Selling My Timeshare & Resales

 The biggest scam remains to be when someone calls stating that they have a buyer waiting to buy your timeshare week. This is often a call that comes after you have placed an advertisement ’selling my timeshare’ or ‘timeshare for sale’ or ‘timeshare resale’ on the internet…

It usually starts with a “cold call” by someone claiming to be able to sell your week – or even claiming to have already sold your week. The amount you will receive, they say, is usually vastly more than the true market value of your week.

• Silly things they say:

  Claim to be resellers or real estate agents. In truth, they are virtually always just fraudulent.

  Claim to be a registered company and invite you to check with the appropriate authority.

  Invite you to talk to their lawyers. (who may not even be a lawyer!)

  Claim membership of a “trade” organisation – which is no guide to safe dealing with a timeshare resale.

The telephone numbers thay they give you to check will be often be mobile numbers, answered by one of their colleagues in their own sales office! They may also send over a “contract” which appears to have the name and a signature of a “buyer”. This contract is a fabrication and even good lawyers have been taken in by them.

Then they will say that they need you to pay them money up front to be able to sell your timeshare week – amounts ranging from $300 (about £200) to $3,000 (about £2,000). The reasons for this payment are all totally fictitious – advance legal fees; a ‘Spanish’ legal requirement; a “security bond”; registration of the deeds etc. etc. None are true.

OR, they may invite you to visit them to collect the money from the buyer. You go to their offices expecting to return with money in your pocket – but actually return much poorer, perhaps with membership of some bogus holiday club and/or a piece of paper promising enormous sums to be paid to you in 3 to 5 years time. A “Cash Back” promise that is certainly worthless.

They may even tell you that, as a victim of an earlier fraud, you will get back the money you paid (and even some of the money that the fraudsters had promised from the sale of your timeshare). All you have to do is pay a fee now. The caller may well be the same person who defrauded you the first time!

OR, they may claim to be a bank holding the purchasers’ money on your behalf. All you have to do is send the “bank” some money. Again, the caller is probably from the same gang as previously. OR, they may claim that you need to “upgrade” your ownership to achieve a sale. Pay a fee to the fraudsters for the upgrade and – nothing! (an Asian version of the scam).

OR they may persuade you to “trade in” your timeshare for membership of a holiday club. Not only are holiday clubs usually bad news but you find that your timeshare is NOT transferred out of your name leaving you with the annual fees to pay on two memberships. This is a well known “buy/sell” scam.

They may pretend to be calling from the UK or the US – even giving a relevant telephone number – but are mostly calling from Spain or the Canaries using a call transfer or an international mobile number. But some ARE calling from the UK or USA and they are just as dangerous as those calling from overseas. These companies are acting fraudulently. They are VERY convincing and VERY persistent.

NEVER send any money to any company on the promise of selling your timeshare – whatever reason they might give you for paying and certainly do not give them your credit/debit card details. NEVER send an ownership certificate, or even a copy of one. Let your lawyer deal with all that.

The first thing to consider is your reason for selling. If it is because you wish to buy a week at a different resort, you should investigate part-exchange possibilities.

If you still want to sell then…

Make sure that your week is available for use and not banked with an exchange company or in a Points system. If it is, get confirmation that the use of your banked weeks are transferrable to any new owner.

Get a realistic valuation of your apartment. Some sales companies may exaggerate what they could obtain for your apartment in order to secure upfront fees.

There are resorts that will tell you that they will sell your week for you. Most do not have an active program, as it’s far more profitable to sale their own new apartments.

Make a list of the most pertinent factual information ready to present to a potential buyer. You could then put together an actual sales sheet, similar to what an estate agent would use. Like this:

• Resort Name
• Resort Location
• Unit Name or number, week number and size
• Annual Maintenance charge
• Length of lease remaining
• Management company (and contact details)
• Trustee company (and contact details)
• Resort Facilities
• Local Facilities and attractions
• Distance from major airports / road links
• Current New Sales Price
• Unit Photographs, Resort Photographs, Unit Layout.
• Sales Price (that you want).

Then go on to state the following:
• How many times we’ve used it / when, what we’ve like about it.
• The Exchange companies that we’ve used and where we’ve exchanged to.
• Web-based references to your resort (e.g. RCI / your resort’s website and any other positive information you can find, even local attraction websites).

Remember: An overview of your resort and your apartment is essential when selling privately. And pictures can clinch a quick sale!

