Timeshare Newbie question -

Hi I recently went in with another person and we bought a timeshare in las vegas at the Grandview - Of course it seems like a good deal but we would like strangers opinions - We got a 1 bedroom biannual maintenance fees are 191 per year we also have an extra week included every year that we are owners and then we also have unlimited - Last call for the price of 149 for affiliates and 219 for unaffiliated - We are going to make payments ant see how it goes but thing is the person we put it under between the two of us was going to declare bankruptcy anyways so we will decide if we add it on to the bankruptcy - Just wondering if it is worth holding onto - We also understand it is hard to trade it for other locations ? How hard is it to go other places besides Las Vegas Grandview?

Just wondering if this deal is a good deal or not - we intend to try and rent all the extras that we can- With the possibility of the Raiders moving to town and the Six Flags addition along with the bullet train from LA - Vegas seems like a good place to plant your flag - But again we are new and looking for any opinions at all -

I own a timeshare in Vegas right next to Bellagio. I bought it to use but I have no problem renting it out if I'm not using it. I would never sell it. It is privately owned and we never have to worry about being bought out by a big corporation.

Everything depends on your situation. A timeshare is a luxury purchase. You buy it to use for a vacation. It's not an investment. I got more than my monies worth over the years and I love the location.

Thank you for the reply we do intend to use it - But i was wondering how hard it is to exchange it to go other places than Las Vegas? -

in researching "Grandview" they seem to have a problem with advertising and billing. According to the BBB They have 29 complaints resolved and 22 unresolved in the past 12 mo. Also if the Affiliates you speak of is "vacation Village resorts" that you could trade into, the BBB has them rated at "F". I have not heard of using a time share in a bankruptcy, but by what I've found in just in a limited amount of time. I think I'd let your partner go bankrupt on it, if it would be possible. If your name is on the contract with your partner, you probably would be responsible even if he went broke. Good luck, but I'd run if I could.........

No i didnt sign on - The RCI Vacation Village has that many complaints? Do you have a link or something ?

Nevermind i found it and youre right- But what do you think about the using non affiliated resorts for 219 per week ? Unlimited use through the last call?

How Is a Timeshare Treated in Bankruptcy?

When you purchase a timeshare, you share ownership of a piece of property with several other people. If you can’t afford to pay the purchase price outright, you can usually obtain a loan from the developer or another lender (a timeshare mortgage). In addition to your timeshare mortgage, you also have to pay monthly or annual maintenance fees to cover the costs of keeping up the property (similar to HOA dues). (Learn more about how timeshares work.)

Bankruptcy law considers a timeshare real estate and treats it in much the same way as your house. For example, if you are still in possession of the timeshare when you file for bankruptcy, you’ll list it with your other property on official bankruptcy form Schedule A/B: Property. Because the lender can foreclose on the timeshare if you default on the loan, the timeshare secures the timeshare mortgage and you’ll list the debt on Schedule D: Creditors Who Hold Claims Secured By Property. However, if the lender already foreclosed on the property, you won’t list it on Schedule A/B and any remaining timeshare-related debt will be listed on official form Schedule E/F: Creditors Who Have Unsecured Claims.

Filing for Bankruptcy After the Foreclosure

If the bank forecloses on your timeshare before you file for bankruptcy, you can discharge (get rid of) all of the remaining timeshare-related debt in either a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The debt you can discharge includes a deficiency balance (the difference between the foreclosure proceeds and the amount you owe) and unpaid maintenance fees.

I am not that familiar with RCI, and not sure what you mean by "affiliates". If by that you mean RCI, which usually (as I understand it) Charges for an upgrade, and your points carry over, you may have a chance. If you are looking for something this year, with in your affiliates. I would think your chances would be slim to none. As most people start looking way in advance. Check the info packet you got at signing, or if you are able to sign on to there site to see the FAQ's it should help some. Most TS's have a window for moving around, but you have to previously move your points to another area. We own Hyatt, and if we want to use our points in a different manner other than Hyatt I move them to II(interval). But they must be moved before a certain time frame, or lose them.

Thank you for the information - I will hear more today being Monday i can call and ask around a bit - But the lady had spoke to did say (not that i trust here as gospel) but she said if you book at least 45 days in advance then you have 100% chance of booking at another resort- They gave us a pretty thick book of places all around the world (Called Vacation Village Resorts And Affiliates (Flexibility for a lifetime of vacations) - Also we plan on going mostly on Low traffic times / off seasons - We plan on keeping this time share at least long enough to Test it out and we will test it out here in the Dells soon because we live close by the dells so it will be cheap - (No Air fair needed) But if we get burned we are willing to let it go back to them and bail on it - Hopefully with the bankruptcy option -

theodoref18 wrote:

How Is a Timeshare Treated in Bankruptcy?

When you purchase a timeshare, you share ownership of a piece of property with several other people. If you can’t afford to pay the purchase price outright, you can usually obtain a loan from the developer or another lender (a timeshare mortgage). In addition to your timeshare mortgage, you also have to pay monthly or annual maintenance fees to cover the costs of keeping up the property (similar to HOA dues). (Learn more about how timeshares work.)

Bankruptcy law considers a timeshare real estate and treats it in much the same way as your house. For example, if you are still in possession of the timeshare when you file for bankruptcy, you’ll list it with your other property on official bankruptcy form Schedule A/B: Property. Because the lender can foreclose on the timeshare if you default on the loan, the timeshare secures the timeshare mortgage and you’ll list the debt on Schedule D: Creditors Who Hold Claims Secured By Property. However, if the lender already foreclosed on the property, you won’t list it on Schedule A/B and any remaining timeshare-related debt will be listed on official form Schedule E/F: Creditors Who Have Unsecured Claims.

