Multiple TS

[tturla]

I am in the market for a new TS to purchase. First time resale, so I have been reading threads on how to buy a timeshare either privately or through a real estate company. Then I read about the challenges of closing, with many closing companies with their pros and minuses.

Many of the threads have TUGers who state that they have bought and sold multiple TS, some up to 20 per year? I can't imagine going through the process multiple times every year! Who are these members who do this? Is it for their own use? Do they rent their TS? It does not appear that they do this to profit from buying (or getting free) and then turn around and selling the TS. Do they use the TS, get bored from it, so they sell and buy another? Their are so many experts that know the complexity of the whole system and I do appreciate all the helpful info. I am just wondering what's the incentive for buying and selling TS so often and frequently.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

There are four main reasons to buy a timeshare. Use, rent out, exchange, resell, or a combination. Nobody is regularly buying 20 timeshares a year without at least the intention of making a profit.

 

[dagger1]

We bought 4 Wyndham CWA contracts, 3 Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch fixed weeks/units (2 Annual, 1 EOY), a Hyatt Mainstreet Station fixed ski week/floating summer and fall, and a floating EOY Marriott Ko’Olina in the last 14 months. All to use, none rent or trade. All took 3-4 months from offer to new account setup, but very easy transactions.

 

[elizk]

Tturla, we find ourselves in a similar situation! I have been a member here for a while, reading everything I can find on resale. I am ready to purchase a resale week, I really wish I had known about TUG back when I first bought. What an amazing amount of information and personal experiences here!

I tend to be a lurker - hesitant to offer a post, others seem so much better educated on a given topic. But I must say, members are consistently kind and well informed in their answers.

 

[VacationForever]

In the past 7 years, I have bought 3 resales and after using for a few years, resold all of them, with 2 of them resold this year. All that I have left are the ones bought through developers, 1 prior to finding TUG and many more after discovering TUG. In some circumstances, buying from developers work but most of time they do not. As a newbie, I would say keep learning the system and to buy the first timeshare from resale.

 

[VegasBella]

I think the ones who are doing large multiple buys like that are mostly buying to rent out. They are likely buying many small points contracts and combining them to get good options to rent out.

The only others who do it are the full-time timesharing people. There are a handful of people who don't have a regular permanent residence and just travel year-round. They prefer nice accomodations, not RVs or camping so they do timeshares.

I only own three ownerships. I could see owning more but never 20.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

Many people do buy to rent out but I primarily buy to resell and then I rent out if I have extra usage. I find it is more profitable over time to resell because there are always more to buy.

 

[hjsweet2002]

We bought seven resale timeshare contracts since 2011; one from a commercial resale and six on EBay. We used them for our personal vacations and have shared them with family.

 

[MOXJO7282]

I am in the market for a new TS to purchase. First time resale, so I have been reading threads on how to buy a timeshare either privately or through a real estate company. Then I read about the challenges of closing, with many closing companies with their pros and minuses.

Many of the threads have TUGers who state that they have bought and sold multiple TS, some up to 20 per year? I can't imagine going through the process multiple times every year! Who are these members who do this? Is it for their own use? Do they rent their TS? It does not appear that they do this to profit from buying (or getting free) and then turn around and selling the TS. Do they use the TS, get bored from it, so they sell and buy another? Their are so many experts that know the complexity of the whole system and I do appreciate all the helpful info. I am just wondering what's the incentive for buying and selling TS so often and frequently.

I could be wrong and not sure the volume that Saintsfanfl does but don't think it's 20/year, more like a handful a year maybe? So don't think he's doing it to make a substantial profit but more just to keep improving his portfolio and making some profit along the way.

And what he does is rare among TUGGERS so I really don't think you see many TUGGERS buying and selling TS just as a way of profiting from the sale because it would take much more than 20 in that scenario to make a living. The people that buy and sell for profit are big ebay type buyers and sellers that make more off of the processing of the timeshare by being in bed with the closing agents than from the sale.

