Need Guidance on a Timeshare
I don’t know that I’m going to get many visitors who can provide me with any help, but I’m going to take that chance. A couple of years ago when Jay and I want to Las Vegas we bought a timeshare. We were put into the points system with RCI, which would let us trade in our points for other timeshares. It seemed like a great idea and probably is. I don’t know if it’s a scam, or if it’s just my inability to get this figured out but at this point I have to do something. Currently, we’re paying $325/mo for the loan and $700/yr for the maintenance fees on our 2 condo suite.
If you’re any good at math, that’s $4600/yr. I am paying $4,600 every year and not taking any vacations because there’s no money left for vacations. My loan is like 10 years, so that means I have 7-8 more years of this. It feels like it’s time to get out of this trap, but I don’t know how. What I’m looking for is someone who has experience with timeshares that can steer me in a helpful direction to either sell or just get rid of it somehow. I’m sure it’s possible to do everything they’ve said I could do with it (rent out the room, take wonderful vacations for cheap, etc) but that’s not what’s going on. If you can’t pay for a timeshare outright, or within a couple years, or have an abundance of extra cash floating around.. I suggest that you not buy one.
I called the owner services and they suggested a) find a timeshare resale place online (but she made a note to mention there are scams and there’s no way to know which ones are the scams); b) contact a realtor about trying to sell it for me; c) a deed back program where the timeshare has to be paid off; or d) straight up selling it to someone. Any of these looking attractive to you? They all sound about as good as e) stop paying for it altogether and take the hit on my credit.
Help!
I don’t want to speak negative about the RCI points program but I used to work for the Loyalty department – they handled the rewards and points for RCI, Wells Fargo, BAO, etc. Members would build up tons of points and they’d hardly be worth anything. It does seem like quite a bit… Not sure if it’s worth it because I’ve never owned a time share before. But if I had the chance, I wouldn’t involve myself with the RCI points program. Not worth the hassle.