The idea of vacation ownership can sound attractive. Who wouldn’t want to have their own slice of paradise? But timeshare owners eventually learn it’s not that simple. Not only do you have a mortgage and other expenses, but you must also pay annual maintenance fees for your timeshare. Understanding timeshare maintenance fees is critical to see the whole cost of a timeshare — and why vacation ownership is far more expensive than you were led to believe.
Simply put, annual maintenance fees are the amount of money that you pay to your timeshare company every year. You can expect that amount to go up every time you pay. Perhaps worst of all, you will never finish paying off maintenance fees. You will continue paying every single year for the rest of your life. (And, if your will gives the timeshare to your heirs, they’ll be paying timeshare maintenance fees long after you’re gone.)
This article will take a look at annual maintenance fees: what they are used for, how much they can cost, and what happens if you don’t pay them. Most critically, we’ll look at what to do if you can no longer afford to throw that money out the window. As the premier timeshare exit company, Centerstone Group can help you achieve freedom and salvage your finances after a bad timeshare experience.
Maintenance fees are supposed to be charged for the upkeep and routine repair of timeshare resort properties. The resort also probably pays a management company or homeowners association (HOA) to manage properties. That money comes from the fees as well.
In addition to the maintenance fees, you will likely have to pay special assessments, which are costs for specific repair or improvement projects. (Think of upgrades, like new swimming pools, or repairing damage after a hurricane, for example.)
Also keep in mind that resorts pay for several other things that they take out of fees. They have to pay utilities, and they have to pay for people to clean the timeshare property as well as maintain fixtures and landscaping. Timeshares are not cheap to maintain, and the developers will not pay for that themselves. So, they’ve decided to pass that cost on to the timeshare owners.
The average amount of timeshare fees varies depending on several factors: what kind of timeshare you have (deeded versus non-deeded) and how big that interest is. The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) estimates the average timeshare maintenance fee at $1,000 per year, but in truth, the number you pay might be quite a bit higher.
You can also expect the amount of fees you pay to increase every year. Some of this is inflation, but much of it is also greed. A hefty chunk of maintenance fee money goes to “management companies,” which are hired by timeshare resort homeowners’ associations (HOAs) to handle the maintenance and repairs discussed above.
Because the HOAs are mostly controlled by timeshare companies, these companies hire themselves to do the work. Since the timeshare companies are in charge of hiring themselves, they will likely give themselves periodic raises. This practice will cause maintenance fees to skyrocket even further, well past the normal rate of inflation.
Despite what the timeshare salesperson told you, you probably can’t write off your timeshare maintenance fees. With the constant, increasing expense of annual maintenance fees, you might be wondering whether there is some way you can deduct those fees from your taxes. State tax laws differ widely, so it is difficult to give a definitive answer.
Generally speaking, though, timeshare maintenance costs are not the same as real estate or property taxes (which usually can be deducted on federal tax returns) or other itemizable deductions. As a rule, it would be very difficult to convince the IRS or state tax agencies that timeshare maintenance fees are a deductible expense.
This hard truth means that you will either have to keep paying those fees every year or find another way out of your timeshare contract.
No, you don’t want to just stop paying your timeshare maintenance fees. Timeshare companies have designed their contracts so that if you fail to pay your maintenance fees or any other financial obligations of timeshare ownership, they can come after you. The company may foreclose on your timeshare. If that doesn’t get them all the money they are owed, they may even get a deficiency judgment against you.
Plus, failing to pay the timeshare company could negatively impact your credit score, causing problems with getting other financing or loans in the future. A hit on your credit report could also make any loans you do manage to get much more expensive.
While you might think a developer would just realize they can’t get blood from a stone and leave you be, that’s not how these companies work. They are very good at getting their money, whether through foreclosure or other means. Failing to pay them puts you at their mercy and makes your situation even more difficult than it already is.
This question is trickier to answer than it may seem. If you are talking about a mortgage, then yes, you will eventually pay off your timeshare. But understanding timeshare maintenance fees will cause you to realize that you will never, ever be done dumping money into your timeshare.
Don’t let that sobering thought make you think there is no way out. Centerstone Group has helped thousands of timeshare owners just like you escape the money pits created by their timeshare agreements.
As an A+-rated, accredited company with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), we have achieved an outstanding customer satisfaction rating of 4.8-out-of-5 stars. We achieved that by collecting decades of expertise in several different exit methods.
Have you just bought your timeshare and need a timeshare cancellation done within the state’s rescission period? We can do that.
Do you need to be able to transfer your timeshare to someone else? We can help you with that, too.
What if you are just trying to get out of a years-old contract that is bleeding you dry, but your timeshare developer won’t cooperate? We have a proprietary pressure campaign that we can use to help set you free.
Pushy salespeople at timeshare sales presentations will do everything they can to distract you from the true price of your timeshare. Because of that, sitting down and understanding timeshare maintenance fees can come as a shock. You might even feel betrayed or trapped.
It might feel like you have no escape from the fees, but you do. Let Centerstone Group help. Our team has decades of experience in the timeshare industry, and we have successfully achieved timeshare exits with developers throughout the country and even overseas. Contact us today for a free consultation, and we’ll see what we can do for you.
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