A form of vacation property ownership, where the use and costs of running the property are split between the owners.

It's a structure of real estate ownership. Usually involving vacation properties. Rather than own, say, a condo at a lake, one would own maybe a week at the condo on the lake. And there would be perhaps 51 other owners who also get a week each in the same condo. You would own 1/52 of the condo, forever, you would actually own it. But be careful, watch the price, multiply it by 52 and you might see that the total cost paid for the condo by all 52 people would be outrageous. Companies buy these condos and sell them as timeshares at huge profits, so maybe if they buy the condo for $300,000 and then charge each person $25,000 for their week. 52 x $25 = $1,300,000. As you can see, it's VERY profitable.

a time sahre is the joint ownership of a property such as an apartment in a resort area, in which each owner may occupy the property for part of the year

( It is spelled as one word, not two words: TIMESHARE. ) Timeshare at its core is essentially a group of people sharing the cost of a vacation home. The word "timeshare" has grown over the decades to include a wide variety of vacation products and plans. Also known as "vacation ownership" "holiday ownership" and "interval ownership" , its umbrella covers traditional deeded timeshare ownership, fractional ownership, private residence clubs, points clubs, and more. Some would even broaden the term further to include campground memberships and the " condo hotel" concept, in which a condo is purchased outright but the owner is only allowed to use it for a specific periods of time and it is rented by a hotel management company for the remainder of the time. Regardless of how loosely or rigidly you choose to define the term, the basic premise of timeshare is simple. You and a group of other people share the purchase cost of a vacation accommodation, in increments of one week (or more) per year of use, thus guaranteeing your ability to use that accommodation during the period of time you choose, either for life or for a specified number of years. Accommodations range from hotel rooms to condos, from cabins to luxury houses and castles, from yachts and cruise ships to RVs and houseboats.Owning timeshare in the traditional sense means a condominium/villa/house/hotel unit, etc. is subdivided into 52 separate units of time (52 weeks in 1 year), and usually sold to a maximum of 51 owners (leaving one week each year closed down for annual renovations and/or maintenance). Each owner would own 1/51 of the unit. Each share repesents one week of vacation. Each owner is entitled to ownership rights and privileges of the shares that they purchased. This system makes vacation home ownership possible for many people who cannot afford a second home or who otherwise would not be able to enjoy such resort facilities. It is important to remember that purchasing timeshare should never be viewed as a financial investment with the expectation of gaining a profit in either reselling it or renting it to someone else. Timeshare is an investment in lifestyle, in future holidays, in family time together, and when viewed that way it can be a good investment indeed. http://timeshareownerscommunity.com/what_is_timeshare_2.html