South Bay Homes and Real Estate

South Bay Real Estate Investing: Be Wise and Escape the Timeshare Trap

If you’re new to real estate investing in the South Bay area, you should know that buying a timeshare is one of the worst mistakes a real estate investor can make. In the beginning it seems like a fantastic idea. For a predetermined amount, which seems dirt cheap, you get the right to stay for free at a resort or holiday apartment.

Usually the deal is that you get a couple of weeks out of every year. It sounds like a great bargain, considering how expensive hotels can be. This is precisely the reason why many people continue to fall for the timeshare trap. It is only when they have been lured into signing the contract and giving up their hard-earned cash that they realize how completely they have been deceived.

Timeshares: Why They’re Bad Investments

Why is timeshare considered such a huge hoax? The bottom line is that you as a buyer are not making any sort of investment at all. The only thing you achieve when you sign a timeshare contract is to put money in the pockets of both the sales personnel who push you into purchasing and the proprietors who own the resorts.

Many buyers fail to completely take into account the annual payments the have to make on top of the initial purchase price. You get so excited by the idea of free getaways that you do not realize that you will also have to pay keep the resort running. This can reach anywhere from $500 to $1000 annually. It is only when the bills for the payments come in that they discover how much they have been misled.

Think about it for a second — do you really want to keep going to the same location, stay at the same hotel in say, Hermosa Beach, every year? Even the most breathtaking of vistas eventually lose their power with constant exposure. Furthermore, timeshare buyers may be shocked to learn that they are restricted to visiting the resort only in the off season. Slick sales personnel are wise to downplay these sorts of things, and will often fail to inform you of facts like you will be paying too much and that you will not be allowed to visit during the best times of the year.

Is it too late to get rid of my Time Share?

Unfortunately, this information may be reaching you too late. You may have already taken the bait and sealed the deal. If you have already fallen for the timeshare trap, what do you do? The best strategy seems to be to find some other poor schmuck who is naive enough to buy your South Bay timeshare from you. This is easier said than done, as many investors are now quite savvy about the downside of timeshare deals. It is unlikely that you will find anyone willing to buy your timeshare from you, at least not at the same price you paid.

Your only recourse is to bite the bullet, slash 30-50% off your asking price, and charge it to experience. It seems like a drastic measure, but there is really no other way to escape the money-sucking predicament you have gotten yourself into. Your only choices are to sell at a loss, and be glad of the many potential buyers you will get, or swallow your disgust and take advantage of some resort’s resale programs.