Added: 02/02/2006 |
Fixed Week is a particular week which owner purcheses at a certain resortThe decision to purchase timeshare property is an easy one. Where to buy, what to buy, and how to move forward are the more difficult ones.
Before any property is purchased or leased, potential owners need to understand the basic facts and options concerning timeshare ownership. For those who are considering purchasing timeshare, but don?t quite know exactly what it is, here?s a simple, straightforward definition: Timesharing is joint ownership or lease of vacation property by several people who take turns occupying the premises for fixed periods.
Obviously, there is a bit more to it than that, but in its simplest form, timeshare means that you and a group of people share the cost of a vacation property and split it up into increments of one week or more per year. The property rights are divided into 50 or 51 segments, or shares, of time (52 weeks per year minus one-two weeks for maintenance and renovations) and are sold so that each owner owns 1/50 or 1/51 of the property.
Once the parameters are established, and depending on the kind of timeshare program bought into, owners are guaranteed use of that property during an established time every year. Timeshare is also referred to as vacation ownership, and can be bought as hotel rooms, condos, villas, single-family homes, cruise cabins and ultra-luxurious country club accommodations, among others.
In addition to the basic types of ownership, there are several additional programs that can define vacation ownership. It?s important to understand these ?sub-programs? because they spell out several details of the owners? rights and privileges, and will in many cases be the deciding factor in making the timeshare purchase at all. The oldest and most familiar form of timeshare is the program of fixed weeks.
When the owner purchases the rights to a particular week at a certain resort, it?s called a Fixed Week. Timeshare owners in a Fixed Week program own the rights to a unit at their home resort for a particular week, the same week every year. When the owner also owns the rights to a specific unit, it?s called Fixed Week/Fixed Unit. The only difference between the two is that the Fixed Unit owner will be in the exact same condo or villa year after year. The advantage to this type of ownership is that the owner can be confident that their property will be waiting for them at the same time year after year.
If the Fixed Week owner would like to vacation at a different location and/or at a different time of year, their particular week can be deposited into an exchange company and traded for a week at another similar location/time of their choosing. The owner can exchange for any resort within the exchange company?s network. So someone who owns a week in Orlando, could very well vacation in Hawaii, depending upon availability and the value of the week deposited.
The other type is a floating week that allows a timeshare owner to select their vacation week from varying weeks each year. The owner may select weeks, usually after maintenance fees are paid. Each resort location may have different guidelines so it is best to ask in advance regarding resort or management company rules regarding floating weeks.
For timeshare resales, if you need a particular week only, shop for fixed weeks. If you have flexibility with your timeshare week, then opt for a floating week for it may be less expensive.
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