Quote:
Originally Posted by sideshowbob72
As one who has yet to buy a timeshare, the one thing that really makes me uneasy is the fact that I am agreeing to pay maintenance fees for as long as I own it. The MF is known at the time of purchase, but there is no guarantee it will remain at that amount in the future. There is no cap on fee increases and there is always the possiblity of a special assessment.
I understand that maintenance costs can vary widely depending on where the resort; is there a beachfront, golf course or other high maintenance amenities. This is especially true in Hawaii, an area we are very interested in.
How do you determine if the MF of a resort is appropriate?
Are there any resort chains that are especially good, or bad, in this category?
Thanks in advance,
Bob
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No resort or chain can guarantee fees. Who can know what the cost of utilities will be in 5 years or ten? Who can say if storms will hit, if floods might occur, if there was shoddy construction underneath that great looking wall or roof?
You also have to realize that most developers under price fees - especially reserves that pay for the capital improvements and renovations - during the early years to make the sale easier. When a resort gets to be 10 years old and is (hopefully) under owner control you can often get a better idea of what the true ongoing costs will be.
Yes there could be special assessments or emergencies but you hope things are being funded properly over time. Again no one can guarantee that.
I just read somewhere a post that said their resort group (WorldMark I think) had so much money in reserves that they could suffer multi million dollar catastrophes and still not need a special assessment. Either they are reading the figures wrong, applying collections for multiple resorts to one resort or that group is collecting far too much from the owners. You want the right amount collected, perhaps a bit too much isn't a bad thing, but certainly not millions in unlikely to be needed funds. Something doesn't add up in that picture.
Again by owning a resort you plan to use and return to you can keep up with the conditions and if the finances are being handled well. You do tend to lose sight of those things if you belong to a mini-system which tends to be run by the developers. In those cases you have to have faith in the system and th operators. Given the history of timesharing that may be a risky thing to have.
