In The Market for a Timeshare? Read This

There's still plenty of summer vacation left and plenty of opportunities to be solicited to purchase a timeshare.  If you find yourself across the table from a salesperson after a 90 minute---OK, 4 hour sales pitch, stop and breathe for a minute.

While it is true that timeshare can be a terrific way to vacation for many people, there are important things to understand that the salesperson may not cover or that they may "gloss over"...I should know...I spent 6 years on various sales floors in the Orlando area.

 

Here are some questions that you had better get full and complete answers to:

 

1)    Do you understand all the terms and conditions of the contract?

 

2)    What are the current maintenance fees?

 

3)    What is the five (5) year history of those fees?

 

4)    Are there any special assessments and if so, what are they and what are they for?

 

5)    Is the HOA (Home Owners Association) under developer control or owner control? 

 

6)    How much of the resort is sold out?

 

7)    What is the current delinquency rate among owners?

 

Remember also to avoid anyone using the words “free”, “perfect”, “always” and :never.”  Free and perfect don’t exist and always and never are exceeding long periods of time.