It seems sketchy as hell.

They sell an apartment, that apartment in resort. The price is about typical normal apartment.

They said that I own that apartment, and can visit the resort few days a year, enjoying staying at that apartment. Just book your day and they handled the rest. I still not fully wrapped my head about this concept yet, but why not stay there forever but “book” ?

My aunt said this seems good deal. But I feel something fishy.

Is it a good investment compared to normal apartment in residence building ?

Can someone tell me more details on this type of real estate?

    • Max-P@lemmy.max-p.me
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      1 month ago

      The worst is it’s not even like you buy a share of a single unit to share and keep well maintained, it effectively behaves like a hotel you have a stake in and and get to go 1-2 weeks a year for free and they’re usually quite poorly maintained too.

      For some reason boomers thought it was a good idea, because gotta buy and own properties. I guess the idea was you could buy a vacation home but for only the few weeks a year you really want it.

      It’s such a con, if you inherit it from your parents it’s really hard to get rid of it too, because nobody wants them now that it’s well known to be bullshit. You might as well just rent an Airbnb, it’s probably cheaper.

    • hahattpro@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 month ago

      Wow, thanks.

      So, timeshare is kind of pay all of your vacation (rent) cost for the room in 50-100year ?

      Wow, those saleman turn them into real estate and say it is real estate that you can resell for profit.

      • theit8514@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        In the US they are usually governed as real estate legally. You can resell it, but most people aren’t interested in paying the maintenance fees. You’ll find all sorts of timeshares out there being resold for 1$ because they just don’t want to pay the maintenance fee anymore.

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
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        1 month ago

        Nope, there’s whole industries out there that are built around helping people escape their timeshares. To make it resellable … there have to be other people who want to buy it…

  • Fosheze@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    It’s a timeshare and it is basically a scam for most people. Basically you’re buying time to stay at the place that you can technically use at any time year round as long as you book it in advance. The problem is that all of the days that most people go on vacations (spring break, summer, holidays, etc) will already be booked by the 500 other people who also bought the same thing. So really the only times you will actually be able to use the place are when no one else wants to be there.

    If you have the ability and desire to drop everything and vacation there on a random week whenever it happens to be available then it can still be a good deal for you, but most people have obligations like work, school, or family that limits when they can just drop everything and leave to spend time at their timeshare.

    • MagicShel@programming.dev
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      1 month ago

      Disney vacation club hasn’t been bad, tbh, but the industry as a whole is super sketchy. Also we haven’t tried to get out of it, but mainly because it’s been fine.

        • MagicShel@programming.dev
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          1 month ago

          I mean that’s fine. We don’t even go to the parks most of the time. They have some really nice properties elsewhere. Hilton head was nice, for example, but of course it’s just a nice hotel at that point.

          Say all the things about them being an evil, soulless company, and I’ll agree but they have great customer service which is important to us when we’re risking a chuck of change hoping for a good vacation experience.

          Vacationing has been different since getting older. I do miss some of the more adventurous travels when I was in my thirties, but these days consistency and customer service are really nice.

          • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
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            1 month ago

            I can understand that. I can respect customer service. Honestly its their content over anything that gives me the ten foot pole thing. The best things from them seem to come out of allowing their ip to be used by a better companies implementation. Like kingdom hearts.

  • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    That’s called a timeshare, and they’re not a good idea. Very sketchy, almost impossible to get rid of if you don’t want it.

    You have to sign up because although you bought the apartment, you’re not the only one who bought the apartment.

    You buy it and then get to sign up to use it, and then you pay a fee to use it every year even if you don’t end up using it.

    You don’t get to live there.

  • AbidingOhmsLaw@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    Sounds like a time share. You would own a percentage of the apartment with a bunch of other people, You would have to book the time you wanted to use the apartment and you would be limited to the number of weeks you could book as the other people would be there when your not. Also lots and lots of rules!

    • hahattpro@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 month ago

      Is owning timeshare similar to owning stock in vacation/hotel company? Can I get profit out of it ?

      • AbidingOhmsLaw@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        usually not, you have to be the person who stays there, you can’t sublet. And you still have to pay your percentage weather you use your time or not.

      • NaN@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 month ago

        No. You will not profit. You will have a very difficult time getting out of it and lose money.

        Timeshares are a scam. They often do “earn a free night” presentations for people who don’t know any better.

  • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    You need to book it because you are not the only person who “owns” it. Many people do, and usually you can only book like 1-2 weeks a year or something.

    Despite paying the full price of an apartment you’re only really buying 1/52 of an apartment

    Plus they have you pay a bunch of maintenance fees which can be a few hundred to thousands a year.

    • hahattpro@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 month ago

      But the price is about an apartment, but only a bit cheaper (1-2% cheaper). Why i only own only one or two week ?

      • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        Because that’s where they trick you. They sell you something as if it’s a good deal when really it’s not, and they make a ton of money by selling the same thing to 50 other people.

  • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    A friend had one in mexico, it wasn’t a full scam but very scammy. The property manager said rental market was not good certain years, but it waa possible they just skimmed the profits. Later they property managers did not take care of structure so less rental opportunity. Trying to sell it was also difficult because the local agents know you are in a bind and you get lowball offers