noticed is the accusations people sling very quickly about if you are involved with developers or exchange companies. I will come clean about myself.

I have been an owner of timeshares for going on 8 years now. I bought in with an every other year contract at the beginning because it was all I could afford. I heard of resale shortly after that and did the necessary research to get the scoop and find out how much I can save. I also looked at it to see what I would lose as far as developer perks. AFTER all my research, I decided to add more time 4 more times all from the developer at retail because I wanted all those perks. I did it only as I could afford it each step of the way. The last time was in Sept. 2006.

I am so happy with the company I am with, that I decided to seek employment just recently and have been employed for a total of 3 weeks, but the mentality that I have comes from the 8 years of satisfacion as an owner. An informed one that has done his homework.

I've done the math and am realistic what things cost today. 2.5 million is not alot when it comes to these properties as far as upkeep maintaining them at gold crown status and paying all those salaries and utilities and taxes. I guess I was busy studying up on these things while everyone was doing their griping and complaining.

jeff, it's good that you're satisifed with your 5 developer purchases and that you could afford them, however there are millions of people that cannot afford even one developer bought timeshare. That's why the timeshare resale and rental market is so important.

The resale market saves buyers thousands of dollars. And although many people could afford to buy developer, they don't care to buy just to get the very expensive perks they offer when they can get the same product for far less money.

So, you loved buying from the developer so much that you finally went to work for them, hmmmmm?

jeffr92 wrote:

I guess I was busy studying up on these things while everyone was doing their griping and complaining.

Jay Jay,

I don't doubt what you are saying about many not able to afford them from the developers. They are very expensive. The funny thing is that I probably make less than most. At least a great deal of the people I know.

I don't have a problem with people buying resale. It makes perfect sense to me. The problem I'm having is all the negative that is coming from so many people about buying from the developers. If you want to buy resale then do so and BE HAPPY. Just don't trash the developers because their in it to make a profit. To each their own.

Mean while the maintenance fees are still the decision and responsibility of the owners and not the developers. We decide how much mony is charged and spent.

As far as the Hmmmmm goes, they are another company just like any other. If the benefits are good and the potential for pay AND it happens to line up with my interests, why not? They really aren't the bad guys everyone portrays. Not one thing can be said about them that we couldn't say about Walmart or any other company.

Jeff

jayjay wrote:

jeff, it's good that you're satisifed with your 5 developer purchases and that you could afford them, however there are millions of people that cannot afford even one developer bought timeshare. That's why the timeshare resale and rental market is so important.

The resale market saves buyers thousands of dollars. And although many people could afford to buy developer, they don't care to buy just to get the very expensive perks they offer when they can get the same product for far less money.

So, you loved buying from the developer so much that you finally went to work for them, hmmmmm?

jeffr92 wrote:

I guess I was busy studying up on these things while everyone was doing their griping and complaining.

jeffr, I have no problem with developer timeshares. I've often said that if "there were no developer bought timeshares there would be no resales". We bought our first from the developer. Of course, we could have bought the same product for much less on the resale market, but at the time we weren't aware of resales.

We went on to buy several resale weeks and we surmized in our minds that the developer bought timeshare DID introduce us to the world of timesharing.

We sold the developer bought timeshare several years later for less than 1/3 of what we paid for it .... huge loss but typical. We blame ourselves, not the developer salesperson, for not performing more research on the internet before buying any timeshare. That's why these types of forums are so important in educating people concerning timesharing.

What I have a problem with are some of the lies told prospective buyers by (many) timeshare salespeople. Please check my thread in 'Timeshare Discussions' pertaining to misrepresentations told by (many) developer salespeople. Those misrepresentations are what I have a problem with.

Copied and pasted below from my 'General Discussion' thread on Misrepresenations In The Timeshare World. These are just some of the misrepresentations told by some developer timeshare salespeople.

"Developer Sales:

1. Lies told by (some) developer timeshare salespeople are that you can trade your week for anywhere in the exchange company's wishbook (catalog of resorts). Not true as it depends on supply, demand, season you own and VEP (Vacation Experience Profile) of your resort.

2. If you should desire to sell your timeshare week in the future, you can make a profit by doing so. If anything you will take a huge loss when trying to sell a developer bought timeshare (there are very few timeshares that hold their value).

3. You can rent your timeshare on years you don't use it and make a profit. Many owners who rent do well by merely recovering their maintenance fees if they can rent their week at all. Again, supply and demand are the key words in the equation for both rentals and resales.

4. Many developer salespeople will omit telling you about the 7+- day rescission period in your contract (called a cooling off period) where you can rescind your purchase without penalty. Please read your contract backwards and forwards.

5. This deal is good only for today.

5. They don't tell the prospective buyer about the resale market, but that's not their job. It's up to the consumer to educate themselves before buying any timeshare."

There are other misreprentations such as the salesperson will omit telling the prospective buyer concerning rising yearly maintenance fees and possible special assessments, but I guess that's not their job. That would be a definite turn-off for the prospect.

Dealing with timeshares is a little like dealing with insurance. We don't always know what questions to ask, don't want to take the time to let the seller explain in full detail, or don't understand the terminology. For example,"This policy pays everything Medicare approves but does not pay" is absolutely true for most Medicare supplements, but Medicare may not approve everything or approve it at a lower rate than is being charged. (Actually, some healthcare providers ask for much more that will ever be approved but may ACCEPT 100% of what is approved.) Some Supplements will actually pay more than the amount Medicare approves. Obviously, they will cost you more.

