Have you ever considered a timeshare and wondered how do timeshares work?
Timeshares are an excellent way to own a piece of your vacation dream since they are affordable, reliable and can provide you with beautiful accommodations, much nicer and bigger than just a hotel room.
Did you know that timeshares began in Europe as early as the 1960’s, first in England as a way for friends and family to share vacation rental time and then later in France. In the ’70’s a French resort developer sold “shares” in his resort rather than renting them out. This was the birth of timeshares as we know them today. His idea worked and timesharing blossomed thereafter. It has been around ever since, providing travelers with unique and affordable vacation housing options that otherwise would not have been available. The first timeshare in the U.S. was in Florida in the 1970’s. Today there are over 1,500 timeshare resorts worldwide.
How do timeshares work – Buying:
Most timeshares are sold by the week, resulting in a 1/52 annual ownership in the specific accommodation that you purchase. It could be a room, studio, condo or home. Some timeshares are floating, which means that your accommodation could be on a different date and in a different unit each year (but within the same resort.) Others are fixed, meaning that you have the same week and unit each year.
Sandstone Creek Club is a fixed week, fixed unit timeshare resort. Sandstone Creek Club has 62 condos, ranging in size from 1 bedroom to 2 bedroom plus loft, some of which can sleep up to 10 people. Most of Sandstone’s condos have many unique features including the ability to lock off the master bedrooms, which results in a hotel room and a condo; and flexible usage.
There are two ways to purchase a timeshare, including through a broker or by private sale. Private sales can be found in various places on the internet or newspapers. Sandstone Creek Club has a broker on site and all available weeks and units for sale are listed on our website, sandstonecreekclub.com on the Real Estate page.
Timeshare resorts offer two ways to purchase, either with actual ownership in the real estate, or with ownership of a time frame, or usage, of the unit. Sandstone Creek Club sales are all in actual ownership of the real estate, thus it is a “Deeded Timeshare.” Most people who are investing their money in a timeshare prefer this method, as you actually own the real estate for the time period that you purchased.
Other than the purchase price of a timeshare, a buyer will need to pay maintenance dues. As it sounds, maintenance dues are used to maintain the property. These dues will range in amount depending on the unit and time of year that you purchase your week. Peak season and larger units will be highest. If your timeshare is a deeded timeshare, you will also have to pay property taxes. Most resorts collect property taxes with your maintenance dues. Maintenance fees are collected on an annual basis or quarterly, to help spread out the payments. Sandstone Creek Club bills on a quarterly basis and our dues range from $200 to $500 per quarter, including property taxes. Both maintenance dues and property taxes can go up, and there may be times when a resort has to impose an assessment for major improvements to their property.
How do timeshares work – Using:
Once you have purchased your week or weeks and your dues and taxes are paid, all you have to do is buy your plane ticket and pack your bags! Do make sure that you are coming the right week, the one that you purchased. Owners have been known to come on the wrong week, so that is an important step to take. There is a 4 year timeshare calendar on our website on the Reservations page. Most resorts will have all that you need in your unit. At Sandstone Creek Club, all you need to bring is your clothes and your skis, and/or your swimsuit for use in our year-round indoor/outdoor pool and 2 indoor hot tubs! (And groceries of course.) We provide everything else, from sheets and towels to salt and pepper, as well as fully stocked kitchens. Then all you have to do is enjoy your stay. We have a full, friendly, accommodating staff that is here to help you enjoy every minute of your vacation. Leaving is never fun, for you or our staff having to say goodbye, but with a timeshare you can look forward to coming back the same week next year and start planning for it as soon as you get home! That is one of the best things about owning a timeshare – you can rely on coming back each year and you know your accommodation.
There are other ways to use your timeshare purchase as well, which we will discuss in the next section.
Maximizing Your Timeshare – Renting, Exchanging and Clubs:
If you don’t want to use your timeshare week at any point, there are several options for you:
Renting:
You can rent your unit out for the week. You can do this either privately by renting to someone you know or find through advertising, or you can join online rental places such as Airbnb or VRBO, or your resort will usually have a rental program. At Sandstone Creek Club, you can put your week in our rental program and all it takes is filling out our Rental Authorization Form and returning it to us. You can find this form on our website on the Reservations page, or we can send it to you. You can return it via mail, email or fax. Your unit will be placed in our rental pool and rented, based on the order we received your authorization form in. We will take care of the rest of it for you. When it rents, you get 65% of the proceeds, Sandstone gets 35%. You can also use the proceeds to pay your maintenance fees and taxes if you would like to, or you could buy yourself some new skis!
