© Krystal International Vacation Club (Flickr) Krystal International Vacation Club KIVC – Puerto Vallarta
© Krystal International Vacation Club (Flickr)
Timeshare facts to consider before buying
The basics
When buying a timeshare, there are many factors to consider. Some of these basic factors are mortgage payments and expenses, travel cost such as how much the air fare will be to travel back and forth to the timeshare as often as a person tends to stay there. All timeshares have maintenance fees and property taxes which must be paid yearly, whether the timeshare get used or not. Moreover, maintenance fees and property taxes can increase periodically. So, a buyer would want to know if there is a cap or the maintenance fee amount.
Location
The first thing to consider when purchasing any type of real estate is location. When looking to purchase a timeshare, the buyer should make sure that the quality of the timeshare resort is what they are looking for, and they should speak with other timeshare owners regarding their experiences with the resort. Moreover, a buyer should check to see if there are any past or ongoing complaints with the resort developer or management company.
Contract awareness
Review contract
A presentation is always presented to potential timeshare buyers, but a buyer should not go solely off of the presentation when deciding to purchase a timeshare. They should also review the timeshare contract. Having a real estate attorney review the contract before making a final decision is always a smart move.
Never sign on an impulse
A timeshare contract should never be signed on an impulse, under pressure, or on promises made by a sales person. A sales person may make verbal promises but if it is not written into the sales contract, then the promises do not mean anything.
Limited-time offers
Most of the time, during a timeshare presentation, the sales person will try to offer a limited-time purchase incentive. A lot of these incentives have good value attached to them, but a buyer should never feel pressurised to make a purchase.