Are people into timeshares dumb? how are these things legal?

Open mind and a really open wallet. The renting that you speak of is hit or miss, not even close to reality. They are a bad investment, period.

And you grow the business by doing that 1000 times.

I once sat through a full 90-minute timeshare sales pitch. At the end of the presentation, I asked this question: If timeshares last forever, then why wouldn't I just purchase a pre-owned one on eBay for one third the cost you're offering? The look she gave me would make most children cry.

Yes, and lobbyists.

OR, your friends are stuck with this thing and too embarrassed to admit they did something so stupid. So they invite friends to ski and make the best of a really bad decision.

I was not so much dumb as I was terribly hungry, hungover, alone and feeling sorry for myself. I was one month into a motorcycle trip to South America, and worst of all, the day after a wild night out in Cabo San Lucas. On the ride up to that point I had used timeshare pitches to hang out in air conditioning and score free bottles of tequila, scuba, golf, etc.

The "resort" was an artist rendering of what would eventually be built with the "lowest maintenance fees" in all of timeshare land. The goal for that day was to play a Pete Dye designed golf course which was real and just outside the window of the timeshare cell I was in - 4 hours later and desperate to play I put the $4,500 Jr. Suite price tag on my prepaid credit card. The course was awesome, I played pretty well so I was thinking maybe this wasn't going to be such a bad deal.

Fast forward to Casco Viejo in Panama City, I had mostly forgotten about what I had done. I was hanging out with some other motorcyclists who were looking for a few more bikers to fill a container bound for Cartagena. My response was a sullen, "I can't go, I bought a timeshare in Cabo, used up a good chunk of my money and have to turn around." The look of disappointment from my fellow riders was all I needed to know that I was screwed.

This was in '97, by 2005 I had used the timeshare twice and now the maintenance fees were $800/year. The only silver lining in this sad story was that the economy was booming so it was easy for me to give the timeshare back, with no strings attached, as they were selling like hotcakes.

I often think about what would have happened had I not bought that timeshare; been gone too long to salvage my career, possibly I would not have proposed to my girlfriend when she met me in Costa Rica on my way back, would have gone feral and worked renting out cabana's on some tropical beach.

So, all in all, timeshares have been very, very good for me.

I suspect there will be a lot of survivor bias and cognitive dissonance in responses.

First, we likely will not hear from people whose experiences were bad because not many want to admit they got taken (even on an anonymous message board). Second, people don't want to admit they spent money on something that is not worthwhile. It makes them look dumb.

I figure timeshares are like a BMW or Mercedes. Not a good investment, but rather a symbol: "I've got money that I can afford to throw down the drain."

I remember when they first started. They were very popular. I was a kid but they seemed weird to me- you're sharing this vacation home and can only go when someone else isn't.

I think I'm remembering it correctly. My parents never got one.

Now I see people taking legal action to get out of them.

A close family friend became wealthy selling them.

I feel like there are two types of timeshares.

1) sales pitch, transferable to other locations. you are buying a vacation package kind of thing. I always wondered the value of this vs just doing AirBnB and having more flexibility.

2) you own 1/52 of a condo. The same week at the same place every year. I was given one of these by my grandparents. Worked great, about $700/year maintenance fee. Would rent for $1200-$1500 a week or use myself. Until a hurricane hit, and then there are 1000+ owners trying to negotiate with insurance, builders, etc. Once you realize you have no say in how things go, eventually you hope you get 1/1000 of the value of the property back if it sells.