Anyone here ever own or owned a time share

[cvjw]

DVC owner - purchased 850 points resale in 2007. Sold half of them last year for more than we paid for them. Many, many happy memories of disney trips when my boys were growing up and of all the extended family we were able to bring along for free

We have been renting out our remaining points the last few years and using the cash for disney cruises. We may sell another Beach club contract this year - for significantly more than we paid for it.

We have never regretted owning DVC, but I would not own any other time share.

 

[NFLDERS]

^Cont'd...

We were offered a week in Orlando by friends who had just purchased a Time Share. So.. we flew from Canada rented a car and found our outskirts name brand but somewhat dated HOTEL in an orange grove with one hotel beside ours with a for sale sign out front, but we went from to in four short hours.

We checked out the hotel and room which were clean and in good repair. This was in early 1980's safety was not on any radar. While I'm unpacking dh towel in hand headed to the pool. As he got closer construction sound got louder. The pool was empty for the exception of workmen doing repairs.

So my dh heads to the reception desk towel over his shoulder to inquire when the pool will be open? Unfortunately, not for the week we would be there. He was informed of the time in the early am, that a shuttle would take us to the information session (code for Time Share) of our stay with them.

My dh informed the clerk that because this was new information to us we would not be in attendance or in need of the shuttle. Our trip otherwise was wonderful, by the time we left another for sale sign appeared on yet another hotel nearby.

Our friends have enjoyed their time share for the exception Florida was only ever available for the most part, mid states occasionally, and overseas never available when they seemed to be.

As the decades have gone by they no longer talked about their Time Share, and we have not asked.

 

[AnnaS]

DVC owners since 2000. No regrets and still love it. In addition to many non-DVC vacations, we have used our DVC points to go on DCL cruises, Hilton Head, Vero Beach and traded (when it traded with Interval) into The Royal Sands, Cancun.

 

[LovesTimone]

When we were living in GA... DH and I had been on a Disney Cruise, and we popped in to hear what the DVC guy had to say.. and since we love Disney, we were almost all in.. We really were right there... We told him we wanted to sleep on it... and he gave us no pressure what so ever...The next day we were supposed to do the paperwork... I looked at DH that morning and said, I don't think we should do it... DH said I know I feel the same way... I just felt like we were in the moment, and that something was pulling at me for us not to do it... Well the week after we got back, DH got transferred back to Florida, and we live in Winter Garden. So for us living here we don't need the DVC... If we would have stayed in GA. We would have gotten a DVC for sure...

As far as any others NOPE.... not interested...

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I think DVC is in a league of its own. It seems to work pretty well for most people, especially those who bought years ago. We have come close several times, but decided we didn’t want that hanging over our heads in the event of an illness or lay off or something like that. We did the math on one we were interested in just recently and it would’ve been in the neighborhood of $60K over the life of the contract, which was short. Still leaning against it, and interested to see what happens Covid.

We’ve also been on the fence about a more local time share, and come close to buying a few times, including recently. A family member has owned there since it was built decades ago, and we’ve had many good stays there, as well. It’s a nice, stable operation with no high pressure sales or anything like that. But again, doing the math, in just over ten years, it’s a lot of money in maintenance fees and even kenneling the dog, etc. The big issue for us there, though, is that it’s a set week, and we’re not sure all in our family will be able to make it there that week. So again, holding off.

I think there are pros and cons. But it has to be right for the buyer and they really need to look at projected costs over the long term. One thought I always remembered was that it’s a pre-paid vacation. That’s all fine and good until you can’t afford it anymore, but with these, you’re often stuck. Maybe I overthink things but that is what scared me. We also had a couple of hard sell encounters years ago (not with either of the ones I mentioned above) and they were a real turn off.

 

[Micca]

Just DVC, it has been great for us.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

We own wyndham points (bonnet creek contract). If I had to do it again I would have never bought it. With that said, we have used the heck out of it over the years, taken some really nice vacations without having to pay out of pocket all at once for lodging. Since every unit has a kitchen of some type we typically save a ton on food as well.

Our maintenance fees are around $2400 per year, and for our points we can usually stretch it out to 2.5 weeks worth of overnights. The last couple of years we have gotten 2 beach front units for us and my in-laws for a week during the summer. If we paid out of pocket at this particular location, we would pay around $3500 for a comparable rental that would sleep 7 people. Then we have enough points left over for just the four of us to take a shorter (5 day or so) trip somewhere else.

I've toyed with the idea of buying another weeks worth of points at the beach location, that size contract usually sells for around $100 on Ebay, but the increase in the maintenance fees always stops me.

anyway, long post to say - terrible investment but we've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it over the years.

 

[VandVsmama]

Many years ago now (about 14!), my parents spent a boat load of money on a time share in Hawaii (they bought enough points that they'd be able to spend 6 weeks a year in a studio unit if they wanted to). They went once or twice a year for awhile and really enjoyed it. My mom kept talking about how it would be something that would pass down to my sister & I some day. At the time, I thought, "Um, ok."

Then my mom passed away from cancer. My dad got remarried. They tried using the time share in Hawaii a couple of times but his new wife hated it, so they haven't been back. A couple of years ago, my dad tried to get my sister to buy the timeshare off of him. The timeshare that she & I were to inherit at some point. She declined. I was given a similar offer and I declined, too. He has not been successful in finding a buyer.

