Should You Buy a Time-Share?

To judge the merits of time-shares, get familiar with the business. You should know that while many are deeded properties, others (especially outside the U.S.) are leases or right-to-use agreements, which don’t give you permanent real estate ownership. Also, vacation weeks come in three flavors: fixed (the same slot every year), floating (you can reserve different times in different years) and point-based. Under point-based systems, which are used by several of the giant hotel companies that operate time-shares, such as Disney, Marriott and Starwood, time-shares have specific values depending on the location of your resort and the time of year you stay. You can use the points to stay at any locale and sometimes for airline tickets or car rentals, too. Also key: The trade value of your property will be determined by whatever time-share exchange company is affiliated with your resort. That firm will handle transactions between your time-share and others around the globe, usually for a fee of about $160 per trade. The two largest are Resort Condominium International, owned by Wyndham Worldwide, and Interval International, owned by InterActiveCorp. For more details on ownership, use and trading, buy Schreier’s book and join the Timeshare Users Group, or TUG (www.tug2.net; $15 a year).
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