Understanding what is going on?

[New_Hope_in_Time]

I wanted to get some feedback on why so many want to sell their timeshare. do people just no longer want to travel? Is it the corruption of many of the resort developers?
If people can share their views maybe we can come up with a better solution.

Another question I had:
If you wanted to sell your timeshare what would make you consider keeping it?: better accommodations? lower maintenance fees?

 

[1950bing]

Increasing fees,fees,fees !!!!!!!

 

[chalee94]

I wanted to get some feedback on why so many want to sell their timeshare. do people just no longer want to travel?

mostly it's that people get older and can't travel.

fixing the resale process is the big issue...

edited to add: but sure, in many cases, it's that the fees are way too high to maintain any sense of value.

 

[DeniseM]

It's the economy - When people have to cut back, the first thing that goes is the luxuries - timeshares are a luxury.

Another question I had:
If you wanted to sell your timeshare what would make you consider keeping it?: better accommodations? lower maintenance fees?

People who come to TUG asking for help selling their timeshare generally fall into 2 categories:

1. Financial Hardship - they can't afford to keep it. because they can't afford the maintenance fees, and they can't afford to travel.

2. Lack of knowledge - They bought their TS as an impulse purchase, never learned how to use it, and have buyer's remorse.

 

[Passepartout]

People have certainly not stopped leisure traveling. Evidenced by full airplanes, new cruise ships being built, resorts overbooked and hard to get into during prime (school holiday) times.

Denise said it well- when there is economic uncertainty, luxury items are the first to be let go. I really think much is being made in the press about the 'bad economy'. While there is room for improvement- the economy is better than the press lets on. Driving home a couple of nights ago, there was a nearly steady parade of trucks carrying goods on the highway. The rest areas were full. Our town (closely tied to the dairy industry) has several multi-million dollar plants being built with employment for several hundreds.

But back to timeshares. The corruption of developers- many of them offshore- have given the industry a black eye. Having half of the cost of a full-freight timeshare go to marketing is not sustainable. The resale prices right now are too low. They should be at +-30-50% of developer price. I think that resale prices will rebound from the $1 eBay prices we see now. How high? It's anybody's guess. Very few timeshares are being built. People are retiring with disposable income. Occupancy is high.

If I wanted to sell, I'd sell. If my heirs don't want them, I'll sell. Probably the thing that would make keeping them more attractive to me would be some mechanism for getting rid of them. Fixed term RTU? Owner controlled and financially responsible HOA? Low MFs are part of it, but knowing that the place we own is properly maintained and updated as necessary without Special Assessments is more important. Some mechanism to resell them at some percentage of purchase cost- known at time of purchase.

Luxury is nice, but as we age- and no one is immune to that- uncertainty is the enemy. We want to 'nail down' the details of our lives and the timeshares we own are one of those details.

Jim

 

[Rent_Share]

Increasing fees,fees,fees !!!!!!!

It's a gift that keeps on giving

 

[LannyPC]

I wanted to get some feedback on why so many want to sell their timeshare.

It's probably the same reason(s) why so many people want to sell their cars, houses, bicycles, televisions, etc. Circumstances change in life. Tastes, needs, and outlook in life affect such decisions.

For myself personally, one factor was change in job situation. When we bought (regrettably from the developer), our employment and financial situation allowed for us to "get up and go" on a whim. Simply put, our employment and financial situation now no longer allow for that.

Also, as Denise pointed out in scenario #2, the TS salesperson implanted this vision in our heads of being able to go anywhere anytime by combining ownership at said resort along with membership in RCI. Little did we know back then what it meant when a TS salesperson's lips were moving.

 

[MOXJO7282]

I wanted to get some feedback on why so many want to sell their timeshare. do people just no longer want to travel? Is it the corruption of many of the resort developers?
If people can share their views maybe we can come up with a better solution.

Another question I had:
If you wanted to sell your timeshare what would make you consider keeping it?: better accommodations? lower maintenance fees?

It bascially comes down to oversupply of standard quality TSs in many areas. Because of such someone can rent the same unit for less than the owners MFs so owners have no ability to get any value back from a rental. Oversupply effects the resale market the same way.

Even if someone loses their job or can't travel anymore, if their unit still rented for at least MFs easily no one would be looking to get rid of their units.

I know if I lost my job my Marriott ownership would be a small lifeline for us because our weeks rent easily at a premium to MFs, but even if they just brought in enough to pay MFs, the only reason I'd sell is if the TS was actually worth something as mine are. With most of the ones on sale now they are worth very little so people are selling to get rid of the TS because it brings absolutely no value to them as a rental or usage unit.

