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Are for sale ads actually owners or just realtors?

booklvr

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I'm trying to find a purchase at Marriott's Newport Coast and so far have been puzzled by the ads posted on Tug. Are they real owners or agents who try to find units once a buyer expresses interest?

So far it seems that the ads are not owners, based on the responses I'm getting. I'm not sure if that makes a difference but it bothered me a bit to contact who I thought was an owner and now I'm not sure if there really is an owner. Is this common practice?
 

DeniseM

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Any one who joins TUG and becomes a member may post in the Marketplace - both owners, and rental agents. There is no reason to be worried about buying from an agent - in most cases they will handle the transaction smoothy, and quickly, because they do it more often.
 
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rlblack

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If you buy through a licensed real estate agent remember, they are bound by the state laws under which they are licensed and every state has a method for handling complaints and license actions if necessary. You can check if they are licensed by checking the licensing authority preferably the state that the reside and holds their license. You would be more protected by using a licensed person, verses a for sale by owner- they are bound by state laws also- but their lively hood is not affected if they don't follow those laws. And if the licensed real estate agent- is a Realtor- then that is another layer of ethics requirement and a method for complaint.

In any purchase of a timeshare or any real property for that matter-, doing your homework on the state laws in the state where the transfer of ownership is to happen, would be the best way to be sure you have a successful transaction. Good Luck
 

ronparise

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In most cases an agent represents a real owner
 

DaveNV

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I've bought a number of timeshares, from both private parties and reseller businesses (PCCs, presumably.) I've also sold all but one of my timeshares, all handled by me in a sale to another private party. With common sense and caution, all but one deal went smoothly, and closed without a problem.

In the one instance where a purchase went south it was because the (I believe) dishonest resale company sold "my" purchase to a higher bidder after we'd already agreed on a sale price. The company was very vague about why the sale couldn't move forward, and never did give me a satisfactory answer. And after stopping my deal, the listing on their website was suddenly marked "Sold" a few days later. Hmm... :roll eyes:

If you are concerned about the legitimacy of a purchase you're making, be sure to do your due diligence. And don't automatically assume that dealing with a business will give you a better purchase than buying from a private party.

Dave
 

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camachinist

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It's pretty easy to discern an owner from an agent. In the case of NCV, ownership is recorded at the Orange County (CA!) recorders office and is easily searchable. I can plug in either mine or my exW's name and come up with all our deeds in under a minute. An agent or broker, unless they are masquerading with the owner's name and personal information, won't prove out in that test. I personally use Redweek for all my sales and rental stuff so really know zero about TUG's ad areas. However, I do get a lot of inquiries from brokers and resellers on Redweek so they're paying to mine that POS location. I would imagine TUG is similar, plus it's free :)
 

theo

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Howzzat?

It's pretty easy to discern an owner from an agent.

In order to conduct a deed search, one generally needs a name (either grantor or grantee --- and spelled correctly). In the scenario presented by the OP regarding responding to an ad (whether an ad is here on TUG, RedWeek, Craigslist or anywhere else matters not at all), how / why would any inquirer initially even have a grantor or grantee name (as opposed to just a email address) on which to actually conduct a search in the first place? :shrug::confused::shrug:

Sure, a deed search on your own name and ownerships is obviously very easy to conduct. However, finding a deed without first knowing either a correctly spelled grantor or grantee name (preferably first name and last name and any applicable suffix) is rarely "pretty easy".
 
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camachinist

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I've never had a problem and I routinely search around a 100 grantee/or names a week right now whilst doing due diligence on commercial and residential real estate I'm pursuing. Of course, YMMV. If someone posting an ad isn't providing clear contact information, like I do with every ad I post, well that's an answer!

So, hence, for me, it's pretty easy!
 

theo

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I've never had a problem and I routinely search around a 100 grantee/or names a week right now whilst doing due diligence on commercial and residential real estate I'm pursuing. Of course, YMMV. If someone posting an ad isn't providing clear contact information, like I do with every ad I post, well that's an answer!

So, hence, for me, it's pretty easy!

You may have missed my intended point, which was simply that in order for anyone to conduct a timeshare deed search using timeshare grantor or grantee name(s), one must first actually know (...accurate and correctly spelled) grantor or grantee name(s) in the first place in order to be able to do so.

