posted 05-25-2005 17:02               

Enter timeshares. Less to buy, less to maintain and the location can be fixed as our Cape Cod summer week is as we enjoy every visit or float as our Orlando unit is so we can vary when we use it. Then we have our points that let us travel virtually anywhere at will. Cost? Not even 10% of the cottage but lacking in the the possible capital gain. I'll take the lower cost and flexibility even though I'll never regret all those years of memories at the cottage. My daughter considers our timeshares as her summer and holiday homes so the tradition continues. But at a much lower cost in areas we never could have seen if we still had to maintain that cottage by the bay.

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John Chase
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posted 05-25-2005 18:55               

[This message has been edited by reddiablosv (edited 05-25-2005).]

posted 05-25-2005 21:04               

Joan

posted 05-25-2005 21:46               

But for as little as we stayed there, it was way too costly. So after a couple of years we sold the double-wide for $35,000 or so, which (after sales commissions) means we came short of breaking even, not even counting all those monthly & quarterly costs.

Now we have a dinky 34-foot travel trailer on a site in a nice park right next to the park where we formerly had our double-wide. It's a seasonal park, not year-round. The park turns the water on the end of April & shuts it off the end of October. Annual rent for the season = $800. (That includes water & sewer.) Our used ("resale") 1999 CoachMen trailer cost us about $11,000 (eBay). For propane & electric power, per season, we pay about $110. We mow our own postage-stamp-size "lawn."

We go to the trailer slightly oftener than we used to go to the double-wide & we have just about as much fun when we go -- without feeling we've laid out too much money for too little use.

On top of that, thanks to TUG, we got ourselves a top-quality, luxurious, spacious 3BR Floating Diamond lock-off timeshare in Orlando FL that we like to go to (& so do our son & daughter-in-law) -- so much so that we never deposit it for exchange, just use it ourselves within the family.

We got the timeshare used ("resale") via eBay for nickels on the dollar. Even paying the annual fees, reserves, & taxes, it's an extravagant place to stay without running up extravagant costs -- a luxury vacation condo at the approximate cost of a hotel or motel.

The Orlando timeshare worked out so well that -- also thanks to TUG -- we took the South African timeshare plunge, acquiring a 2BR fixed red week at minimal cost that (so far) has been good for exchanges into nice USA timeshare resorts at times that suit our travel plans.

In all, with the dinky trailer & the 2 timeshares, we have as many vacation travel opportunities as we want to use. If we desire more in the future, I have an idea we will start looking once again into timeshare "points" -- but that's another story.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.

posted 05-26-2005 05:57               

I loved that place, have fantastic memories, and agree that when the kids are little it is the best way to go. As time went on and I grew up, I realized that I didn't want to have a "second home" because then you are tied to using it for all of your holidays (and there is no end to the work). Well, you have invested all that money right? Why spend even more traveling someplace when you already have a cabin?

When my husband started making noises about a cabin at the lake, I remembered that feeling of obligation to spend all free time there and said I didn't think that it was a great idea.

Enter timesharing! Besides the variety of the locations and the luxury of the accomodations, that investment thing STILL makes you feel obligated to use it. I consider that to be one of the best aspects of a timeshare purchase - it MAKES you take your holiday time, just like that second home does. Otherwise, there are always too many other distractions in life (like work?) that keep getting in the way.

For different stages of our lives and/or different desires in a vacation, each makes sense. But, if you like to travel, I vote for timesharing!

LeAnn

posted 05-26-2005 07:47               

quote:

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Originally posted by LeAnn Thom:
[B]... Besides the variety of the locations and the luxury of the accomodations, that investment thing STILL makes you feel obligated to use it. I consider that to be one of the best aspects of a timeshare purchase - it MAKES you take your holiday time, just like that second home does. Otherwise, there are always too many other distractions in life (like work?) that keep getting in the way.
...
.B]

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No second home for us - the first is an older home and plenty of work. I used to think it'd be great to own rental properties, but after seeing the hassles a friend of mine went thru, and then owning our current home, No Way.

posted 05-26-2005 10:21               

We now own 3 second homes in Mexico and its been great! We bought the original one as a second home with no intentions of renting. We just wanted to own a home on the beach. To this day, we never rent this one.

We then bought another one and use soley as a rental. It is rented around 80% of the year as vacation rentals and very profitable. We have to turn away rentals quite often as we are full. Because of this, we bought another one which will be done in July. When we move into that one, we will turn the original one that we are moving out of into a second rental.

The way I see it, if you can own a second home that brings in thousands of dollars in profit every year along with the fact that you can use it, it is a great way to go.Especially if they are seeing a lot of appreciation. It just depends on the exact situation. If you are going to own a second home home that sits empty and just costs you money, its a bad idea. Kind of like timeshares Maz

posted 05-29-2005 14:05            

Since it is within a three hour drive of our home, frequent trips to the ocean provided R&R getaways over the years. The money we invested, thanks to the value of beach front property on the east coast, is now my extra retirement cushion, if the need arises. The annual expenses I incur are easily taken care of with a few weeks rental.