I say this because from my experience it's not easy to find a low priced quality TS that your just going to easily flip for a profit at least for the Marriott TSs I track although I'm pretty sure it's true for TSs across the board.

Personally I've probably bought about 40 Marriott TSs and sold maybe 15-20 and currently have 25 Marriott TSs. From that experience I can tell you out of those 40 I could've probably flipped quickly 10 for a profit of maybe 10-15% profit. The rest were all good to very good deals but none that would've made a quick profit so it's just not that easy.

What is more common for people that are buying multiple TSs is they buy to use and rent. Again I don't sense a lot do it but there are a few that are frequent renters and I fall into that category as I rent out 20+ Marriott TSs a year.

The OP mentions the challenges with closing companies and that is certainly true, especially some of the big ebay sellers are just terrible at keeping buyers informed and from doing the closing in a timely fashion. I very much prefer an individual seller where I can suggest the closing company and will even offer to pay the fee if I can use my own because it just makes it so much easier and quicker.

For me ebay is almost always a broker who is likely to be slow and unresponsive with Redweek having more owners that you can easily deal with. There are brokers on Redweek too so it can happen there where you get a less than professional broker but for me RW is the way to go. I only buy from ebay if it is a deal I can't refuse and that has happened so I take my chances when it does.

 

[taterhed]

Tturla, we find ourselves in a similar situation! I have been a member here for a while, reading everything I can find on resale. I am ready to purchase a resale week, I really wish I had known about TUG back when I first bought. What an amazing amount of information and personal experiences here!

I tend to be a lurker - hesitant to offer a post, others seem so much better educated on a given topic. But I must say, members are consistently kind and well informed in their answers.

So......

There is really no benefit in buying/selling timeshares....unless you'd like to start a new career; and a challenging one at that.

IMHO, people buy for business or personal reasons. Let's discard the business reasons.
Those who buy for recreation either buy to use/trade, are building/dismantling a portfolio, or are trading-in one timeshare for a better/cheaper one. But, who really cares why they buy and sell so much? Same goes for cars, houses and spouses/partners !!

Buying a resale timeshare doesn't need to be difficult. The closing has always been the easy part for us. My view?
There are basically three ways to buy a resale (or more I'm sure)

1. A commercial resale business: Could be real estate or broker or 'Dan's timeshare sales and car wash: buy a full detail hand-wash, get a free timeshare!" Some are more professional than others. Some are more regulated that others. Some are not really a 'business,' but more of a smoke-and-mirrors shell game.
2. Auction: Ebay, foreclosure auction etc.... Just like white-water rafting, there are different levels of difficulty and lots of surprises around the next bend. Some of those surprises are exciting (yea!) and some are just plain scary (boo). Every sale is different, some are more vanilla, some never happen at all.
3. Private: Well, that says it all. The details are private, the reputation is (probably) private, the outcome is likely to be private as well. Would you buy a used car from this person?

Out of the three above, I've used two: Private sale from forum (good outcome), commercial resale from agent (registered) and commercial resale from non-agent (both very good). You'll notice I've never said anything about closing. That's because all the closings were handled by respected closing agencies that I researched and trusted. The closer was either bonded and registered or had well-known public bona-fides. The closing doesn't have to be scary.....it's often your choice. If the seller exclusively uses their own closing agent, then you MUST trust the seller--and the closer by proxy. Research, research, research. Don't buy from an unknown, mediocre seller without lots of research and trusted reviews.

If you'll just research on TUG, you'll find the names of many trusted sellers, trusted closers (ok, not many, but a few...) and lots of reviews on both. Ebay sellers? There are a few Ebay sellers with decent reputations (depends on property you are seeking) but ANY Ebay sale requires you to be extra vigilant and due diligence on your part. As with any timeshare sale, I'd strongly recommend that you demand a copy of the Estoppel Letter before considering any purchase. If the seller refuses....then pass on by.

