Should I buy a Timeshare in Orlando?

If You want to get discount theme park tickets in Orlando, the best way to do so is to go on a Timeshare trap tour. Everywhere You see the signs “Discount Park Tickets” “half off attraction tickets” is typically a timeshare company selling you tickets at a very good price. The Tickets are real but You don’t get the tickets until You complete the tour, usually a 3 to 4 hour investment of Your time. The tour doesn’t take 3 to 4 hours but the transportation there and back plus the sales pitch will take most of the afternoon or morning. People that have seen these timeshare operations on TV still get sucked in, these are professionals, this is all they do. The amount of People that are thinking of buying a timeshare without being pressured to do so are few and far between, the vast majority of timeshare buyers are those that bought because they were brought to these buying events. These buying events happen daily all over Orlando. Orlando is a training ground for salespeople for selling timeshares. Companies train salespeople here because if You cannot sell in Orlando, You definitely do not have what it takes to be part of the sales team at these major companies. Las Vegas is another great market for timeshares but not as good as Orlando.

The sales Pitch goes like this:

You can own this condo or condo hotel for life and never worry about having a place to vacation. All this will be Yours and You never have to worry about how much a hotel room will cost 5,10 or 20 years from now. All this luxury can be yours forever and You do not have to keep it up, it will all be done for You.
There was a time that timeshare sales even tried to say that this was a good investment but that has been taken out of the sales pitch in fear of lawsuits being filed for fraud. If You want to know if a timeshare is a good investment just check the resale market. If You see that timeshare owners are selling their timeshare for more than they bought it for then of course it is a great investment but if You do not see that then it is not a good investment. So the other possible reason for buying it is to guarantee that You will have a vacation place in Orlando. Orlando is second to Las Vegas in the number of hotel rooms in America and there is little chance it will ever be out of rooms.

Do Your homework before You decide to buy a timeshare

  • Research the timeshare that You are interested in with all the tools You have at Your finger tips. Check the resale market first, there are many companies reselling timeshares, check at least 3 of them. Is the timeshare You are interested in a better price on the resale market? Google timeshare resells Orlando, many will come up.
  • Search the timeshare name for criminal activity, if You are looking in Orlando check all the articles written on that timeshare by typing the name in google and also just for the local newspaper (Orlando Sentinel), example: the name of the condo is luxury4ever so type luxury4ever site:orlandosentinel.com that will show you all the articles that the luxury4ever name appeared in the newspaper. Prostitution, gambling, shootings, domestic disturbance or lawsuits. Read it all.
  • Visit the condo at night, all hours of the night. There is one on Universal that has an ultra lounge across the street from it and the thumping music starts at 11pm and goes to about 4am, the thumping rattles the windows of condos and hotels for two blocks but You would never know this if You didn’t visit at that time of the night. How would You like to buy this unit and find this out on Your first night of vacation? If You go to sleep at 4am then You would not have a problem with this but if You want to sleep between 11pm and 4am, good luck.
  • Get a list of all the fees: What if I want to sell, what are all the fees, get that in writing with the word ALL the fees in the terms, this includes transfer, title, admin, stamps, etc. There are so many bogus terms added daily that the words must be ALL the fees. How about when You use the condo, what are all the fees? You see the yearly or bi-yearly association fee but are there other fees? Housekeeping? what about if You want to rent it, what are the fees? This is where the management company makes all the money, You decide to rent Your unit instead of use it. So the unit gets rented for 400 dollars per night for 5 nights so sounds like 2000 dollars, right? No, the management company hasn’t starting slicing yet. You still have to pay them 40 percent or even more of the 2000 plus the maintenance fee, the housekeeping, the booking fee, etc.. You would be lucky to get 800 of the 2000 after they get all their fees. Ask for the P/L sheet for any other owner in that timeshare that is on the rental plan, if they say they cannot do that, they are lying, They know the numbers do not look good and do not want to show You. Ask for references from present owners, if they cannot give You that then there are no happy owners.