So its the overdevelopment of standard quality TSs that is the major source of the problem IMHO.

 

[vamom1]

I wanted to get some feedback on why so many want to sell their timeshare. do people just no longer want to travel? Is it the corruption of many of the resort developers?
If people can share their views maybe we can come up with a better solution.

Another question I had:
If you wanted to sell your timeshare what would make you consider keeping it?: better accommodations? lower maintenance fees?

We are goinginto retirement very soon. Therefore our income will drop substationally. That is why we want to sell.

 

[DeniseM]

We ar going into retirement very soon. Therefore our income will drop substationallly. That is why we wantto sell.

Hi and welcome to TUG!

Unfortunately, this is a really tough time to sell a timeshare. Have you done any research to see what your timeshare is actually selling for on the resale market? Sadly, most timeshares are selling for 0-10% of original retail on the resale market.

To find what yours is selling for:
Go to ebay - http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/Timeshares-for-Sale_?_catref=1&_sacat=15897
Search for your resort by exact name
From the menu on the left click on "completed auctions"

That will tell you if any have sold recently on ebay and the selling price. (Be sure you look at SELLING prices, not just asking prices.)

There are definitely some reputable brokers out there, but most of them charge a commission of $1,000+, so unless you own a timeshare worth thousands of dollars, it's more cost effective to sell it yourself.

Here is an article to get you started: http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44

If you find your timeshare has no resale value, you may want to consider giving it away: http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132509

What ever you do, NEVER, EVER pay an upfront fee, no matter what they call it! REPUTABLE Brokers always charge a commission AFTER the sale!

 

[aberlin]

I can't find any Marriott Mountainside TSs for sale on the eBay site you suggested. What do you recommend?

 

[rrlongwell]

I can't find any Marriott Mountainside TSs for sale on the eBay site you suggested. What do you recommend?

If it a deeded property, check with the Courthouse where the Resort is located and see what recent sales for the same Resort are. If you are trying to get rid of it, also contact Marriott and see if they are interested in taking it back and at what price. That would tell you what Marriott thinks is the wholesale value.

 

[Passepartout]

I can't find any Marriott Mountainside TSs for sale on the eBay site you suggested. What do you recommend?

Are you signed in and looking at completed auctions? I see 11 ranging from $1026 to asking $3500 with no bids. One sold for $400 and one for $700.

In order to value your own, you need to see what they actually sold for, not asking price. Adjust your asking price accordingly.

Timeshare values are like that today. Sorry.

Jim

 

[AFARR]

I wanted to get some feedback on why so many want to sell their timeshare. do people just no longer want to travel? Is it the corruption of many of the resort developers?
If people can share their views maybe we can come up with a better solution.

Another question I had:
If you wanted to sell your timeshare what would make you consider keeping it?: better accommodations? lower maintenance fees?

I purchased recently (2 years ago now), bought cheap. No buyers remorse yet, however what I've seen from talking to some local people was they bought without thinking about it. Bought from the slick sales presentation, the nice resort, the good location...but didn't think about how it would be going there every year. How expensive, how much time to get there, how hard to get there....etc.

I bought an 8 (more like 7 depending on traffic) hour drive from us..intentionally so I'd have a car, would be a 'cheap' vacation for the family (bring groceries, MFs already paid earlier in the year, don't eat out much, just enjoy the OBX) if we wanted it that way.....think of the opposites...someone who bought in an expensive area, takes flights for 4 or 5 family members, a car rental, etc. etc...then you'll see why some want to sell.

AFARR

 

[Larry M]

Why am I trying to sell it?

I wanted to get some feedback on why so many want to sell their timeshare. do people just no longer want to travel? Is it the corruption of many of the resort developers?
If people can share their views maybe we can come up with a better solution.

Because the crooked developers broke their committments. I inherited this timeshare from my mother-in-law. She bought in Arkansas(!), too far to be convenient. But she bought because the slick salesman told her it didn't matter where she bought because she could easily exchange the week for weeks anywhere through the Fairfield FAX program. And for many years she did so. And we did for a while. Then Fairfield (and later Wyndham) made it successively harder and harder to exchange.

The exchange fees kept creeping up year after year to the point where it wasn't economic. At the same time, Fairfield (and Wyndham) kept removing more and more resorts from the exchange program, limiting our options. About six years ago, Fairfield told owners it would no longer print and mail a catalog of resorts eligible for exchange. You had to go on their cumbersome and painfully slow website and query all the resorts, one-by-one, to see which ones were still in the dwindling exchange program.

