Decembe 8, 2008 — Would Solomon Buy a Timeshare?
December 9th, 2008 | 
Author: Proverbs 2:12-13: “Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted. These men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths.”
Was I too harsh in my December 4 post when I wrote: “I’ve found a workable rule: All sellers are sinners! At least that’s a good place to begin.”
It simply means use wisdom and seek counsel before entering into any long-term or costly venture. Is this distrust? In a way, it is—you seek the facts and project them into how they will likely affect your future. You don’t trust the sales spiel—you pick it apart and question it.
Buying a timeshare is an example of this. I just attended a presentation by Timeshare Relief, Inc. Why? Because my wife and I are “owners” of two timeshares. We’ve seen the yearly maintenance fees go up in the last 10 years from about $200 each to over $600 each. Plus, additional charges for taxes and special assessments.
Like millions of others, we were swayed by such phrases as ‘investment, assured vacations, cost savings.” And of course there were the “freebies.” Those $200 worth of freebies have now cost us over $50,000!
We had some good weeks of vacation at those timeshare resorts. But when you consider the loss of interest on the initial cost plus the yearly fees, those weeks cost us much more than would a good hotel or condo rental.
Would Solomon buy a timeshare? Would a man of wisdom commit himself and his descendants to obligations for “perpetuity”? That’s right—a timeshare in most areas is part of your estate, passed down to your heirs, who are then responsible by law for all costs associated with it. That usually will be burden on them, not a blessing.
Sell it? There’s barely any resale market: over 3,000,000 now up for resale. Check out Ebay—you can pick up timeshares in top resorts like Hawaii for a dollar! Just pay the transfer fees—which can cost several thousand dollars or more. The developer has tied in huge fees for transferring titles.
Just let it go to default? No way—for you’re obligated for all costs “to perpetuity” even if you never use your timeshare. One former marine told how he had declared bankruptcy when his marriage split up. Did his timeshare get “repossessed” by the developer? No way—for the developers derive more money from maintenance fees than from the original sale itself. So, after three years of fees, penalties, legal fees, etc., the developer started garnishing the marine’s wages. Not even his lawyers couldn’t help this marine get out of his “obligation.”
Recently, the Supreme Court has upheld the developers’ claims to collect fees “to perpetuity.” It’s in the contract—drawn up by a ton of lawyers; enforcement is influenced by high-paid lobbyists from the timeshare developers.
Can you give your timeshare away? Hardly any charity wants this costly liability. And the liability grows every year, with increases and the threat of “resort fees” to cover the developers’ loss of revenue due to the economy. They have almost absolute freedom to increase fees, and we “owners” are at their mercy. We really don’t own any part of the resort—it owns us!
So, would Solomon buy a timeshare? “When a king sits in judgment, he weighs all the evidence, distinguishing the bad from the good” (Proverbs 20:21).
Sellers of timeshares set a time limit for their offer: “If you buy today, we’ll give you a 20% discount.” Solomon says, “The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence” (Proverbs 14:16).
No, I don’t see how a wise person would buy a timeshare. Yes, I was a fool and plunged ahead and bought two of them. Twice a fool! But perhaps I can turn my “learning a lesson” toward other parts of my life and bring some good out of it.
In the meantime, anyone want to buy a timeshare or two, in Palm Springs or Maui? I’ll give you a real good price. How about a dollar? That’s only 50 cents each!
“Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed.” – Don Wood
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