Anyone here ever own or owned a time share

Yes, DVC for the past 20 years. We have never regretted our decision to buy into DVC. We bought our first two contracts directly from DVC and our last two via the resale market. We were lucky to buy in when the prices weren't so crazy high, most contracts today cost more than my first home...scary to think about that.
 
We own a lot of DVC points, but we use them annually. During the recession we did pick up a Wyndham Bonnet Creek timeshare contact for dirt cheap (like pennies for a huge amount of points). Maintenance is a bit high, but we use the points. It's also allowed us to treat friends on a vacation that they might not have otherwise taken. We have thought about getting rid of Wyndham, but know it'll be for almost nothing. The saving factor is that it is Bonnet Creek, so basically on Disney property.
 
Bought DVC in 1996 and love it. We now own six contracts at OKW and BRV for 450 points. We've enjoyed vacations of all types with family and friends, stayed at nearly all the DVC resorts and now our son and DIL do couples trips (Poly this spring and BWV next week) and trips with us in the fall. We continue to add on contracts and sell when we see an opportunity to make a profit (three sold last year). We were already "Disney people" when we originally bought and it has brought much joy to our lives. When DH retires in a couple years we plan to spend 4-5 weeks at WDW in the winter (hopefully in a 1 BR). We are considering buying HHI to spend a week on the way to Disney. We've stayed there (and Vero) and love both of them.

DVC is definitely a lifestyle and the many members we've met over the years share a love of family AND Disney!
 
Timeshares are definitely NOT for everyone and definitely NOT for investment - the exception may be DVC especially if you bought early at much lower prices, and always want to vacation at Disney I can see how that would work well.

We have owned a timeshare at Lake of the Ozarks for a couple decades now-was gifted to us by in-laws when they built a house there. One of the lowest maintenance fees I've ever found (can stop a salesperson dead in tracks with asking if they can beat that), and has been a GREAT trader when we don't use the week. Belong to Interval International to trade it-and will frequently get "bonus" weeks when we deposit our week early. Have stayed at nearly every Marriott resort in Orlando and had the Marriott by Disneyland Paris booked for May this year -obviously that didn't happen. So we used that week and a bonus week to stay for 2 weeks in Orlando in June, another week in August, and coming back in 3 weeks for Thanksgiving, all at Marriott resorts. We've never stayed in anything less than a 2 bedroom - with 3 kids this is a must.
I still have a "bonus" week that will expire in January... DD thought about using it for Hawaii in December -she can get cheap flights from Seattle. Heck I almost booked the Hawaii one-$390/week for a 2 bedroom on Maui at a Marriott resort??

We are actually in the process of acquiring a free HI TS-another one with low maintenance fees, that we will mostly use to trade for other places. We are keeping the week that is booked (the newly acquired one) for July 4th 2022 though!

Definitely not for everyone, and you really really really need to do a lot of homework but for us the timeshares work. I would never finance a TS, you can usually find what you want free or super cheap on resale if you know what you want, and are patient.

If anyone is even thinking of a timeshare I highly recommend checking out Timeshare Users Group (T.U.G.).
 


When my in-laws passed away, we got their Marriott time share. We have since added onto it and can vacation anywhere there is a Marriott. With our last add on, we were given a free week to the Marriott near DLP, which we were going to use last summer. They let us extend the offer and will be using it this summer if travel is allowed again.

We were going to purchase DVC instead of more Marriott points. However, we found that the MVC is a bit more flexible for what we want. We have traveled many places that we would not have if we didn't have the MVC. My sister also has the MVC so we often combine our vacations so we can extend the time. For example, we used our points for a week in Spain in a 2 bedroom and their points for a week in the UK. We would have never done this without the MVC.

The past few years we have rented out weeks in HH during the July 4th week. This has been more than enough to pay all maintenance fees and frequently gives us enough for flights to wherever our vacation is going to be that summer.
 
Yes I own a bunch, all bought resale for pennies on the dollar. I've been using them to trade for premium resorts via Interval and RCI for years. I've bought off of Ebay, TUG2, and directly from a resale broker of a specific really good trader. If you know how to play the game, trading timeshares can be an awesome thing. BTW, other than DVC I've never attended a "presentation". I always tell them that we aren't their target audience ;)
 

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