Buying a Timeshare on the Retail Market

Buying timeshares on the retail market is well known to be more expensive than buying a used one from a reseller. In fact many experts who write about timeshares advise against buying a timeshare at the resort itself especially if the resort is still under construction, expanding or trying to sell new units. You should especially avoid so-called prizes for contests that feature a tour to a time share bargain, as the prizes are quick often not what they're cracked up to be. 

The reason that you don’t want to buy a retail timeshare is because they lose between 60% and 90% of their retail value the minute they are purchased. That is because most of the costs that you pay towards buying a time share that has never been used before are attributed to all kinds of above the line costs including legal fees, real estate agent commissions, and sales and marketing promotion expenses. These extra expenses don’t add any particular value to your time share and in fact detract from it the minute the time share is sold!

Most time share experts will advise buying a time share on the resellers market. In this case it is obvious that you can get a time share for 60% to 90% less then you would if you bought one on the retail market. Online you can find listing of units that are for sale by owners or lists of foreclosures. Usually a time share is foreclosed on when owners are unable to meet their fees that pay for the timeshare maintenance. 

The bargains that you find when you buy a time share on the reseller’s market are supposed to be extreme.  For instance a time share that cost $25,000 can be had for $3,000 and you don’t have to listen to the high pressure resell tactics that are often used by sales agents to get you to buy a new time share at retail prices.

Things to Look for When Buying a Timeshare