Questions - What exactly is a timeshare? Why would I want to share it, whatever it may be, with someone on a beach in California? Even if I do want to do it, does it cost me any anything and more importantly, what do I get? Hold on! I may sound like an insurance agent, but I’m not hustling you into buying something. This is a neutral, inormative and unbiased opinion about timeshares. Do it right, and you could end up having great vacations at a fraction of the cost. Do it wrong, and your blood presurre will shoot up at the very mention of a holiday. Which is why it’s even more important that you know all about it.

Timesares are a kind of vacation property ownership. By property, we mean anything which you can stay in or use on a vacation, be it an apartment, condo, ranch, houseboat, yacht, private jet, trailers or camping grounds. The basic concept is that you share the costs of owning and maintaining aforementioned item(s) with others who want to vacation in the same place. So, instead of renting, booking or buying a place on your own, you arrange with others to ‘joint-purchase’ and then take vacations there at different times of the year, so you all don’t end up there at the same time.

Now this process has been turned into a fine art by timeshare brokers and resellers, which is now a big business by itself. These people, or companies, make the actual purchase of the property, and resell to you rights to vacation there every year at a specific time of the year. Sounds fair, but what’s the advantage here? I mean, you might just as well book a hotel, if you have to buy a holiday package from a company, right? Well, that depends on your business saavy in spotting a low prices holiday timeshare. Now this is where the danger comes in. A lot of unscrupolous resellers are ever willing to relieve you of the burden of keeping your own money, in exchange for part ownership of a rat-hole in a god-forsaken corner of the world. Beware of these people, and never, ever, make a deal with someone you don’t know everything about.

As far as I’m concerned, the best way to make effective use of this concept is for corporate companies to buy vacation homes and arrange for timeshare holidays there for their own employees. Not a chance of being duped, and everybody wins. The company can offer a great additional benefit to employees, and employees can enjoy a magnificient holiday without worrying about the costs.

Let’s talk specifics. Suppose you wanted to find out more about these thingies, or find what kind of places are available or a timesare, well, then there’s no better place to start than on www.redweek.com, wich has a marketplace and user reviews of timeshares, or www.timeshareperspective.com, which publishes timeshare news. Redweek, for the record, is a time of the year, such as the week between Christmas and the New Year, when everyone is on a holiday, hotel rooms are packed, and timeshares during this week costs a lot more than they would at other times of the year. As for RedWeek, the website, it has a timeshare marketplace where you can list timeshares you want to sell, or browse listings of timeshares for sale, and contact sellers. Timeshare resorts are listed, along with reviews and important things you should know about the company behind the timeshare and the quality of amneties provided.

In summary, if you know what you are doing, you might not only be able to enjoy a sweet vacation each year without having to pay for it, but actually end up making money by reselling shares of your purchased time. Course, you could also end up broke and the proud part owner of a ramshackle resort in the middle of the desert which promises a great beach-front view, buthey, that’s what America is all about. All milk and honey and brotherly love and …hustlers. And fly-by-night operators…And gullible timeshare buyers… Well, if get saddled with a timeshare you don’t want, you could always donate it to www.timesharedonations.org

Web Links: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/timesharing/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-share

http://www.redweek.com/timeshare-companies

Posted on December 30th, 2007 by PLing
Filed under: TimeShares