Advertising your timeshare for sale

The obvious first choice for many is Ebay but if you have no luck (and you probably wont!) …

• If your timeshare is great for golf, don’t hesitate to get your timeshare on all your local golf club notice boards – the same applies for (say) bird-watching, fishing or scuba-diving… find the local clubs where you live and let them know!

• Look for FREE advertising where possible e.g. craigslist.com , or whatever you can find. Go to google and type ‘free advertising’ and you’ll get plenty of ideas of where to advertise. Remember: people don’t buy products they buy solutions and opportunities – just like you didn’t really buy a timeshare, you bought a luxury vacation opportunity. Make sure that this concept is reflected in your sales copy!

• Local newspapers usually have a free section for (classified) private sales, as do many local websites – which can have an astounding ‘reach’ in terms of national readership.

• Putting an advertisement in the ‘customer advertising’ section at your local supermarket can work too. The cards in those sections get a surprising number of readers and besides, they are usually free. Try titles like “One Week Luxury Golfing Retreat only $4,000 for Six people”.

• You should tell friends and family that you wish to sell – ask them to tell all of their friends that they know of someone with a timeshare for sale, as soon as the subject of holidays comes up in any conversation (offer a small commission!)

Resale Companies who do not charge upfront fees are always worth a look and Daltons weekly (in the UK) could work well for you too (make your advertisement more personal with testimonials of where you have been using your apartment on an exchange system).

For example, consider which of the following two classified advertisements you think would get the better response:

WANT A LUXURY HOLIDAY EVERY YEAR GUARANTEED? Reluctantly selling our timeshare week, 2 Bed, 2 Bath, Luxury fixtures and fittings, any week you want in high season. Tenerife. Great resort / view / unit / facilities. Ideal for a family or a couple although we’ve hardly ever been there as we have exchanged yearly for luxury villas or apartments in Barbados, Florida, Italy and last year Cancun and just paid for cheap flights. Loathed to sell but illness means cannot travel! $6,000 ono call Bob or Marie on 555-1515 (private sale)

or

Timeshare, 2 Bed (sleeps 6) Red Season, xyz club resort £6,000 for quick sale call 555-5515

In preparation for selling or part exchanging get all the information to hand and any necessary paperwork. Contact your Management Company, inform them that a friend may be interested and ask if they could send the documentation necessary to transfer the deed to the new owner. What’s the transfer cost? Ensure that you are clear on the paperwork needed to transfer ownership and find out who at the resort should be informed. Everything should be sent by recorded delivery and always ask for receipts for any documentation or monies paid. Seek appropriate legal advice ALWAYS!

Article by Bryan Farrow. Sponsored by timeshare tips  

how to get the exchange you really want, no matter what you own! (click on links shown)…

The Timeshare Exchange Bible RCI Edition

The Timeshare Exchange Bible Interval International Edition

There are many articles on this blog about how to sell an unwanted timeshare week and many of the advertisers (thanks to Google) also offer this service. In addition, some resources that may prove invaluable to you:

First, sell your timeshare with no fees whatsoever: (Ebay really is NOT the only auction option for selling timeshares!) I keep hearing good things about these people and a quick Google search on them reveals no complaints but a lot of praise:

Second, if the reason that you are trying to sell your timeshare is that you are unhappy with the timeshare exchange? then you should check out these great guides. Even timeshare officianados will learn something about how to get the exchange you really want, no matter what you own! (click on links shown)…

The Timeshare Exchange Bible RCI Edition

The Timeshare Exchange Bible Interval International Edition

Good Luck

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A common option for rental and vacation property today is fractional ownership. You simply own 1/4 of a property in my case a condo. The terms are sale are identical to a Full Condo except you only receive use of the unit for 13 weeks a year. We use about 2 weeks of 13 for personal use and we always have to designate this with our Rental Management company as part of the process.
The main thing here is how can I claim my expenses as a loss? Our income does not exceed expenses and I’d like to use the losses to deduct from our taxable earnings.
Can i use the full amount of Items like the interest on the mortgage, the condo fees, property taxes, rental management fees, etc.? Or since this is fractional property, do i have to proportion these fees.
Currently the way I see this, is I used the property for 2 weeks… So in turn out of 13 weeks total only 84.6% of the property was available as a rental property (11 weeks) vs. vacation property (2 weeks).
Any indication on the proper direction on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. (Filing taxes in Canada).

I fly 50 – 75 hours a year for business and was wondering what a private jet costs? I know you can either buy a fractional ownership or jet card program but have no clue what they cost and who are the best providers? Any suggestions?