More timeshare owners renting instead of exchanging?

Any one else notice this? I can't find my wanted exchange anywhere but I have all sorts of offers for rentals for the week and place I want. I didn't go into timeshares to be in the rental business!

Diannek you are right except for the term renting! Most never rent and get stuck with a unit and week they can not use.

They grab best weeks to try and make couple bucks and screw over the true families that want those weeks for their use!

I have always told everyone to pick a week at your resort that you can use and if you want then try and rent. If this fails you can always use it.

Only time to pick a week you can not use is if you are going deposit it in your exchange company.

People need to remember they bought for their own use and now because they want money or what ever want to rent.

This hurts other families and the exchange companies too!

I would love to see rules changed so that owners can not rent the units but with all the greed this will never happen.

This greed is why you find owners with timeshares they bought off E-bay for very little and now brag how they own 10-15 timeshares. They spend all year trying to rent them!

PHILL12

So what do they do then if they can't rent them out? Dump them in an exchange at the last minute?

diannek12 wrote:

So what do they do then if they can't rent them out? Dump them in an exchange at the last minute?

Many weeks just go un-used or they try listing on a last minute forum like Tug under 45 days and no more than hundred dollars a day.

Seven hundred doesn't even make up for better resort mf's for that year.

Some try and rent few days just to get some money!

This is wasted time for something bought for your own use and now trying to make couple bucks.

We always pick the week we want and if we exchange with II we always request first and if we didn't get one of our choices we will be at home resort and loving it!

Have 3 weeks a year, only used two. Can only bank ao much, then we would rent to people that wanted the get-away. As dues increase, renting helps keep the costs down.

tony241 wrote:

Have 3 weeks a year, only used two. Can only bank ao much, then we would rent to people that wanted the get-away. As dues increase, renting helps keep the costs down.

If you have three and can only use two it might be time to sell one!

There just isn't enough money in renting to make all the hassles worth it. You could end up with damage that cost more than you clear.

You have taxes to pay on your rental and I,m sure many never claim the rental profit so one day when caught by IRS then they will be paying more than they ever cleared.

RCI requires at least 60 to 90 days to bank. Cannot wait till the last moment. They suggest a year in advance.

I believe that the reason some people like myself are trying to rent just to cover the high maintenence fees.I'ts not a case of greed.

karena245 wrote:

I believe that the reason some people like myself are trying to rent just to cover the high maintenence fees.I'ts not a case of greed.

With more and more people renting instead of exchanging it's getting harder and harder to get any weeks to exchange defeating the purpose of timeshareing.

karena245 wrote:

I believe that the reason some people like myself are trying to rent just to cover the high maintenence fees.I'ts not a case of greed.

I understand this and my point is if you have to rent to cover your maintenance fee's then maybe you own more units than you need! Timeshares are for owners use and exchange and that is it. Few years ago owners found using the computer they could rent for large amount of money in place of using or depositing into their exchange company. With this more and more owners started to do it and this hurt the exchange process which was main reason for timesharing. This also drove down the rental fee's because of so many owners trying to rent. Many went and bought more units on resale with main idea of renting and this is where my point of greed comes in. Now all the people begging for renters and will rent for almost nothing killing the rental market.

Now people grab units just to try and rent and take away from the exchange companies which defeats the whole purpose of buying a timeshare. Term timesharing= Sharing your unit with other timeshare owners dealing in your exchange company.

When people buy more timeshares than they can use they are trying to rent them for profit and this is greed. Now days there isn't much profit in renting because of the market being over loaded. This is main reason many owners state no refund to renters. Many people will rent your unit and then weeks before their vacation spot some owner offering for much less and they want that unit or price and not yours. All this work for very little money in many cases!

Because of this and owners getting stuck with units the prices keep dropping because of a few people and this hurts all others.

PHILL12

Also, I imagine renting out a timeshare is easier said than done except for the most sought after locations, resorts and seasons. Yet I've read, on other timeshare forums, where (some) people boast about how easy it is to rent their units, but I take that with a grain of salt and a lot of skepticism.

Hi, so how do YOU go about renting? I now have 12 weeks on a point system that I really am finding I can't do at this time for money and time reasons. Any suggestions?

I really disagree. I have overextended myself somewhat and am in a situation where I can't travel. I want to use my original investment which was HIGH or at least make some of the investment back. Not scamming at all.

Me, too but I see you on the site quite often. I have access to several resorts in Mexico, the Dominican and another place which I can't remember. I really would like someone to use them and at least recover some of the cost! Any ideas?

Cheryll, Home resort time can be banked or used. If it's RCI, just run an ad and rent the time somebody is in need of. Just do not give keys till the check clears. Also most resorts want a "Guest Certificate" from you. Run an ad on Redweek, etc.

cheryll222 wrote:

Hi, so how do YOU go about renting? I now have 12 weeks on a point system that I really am finding I can't do at this time for money and time reasons. Any suggestions?

If you're speaking to me .... I no longer own any timeshares .... we formerly owned 9 but sold them all when we moved to the mountains and before the economic crash (thank God). We never rented our timeshares .... we used them or banked and traded via RCI or II.

The key to renting any timeshare is supply and demand of the resort and time owned, but in this economy be aware that many people are not traveling ..... you have to take that into consideration when deciding a rental fee .... many timeshares can't be sold or rented at all in this economy.

Also, be aware that you can't deposit your points into RCI and II and then rent or sell them .... it's against their rules and regulations.

Phil, I understand your sentiments; however, we have owned at the same resort for 15 years....and used all of those years (multiple weeks). Our family has changed--children off to college. We no longer have interest in using our home resort, but love to vacation. I (like you) bought a resort and weeks that we would use every year; however our situation has now changed. I have 2 choices- I can take a bath on selling my costly beach weeks or I can try to make them exchange weeks. I am trying to keep the resort...it hold family memories for us and some day our college children may want to take their children there.

Patty, sounds like you bought for the right reasons but as you said you have owned for fifteen years and still like your resort. Family growing up and life changing so now good exchanges are what you want. You seem to still be a happy timeshare owner because of your reasons for buying.

The point you make of wanting to use it now to exchange and not just sell it for loss is a good place to be into at this time.

We feel the same way and love our resort and go there every year plus bonus nights too. With our daughter moving to Dallas Texas few months ago we did sell one of our largest units to another resort owner while up there for our July 4th week. We sold because it wasn't a lock-off and 1450 sq. ft two bedroom/bath just way to big for the two of us. We did sell for fair price of $2000 but it was still less than we paid but then we also used the unit every year for last nine years so it wasn't that big of a loss.We would not have sold except we also own another unit and do have the lock-off. We had our resort break it up and we will be there in 2012 and the resort renting out the studio for July 4th week.

I posted on one of the forums last year how I felt all these owners trying to rent would hurt the good exchanges. Many of these owners have started a bidding war and now renters just wait for some owner to offer for ridiculous low price hurting all others who are just trying to get fair price for their weeks. I also expressed my opinion that many of the owners who just unload their timeshares will regret it later when or if things ever get better.One thing you can count on is when most people are working again vacations again will become very important to them.

PHILL12

Great Idea if you can sell it. We only have one, but 15 years later our life has changed and we just can not use it like we used to. The exchange companies are so costly that it is not worth it. Wish we could sell it, but they are not selling either, so we rent to friends and family and on redweek when we can.

The problem with Mexico is the airline tickets. Family of 4 costs a lot on top of condo.