Get Rid Of A Timeshare

Timeshare salespeople can unfortunately be a bit on the seedy side.

Wait..no..

SALESPEOPLE can unfortunately be a bit on the seedy side. I think it's the nature of sales. But salespeople can also have a lot of integrity. When you go buy a used car or any car, you probably have encountered both the salesperson you'd just rather not be around and the salesperson who seems quite helpful.

Come to think of it my wife and I just went out looking for mattresses and bumped into quite a few sleezy and pushy salespeople.

Nevertheless, when it comes to timeshares for some reason people tend to blame timeshares for their problems and not the sales people. I think this is unfortunate because I love our timeshare. I understand what it is and it made sense for us to own one. Unfortunately it seems to often that salespeople may not truly tell you are buying, for how much, and what you are getting and now you find yourself in a position to have to sell your timeshare.

This lens will help you (hopefully) make the best of your situation.

ONWARD!

Many people would agree that it is much easier to buy a timeshare than to sell it again.

If you think about it, timeshare promotions include a lot of gifts and rewards just for watching the presentation. A lot of cost goes in to campaigns to invite you to see a presentation. This is all in an effort to get you to buy a unit. If you are selling, you need to compete with that type of onslaught to potential buyers.

But, have you ever wondered is selling a timeshare as easy as buying one? The harsh truth is no. Reselling a timeshare can be a real pain in the neck. That is why many experts advise not to buy timeshare as an investment. It is never going to rewards you with the returns of a real estate property. It is an investment in your life, dreams but not for financial returns.

True that many people buy timeshare with the intention of vacationing only but certain unforeseen circumstances may force some timeshare owners to resale their timeshare unit.

So this article is exclusively for those people and may also benefit others also who are contemplating selling their timeshares due to reasons such as change of taste, family has grown and you no longer want to go to the same location etc.

1. Check with the developer whom you originally made the purchase through.

Sometimes the developers offer the original buyer an option to resell their timeshare back to the developer. If not find out if your timeshare is associated with a licensed broker handling timeshare resale.

2. Get realistic about your options for resale.

Do not expect wonders. It is a bitter truth that timeshare properties do sell at less than their original price. Not only that, it may be difficult to resale as well especially if it is in a not so popular destination, is a small unit for example a studio and if the time of use is in an off season. It might be a challenging task to sell a timeshare like the one discussed above. But in case of a property which is located in popular vacation destinations, is reasonably big and offers usage during peak season might sell easily. But again even if the property sells it might sell at 30-50% less than its original price. So be prepared mentally about that, think that it is like your car which depreciates with each passing year.

3. Look to alternative sources for selling where you can find ready prospects.

Besides your obvious choice of timeshare brokers, check out other industry type agents who might be in touch with those that would be interested in a timeshare. Two great examples are travel agents and real estate agents. Travel agents prospects are those people who travel. Timeshare opportunities are interesting to those that travel. Real estate agents have prospects who already understand the value of owning versus renting. That's another valuable resource.

4. Do It Yourself Online.

The internet has no shortage of classified advertising opportunities or auction opportunities. And many of these will be very cheap or free. Craigslist and Ebay are two giants off the top of my head but there are many more you should be able to find with a little internet digging.

5. Rethink selling your timeshare for other possibilities.

Depending on the reason you are selling your timeshare, you may want to rethink it. Timeshare resales will only be maybe 50% of your purchase price. Instead of selling, you could rent it out every year which takes some time but it is doable and you may not lose as much money in the long run if you rent it out every year. Another option is donating your timeshare week to charity. So if you go on vacation once every five years, perhaps the other four years you can donate a week to charity and have a healthy write-off (consult your accountant!).

After reading this article I hope you are able to have a good and quick sale. You may end up finding it more financially constructive to see if you can rent your unit every year instead of selling it. Whichever you choose, I wish you well.

Having A Problem With Selling Your Timeshare? Check These Alternatives Out
by Emil Benjamin

Many people simply buy timeshares thinking that they would be able to take out some time from their busy schedule and go for vacation. But many end up not using their timeshares at all. So they start considering selling their timeshares. But if you think selling a timeshare is as easy as any other real estate property then you are completely wrong. Selling a timeshare is real pain in the neck taking several months to sell. Even when it finally sells, it sells at 40%-50% less than the original price. You might think is it really worth selling your timeshare or is there a better alternative to selling it. The answer is yes, there are alternatives to selling your timeshare. We discuss those in detail in the paragraphs to follow.

