(Photo provided) Wendy Myers of Marietta holds the books she’s written, the latest being “Never Buy Timeshare: A Practical Guide to Understanding, Owning and Canceling Timeshare and Vacation Club Properties.”

A Marietta woman’s new book warns people to stay away from timeshares.

“I think the main thing is just don’t do it at all,” said Wendy Myers, a businesswoman who wrote “Never Buy Timeshare: A Practical Guide to Understanding, Owning and Canceling Timeshare and Vacation Club Properties” to avoid getting trapped by a timeshare.

The book is her fourth with the other three for do-it-yourself landlords and how to organize and declutter.

Avoiding timeshares is the first piece of advice from Myers. The money put into the timeshare and escalating maintenance fees and other unknown and hidden expenses and costs often exceeds what the property will sell for, she said.

“The math never works out,” Myers said.

(Photo provided) The cover of Wendy Myers’ latest book, “Never Buy Timeshare: A Practical Guide to Understanding, Owning and Canceling Timeshare and Vacation Club Properties.” The Marietta businesswoman has also written books for landlords and about how families can declutter.

The book is a guide for consumers to understand, evaluate and escape predatory vacation-ownership schemes, she said. Millions of families are struggling with escalating maintenance fees, some increasing at rates far exceeding inflation, for vacations they can no longer afford or access, she said.

Recent surveys conducted in April across Facebook timeshare user groups reveal widespread frustration with booking difficulties, hidden fees and misleading sales presentations, Myers said.

A major problem is the person who is selling the time share isn’t bound to tell the truth, Myers said. Read what the contract says, not what the salesperson says, she said.

“The timeshare industry operates like a casino: the house always wins,” Myers said. “Consumers are told they’re making a real estate investment, but that’s false. This is a vacation product, period. And people need to understand what they’re really buying.”

Myers has attended dozens of timeshare presentations. It is a crisis, she said.

Besides warning against a timeshare, the book provides: strategies for every scenario with legal documents, state-by-state rescission periods and contact information for legitimate exit programs; a step-by-step guide for those trapped in unwanted contracts; evaluation frameworks for consumers considering purchases and strategic advice for maximizing value if owners decide to keep the timeshare. The book includes template letters for rescission, cease and desist orders for collection agencies and notices for canceling automatic payments to help owners without the expense of legal consultations.

The book helps readers distinguish between legitimate exit strategies and fraudulent companies that promise impossible outcomes, Myers said.

“People type ‘cancel timeshare’ into search engines thousands of times daily,” she said. “They’re looking for help, but instead they often find more scams. This book provides the honest information that the industry doesn’t want consumers to have.”

The book is available at Amazon.com.

Myers with her husband, Todd, own and manage rental properties in Marietta. They’ve been in business for more than 20 years.

Myers’ previous books are “Q&A with Ask the Landlady: Answers to All Your Burning Landlord Questions about Acquiring, Managing and Maintaining Rental Properties on Your Own” in 2024, “Lessons from the Landlady: How to Avoid My Mistakes and Be Successful in Real Estate Paperback” in 2023 and “Lift Your Family Out of Chaos: How to Live with, Schedule and Organize Your ADHD Family of Collectors, Hoarders and Procrastinators,” a guide to getting organized that was published in 2024.