I did the wrong thing. What do I do now?

So, you’ve read our ‘Did I Do the Right Thing?’ blog article, and you’re pretty sure you fall into the category of ‘I did the wrong thing.’ What do you do now? Below we outline a step by step process on what to do right now, along with the journey you should take to educate yourself appropriately on timesharing and to definitively determine whether or not timesharing is a good match for you and your family.

We define this process as ‘The Five R’s’, which stand for, and in order of steps to be taken over time:

Rescind – what to do right now if you haven’t already done your research.

Research – what to start doing now in spades.

Rent – Try before you buy.

Resale Purchase – The most cost-effective way to obtain timeshares.

Retail Purchase – Only for the well educated and only under certain circumstances where it makes sense.

Below are the details for each of the five R’s:

Rescind – unless you have in fact done step two below in spades, rescind your developer purchase first. You have only a precious few days to rescind. You have the rest to your natural life to decide to buy back in with the developer and probably at a better price point than the contract you are rescinding now. For many people, their first foray into timeshares consists of a seemingly innocent invitation to a discounted three or four-day vacation during which you’re told you must attend a 1-2 hour timeshare presentation. No big deal you figure, I’ve got this. Next thing you know, you’re at this presentation which turns into a high-pressure sales pitch to purchase a timeshare, meanwhile, you’re on vacation, a time when your collective guard is down, which makes sense since you’re there on vacation right? It all sounds so good – and you really just want to get back to your vacation, and you may even have been told you can rescind at any time. FACT: on average, you only have five days to rescind – it varies depending on the actual state and/or country in which you are vacationing – it can be as little as three days or as many as 15 days – but no matter what, if you made a purchase at a local resort while on vacation, under these or under any remotely similar circumstances, and spent thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars after doing almost no substantive research or due diligence, then it’s time to rescind NOW. Write your rescission letter and send it today!

Looking for advice on how to rescind your Wyndham timeshare purchase? Stay tuned for a more detailed article on the rescission process here at Wyndham Experts! In the meantime, please make use of Wyndham Facebook groups or post on the Timeshare Users Group (TUG) web forum asking for specific directions and details on how to rescind your developer purchase.

Research – start doing your homework in spades. Research research research. Talk to existing owners, find timeshare web forums like TUG (Timeshare Users Group), or any of several Facebook groups dedicated to Wyndham timesharing, and search and read existing content. Chances are someone, many someones, in fact, have been right where you are now and have taken the time to post about their experiences in detail. Learn from those someones, and follow the next step to educate yourself on whether timesharing is a good match for you and your family’s vacationing needs and wants.

How long should the Research phase last? Your research phase should be measured in a duration of weeks at the very least, but for most people, the duration should be measured over a period of months.

Looking for some advice on whether timesharing is right for you as you undertake your research phase? Stay tuned for an article here on Wyndham Experts on how best to evaluate whether timesharing with Wyndham is a good match for you.

Rent – rent from current timeshare owners – try before you buy – there’s no better teacher than actual experience. It’s easy to find timeshare owners who want to rent to you. Just join any of the online Wyndham Facebook groups and post your rental ask and many owners will reply in short order to rent you bookings with their points to meet your vacation needs. Renting from other owners will also help to teach you about the collective availabilities at various timeshare resorts and how far in advance you will need to arrange your vacations – which is another important aspect of timesharing.

We generally recommend you rent from current Wyndham VIP owners. VIP owners can sometimes offer better rental pricing since they have booking benefits that are only available to VIP owners – particularly if you’re booking within 60 days of your planned vacation dates. Trying out the various Wyndham resorts will help to ensure you and your family members and friends actually like the vacation experiences that Wyndham timesharing offers.

How long should the Rental phase last? Your rental phase should be measured in a duration of months at the very least. For folks who only vacation annually or semi-annually – it could be years.

Looking for more advice on how best to rent? Stay tuned for an article here on Wyndham Experts on how best to rent.

Resale Purchase – if after performing the above three steps – you have done your homework and actually tried out the timeshare experience, you can now consider a resale purchase. Buying resale generally offers the best bang for your buck and the fastest ROI/breakeven from a dollars and sense perspective.

Want to learn more about how to perform a resale purchase? Click here to read our article on how to purchase resale.

Lastly, be aware that there are a handful of scenarios where considering a Wyndham “developer” or a retail purchase may actually make sense, which brings us to the last of the R’s.

Retail Purchase – if you have done your homework and determined that you are in fact part of the handful of scenarios where a retail purchase makes sense, then, by all means, take this step. By now you should essentially be a timeshare expert or close to it, so you know better than anyone else what you should do.

One primary recommended rule to live by if you are considering this step. Timeshares are a luxury purchase – a want not a need. Luxury purchases should never be financed. If you cannot afford to make the purchase in cash upfront – or to pay it off within the six month interest free period on the Wyndham Rewards credit card – then don’t do it. Not following this single rule is one of the primary reasons many people end up hating timeshares. Between the loan payments and the maintenance fees, they can’t afford to actually go on vacation. Now they are paying for something that they cannot actually use – and nothing breeds contempt in the financial department faster than a bad investment of our hard-earned money.