Over the years, I did make payments and spend time painting, cleaning and decorating my vacation home. For me, the pride of ownership was a dream fulfilled. I can now spend summers at the beach, a thought I would day dream, for many years.

Timeshare's however, are my new love. Because as much as I love summers at the beach, I love flying out of the snow in the winter. We own two timeshares and are working on a third.

posted 05-30-2005 09:05               

quote:

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Originally posted by Maz:
Owning second homes is either the best thing in the world or the worse thing...For us it has been fantastic!

We now own 3 second homes in Mexico and its been great! We bought the original one as a second home with no intentions of renting. We just wanted to own a home on the beach. To this day, we never rent this one.

We then bought another one and use soley as a rental. It is rented around 80% of the year as vacation rentals and very profitable. We have to turn away rentals quite often as we are full. Because of this, we bought another one which will be done in July. When we move into that one, we will turn the original one that we are moving out of into a second rental.

The way I see it, if you can own a second home that brings in thousands of dollars in profit every year along with the fact that you can use it, it is a great way to go.Especially if they are seeing a lot of appreciation. It just depends on the exact situation. If you are going to own a second home home that sits empty and just costs you money, its a bad idea. Kind of like timeshares Maz

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Wow Maz you are my hero!!!!

I knew that you owned a condo in Punta Mita but didn't know you owned three in Mexico. Where else do you own in Mexico?

I thought I was good since we now own seven timeshares weeks and rent out 3 weeks. We were able to rent our three weeks for over $3,600 and our maintenance on seven weeks is about $3,200 so we now vacation 4 weeks a year for free including exchaange fees and II and RCI memberships.

If I knew I could buy some vacation condo's and rent them out for a profit I would certainly do that as well but probably wouldn't have the guts to buy them outside of the USA.

posted 05-30-2005 18:33               

We own 10 t/s. 8 in Daytona, 1 in Atlantic Beach, NC and one 1 n Banner Elk, NC. We use 6 each year and rent the other 4 out each year (usually to the same people). Our rentals cover about 80% of the mf + taxes on all 10.

So, we have 5 beachfront weeks and one mountain week each year at prime times for our own use, my 'out of pocket' mf + taxes after rentals are around $1000 and my total purchase costs were well under $20k total for all of them. For us, owning a beachfront place with the hassles makes no sense. Granted, there is no real appreciation in the timeshares like there is on beachfront property.

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Steve H. Barr
Raleigh, NC

Assorted summer Daytona and North Carolina beach weeks.

posted 06-01-2005 09:05               

quote:

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Originally posted by Larry:
Wow Maz you are my hero!!!!

I knew that you owned a condo in Punta Mita but didn't know you owned three in Mexico. Where else do you own in Mexico?

If I knew I could buy some vacation condo's and rent them out for a profit I would certainly do that as well but probably wouldn't have the guts to buy them outside of the USA.

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Larry,

We own all 3 in Punta Mita...As a matter of fact, we just arrived here last night after the 2 day drive from Scottsdale. We normally fly as it is only a 2 hour non stop flight but in the summer we are here for 3 months straight and the airlines kill ya on fares if you stay over 30 days. Plus...We like the chance to get larger items down here. Last here it was a new stove and plasma tv..This year it was a double oven and dishwasher etc (for the new place)...

Ya, its funny...We bought the first one as a second beach home. Bought the second one because we wanted to try the rental thing. First year the rental was rented out almost 80% of the weeks of the year (weekly rentals) and this year we are pacing even higher! The rental brings in approx $40,000 a year in rental income but with rising rents in the area (Punta Mita) that should improve. This year we are way ahead of last year in the way of rentals...

The nice thing about Mexico is the hired help is so affordable. We have a full time lady who does everything from cleaning the condo before and after rentals to daily maid service. We pay her almost $5000 USD a year and that includes the 8 hours a day she works for us when we are there 4 months out of the year.My neighbors give me guff for over-paying her but we dont mind as she has been with us for 4 years now and is like family.

She cleans every day and is our baby sitter. She has been baby sitting for our 3 1/2 year old daughter since she was born so they have a real bond. She only speaks spanish and we like it that way as we get tons of practice . Its cool seeing our daughter learning spanish at such a young age.
When our 3rd condo is finished and we move in, our 2nd condo will become a second rental and she will have her hands full. Mexico is a great place to own a second home if you want rental income as it rents year round. Places like Cape Cod etc have a very short rental window.

Anyway..In summary, I can only say that owning second homes in Mexico has been one of the best things we have ever done not just from a financial sense but also a life sense. I highly recommend it if you like beaches and want rental income. The bonus is that the people are absolutely fantastic down here. Maz