Since it first emerged in the French Alps with the slogan “No need to rent the room, but the hotel”, it became a hit for vacation-lovers and spread across US and Europe. As time goes by, the benefits just kept getting better like the ‘flexibility’ that they offer such as trading your unit with other timeshare properties, selling the unit, or renting the unit for additional income. A vacation exchange company such as RCI was established to guide and protect the clients. It made a lot of wealth that big time hotel chains such as Marriott, Wyndham, Starwood, Sheraton, Disney, Hilton, Hyatt, Ramada, Westin, and Ritz-Carlton invested into developing more and more timeshare units.

Owning a timeshare entitles you the rights to ownership. The rights here is boxed in which the said property is not actually under your name literally but rather you are entitled to the “rights to use” it.

Vermont, home of the maple syrup and maple sugar industry, also boasts for its luxurious, comfortable, convenient, affordable and a lifetime of unforgettable vacation. You will experience such at their maple syrup, dairy farms, covered bridges, and the green mountains.

Did you read it right? AFFORDABLE?

Since 2008, timeshare was doing no good at all. Top hotel chains had a serious drop on their timeshare sales. Some of them stopped further construction of the units. Others closed their sales offices and it prompted them to lay off some of their employees including the local workers.

Timeshare sales kept on getting worse each day as people have realized how impractical it is to obtain a timeshare property. Though there was a slight 10 per cent increase of sales in the early 2010, this was not noted significantly since timeshare unit itself depreciates every now and then.

Probably, the people have known that its upfront fee will do no good for their dream vacation but rather it would sort of be a nightmare for them in the future. Not to mention the escalating maintenance fees that they will be paying in the succeeding years. Maintenance fees are compulsory since this will take care of the upkeep of the unit from the cleanliness of the place to the utility bills. Maintenance fees let you not worry on updating your financial obligations.

But then again, who would want to pay for something that you only get to use for some couple of weeks in a year? Certainly not those who have work hard to get their hard-earned money.
Timeshare is more than just a waste of money. It could also waste your family if everybody is indebted with timeshare.

So instead of choosing any timeshare such as timeshare Vermont, think first of these and you might be enlightened.

Have you ever thought of purchasing a timeshare just because you wanted to experience a luxurious vacation? Now, think again after reading this article.

First you must know what timeshare is all about. Timeshare was conceptualized for the middle-class. This was in the 1960s in which these families wanted to own a vacation house. It gained popularity in the 1970s and more people were fascinated with it year after year.

But sad to say, in the year 2008, when the world experienced financial crisis, the timeshare industry was affected. Only a few people have subscribed to it. And many wanted to get rid of their units since they can no longer sustain the increasing annual maintenance fees. Are you more than willing to pay thousands of dollars for that timeshare unit which you can only try for one or two weeks in a year? Isn’t it impractical?

Plus timeshare owners are already tired of seeing the same place year after year. But then timeshare offers you the advantage of trading with other timeshare owners. Well lucky for you if you can spot for an available timeshare location. But most often, it is very difficult to locate one. So you’ll end up staying at your timeshare for the rest of your contract.

The major hotel chains such as Starwood, Marriott, and Wyndham have closed thousands of jobs and sales offices and laid off even local workers. Starwood and Wyndham have stopped the construction of timeshare units and decided to convert some of its units. On the other hand, Marriott continued building it since it is already at the end phase of the construction and they believe it would be better to finish it rather than abandon it.

Though for this year timeshare sales have raised a little bit, the increase is not that significant such that it encourages a significant number of people to patronize it again. We must consider the millions of dollars of timeshare loss noted for the past years especially in the last quarter of 2009.

Purchasing timeshare is not an investment. You don’t own it. You are only entitled of the rights to use the place in a specific span of time usually for 1 or 2 weeks time in a year. You won’t own that timeshare property forever.

Many people have misconceptions regarding timeshare as a tax-free property. Certainly it is not, as it is a capital asset just like that of the real estate property. In timeshare, you actually gain profits from it. Your timeshare unit will be income-tax qualified once it is owned for at least 1 year.

These are just some of the things that you should ponder upon before buying a timeshare. Be wise enough to spend your hard-earned money.

The number of scams regarding timeshare resales rings an alarm specifically in Florida. Florida has become a fertile soil where timeshare scams flourish. With many timeshare owners wanting to get rid of their timeshare, many resale companies are setting alluring traps for these timeshare owners.

One victim who fell for the trap was Sheila Newman, a client who became unhappy about her timeshares and decided to get her properties listed in timeshare selling websites. Two companies based in Florida responded telling her that all she needed to do was send a check since there are already buyers. It turned out to be a scam

Newman's case is nothing new. In 2009, most complaints that are mortgage related received by the Attorney General in Florida, Bill McCollum, is accounted for timeshare resales. These cases doubled in 2009 from 2008, specifically, there has been 2,719 complaints.

Another case is how a flight attendant was tricked into paying $600 upfront with a reseller, which has listed her unit for $18,000 on its website and printed fliers that she's never seen. This kind of fees can even reach to $5000.

With the cases of timeshare scams piling up, Atty. McCollum's office is reported investigating 17 companies in Florida who are engaging in anomalous practices in timeshare. The attorney general's office is said to conduct more investigations this year.

Late in 2009, two companies have been sued for allegedly accumulated $ 4 million monthly in fees alone from customers through Internet and telemarketing calls. Involved are Universal Marketing Solutions and Creative Vacation Solutions. These two were said to require "hundreds of clients" to pay $1,500 each and promising that they "would market and/or advertise their time share in an attempt to resell it, when in the truth is the time share was merely placed on a website, to which no Web traffic was directed."

The good news is that 1.6 million has been recovered out of customer refunds. The year 2009 made a record-breaking performance for consumer recoveries from timeshare.

The state of Florida being the hotbed for timeshare scams is not a surprise since there are a lot of timeshare properties found in Florida. Around 25% of timeshares are found in Florida. But these cases are not limited to the state of Florida. Attorneys general in Arkansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Oklahoma are also on the lookout for issues about the timeshare resale industry.

Summer is already coming. People may plan their vacations as early as now—where to go, what to do, etc. Most probably, resorts are now famous again in the minds of people who want to have a relaxing vacation. It is no wonder why owning a timeshare has become famous.

However, there are people who do not want to own their timeshare units anymore. It is because of its high maintenance fees, other fees, etc. With this, it seems like they are not happy and satisfied in owning their timeshares. Even if this is the case, there are still some people who remain satisfied and happy with owning one.

As mentioned, despite the costs, there are still people who buy timeshares. According to Andrew Gooch, a researcher who wrote about Update on Profile of Timeshare Owners Today, there are motivating factors that persuade these people to buy timeshare units. Specifically in USA, summer is already coming. In short, many people from there would want to visit resorts that could make them relax. And it will be a plus for them if they own a timeshare, since they already have a place to stay.

Gooch even mentioned that recent owners of timeshare are satisfied with what they bought. One of their reasons is they can have a vacation away from their homes. In short, these people most probably want to stay away from their houses during vacation to feel more relaxed with their timeshare atmosphere.

With this, one can see that despite the occurring problems with owning timeshares, people still see the benefits of owning one. As a matter of fact, Gooch also mentioned in his research that despite the current economy we have, that is an economy with recession issues, some people still think of not giving up their timeshare even with its increasing maintenance costs. However, more people are thinking otherwise.

More or less, despite the many people who are becoming quite unhappy with owning timeshare, there are still those who remain satisfied with their timeshare and do not want to give it up. It is only just a matter on how people value the timeshare they own.