We own with four different resort companies and they all use slightly different terms for similar things and have different rules. How folks who buy only resale learn all the ins and outs involved with their ownership amazes me. I'd be lost without all the stuff I've recorded on my computer about each group as I learn it. Yes, it is all in the materials you get from the developer when you buy (if you sit down and READ) but do resale buyers get all this? The RCI Disclosure Guide, for example? It covers in great detail most of the issues we have argued about on this site.

As far as Maintenance Fees are concerned, we hate the fact that they rise. But so does the price of gas. Hamburger. Haircuts. We, of course, can decide to walk more, eat less meat, and grow longer hair, but do we want our resorts to stop mowing the grass? Repairing the pool? Replacing worn furniture? Up-dating unit electronics? etc. etc. If they do stop, our pleasure in using timeshares and our ability to exchange them will surely slip. Would you like to exchange a Gold Crown for a dump? I'm not even wild about the resort managements outfits that make you buy your own bathroom tissue after the first roll!

MD

Can anybody help me?

I purchase 6 timeshares in an auction in San Francisco, CA. I contacted the developer or the resort finding out more info about it. No reply. I went overseas for a few months. when I returned, I had $3,600 bill for maintenance fees. I asked for their Declaration or Conditions, Terms, etc. Nothing. I was sued. Collection Agency is billing me for approximately $67,000. what can I do?

Also, they put a lien on our property in Sacramento, CA, not in our Nob Hill ts in SFO.

They destroyed my credit report.

Pls. advise or help or email me at... Angelica.M.Mitchell.CIV@msc.navy.mil

Thank you so much!

angelm22 wrote:

Can anybody help me?

I purchase 6 timeshares in an auction in San Francisco, CA. I contacted the developer or the resort finding out more info about it. No reply. I went overseas for a few months. when I returned, I had $3,600 bill for maintenance fees. I asked for their Declaration or Conditions, Terms, etc. Nothing. I was sued. Collection Agency is billing me for approximately $67,000. what can I do?

Also, they put a lien on our property in Sacramento, CA, not in our Nob Hill ts in SFO.

They destroyed my credit report.

Pls. advise or help or email me at... Angelica.M.Mitchell.CIV@msc.navy.mil

Thank you so much!

Angel: I suspect that you should have done alittle research before submitting your bid. You do have to pay maintenance fees on EACH unit/week that you purchased. Sounds like fees might be $600. per unit per week, for the $3,600. total. To start with I would suggest you pay that fee and that should solve the problem. Have no idea what the $67,000 might entail, but probably the usual atty fees, penalties, etc. Would contact the Attorney for the resort and see if they will drop the matter for payment of fees. You don't indicate if you are familiar with TS policies, but you are going to have pay these fees every year. You also need to obtain written documentation on the nature of the fees. Was the prior owner in arears on his maintenance fees? That might be at least part of the problem, but doubt that there is not much you can do about it at this point. If you don't pay at least the $3600, your expenses (legal) will just keep getting higher. Based on your limited information, my suggestion is quickly pay the fee and hope that that resolves the issue. In my opinion, six months is a bit early to file a suit against an owner, unless there were prior or pre-existing problems with previous owner or yourself.

I agree with Jons that this is a debt that she owes and she will have to pay if she ever wants her good credit record back.

However, even if she pays the back maintenance fees she is still stuck with the 6 weeks at the resort and she is responsible for future maintenace fees and possible special assessments.

I would think that Nob Hill would be a very popular resort since there are not that many timeshares in San Francisco and SF is a popular destination.

My suggestion would be to try to sell the 6 weeks here on Redweek, Ebay or other internet listing sites setting a reasonable price. You may even make a profit by doing so and using the profit to return your debt to your bank account.

As a last resort and you don't care to go through all of the above is you can file personal bankruptcy since your credit is already demolished.

NOTE: LET THIS BE A WARNING TO ALL THAT WHEN YOU PURCHASE A TIMESHARE, EVEN RESALE, THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTENANCE FEES AND SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS FOREVER, OR UNTIL YOU SELL IT.

Nob Hill Inn has a very high popularity rating of #10 out of 233 hotels in San Fran on Trip Advisor. The two reviews on Redweek are also very positive.

Hi I just found the site and am very interested. When I bought my first unit in Orlando area my maint fees were near $200. Now I am paying $1000 for that and a second unit I bought in 1998. I was just assessed $1000 for re-furbishing. I read a comment from someone I thought worked for a management co. To me, legally it sounds prudent. I am not an attorney. I however think that the internet has revolutionized all sectors of vacation travel and hotel/resort stays. Lets be honest, how many times have you been upset that your resort has promotional stays for the week at $199 or so. And doesn't irritate you that the units are in a bad state of repair? With worn furniture, carpet and wall stains. I believe that as an owner I and I ask my guests to keep the unit as our home. I think promotional stays, do not. Going to the meetings and voicing an oppinion is great. I think, it is like a placebo. Allowing us to think there is someone listening. Who can afford to be our representative. An owner of course. But is it also an owner who works for that resort?

What owners need is a change of timeshare owner rights. I think that owners should have the right, through internet to know exactly what is going on at board meetings. This way we can through internet, voice our specific opinions on specific issues. Additionally, we need more protections under the law. Management companies are in business to make money. They make money by getting it from fees on owners. Not from promotional stays. We are subsidizing the management companies promoting themselves and trying to sell units. we collectively need a real management company which has people take inventory of all items in the unit and defects. If when they are checking out there are damages or degredation of the unit, the party staying in the unit will be charged on their credit card for the damages.

Find out who in Congress is looking out for us, or lets get someone to represent our cause. Lets change the timeshare ownership contract.

Other than that, I love our location and generally after refusing as many as two units for our stay, we like it.