The Orlando Sentinel writes:
Time shares are often marketed as lifestyle investments, but some buyers are surprised to learn that they might as well be lifetime purchases. Although the industry boasts a very high buyer-satisfaction rate, people who want out often discover that they can sell only at very deep discounts -- if they can sell at all.
"I think the problem is that people confuse this product with other real-estate products," Nusbaum said. "This is a use product. It's like a car: It depreciates."
Time-share developers focus on churning out new units and selling their annual weeks through highly polished sales operations. Many aren't interested in resales, which compete with their own offerings.
'Most go down over time'
Michael Fine, president of Vacation Time Share Resales, notes that after-market time shares often cost far less than new units. His company is one of many that offer sellers an online market for their units.
"Buying a time share is like buying a luxury automobile," Fine said. "Some hold their value, but most go down over time."
The market itself is a patchwork. Some resale companies, such as Vacation Time Share Resales, charge a commission when a unit sells, but others demand upfront listing fees.
"In the case of time-share resales, it is a case of buyer beware -- and seller beware, too," said Lisa Ann Schreier, an Orlando time-share expert and author of Timeshare Vacations for Dummies. "One thing I tell everybody who wants to sell: Don't ever pay anyone a listing fee to sell your property."
Schreier also said buyers should not think of time shares as real estate but rather a long-term investment in future vacations.
"Technically, this is real estate, but it's not Donald Trump real estate," Schreier said. "The time-share industry has used the real-estate-investment ploy for a long time. Is it really real estate? Yes. But it just doesn't behave like it."
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