For those of you who don't know what a timeshare is, it's basically a collection of vacation hotels that the people who own the timeshare collectively own with everyone else in the program. With a timeshare, you are able to rent out any vacation spot around the world (that the provider owns) for free or, when the credits allotted to your timeshare runs out, for a reduced price of $50 a night. You pay for the timeshare in monthly increments, and once you own the timeshare, it's basically like an asset you control. You can resell it, or just continue using it.

My dad is preparing to declare bankruptcy, which means that he has to get rid his timeshare. He's already put around $18k into it, which is halfway to ownership. The payments are around $300 a month, so the other half will take 5 years to pay off. Should I take the chance and take the timeshare?

Quite a few of you guys are Europeans, which means you travel to other countries more extensively than I do. I don't really know whether getting this is a good deal, compared to being able to use the money now, investing it into stocks, and saving it up for the occasional trip or two. I've got a couple things to think about, i.e. paying for a car + insurance, working on schoolwork, and buying food for my brothers and I. Making payments on the timeshare may adversely affect these things, especially if I work nights at the hospital – the pay is $17 an hour and the job is per diem, which kinda fits with the college schedule, but working nights isn't really conducive to doing well in school.

Working on schoolwork is a biggie here because I think I'ma major in Electrical Engineering (I'm undecided though because I'm uncomfortable with the major) and then head into law school. The thing is, I really, really want to get into Harvard, and if I'm making these payments (ie not studying), my grades could be affected (Electrical Engineering's tough) and I probably won't be able to get in. Basically, this decision could affect my future at large.

I always wanted to travel; I've never been out of the country and it's great to get a new perspective from time to time. I'd really want to stay someplace weeks at a time, just to soak in the people there (I hate tourism and just 'seeing stuff'). And working $17 dollars an hour will definitely allow me to pay for this. The question is, is it feasible? Is it worth it?

You're 'tarded. This is a legitimate thing to consider.

As for my dad filing bankruptcy, I'm not about to defend his finances; it can be assumed that he doesn't manage his money well. But that does not mean that this isn't the perfect chance for me to get some property. Besides, he's old and it kind of blows to think that he's going to be stuck to his finances all his life, so if I take this we can still go places with the family and everything. We were never rich and he just wanted something to hold onto and pass along to his sons. You really have no idea.

Do you have a list of the places they own? Sounds interesting.

They have a list of resorts in-country here: http://trendwest.com/resorts/index.html

And they're affiliated with RCI, so I'd be able to use these: http://www.rci.com/RCI/RCIW/RCIW_index?body=RCIW_rdMain

I'm going to jr. college all expenses paid, then I'ma transfer to UCSD, where the tution itself is taken care of by FAFSA. By which time I'll have a car, so I don't have to room there, which means Electrical Engineering is practically spoken for. As for law school, I'm going to do Peace Corp as soon as I finish college, and use that to waive a good chunk of my law school loans (Thank you, Obama). Lawyers who graduate from Harvard, by the way, are paid *far* more than lawyers who graduate from lesser schools, so according to the people I've talked to (one of them being a superior court judge for the 9th district), I can pay that off in a cinch.

I am such a fucking freeloader.

EDIT:
Thing is, and this is kinda off topic, but I really want to go into civil law. The problem is I'll have wasted 4 years of college. Then again, I know a guy who's majoring in frigging PHILOSOPHY (fat lot that'll do him) because he expects to go into law. So what if he realizes Law's not good for him? Well he's fucked. Electrical Engineering is supposed to be my 'backup plan' just in case everything blows over. That doesn't make me like it any more though. I guess I'ma think about another major.

That wouldn't stop me from doing Peace Corps, but depending on how many years you put into it you can get up to 70% of a Perkins loan forgiven. And of course getting into Harvard is hard. But I'ma scrape my ass in if it's the last thing I'll do.  I have connections and references up the ass already.

Meh. A sense of purpose, a goal, and a sense of accomplishment make people happy. I have everything I need, really. I won't be entirely too unhappy if I don't make it. I just have one direction to go from here, and that's up. But yeah, I also think the timeshare might be unnecessary. It's costly, to say the least. It could be worth it, though. I would plan to use it extensively -- get mah money's worth. Life's too short to stay in one place all the time.

Of course...law's not really conducive to taking a vacay any time you want...and once you do make the money, taking those vacays is nothing compared to what else you can afford. Hm. I'd still like to be able to travel places before I do Law.

I think I'll take the timeshare up, then sell it when I don't need it anymore. I don't really plan to travel much after I'm settled in a career, but having that sort of thing at this time in my life is probably indispensable. Besides, when I sell it, it's like making $18k, isn't it? heh...I think it'd be really cool if I could use that to help my dad to get a house someplace. That'd be fucking awesome. He'd have to make the payments afterward, but that'd cover the down payment...as long as he'd be willing to move out of CA, it might be possible.

I don't think I've ever heard someone say a timeshare is a good idea. I'm not saying there aren't perks to owning one, but it's not cheap and usually doesn't pay for itself. I think it's closer to leasing equity than it is to own it, which is useless.

If timeshares were a sound investment, I think it's pretty safe to assume that people wouldn't be roped into advertising meetings by savvy marketing moguls as a means to sell them; they'd sell themselves. Look at ACTUAL real estate. Actual real estate sells pretty quickly and easily, regardless of where it is on the planet (for the most part). Timeshares can end up costing you a lot of money and giving you very little use, in the end. Especially if you decide to think even slightly outside the box of the timeshare company.

i like timeshares because i can sit through a 2 hour brainwashing session and still get free gas money / free trips places without buying one at all.