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Offer to purchase Belair

mplswjr

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My wife and I have an offer to purchase our usage at Belair, the resort in Nuevo near Bucerias. The offering party has proposed using First American Title as the agency to effect the transfer and handle funds in escrow for the purchase. I'm well aware of the many scammers with these kinds of offers, so we are being extremely cautious.
My question is if any TUGers have knowledge of or experience with First American Title? Thanks much
Bill
 

pacodemountainside

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First American Title is definitely a large legitimate organization. NYSE listing "FAF".

Have office here in Denver.

What you want to make sure, this is not name stealing.

Ask for address and phone number. Then go on Internet and look up this info for FAT. Give them a call and ask questions.

If they are offering thousands of dollars big red flag.
 

Passepartout

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First Am. Title also has been the name on a whole bunch of fictitious checks. The buyer gives the seller a big FAT check and asks that the seller refund the difference to some offshore account. Then the FAT check bounces leaving the seller out what they 'refunded, + the original check, + still own the TS.

If the 'buyer' cold called the seller with a ridiculously large amount for their timeshare, I'm betting scam.

Proceed very cautiously. Double check any references, and don't use any links provided by the buyer or the 'title' company. Remember, in Mexico, there are no deeds, hence no title, therefore no need for a title company. Transfers between seller and buyer usually just require a form provided by the resort. Oh, and a few hundred $.

Jim
 

Karen G

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Once owned these: FirstFairway@Walden X 2; Lawai Beach; ManhattanClub; PuebloBonitoRose; 4 South Africa--now timeshare-free
My wife and I have an offer to purchase our usage at Belair, the resort in Nuevo near Bucerias.
How did you receive this offer? Did you have an ad somewhere offering it for sale or did the "buyer" contact you out of the blue offering a huge sum, even more than you paid for it?

If it's the latter, this is a scam. Also, most Mexican timeshares are sold as RTU (right to use) and don't actually involve a deed like U.S. timeshares, which are normally transferred in a similar process to transferring real estate. Usually the transfer can be handled by the timeshare company itself and it's unneccessary to pay a large fee to a title company or escrow company to complete the transaction.
 

nazclk

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FAT

Maybe the initials fit. A buyer used them once on a unit that I sold and I would NEVER use them again. They took months to transfer a Mexico unit with no deed involved.
 

mplswjr

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More detail

I quizzed the potential buyer about how she discovered our membership and its availability for sale. Her reply was that our information was on a list of units offered for sale. It is true that we made our membership available for purchase about three years ago, so it is quite possible that we are still on such a list.
I have defined some very detailed requirements for us to actually proceed in considering her offer, but I haven't heard from her for a couple days since then. She has previously agreed to pay all the costs for transfer of membership, including the resort transfer fee, so we are holding firm on there being no cash outlay from us. I will post further information about this whole exchange for the benefit of other TUG members.
Bill
 
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