What Is A Timeshare?

What exactly is a timeshare unit? Timeshare units are basically a further extension of the condominium concept.

A condo is a housing unit within a building which has been divided into many individual units. The condo unit is purchased for a specific price plus a share of the maintenance and upkeep costs for the building's common areas. These common areas are usually owned by all the condo owners.



Timeshare units work in basically the same way, but the developer takes the individual housing units and further divides them into weekly time slots. These weekly time slots are then bought and sold. Thus, instead of one owner for each unit in the building year round as with a condo, timeshare units can theoretically have up to 52 owners (one for each week of the year) each with a right to a specific week each year in the unit.

The way the weekly time slots are allocated varies depending on the developer selling the timeshare units. In some timeshare buildings, you purchase a specific week in a specific unit within the building, while other timeshare buildings sell floating time slots which merely promise you an available unit in the building during your particular week. These differences have enormous implications when trying to sell and trade your timeshare unit, so it pays to understand exactly what you're purchasing if you decide to buy a timeshare unit.