Great advice here if you haven't seen it! TUG Timeshare purchase checklist

Cheers.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

I’ve bought 47 timeshares this year and sold 22. It is on the side as I have a full time job. It is obviously not normal but there are all types of methods out there.

 

[pacman777]

I got into timeshares about 3 years ago and thankfully I never got suckered into buying from the developer. I’ve bought resale and built up a nice portfolio of 24 units. I ve also sold a few (always for profit). If I had to liquidate all my properties now I would think the overall value would be about 15%on average more than I paid but it would take some time to do it. Let’s just say I view it as a real life game of monopoly.

 

[DaveNV]

OP, if you're looking to buy your first timeshare, don't worry about what others are doing. You should focus on getting the one you want, at the price you like, that gives you the value you want, for the reasons you choose to buy it. After you've achieved that goal, you can decide if you need another. One at a time is best, in my opinion, until or unless you develop a reason to want to buy more than that. It's generally a lot easier to get into a timeshare than it is to get out of one.

I've been involved in timeshares about 12 years. In that time, I've bought and then sold maybe ten. In my experience, the best way to learn about owning any resort or system is to become an owner. I think at one point, I bought and sold four in one year. But in all those cases, either the ownership wasn't a good fit for me, the resort (or resort system) wasn't what I thought it was, or I found something else I liked better. In the case of one resort, I bought, then sold one unit with a certain view type without ever staying there. Then I turned around and bought another identical unit in the same resort, but with a better view type. I didn't know at the time I bought the first one that the better view was a much better thing, even though it was for the same costs as the lesser view. That knowledge only came about by becoming an owner.

Currently I own one floating biennial week at a very nice place in California, (that is part of a mini-system that offers a great internal exchange program), and I'm in escrow for the purchase of WorldMark points. Between the two I should have exactly the sort of vacation options I want.

Dave

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Hi tturla,
When I first found TUG , I only read threads and posts on the resort ( Mayan - Vidanta) that I owned .Then I found " recent posts " and started reading all kinds of TS stuff - AND I WONDERED - as well.

One reason some TUG members own multiple timeshares is the " low cost trader "
I will explain it in the context of the RCI weeks / TPU program .
My Mayan Palace 1 bedroom suite - 2018 MF $ 715 gets 21 TPU's =$ 34 cost per TPU
A Mayan - 2 bedroom ( lock off ) $ 875 MF / with each side deposited separately gets 21 +16=37
for a cost of $ 23 per TPU .

There are TUG members who say that their best RCI weeks traders gets them $ 11 per TPU.Some of these folks have never stayed at or visited the resort they use as a trader .

There are also RCI points traders - The Grandview Las Vegas ( if week is in points) as an example of low MF to points cost ratio .

AND - traders within various TS systems that use internal points / usually because of MF differences between properties in the same system.

So - if ( for example ) someone owns a fixed week at a ski location ( ie Presidents Week ) - they use that week for skiing AND they have a cost efficient " trader " to use in RCI and - etc etc .

It made sense when I finally figured it out by reading TUG "stuff " regularly .

 

[Panina]

One reason some TUG members own multiple timeshares is the " low cost trader "
I will explain it in the context of the RCI weeks / TPU program .
My Mayan Palace 1 bedroom suite - 2018 MF $ 715 gets 21 TPU's =$ 34 cost per TPU
A Mayan - 2 bedroom ( lock off ) $ 875 MF / with each side deposited separately gets 21 +16=37
for a cost of $ 23 per TPU .

There are TUG members who say that their best RCI weeks traders gets them $ 11 per TPU.Some of these folks have never stayed at or visited the resort they use as a trader .
.

Just be aware that just because a week is a low cost trader today doesn't mean it will be tomorrow. Rci can and has changed Tpu values for some low cost traders in the past.

I own many weeks, almost all good traders but what I look for most is great location, high demand time, where and when I want to go, with reasonable maintenance fees. Win win for me as if I don't go even with trade fees still affordable to trade. In addition, when I no longer want them easy to find a new owner.