Teleidoscope

Thu, Aug 16, 2007

Time Share

Posted at 8:22 am MDT to Travel

Because I have been on cruises and have hotel and airline frequent flyer miles, I get lots of brochures for vacation stuff. Last December I filled out a survey that was supposed to put me in a drawing for a prize. Tuesday I got a call that I had won a prize provided I would listen to a pitch for timeshares. The list of possible prizes included $2400 cash, a wide screen TV, a vacation based in Florida or Las Vegas and a Cadillac, and I was guaranteed to win one of them.

I'd been thinking that I might like to own a vacation timeshare (that autonomy thing), but wasn't sure where in particular I would want one. It turns out they have a solution for that.

I have bought a Time Share that had been foreclosed on and was being resold by the homeowners association. It isn't the traditional kind of timeshare where you are prescheduled for one week per year in a particular location, but a newer 'Points' timeshare.

It is theoretically still based on partial ownership of a piece of real estate somewhere, but the actual times and locations of the vacations I take are fungible. Sort of vacations backed by real estate like paper money is notionally backed by gold. In practice, it amounts to a prepaid vacation with some potential resale value.

The points can be used at resorts all over the world and for things like cruises. They don't necessarily need to be for a week at a time unless I want to use them for a 'week' style timeshare. I can use them at 'Points' resorts for long weekends or on weekly schedules that are not Friday to Firday. And they can be carried over for one year (but not two) if I want to save up for something big.

They said the timeshare still qualifies as a second home for tax purposes, so the interest may be deductible. I will look into that.

And I can rent (more or less) my points to other people who want a vacation somewhere. Anywhere. So its a little like when my grandparents were part owners of their beach cottage, but without the maintenance work.

They gave me so many points as a signing bonus (more than half a year's worth) that I am looking at spending some time in Japan in the next year or so. Or maybe some time in England. Foreign sites are more expensive, naturally, but I have a lot of points to use.

Oh, and the prize I won was a cruise through the Bahamas. I need to schedule it some time in the next 30 days and take it some time in the next year. I'm thinking that January might be nice. Things at the company are often slow in the beginning of January. And that's about as far from hurricane season as you can get. It's a trip for two, so maybe I'll see if Nanette or one of my other friend's can come. Or I'll get the luxury of a cabin all to myself.

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