Filing for Bankruptcy After the Foreclosure

If the bank forecloses on your timeshare before you file for bankruptcy, you can discharge (get rid of) all of the remaining timeshare-related debt in either a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The debt you can discharge includes a deficiency balance (the difference between the foreclosure proceeds and the amount you owe) and unpaid maintenance fees.

If you want to get rid of your timeshare it might make sense to contact the home resort and explain to them that you are planning to file for bankruptcy and ask them to take back their property before you file. It could save the resort money in lost maintenance fees and legal fees. The process only takes a couple of weeks and they can avoid the hassle of dealing with the courts.

Thats true thank you for the tip - I mean no need to be an Ass if they are willing to work with us right?

Don is right, and some times they will go along with you. Just remember previous post concerning "village resorts" and what was found on the BBB site. They rate them at an "F". it's there job to keep you on the line as long as they can. Just remember they master in BS, the more you know, the more they stutter, and back pedal. Good luck...

thank you we will wait until we use it before we try to get out of it or not - Best of luck to everyone nobody deserves to be ripped off -

Hey i was wondering and this might be a stupid question - But is there any timeshare companies that Have a good BBB rating? Also is there any timeshares that at least give you the option to have unlimited stays anywhere for 149 to 219 for the week? Is there any that let you trade out at all ? - Again we will only be traveling during low / off seasons -

Look for rentals. A lot of people rent out their timeshares . Check with sites like Redweek and Ebay.

I'm with Don again. Any money you would spend on a rental, would more than likely equal MF's. They all have a knock down come on shpiel, and it's all how much you want to be tied to a never ending raising MF. We are multiple owners with Hyatt If I had it all to do I'd keep one and rent where ever I wanted to go. A couple more to add to Don's, I have used VRBO, and Trip advisor, to rent both in Oregon for 2 wks., and Gulf shores for a week all in the off seasons both with less than what MF's would equal too. If you still want to own, check into resales, both on Redweek, and TUG.

Good points - But My feeling is if everybody else is renting theirs Can we rent out ours ? Las Vegas is an Ever growing City - They Have just to name a few major events - Nascar championship weekend they Have Rodeo Championship weekend They Have EDC weekend - They Are about to secure the Okland Raiders and when that new stadium is built the NFL Always does a Superbowl in the new stadiums - So they will have a Superbowl weekend - We have Lots Of friends who will give us a couple few hundred bucks per trip (They travel A lot) just so they dont have to deal with people online That they don't know- You got Spring Breakers - You got Miss america - They will soon be building a Six Flags- Lots Of Asian Tourists out there We saw tons of them when we went to the Grand Canyon - Las Vegas Has No off season - Comi-con - Theres a Major Event Like Every Month - Now Im not saying im going to make a ton O money but - I think you would be able to pay your yearly fees by renting out you "On Call time" so i dont know if that the right wordage for it but we can use the Grandview for sure anytime we want for 149 a week or book it and rent it to somebody else -

I just want to get the whole story out there i mean i know it would be cheaper to rent from somebody else but you dont get the extra perks of actually owning -

Look at your contract. It will say, but in most cases the resort doesn't care as long as they get there money. renting a property is a definite advantage, We have rented ours for more than MF's with extra to boot. All the points you make are good ones, in that you have the possibilities to make your money back pus. With the possible renting plus using when you want, is exactly what we do. All we are saying is to be informed, and use the forms here and on Tug to get the facts. If owning looks good to you, by all means do so. I know of people who have many time shares, and rent them, or use them. most are retired and spend months traveling. But they have the research, used resales at prime resorts to insure they get what they need out of it, and may never spend one day there. Just do your home work, double check every offer, and ask questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question. Also don't buy at developer prices, buy resale. Perks are most generally goes with the resale. There a movement(with much debate in the forums)that people who are buying resale would be left out of developer perks or in some cases if it's a hotel resort cut out of some perks there. If your buying resale for points to move around it doesn't really matter as long as everyone you would rent to wants to be there also. Buying for points or buying because you would be there yearly more than 50% of the time are 2 different things.

theodoref18 wrote:

Thank you for the information - I will hear more today being Monday i can call and ask around a bit - But the lady had spoke to did say (not that i trust here as gospel) but she said if you book at least 45 days in advance then you have 100% chance of booking at another resort- They gave us a pretty thick book of places all around the world (Called Vacation Village Resorts And Affiliates (Flexibility for a lifetime of vacations) - Also we plan on going mostly on Low traffic times / off seasons - We plan on keeping this time share at least long enough to Test it out and we will test it out here in the Dells soon because we live close by the dells so it will be cheap - (No Air fair needed) But if we get burned we are willing to let it go back to them and bail on it - Hopefully with the bankruptcy option -

You have a 100% chance that you will be able to book another resort at 45 days out, just not necessarily the resort you want. Some resorts only have a few deposits all year. Most of the larger VV affiliates have 100's if not 1000's of deposits in the RCI system. The larger ones are Vacation Village at Parkway (Orlando), Grandview (Vegas), and Massanutten (Virginia). The Weston Florida resorts have a fair amount of inventory year round as well.

The $149 and $219 prices you are quoting are for exchanges through RCI. You get no extra discount on last call inventory to afilliates. Last Calls are rentals and they are $219-$300 ish depending on size although RCI fairly frequently has sales bringing the prices down to $199-249. You can not rent exchanges or last call rentals out. The only thing you would be eligible to rent out is your deeded one bedroom unit every other year. If you reserve your unit for yourself or to rent out you would have nothing to exchange for 2 years and would only be able to use extra vacations (rentals in the $300-2000 range) and last call rentals for your own person use. You can give them to friends and family but rci's terms prohibit rental of inventory you obtain through them.