I have considered buying into DVC, but a few years from now, we'll have a kid in college so there's college expenses coming up and we're not interested in financing a time share. Plus, I'll need to convince my DH that regular Florida WDW trips are a good idea. LOL. **IF** we were to purchase a timeshare, I would really only consider a DVC one because of the quality and the easy resale value.

 

[cabanafrau]

We've stayed in a fair share of timeshare properties by renting from owners who are leasing them out at a real deal, generally because they went on purchasing binges of great deals several years ago and have found out they can't use the amount of time and are willing to take what they can get to offset the yearly fees.

For us DVC seems like a serious investment for what's only a very occasional destination for us. Too many other places we want to travel more, and honestly at the way the resort has changed for at least seven years or more, WDW is probably a never again destination for us. DVC for DLR wouldn't really make sense for how rarely we plan trips there either.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Never had an interest.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Never had an interest.

 

[easyas123]

We've stayed in a fair share of timeshare properties by renting from owners who are leasing them out at a real deal, generally because they went on purchasing binges of great deals several years ago and have found out they can't use the amount of time and are willing to take what they can get to offset the yearly fees.

For us DVC seems like a serious investment for what's only a very occasional destination for us. Too many other places we want to travel more

This is us in a nutshell as well.

 

[kirstenb1]

We bought DVC back in 1993 at a great price per point. We got free park tickets for us and our guests until 2000. Those free tickets alone paid for what we paid for DVC. What a deal!!

We have had so many great vacations over the years, in Orlando, Vero and Hilton Head. However, DVC has gotten very expensive to buy in. If anyone asked me, I'd tell them to look into a resale contract.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

No and I’ve never been tempted. I can’t commit to something like that. There’s nowhere I want to travel to year after year or multiple times a year for the rest of my life. Even Disney. I like change. Plus life changes, interests change, priorities change, etc. Even if I love X place now I may not love it in 5 years.

Now I have done a 2 presentations.

My first was with my XH. It was our first Disney vacation and he found a cheap stay at Silver Lake but we had to do a presentation. This is how his parents did Disney every year when he was a kid so that’s how he wanted to do. I went along with it. Omg it was horrible. They went from 20k down to 2k. The lady we had was also Hispanic (I think they put us with her purposely) and she got mad when she realized we were not going to buy and then got nasty in Spanish lol. Told us why did we even bother going. The kids were in the daycare area and we finally told them we were leaving with our kids and to sign us out.

Second time was after my divorce. I was at a Wyndham resort for a bachelorette party and they offered $200 gift card to do the presentation. Plus a 3 night stay at any resort. Being newly divorced and broke I did it. It wasn’t so bad. They were a bit upset but they weren’t that intense. I used my Wyndham stay in DC and they offered me a 7 night stay if I did another presentation but i said heck no.

After that never again.

 

[AlohaNow]

No. I have no need to pre-pay my vacations. My in-laws bought into one and then promptly died. DH's two sisters wanted to split it three ways but we were like, no, you guys can have it. Please do not put our names on anything! My brother bought into DVC back in the day and has more than gotten the worth out of it already. I agree with upthread poster who said that DVC is just different than your typical RCI-type situation. I've always said that the person who came up with fractional vacation ownership is a genius. Also whoever decided to start marketing auto leases to individuals, whereas before they were just for companies. In both cases, the numbers hardly ever work out for the consumer, yet tons of people go for it. I'll just never understand it.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would also like to add I’m really good at finding vacation deals. Even with Disney. I’m also known to go to a place just because I’ve found cheap airfare. I did this with NOLA and Nashville most recently (pre covid). Jumped on the cheap airfare and then found really nice low cost Airbnb’s and went on vacation.

I prefer this to a timeshare.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

We own DVC points and have been more than happy with them. We weren't at all interested in any other time shares, but we realized that DVC, at least when we bought in, was very different. We bought BCV resale when there wasn't a difference in how we would be treated (resale v direct). We did a lot of research and realized that BCV was likely to retain its value because of the the location and the pool. We also bought smaller contracts which we knew would be easier to sell and would sell for higher prices. Unlike other timeshares, we knew we could easily sell our points for more than we paid for them, which has turned out to work well in our favor. But I would be a lot more cautious now about buying into DVC, especially direct. The newer contracts mean that a person who pays full price to buy into Riviera must sell to someone willing to stay only in Riviera until other new properties come online. Doesn't sound like a good deal to me. Eventually the selling price of BCV will probably start to decline due to the number of years left on the contract, and that's when we'll probably sell.

 

[beck02]

Yes, several. Happy enough with them. All bought resale for very little & I mostly knew what I was getting & it all fit with what I wanted. I take my sister & her family & we vacation together most years for 1 week. It's been great and our kids get to know each other better.

 

[_19disnA]

Also whoever decided to start marketing auto leases to individuals, whereas before they were just for companies. In both cases, the numbers hardly ever work out for the consumer, yet tons of people go for it. I'll just never understand it.

Owning a non-Disney time-share whose resale value likely will be -0- is different to me then an auto lease. With the lease you know at the time of purchase what the value will be at lease termination and the dealer agrees to returning the vehicle. You don't have the hassle of trying to sell it to others. Leasing may not work for some, but to me it is nothing like owning a time-share where you might get stuck paying ongoing fees even when it has -0- value and no viable way to dispose of it.

 

[robinb]

Yes. We’ve owned DVC for over 20 years.