posted 12-10-2001 15:04            

So....

Here is my own formula for selling a week. It comes from several years of listening to the wisdom of others here at TUG. It expands on some of the info in the TUG Advice section. I hope others will add more thoughts.

First and last rule (and every rule in between): Never pay an upfront fee to someone to sell your week. Whether the fee is called an appraisal fee, a market analysis fee, a marketing fee, an advertising fee or some other type of fee, the result, historically, has been the same for all who have reported here about their experiences. No one at TUG has ever reported a successful sale transaction after paying such an upfront fee.

Yes, I know you want to believe that the company “has a buyer (or several buyers) waiting to make a deposit on your week. All [the company] needs is a $495 deposit from you. It’s refundable.” I know how desperately you want to believe that sales pitch. Don’t believe it! There is no purchaser waiting in the wings. Once the company has your money, they have no significant incentive to work for you. There are exceptions for selected nominal fees ($15-$30), such as to place an ad in a specific publication or at TUG.

Even worse is the current scam where callers say they will meet you at a local hotel. Bring your deed and they will buy the timeshare on the spot. Once at the meeting, they entice you to buy a membership in a vacation club, purportedly worth $5,000 or more, and in exchange, they purchase your timeshare week. But you wind up paying them several thousand dollars! Net! One of the side gimmicks is that they tell you (incorrectly) that you can deduct the loss on the sale of your timeshare. You wind up with a membership in a vacation club that offers discounts that, for the most part, you can obtain on your own without belonging to any “club”. And you no longer have your timeshare week or the thousands of dollars that you just paid!

If you really want to sell your week, first find out what other weeks like yours are selling for. Ask your resort about recent sale prices, check the TUG sales database (to which you have access, as a TUG member), check real estate records in the county where the resort is, etc. Don’t look at what others are asking as a guide, if you really want to sell. The typical seller bases the asking price on what the week originally cost – and gets little or no action, except from companies looking for upfront fees!

Then advertise the week at a realistic price. What is a realistic price? It certainly has nothing to do with your original purchase price. With few exceptions, owners of timeshares purchased from a developer can expect to take a beating on resale. How much of a beating? A sales price of 50% or less of your original cost may be realistic. Shocked? If your research on recent selling prices indicates you can sell for a higher price, great. But the key is to bury forever any thoughts that because you paid (let's say) $12,000 for your week, someone else will be willing to pay the same amount. They might, if you were putting on the same glitzy sales presentation that some high-pressure salesperson did when you bought, including some free door prizes. But you don't have that luxury. So do your homework and set the price at the right level. It will sell.

Where do you advertise? On a bulletin board or in a newsletter at your home resort, at the various on-line free timeshare sales services and other on-line bulletin boards and classified ad locations, at timeshare related locations where you can advertise for a nominal cost (e.g., here at TUG and at the on-line and print editions of Timesharing Today at www.tstoday.com), etc. Ask your resort for ideas of how others sell their week. And don’t leave out newspapers. Consider a classified ad in the “Real Estate – Timeshares” section of major newspapers in locations where concentrations of visitors to your resort live, etc. Also consider the local newspaper where the resort is located. Visitors to the area will likely want to come back and may want to buy a piece of the resort area, just as you did. They are prime targets.

There may be some timeshare resale realtors in your resort area (such as there are in Hilton Head) that will try to sell your week for a commission.

Also consider trying to sell your week on e-Bay, setting a reserve as low as you are willing to sell for. At e-Bay, even if your week doesn’t sell, the bids you get will give you another strong indication of the true value of your week.

Selling a timeshare week takes effort. But the effort, if you are realistic in your expectations, will pay off!

Lastly, you might decide you can’t afford to sell at the price your research indicates is reasonable, because you still owe an astronomical amount on the loan the developer arranged for you when you purchased. Consider refinancing your loan to get a lower interest rate and make the payments more palatable and, perhaps, partially deductible. I expect an article on this subject to appear in the January-February issue of Timesharing Today. (I know the author. )

posted 12-10-2001 18:56            

Thanks for putting this together. I will be sure to archive it.

posted 12-12-2001 08:06            

Thanks.

After you've enticed a willing buyer, what's next?

Contract? Title search? Escrow? Deed? Transfer? Closing? Paperwork? Who does what? Etc, etc, etc.

In other words, how do you sell your timeshare?

Ken

posted 12-12-2001 09:03            

If you want to do it on your own, Timesharing Today has a Resale Document Kit, which you can purchase for $25, or even less if you choose to download the kit. Instructions, fill-in-the-blank forms, sample letters, loan documents, etc. Easy to follow.

There are a couple of challenges to this process, especially if you haven't tried it previously. You are entering into a legal transaction. As either buyer or seller, don't get it wrong! Who gets the rights to use this year's week? Who pays this year's maintenance fees? Do you have proof of payment of the fees to give to the buyer? Etc. The Timesharing Today forms are easy to follow, but still.... Also, how comfortable will the buyer be if you handle everything, including the buyer's cash? How comfortable would you be if you were the buyer?

If you want to be somewhat more secure, consider one of the law firms that do this kind of work for a reasonable fee. One such firm is Prodox, which gets high marks from those here at TUG that have used their services. As LindaK has said, "Not only is Prodox great for preparing the deeds, but they do all the leg work in finding out where to record the deed, what other forms need to be filed and what the fees are. Everything comes in a tidy package with envelopes for mailing, etc. It is pretty foolproof and definitely worth the reasonable price they charge. I would highly recommend them."

A third choice, especially if you sell through a third party, such as a broker or other resale service, is that the selling agent might suggest you use an escrow or other closing service that they refer you to. This can cost as little as a few hundred dollars or as much as $1,000. If you use such a service, make sure you get a written quote for the costs in advance. If you don't like the proposal, insist that you take the closing process elsewhere. Some will insist that you use their service and won't give you the name of the buyer, leaving you no practical alternative. Find out this info (in writing) before you list your week for sale!

When you say Prodox is reasonable in their closing
costs, what is reasonable?

Thanks for the info. Yes, that is very
reasonable.

Ziggy

P.S. What exactly is escrow service?

How do you go about getting their services? What's
the procedure to follow? I am thinking of buying a
timeshare from an individual, but haven't a clue
as to where to start the process since the buyer
usually handles that.