You are clearly aware that residential and / or commercial real estate ownerships (and associated deeds) can often be successfully ferreted out with relative ease, starting with nothing more than a property address. In timeshares however, knowing only the property itself is almost useless, since there can be hundreds or even thousands of deeded owners at any given timeshare property (number of units X 51 or 52 weeks equals a whole lot of deeded owners to identify individually). :shrug:
 
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brucecz

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I'm trying to find a purchase at Marriott's Newport Coast and so far have been puzzled by the ads posted on Tug. Are they real owners or agents who try to find units once a buyer expresses interest?

So far it seems that the ads are not owners, based on the responses I'm getting. I'm not sure if that makes a difference but it bothered me a bit to contact who I thought was an owner and now I'm not sure if there really is an owner. Is this common practice?

Ask for a copy of the deed. The owner may like I do blank out the unit and week number if it is a floating flex week to protech his account from being used by non authorized person.

Also strongly suggerst that you ask a get a warranty deed that offers better protection instead of a quit claim deed. Bruce :D

Aso ask for a estoppel letter
 

TUGBrian

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also should be worth noting that many highly desireable timeshares (upscale marriotts, hiltons, starwoods etc) will certainly have more listings by brokers...as those are in most cases the ones with enough value to warrant a broker taking the time to market them.
 

flindberg

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Any real Owners out there on TUG?

Are for sale ads actually owners or just realtors?
I'm trying to find a purchase at Marriott's Newport Coast and so far have been puzzled by the ads posted on Tug. Are they real owners or agents who try to find units once a buyer expresses interest?
So far it seems that the ads are not owners, based on the responses I'm getting. I'm not sure if that makes a difference but it bothered me a bit to contact who I thought was an owner and now I'm not sure if there really is an owner. Is this common practice?
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I thought (the above) was a really good question so I read all the responses. I just became a member of TUG today and I admittedly know zilch about any of this. But I am also not stupid. ALL responses came from people who have posted a minimum of 2,000+ times (and up to 30,000 posts). These CAN'T be Owners. These are people/entities who may 'own' timeshares - but AS BUSINESSES. Why would I want advice from a timeshare business about legitimacy of the timeshare business? That's like asking the fox how to best protect the chickens! I joined thinking I was going to get advice from peers - other individuals looking to sell a timeshare or who successfully sold theirs.
Am I wrong here? If you respond to this, please state up front how many timeshare deeds or agreements you currently own - or don't waste my time. Thanks.
 

scootr5

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Sure, there are real owners that may have hundreds or thousands of posts here on tug (it's a bit of an addiction). Right now I have several deeds across three timeshare systems in my name.
 
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theo

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Say WHAT?

I just became a member of TUG today and I admittedly know zilch about any of this. But I am also not stupid. ALL responses came from people who have posted a minimum of 2,000+ times (and up to 30,000 posts). These CAN'T be Owners. These are people/entities who may 'own' timeshares - but AS BUSINESSES. Why would I want advice from a timeshare business about legitimacy of the timeshare business? That's like asking the fox how to best protect the chickens! I joined thinking I was going to get advice from peers - other individuals looking to sell a timeshare or who successfully sold theirs.
Am I wrong here? If you respond to this, please state up front how many timeshare deeds or agreements you currently own - or don't waste my time.

I have a different view of whose time might be "wasted" by bothering to even respond to the above at all, but I'll foolishly bite anyhow...

There are people posting in the TUG discussion forums who own a lot of timeshare deeds and / or points who clearly (and quite openly) attempt to conduct something of a "business" with rentals of some of those ownerships, as is their prerogative. That being said however, the number of posts anyone may have placed in these discussion forums has absolutely no connection or correlation of any kind to whether or not that person actually has any such "business" involvement or intent.

Speaking only for myself (at nearly 5,000 posts on a site and a subject of personal interest to me, I assume that I somehow qualify as one of your "business suspects"), we have owned and used timeshares for over 30 years now --- solely for vacation access and never as a "business". In 30+ years, we have probably rented out a week or two about a dozen+ times in collective total --- usually at the last minute and usually for only or for less than our annual maintenance fee cost (...clearly not a very good "business" practice), when illnesses or other pressing family matters suddenly and unexpectedly precluded our own travel or timeshare use.

