Can you answer roband2000’s question about Timeshares?:

My family and I will be traveling to Florida soon (family of 5) and I am trying to be economical. I’ve heard of timeshares giving tickets to the theme parks…I have 4 children and myself. Do they typically accommodate this size, where should I go? Do I have to schedule timeshare viewing ahead of time? How do I do this? All information would be greatly appreciated. We’re expecting to leave in June…staying at the Legacy Legunes…has anyone ever stayed? If so, how was the 3 bedroom?

Timeshare Tips

Many people would agree that reselling a timeshare is not as easy as buying one. You get loads of invitations in mails; get courtesy calls and emails to attend a timeshare presentation. They offer you bounties and favors in return for attending a presentation. Why all this? To convince you buy a timeshare. Buying is as easy as making a simple enquiry and many companies come knocking to your house to sell a timeshare. 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 advice not 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 timeshare developer who sold you the timeshare. 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. You have to be realistic in your expectations. 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. Make sure you do your home work first. Research the market well to know about the prices. Also know what you are selling by thoroughly studying all the documents. Try to ascertain whether your property is a deeded property or right to use one. Some right to use property values decrease considerably when they approach their expiry. Knowing all these facts makes you knowledgeable about your timeshare and helps you in reselling the property with confidence.

4. List your timeshare with a real estate agency. There is no dearth of online and traditional brokers. But do enquire whether there is any upfront fee for listing the advertisement or commission on sale of property. You may not want to go with a broker who charges very large upfront fee or commission. You can also list your timeshare in classified ads offered by many timeshare developers. The latest trend that is catching up is to list your timeshare for auction on sites such as e-bay which lest you develop your own ad campaign with your own ideas.

5. Do not fall prey to scammers who might dupe you by offering quick resale of your timeshare. Never believe their promise to resale it quickly as we have discussed in detail earlier how touch it is to resale a timeshare. There is no guarantee whatsoever that your timeshare might resell in a specified time period.

6. Also do not commit to any offer on phone. Do make decisions in haste. Take your time to make a decision and to come to a conclusion whether to accept the offer or not. Also request the offer in writing and also obtain written contract.



Thanks to Nicholas Tan for contributing this article to our Timeshares blog:

Get a Money-making Website

Can you answer Cynthia C’s question about Timeshares?:

I have three weeks of timeshare that i wanna get rid of. Which website is the most effective, not too expensive and easy to understand?

Branson Timeshare Rentals

Many people ask “what is fractional ownership?” and the closely related question “Is it timeshare? In this article I will attempt to answer these questions. This article is concerned exclusively with the fractional ownership of leisure/luxury assets. However most of the principles would apply equally to the fractional ownership of a practical item (e.g. for business).

Definition of Fractional Ownership

In its broadest definition, fractional ownership is any arrangement where a group of people (numbering from 2 to 10 or more) share the ownership of an asset and also share certain rights to use the asset. The use of the word “ownership” in the definition therefore excludes timeshare arrangements, where there is no ownership of the underlying asset. Unfortunately however, some so-called fractional ownership schemes are closer to timeshare than they are to true fractional ownership. When investigating whether to purchase a fraction it is essential to know what your relationship to the asset purchased is. The best arrangement is to be identified as the legal joint owner of the asset (or in the case of multiple assets, the owning organization).

Types of Fractional Ownership

The most cost-effective form is where a group of individuals decide to purchase an asset jointly. They then decide on the exact asset to be purchased, draw up ownership documents (perhaps with the help of a legal firm) and purchase and manage the asset themselves. This avoids the sometimes substantial profit-margin that developers charge when selling fractional properties. This approach does have disadvantages, e.g. the amount of paperwork involved and the possibility of falling out with your fellow fraction owners (over cleaning, maintenance etc.)

Second in terms of cost-effectiveness would be a developer or owner-led scheme, where the individual fractions were being sold direct from the developer/owner (but where there were no expensive additional services bundled with the purchase). There will have to be a profit-margin associated with this type of arrangement, since the developer/owner is incurring additional legal and administrative costs. If fractions can be sold individually (without all the fractions of an asset being sold) then they are also taking the risk of having unsold fractions tying up their capital.

The above schemes blur into the next category, which I will call clubs. These are sometimes called Ownership Clubs, Private Residence Clubs, Destination Clubs etc. etc. Where they differ from simple developer/owner-led schemes is in the level of luxury/services provided and (sometimes) in the level of ownership. None of these terms have a particular legal meaning so it is up to the purchaser to investigate issues of ownership, booking arrangements, exit arrangements etc. A the extreme end of this group there are some similarities with Timeshare -so be warned!

How Much is it Costing Me?

Here I don’t mean in absolute terms, I mean how much is it costing in excess of the amount that I would have paid for the asset as a whole. Always try and do a comparison with a similar asset purchased outright to gain an idea of what the developer/owner’s additional costs and profits are. At the very least it might help you to negotiate a better price if you do decide to buy! You can and should do a similar comparison on the management fees (and pay special attention to any rights to vary them in the future).

Conclusion

True fractional ownership isn’t timeshare, but some of the schemes marketed as fractional ownership are. Be warned and do your homework if thinking about purchasing.



Thanks to Neil Robertson for contributing this article to our Timeshares blog:

Luxury Fractional Ownership

Many families and households will feel pressure to stop spending on travel this coming winter. For many, dream vacations are vanishing with dwindling retirements funds. For others, a periodic getaway from the everyday grind is more distant and costly than ever.

These current economic times call for a new outlook towards consumer spending on travel vacation, and leisure. Many hotels and resorts are attempting to keep on-par with the new consumer perspective by offering discounts and cheap vacation offers. Some of these offers can be found through online travel sites that have partnered with resorts across the country to provide extremely affordable vacation deals.

One such helpful site I recently used is Vacation-Offer.com. Vacation-Offer currently provides deeply discounted vacation rates to several resorts across the country at popular destinations such as Myrtle Beach, Atlantic Beach, Charleston, Orlando, and the Bahamas.  What I love about this site is its easy-to-use travel booking interface, submission security, and fantastic customer service. My wife and I had a few questions before booking our vacation and called the customer service line. The guy on the other end was extremely helpful, courteous, and patient as far as answering everything we threw at him.

The biggest advantage to using this site though is that they has some of the best vacation savings out there. Here are the basics: Vacation-Offer.com is able to access these saving through partnerships with resorts that are trying to promote vacation ownership at their destinations. Essentially, you are required to go on a 90 minute sales pitch, and in return receive unbelievable deals, great gifts, and access to all of the luxurious resort amenities while on vacation. The sales pitch was harmless (we actually got a drink with the guy afterwords) and highlighted the advantages of vacation ownership (aka timeshare), where you can own a flexible vacation week at that specific resort.

I appreciated how extremely straight forward Vacation-Offer was as far as telling you what you are getting and why you are getting it at such a great price. While many vacation sites try to hide the reason why you are receiving a discount (the 90 minute sales pitch), and then spring it on you at the last second, Vacation-Offer.com lays it out in front of you in a very honest manner. I highly recommend Vacation-Offer.com for finding discount vacations, especially during times like these.



Thanks to Darwin Redshield for contributing this article to our Timeshares blog:

Hawaii Timeshare Rentals