a second look at timeshares

A recent happening has made me reconsider my relatively negative opinion of timeshares. My parents had purchased a Vegas timeshare not too long ago, and I remember thinking how ridiculous it was of my Father, seeing as it practically sets a requirement for you to take a vacation each year. But there were a number of things that I hadn't really considered. For one, you can sell your timeshare to someone else. And what's even better, you can trade.

My father got a really great deal on a recent trade that surprised me quite a bit. He got a trade for a high-end Disney World timeshare that was worth about six times as much as he paid for his. It was a pretty impressive deal. So while he could have been paying mondo bucks each time he went to Vegas and stayed at one of the nicer hotels like the Flamingo Las Vegas, he now gets to take the deal that he found on the internet on his timeshare and apply it towards other locations, sometimes with miraculous results. Even more unbelievable is that he not only got the huge upgrade for the unit in Florida, but he still has a week of a half-unit in Vegas because the week he traded is highly desirable in Vegas, but not so in Disney World. Crazy!

Granted, I still think that one needs to consider the longterm savings before purchasing a timeshare, but I have to admit that there are still occasions where the deal may seem to be too good to be true, when in fact is isn't.