By Alex Finkelstein, Real Estate Channel
For those “others,” I say NEVER BUY A TIMESHARE UNIT AS AN INVESTMENT because you will lose your investment every single time. Buy it to enjoy as a lifestyle.
Then you will be able to rationalize when the monthly fee bills come due for maintenance, management, associations and later for the payment of quarterly or annual property taxes.
Yes, property taxes – because you are considered by the county or municipality as the “owner” of that one-week, two-week or monthly condo unit.
That’s why thousands of timeshare owners today are selling their units at fire-sale prices. They no longer can afford to pay the ongoing fees for management, maintenance, associations and property taxes.
The only individuals who are in a position to make money from the sale of timeshares are the original developers. They view timeshares as real estate and it truly is at that point for them.
However, at the moment the sale is made to an end user, that timeshare unit is no longer “real estate.” It becomes “lifestyle,” if you will permit that category here.
Pipuk, however, disagrees. He argues the end user can immediately turn around and re-sell the unit – “flipping” it if you will – or even rent it on a weekly, monthly or seasonal basis.
By doing that, Pipuk says timeshares then fall into the same real estate category as vacation rentals, apartments and condos.
To that argument, I say, Horseradish. Because…trying to re-sell or rent a just-purchased timeshare unit today in our depressed economy will drive you to the acetaminophen bottle, or worse.
And that’s the way I see it – for now.