Exchanging:
In order to exchange your week you must first join an exchange company. There are several of them in America, the top 3 being Interval International (II), Resort Condominiums International (RCI) and Dial An Exchange (DAE). Sandstone Creek Club is affiliated with all 3 of these. Exchange companies charge an annual fee, usually around $100 for the basic membership. Once you have joined, you “deposit” your week in their exchange pool and then other members who want to stay in your accommodation can choose it, pay a fee and use your week. The benefit to you is that you can now stay somewhere else that your exchange company has in their pool of available accommodations, you can even stay a different week and it can be anywhere in the world that they offer. Your trading power will be based on the desirability of your home resort (Sandstone’s is strong, since it is in Vail and we are a Gold Crown resort,) your week on the calendar (supply and demand per the season,) the size of your unit and on reviews of your home resort. Most exchange companies do also charge a small fee for the exchange, on the average around $200.
Some exchange companies also offer a Points System, this is how it works – Points programs provide subscribing members with a flexible way to exchange their vacation time for time at other resorts around the world. Your vacation week is assigned a point value, based on the same factors as your exchange value above. This point value is the number of points that you are allocated each year to exchange for vacation time. You then use these points to pay for your accommodation. How many points your stay requires depends on the same factors above. You can also buy points from your exchange company, sort of like you can on an airline’s mileage plan. Sandstone Creek Club participates in the RCI and II Points program.
Clubs:
You can also exchange into Sandstone Creek Club if you are member of another Vacation Club, such as Marriott, Hyatt or Disney. Those clubs work in the same way as points, giving you a certain number of points for the week you have in your home resort with them and then allowing you to exchange into other resorts in their exchange pool.
How do timeshares work – Selling:
There are several ways to sell your timeshare when you are ready as well. However, since most timeshares are deeded (meaning you own the real estate,) you can pass them on to your children or someone else. That is something you may want to consider, it would make a nice gift. The recipient would take over the maintenance fee and tax payments in most cases.
If you do want to sell your timeshare you can do it privately or with the help of a broker. If you want to sell it privately, you can use advertising and the internet to find a buyer. Once one is found, you are responsible for all paperwork and closing details necessary. A deed will need to be executed and recorded in Eagle County, Colorado and provided to Sandstone Creek Club in order to change ownership and responsibility for maintenance fees and taxes.
Sandstone Creek Club has a broker on site. Our Sales department will help you sell your unit by first coming to a price and preparing a real estate contract for sale for your signature, then offering it for sale to our owners, guests and others via our website and other marketing efforts. Sandstone often has owners waiting to purchase more weeks, especially at peak times of the year, or for bigger or better units. Our Christmas time and creekside units are usually in high demand. Once you have signed a contract for sale, the broker will take care of all of the details afterward, including showing the unit, negotiation, title work, opening an escrow and seeing it through until closing. Sandstone’s broker charges a 19% commission. That is a pretty reasonable amount to take the headache out of it for you.
However, you do not have to use Sandstone’s onsite broker to sell your Sandstone Creek Club property. You can use any licensed realtor in the State of Colorado. They can provide similar services, but may not know the property or potential buyers as well.
How do timeshares work – Scams:
The timeshare industry has long been burdened with a reputation for unscrupulous sales practices. This doesn’t need to be your experience with timeshares. Timeshares are legitimate, enjoyable vacation purchases. However, you do need to look out for timeshare scams. Like a lot of other scams, they often target older people who don’t always understand what is happening, but anyone can be confused by them because it isn’t easy to tell what is really happening.
An example is, a caller claims to represent a company that helps owners sell their properties. They say they have a specific buyer already lined up and that the seller only needs to pay an upfront fee to cover some costs. They arrange to exchange legitimate-looking legal forms, and get the seller to pay the fee. Then they disappear with the seller’s money and the buyers get nothing.
This is one type of timeshare scam, but there are many others. Google timeshare scams to learn more.
Whether you own a timeshare, or are thinking of buying one, please be wary of scams. If you think you have received a call from someone trying to scam you, you can call your home resort and ask about the company that is calling you. If you suspect it isn’t legitimate, it probably isn’t and you should investigate before getting involved. Remember, scams won’t work if no one sends them any money!
How do timeshares work?
In summary, a timeshare is a great way to afford a vacation home that you can use and enjoy for many years to come. Timeshares offer convenience and reliability not found in other accommodations. You don’t even need to make a reservation and you always know what you are going to find when you arrive. They are like a home away from home, and with even better amenities.
Sandstone Creek Club offers midweek housekeeping, a gas fireplace in every condo, a front desk staff for your convenience, concierge services, an indoor/outdoor pool, 2 indoor hot tubs, sauna, steam room, game room, exercise room, library, ski lockers and free shuttle to Vail Village during ski season. In summer there is bike storage, pickleball, tennis courts, volleyball, basketball, disc golf and mini-golf. Our condos are updated and spacious. Come stay with us and discover the benefits of timeshare ownership. Or rent for a weekend and you will probably want to buy after your stay. It has happened many a time. Vail and Sandstone Creek Club are hard to resist!