# Giving timeshare as a gift????



## angelljoy (Oct 11, 2011)

My 84 year old mother wanted to sell her Wyndham points (574,000 deeded) but since she couldn't get much of anything for them changed her mind.  Now she wants to give them to a friend of hers...so here are my questions:
How do you go about giving someone your timeshare?
What happens to the 900,000 points banked in RCI?
What are the costs involved?

Thanks in advance for the help!!!


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## theo (Oct 12, 2011)

*"Gift"? Maybe not so much...*



angelljoy said:


> My 84 year old mother wanted to sell her Wyndham points (574,000 deeded) but since she couldn't get much of anything for them changed her mind.  Now she wants to give them to a friend of hers...so here are my questions:
> How do you go about giving someone your timeshare?
> What happens to the 900,000 points banked in RCI?
> What are the costs involved?



With all due respect, such a "gift" of ownership might very well instead be an unwelcome and expensive burden just being handed off to someone else, *unless* the recipient knows and fully understands *exactly* what he / she is actually getting into (such as hefty and permanent annual maintenance fees which are virtually guaranteed to regularly increase, for one example --- and the obvious difficulty in ridding oneself of the permanent ownership later, for another).

Wyndham now charges $299 to process any ownership transfer, and that transfer process (after Wyndham has a copy of a new recorded deed *and* the required $299 transfer fee in hand) is certain to take anywhere from 2 months (at a minimum) to possibly  twice that long. 

The banked points have a limited and finite lifespan before they just disappear. In order for those banked points to be transferred, the ownership transfer will have to be completed first (i.e., the recipient first needs to have his / her own RCI account into which the transfer can be made). Those banked points can actually be transferred to any RCI member, for that matter (RCI will of course collect a fee for any such transfer of banked points from one member to another). In any case, the clock ticks on toward expiration regarding the lifespan of those points; transfer does not "reset the clock".

In short summary, I sincerely hope that your mother's friend fully comprehends the nature and consequences of accepting such a (very permanent) "gift". If not, the two might well not remain friends.


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## Patri (Oct 12, 2011)

Agree. The banked points are the least of anyone's worries. Your mom owns a tremendous number of points, and not a lot of people can actually use that many in a given year.
Better off to give them away here on TUG, and split into smaller contracts if that is possible.
How much are the maintenance fees? That must also be taken into consideration  for the next owner.


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## 1950bing (Oct 12, 2011)

If she is able to give it away, they won't be friends for long.


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## Passepartout (Oct 12, 2011)

OP's mom is lucky. I don't think I have any friends I dislike enough to saddle with a timeshare.

Jim


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## angelljoy (Oct 15, 2011)

*Thanks for the help...*

Thank  you for your input.  What you have said about the expense, etc. is exactly what I have been trying to tell her, but as is common, she wants the opinon of an expert.  We have had offers to take them off her hands plus the "buyer" paying all fees.  To me, that is the way to go as the maintenance fees are $243/mo. and she could use the money. Then they are taken care of and she doesn't have to deal with them at all anymore.  She can not travel anymore and we can't afford to, so keeping them is pointless.  Believe me, she and Dad got more than the normal use from them as they travelled many times a year for years up to my father's illness and subsequent death this past May. Again, thanks for the input!!


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## Passepartout (Oct 15, 2011)

Just be careful that these 'experts' are not just scam artists out to relieve her of even more money. Don't pay anything upfront no matter what they call it.

Read up on selling your TS in the TUG Buying, Selling, Renting forum. There are good suggestions there.

We are saddened that your mom is unable to travel and that you aren't able to continue her travel habits. It's a story repeated all the time.

Good luck to you both.


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## DeniseM (Oct 15, 2011)

Any cold calls that you get are likely to be scams - they will charge your mom a high upfront fee and then never actually sell her points.

This is the rule of thumb for timeshare business offers:  If there is a high upfront fee - it's a scam.


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## Patri (Oct 15, 2011)

Before your mom accepts any offer, run it by us.


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## tschwa2 (Oct 15, 2011)

If your mom bought from Wyndham, she may not know that some of her "benefits" won't transfer to her friend.  She needs to make sure her friend knows what she is getting.


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## theo (Oct 20, 2011)

*Another $0.02 worth...*



angelljoy said:


> What you have said about the expense, etc. is exactly what I have been trying to tell her, but as is common, she wants the opinon of an expert.  We have had offers to take them off her hands plus the "buyer" paying all fees.  To me, that is the way to go as the maintenance fees are $243/mo. and she could use the money.



With all due respect to your mother, those offers to take over the ownership, paying any and all fees to do so, may very well be "as good as it's going to get". That will involve a minimum of $400 (likely a bit more, actually) "out of pocket" for the recipient and will still take a bit of time to finalize, even then. Meanwhile, those $243 per month maintenance bills will continue to arrive and will need to get paid.  

While I most certainly do *not* claim for one moment to be one of the "experts" your mother seeks (...my own Wyndham ownership experience was for only a few years before I gave the ownership away for free and paid all of the associated costs to do so...), I would respectfully submit to her that there are few "experts" to be found as knowledgeable as some of the folks right here in the TUG Wyndham forums. Many of them know and understand the Wyndham system, values, practices (and foibles) inside out and, I might add, much better than most Wyndham employees and /or sales personnel! 

Anyway, good luck with Mom. I am quite familiar with a stubborn and  intractable elderly parent who remembers "yesteryear" well, but is less savvy and receptive about the harsh financial reality of *today*.


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