Time Shares Part 2-The Presentation.

Part II of the Time Shares Series involves going to the time share presentations.   When they get there they will ask many questions regarding what you do for a living, where you live, whether you own or rent, how many vacations a year you take, etc. They are trying to build rapport, and determine how likely you are of buying.   Whatever the truth is, minimize the reality.  For example, if your an employee of a company, let them know things are really hard.  If you own a small business or company, inform them business is not do as well as before.  You can get the idea.  If you let them know things are going well, they will not give up on selling you something.  They have a name for prospects that seem likely to buy. “A Cougar on a crippled Chicken”.  Don’t be a crippled chicken.  More importantly your 90 minute presentation has become 3 hours.  Lastly, you get rid of your best reason for not buying, or getting a reduction in price. ” I can’t afford it.” Is the best excuse.

The first price they give you will be some inflated price.   You can purchase the same timeshare, know as a “resale” for about a 75-90% discount.  There is this great website called “Redweek.com” and you can see hundreds of timshares for sale.  So do not buy at this initial  presentation, unless they can match or come close to matching  the prices on the resale websites.  When I purchased my first week, I had been to the same property presentation before, so I knew what the price I could get the timeshare for.  The original price was over $25,000.00, I ended up paying just over $5,500.00, but I got them to throw in an extra week at their resort, 3 days of golfing, a private lesson from a PGA pro(awesome), a private fishing trip, and a $800.00 credit on my  meals and activities at the resort.     The value of these incentives was almost $4000.00.  In essence I got a  timeshare for $1500, that I enjoy each year, and I only have to pay $550 in maintenance fees.

More to come on the structure of the time share.

Keeping Records

How long should I keep records for? The answer is: It depends. Different types of records should be kept for different periods of time. As it relates specifically to property management, you will want to keep the following information for these specific periods of time:

One Year

• Employee applications
• Purchase orders
• Meeting minutes

Three Years

• Banking records
• Expired insurance policies
• Correspondence (with clients, tenants, vendors, etc.)
• Internal audits

Seven Years

• Accident reports/claims
• Accounts payable ledgers
• Accounts receivable ledgers
• Bank statements
• Expired contracts and leases
• Employee records (seven years post-termination, not beginning of employment)
• Expense reports
• General journals
• Invoices (both incoming and outgoing)
• Payroll records
• Purchase orders

Permanently

• Articles of incorporation
• External audits
• Canceled checks for property purchases and taxes
• Deeds and mortgages
• Year-end financial statements
• General ledger balances
• Licenses and permits
• Property appraisals
• Property records (costs, blueprints, etc.)
• Tax returns

Many of the items included in this list can be kept electronically. Remember, though, computers crash and are replaced over time and records can go along with them. Particularly when it comes to records that should be kept for longer periods or permanently, make sure that they are electronically preserved either on an external drive or on a secure server.

Time Shares, Are they worth it? Part I.

I just got back from Cabo San Lucas, and as many of you who may have traveled to Mexico’s Tourist Location, I got bombarded by offers to visit timeshare locations in exchange for free attractions, car rentals, or even cash.  I have been to Mexico several times, so I know the game.  I do own a timeshare that I like a lot and I find it to be a good value.  I am usually staying at 4 or 5 star resorts, for about $550.00 a week.  The place is usually a one or two bedroom condo, not a small hotel room, and located on the beach.  Being that I am an “owner” and I meet the right stereotype of the perfect buyer(married, American, family, & am not in the travel industry), I can usually negotiate the largest incentive plan for the two hours I will be giving up on my vacation.

The typical commission a salesman makes in getting someone to attend a timeshare presentation  is about $500.00.  Knowing this, I will usually request twice this amount in incentives.  I usually end up with about $400-$450, worth of incentives.  I typically will arrange a private fishing trip, a golf outing, a spa treatment for my wife, and a credit to my timeshare services bill. I have been on dozens of boat cruises, meals, island hops, and wilderness adventures all for free.   This is step 1 of the timeshare game.  If the first salesman does not give you what you want, go to the next, these guys would rather only make $25.00 off of you, then make nothing at all.   Remember never ever buy at these meetings, until you finish reading all the parts of this blog.