excessive maintenance fees

I find the maintenance fees in most timeshares to be more than a little outrageous. In looking at the timeshare resales on this website, I noticed they range from about $700 to $2500 per week, or $36,400 to $130,000 per year. A good comparison would be the yearly costs in owning a condominium. For example, I found a 2 bedroom condo on the ocean in Boca Raton Florida listed for 1.1 million. The yearly cost estimate (HOA, tax and insurance) from Zillow is $31,932. This is a far cry from my small, dated timeshare in Arkansas that collects $57,200 in various fees every year. In general, there is an inverse relationship between maintenance fees and resale value-- the higher the fees the lower the resale value. This explains why the "value" of a timeshare drops by perhaps 80% the day after it was bought from a developer. This explains why you can buy a timeshare for $1 on Ebay.

If I am right about timeshare companies overcharging owners for maintenance, this is fraudulent activity. I'd like to know if independent, outside auditors ever examine the maintenance fees of timeshare companies.

I understand your frustration at the costs but comparing a timeshare to a condo is like apples and oranges. Here are a few things to consider. In a condominium, how often is the furniture replaced as compared to a timeshare? How often are the appliances replaced? If an appliance at a timeshare conks out, it is quickly repaired or replaced? If you had that at your condo, your expenses would go up?

What about electricity, cable visions and internet? Those costs are usually included in the maintenance fees but they are not included in the HOA, tax, and insurance.

Do you get weekly maid service at this condo you mention?

I could go on and on but I think you get the point. Comparing a condo to a timeshare for maintenance fees is like apples and oranges.

Arnold: The maintenance fees quoted for resales on our website are the annual fees, not the weekly fees. So the fees you saw for $700 to $2500 would be once a year, not weekly.

The fees quoted ($700 to $2500) are for one weeks usage. It may be paid annually, however it only covers one week. The annual fee is the summation of weekly fees paid by all owners and can be determined by multiplying the weekly fee by 52.

I realize there are some added fees with a timeshare compared to a condo, however even if you add in a cleaning fee and the other charges you mentioned, I do not think the costs add up to the maintenance fees charged. This is why I asked if independent, outside auditors ever examine the maintenance fees of timeshare companies.

Hi Arnold,

As mentioned previously in this chain, MF are paid annually and not the fee you shown times number of weeks in a year. To use the upper number mentioned, if your MF shown for your deeded one week is $2,500, it is an annual cost of $2,500. If you budget on a monthly basis, it is just of $208 a month to tuck away for your annual MFs.