A fantastic alternative to selling is renting.

hile many people already pass up timeshare buying opportunities, people still take vacation all the time. Renting is a much easier committment to swallow than buying so you will find plentiful prospects for renting. One possibilty is going back to the source you purchased from to see if they have any rental resources. Otherwise, you can put an ad in the many online advertising sites and ad sites. You can post your ad on auction sites listing your unit "for sale" for that year. You can even place your unit for rent with a real estate agency since they have a ready list of prospects. Do your research and diligence and know what a comparable hotel stay costs compared to what your timeshare property offers in the way of amenities. Consider in the possible perentage or fees paid for advertising. You may find it a better fiscal opportunity. The downside is that you would have to repeat every year you don't use your unit, but the upside is you may get more money and you also can still use your unit if you do find you can take a vacation.

Another alternative to selling your timeshare is timeshare exchange.

Many organizations such as RCI already have an exchange infrastructure you can utilize in case one year you want to go to New York and the next year you want to go to Hawaii. Besides the developer and source where you purchased your unit, there are other online exchange companies which can help you out. The downside is that you will still be forced to take a vacation every year and if this was the reason you are thinking of selling in the first place, it may not be helpful. However, you may end up finding that it will be easier for you to take a vacation in one of the areas available for exchange than your original location.

Last but not the least, instead of selling your timeshares why not donate your timeshares to a charity.

This is the most hassle free of the choices since it is off your hands and off your books. You can donate it similar to how you can donate any other property. Check with your tax accountants but you should be able to get a very high value of write off. It would be a good idea to find a charity that can actually use your timeshare every year to its fullest potential. Using this alternative means making sure you know the value of the write-off compared to the value of keeping to rent or keeping to exchange and seeing which fits best for you

Good luck with figuring out what to do with a timeshare you purchased. I hope this has been helpful.

Timeshare sales and timeshare resale are still a big market. New timeshare are being developed and sold every year. The market is out there. It's just a matter now of the owner finding ways to reach out to the buying demographic.

If you want to sell timeshare you own, you will need to advertise as much as possible to reach as many clients as possible. If you think about it, the resort industry has many resources for selling a timeshare: have you ever had a call promoting a free stay in exchange for attending a simple 90 minutes presentation? How about $150 in gift cards?

Make no mistake: new timeshare promotions dwarf the resources available for resale.

That is why you need to use the internet to reach people. The more people you can reach, the more likely you can sell your timeshare. And you have going for you that timeshare resales are typically 50% cheaper than new sales. Well, that is not going for you in the way of making your money back, but it goes well for you in that you have that as your "weapon" against new timeshare sales.

The easiest way to get the word out of course is using the internet and using various advertising websites. Some websites, in fact, are dedicated specifically to selling timeshares.

There are many timeshare resale websites and many of them come and go. Here is what to look for when you browse for sites.

1. Your ad should first be posted in a respectful website.

This strategy has never been more effective and more profitable than posting timeshares in websites.

2. Advertising websites should be capable to market a particular timeshare to thousands of web visitors every single day.
You need maximum exposure as much as possible. It is a numbers game. And in big numbers you will be able to reach out and have a better chance of finding that one person who will buy your timeshare.

Fortunately, with more and more people being able to do more and more on the internet, many online businesses are becoming more beholden to good practices. It is much easier today for a single person to lodge a complaint against a website via various online sites, blogs, and video websites.

3. If you are selling, you must realize that most of the visitors of a timeshare website would be travelers or adventurers.
It is important to know your client demographic so you can tailor your ads to hit the "hot buttons" for that demographic. This is a luxury, not a necessity.

4. You should contact the helpdesk and see how you like their support.
This is my favorite tip whenever I venture into any new product. It should be friendly, polite, and knowledgable. You can ask pre-sales questions or any kind of questions and see how the support reacts.

5. The completeness of the interview form for selling your timeshare is a good sign of how thorough a job the site does overall.
You want the advertising site to be professional and thorough. There is a story that the Rolling Stones would refuse to play at a concert if a bowl of M&M candies were not in the dressing room. This was written in to the contract. Did the Rolling Stones just not want to play unless they had some candy? No, not at all. It was just helping them find out how closely the venues paid attention to their contracts.

Selling a timeshare is like selling a used car, not selling a used house. The value will go down just because that is the supply and demand of the market. So think it through and see if you really want to get rid of it. If so, then hopefully these tips above are helpful. Good luck!