All of our purchases (all were bought only for our own use) have been at reasonable prices in the resale market. Nonetheless, we've rarely realized any "profit" on any timeshare week we've ever sold. We've usually about broken even when selling off a week --- and have certainly lost money several times selling off unwanted weeks.
That's clearly neither a "business" nor a very good "business model" to emulate.

Not that it's actually any of your business, but since you've asked the question so diplomatically and politely :rolleyes:, we currently own 7 weeks (or 7 deeds, if you prefer), distributed among 3 different timeshare facilities. That's a deliberate 50% reduction in our timeshare ownerships, pared down over the past 5-6 years, partly to control costs in our reduced-income retirement years. These ownerships are for personal leisure travel --- nothing else. We had no timeshare "business" formerly, we have no interest at all in conducting a timeshare "business" now and certainly won't ever develop any timeshare "business" interest or intent at any time in the future.

Welcome to TUG. You might consider toning down the accusations, attitude and / or uninformed conclusions while seeking timeshare knowledge and information here.
After all, by your own above-quoted statement, you "know zilch about any of this" coming in the door. People here are generally quite willing to voluntarily share their topic knowledge and experience --- they will likely be more inclined to do so if you demonstrate a bit less "attitude" and make fewer grossly incorrect accusations.
Just my own unsolicited personal opinion, to accept and adopt or to just ignore summarily, as you may see fit. :shrug:
 
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DeniseM

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You are waaaaay off base:

I have over 30K posts because I'm a TUG Moderator (I work here.)

TUGBrian has over 9K posts, because he OWNS the website.

I just checked and there are over 125 Tuggers with more than 2,000 posts.

Many, many Tuggers rent their timeshares - some often, some seldom, but it doesn't really matter, because we don't sell anything in the discussion forums, and we have strict rules about it.

Renting your extra timeshares is one way to cover your fees - absolutely nothing wrong with that - lots of owners do so.

There are many reputable people who have timeshare related businesses, and they are welcome to post on TUG, and valuable contributors to our knowledge about timesharing.
 

TUGBrian

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I thought (the above) was a really good question so I read all the responses. I just became a member of TUG today and I admittedly know zilch about any of this. But I am also not stupid. ALL responses came from people who have posted a minimum of 2,000+ times (and up to 30,000 posts). These CAN'T be Owners. These are people/entities who may 'own' timeshares - but AS BUSINESSES. Why would I want advice from a timeshare business about legitimacy of the timeshare business? That's like asking the fox how to best protect the chickens! I joined thinking I was going to get advice from peers - other individuals looking to sell a timeshare or who successfully sold theirs.
Am I wrong here? If you respond to this, please state up front how many timeshare deeds or agreements you currently own - or don't waste my time. Thanks.

I believe you are confusing someones TUGBBS post count, with how many ads they have posted.

there is no correlation between the two. the marketplace and the forums are two completely different things.

there is currently no counter for the number of ads an individual has placed, nor can you actually tell who has posted a specific ad (unless they have typed something specific in the description)
 

scootr5

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I was trying to find a polite way to tell him/her he was wrong. :)
 

flindberg

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2 years on...

I am returning to tugbbs for first time in 2yrs and just now seeing the responses to my post. I want to thank everyone who responded! I still don't know much about tug or tugbbs, but I have gained a greater appreciation for timeshare ownership. It's clear to me NOW that all who responded have valuable experience. I was surprised to find that so many of you took time to share your knowledge with me! especially considering (as was rightly pointed out) my attitude! I am humbled by this... Thank you! sign me: Slow Learner
 

TUGBrian

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welcome back!
 

davidvel

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I am returning to tugbbs for first time in 2yrs and just now seeing the responses to my post. I want to thank everyone who responded! I still don't know much about tug or tugbbs, but I have gained a greater appreciation for timeshare ownership. It's clear to me NOW that all who responded have valuable experience. I was surprised to find that so many of you took time to share your knowledge with me! especially considering (as was rightly pointed out) my attitude! I am humbled by this... Thank you! sign me: Slow Learner
And in the past 2 years I have SO MANY MORE POSTS. So after about 130 more posts I'll qualify under your metric as a timeshare "business," :cheer: despite owning only a few weeks.

Just busting your chops; Kudos on your classy acknowledgement.
 
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