Many timeshare owners appreciate their timeshare ownership for the ability to stay in luxury apartments and resorts year after year. But paying high timeshare maintenance fees (which tend to only increase over time) can quickly worsen. Imagine individuals spending around $20,000 as an initial investment on their timeshares, but the final bill includes many other obligatory fees. Hidden fees on timeshare ownership can become true timeshare nightmares for their owners. So, what are the hidden fees on a timeshare? Keep reading to find out more information.
Hidden timeshare payments your developer prefers to avoid telling you
1. Maintenance fees for timeshares
By signing a timeshare contract, an individual becomes obligated to pay timeshare maintenance fees monthly or yearly, depending on the resort or timeshare brand. The truth is that these fees are not fixed – expenses might go high once a timeshare engages in extra repairs. The average timeshare maintenance fees are around $600. Keep in mind that you risk receiving foreclosure on a timeshare once you don’t pay these expenses on time.
2. Real estate fees
Once individuals purchase a timeshare, they face the same real estate fees as buying a house. They typically include an appraisal fee, an assessment fee, a transfer fee, etc. Some resorts can even collect fees that will be hidden until you are engaged in the buying process. They have the potential to increase the final timeshare price significantly. Moreover, other extra fees appear once you decide to sell a timeshare. Don’t think once you sell your ownership; you are now free from paying back fees that you might possess within a timeshare.
3. Travel fees
Most timeshare owners aren’t going to pay for plane tickets for you to reach a vacation home, and this is where extra fees on a timeshare occur. If you want to spend long-awaited holidays in the resort within a timeshare you have already spent thousands of dollars, you will have to pay to travel there. The ugly truth is that you might not even use your timeshare year after year once you can’t afford to travel.
4. Property taxes
Typically, other taxes that many timeshare owners might not even guess about are taxes. Once you become an owner of a timeshare property, you become liable for paying annual property taxes that you can’t give up. And in some cases, a timeshare developer won’t even know about them – now, you are in a trap of paying property taxes, apart from the fees you know about.
5. Utility costs
You are mistaken if you think utility costs are already included in timeshare maintenance fees. Every timeshare owner is liable for paying all the utility costs for the determined time of staying in a resort. This makes a timeshare not as advantageous a deal as it might seem to you before.