Originally Posted by
seaduck79
Having sat through one of these presentations, they didn't hassle me afterwards, except for a few emails to see if I had reconsidered.
As to the basic arithmetic, I'm totally with you. Why should I pay $50k for the privilege of paying $3k for my vacation lodging, when I can already pay $3k without having to also pay the $50k?
Exactly. My parents bought 3 of these things before I convinced them that they could just get a suite at a hotel for what they were paying in "maintenance costs". For some reason they seemed to think that the downpayment was not a sunk cost and they could re-sell the timeshares. They finally understood that these things don't just sell themselves at that price -- they require a lot of work from salespeople earning fat commissions. The property will buy them back, but it's at pennies on the dollar.
What also gets ignored is the cost of making the investment. A quick web search shows that a 10-year CD yields well over 3% annually. Depending in your income and your state, that is probably 2% after tax return for most people. So you can add another $1,000 / year in hidden costs to the maintenance fees.