Then, to cap it all, three years ago owners received a letter informing us that exchange was not a part of the ownership contract; it was now being construed by Wyndham as a revokable benefit and they were choosing to revoke it. There were to be no more exchanges beyond those already booked.

So, you ask, why do I want to sell this timeshare? It's too far away and in a place I've never wanted to visit! That's not to say I'm against timeshares in general. I just bought one in South Carolina two years ago.

Another question I had:
If you wanted to sell your timeshare what would make you consider keeping it?: better accommodations? lower maintenance fees?

One thing: a low-fee exchange program with desirable resorts.

Larry M

 

[RedDoggie]

Why are so many people selling their timeshares?

In reading the other answers to this question, they are pretty much the same as mine. I have 20,000 points with Worldmark.Wyndham. My monthly maintenance fees are $89.00 a month and my TravelShare fees are $11.91. So we are laying out just about $102.00 a month and that is getting to be more than I can afford in this declining economy.

I would sell mine for a bargain basement price if I had a buyer.

 

[Passepartout]

I would sell mine for a bargain basement price if I had a buyer.

Advertise it in the TUG classifieds. They are free with your membership, Try Craigslist. List it for $1 and it will automatically list in the TUG Bargain Deals.

Best Wishes.

I don't know if www.wmowners.com has a sales board, but they seem to know about all things Worldmark.

Jim

 

[stanleyu]

We bought our Timeshares on the resale market, so got them very cheap. Except for our DVC points. They were quite expensive. We used our weeks for many years and got a lot of great vacations out of them. But now we are retired and we just can't afford that much travel. Blame our investment losses for that. So we sold our DVC points (for a PROFIT - BEST TS we ever bought!), and deeded back two weeks in FL to the condo company. They accepted them, by the way.

The last week we kept, and plan on using for a number of years. That along with RVing is just the right amount of travel for us and our budget.

So why did we do it? Initially the economy, but in all honesty we would have given them up at some point anyway.

 

[slum808]

I don't know if www.wmowners.com has a sales board, but they seem to know about all things Worldmark.

Jim

They do, and its free to post. For the right price things sell quickly there.

 

[New_Hope_in_Time]

Thank you all very much I do appreciate everyone's input. 1 of the mentioned big concerns is the MF going up and up and up. would people mind sharing what they would consider a fair cost MF? that might keep people interested in staying in the timeshare industry? I have an efficiency but have come to like 2 -3 bedroom units better.

Plz give the size of the condo and the fair MF you would like to see.

 

[LLW]

In reading the other answers to this question, they are pretty much the same as mine. I have 20,000 points with Worldmark.Wyndham. My monthly maintenance fees are $89.00 a month and my TravelShare fees are $11.91. So we are laying out just about $102.00 a month and that is getting to be more than I can afford in this declining economy.

I would sell mine for a bargain basement price if I had a buyer.

You are in a much better position than owners who have to make loan payments. Have you used your WM much? Have you enjoyed using it? Have you learned the many ways you can use it? Have you learned how to rent points and housekeeping tokens out to help you pay most of your fees?

Please go to
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/index.php
to find a WM owners community who can answer questions, help you make WM more affordable, and much more enjoyable overall.

There are also WM resort reviews and other info that you may not find any place else:
http://www.wmowners.com/worldmark/resorts/list/WM

Oh, it can also help you sell:
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=71

 

[fizzysoup]

In addition to the reasons given above, I have come across quite a few people who just don't fully understand what they have and how to maximise/optimise on their purchase. So they feel it is restrictive, and if they can't use their home resort in a given year - they don't do anything.

 

[01dundee]

Getting rid of timeshare

Crooked, greedy developers. Crooked, greedy management firms. Crooked, greedy exchange company (RCI). I was just tired of dealing with thiefs. My wife and I owned at celebrity resorts in steamboat springs, co. MFs go up every year ($900+/-) and they can't keep the right light bulbs in and paint on the walls. On the positive side we were able to exhange for Key Largo, Kona HI, Montana and when we switched to II we were able to exchange for Key West. I was working for US Airways and could fly for free and now don't have that luxury. We got our use out of it, but the market is flooded with inventory and I can rent directly from an owner and not have to deal with the above listed pond scum. Timeshares are a great idea, it's just the way the industry has evolved makes me not want to be a direct part of it and own deeded points or weeks.

 

[ronparise]

Thank you all very much I do appreciate everyone's input. 1 of the mentioned big concerns is the MF going up and up and up. would people mind sharing what they would consider a fair cost MF? that might keep people interested in staying in the timeshare industry? I have an efficiency but have come to like 2 -3 bedroom units better.

Plz give the size of the condo and the fair MF you would like to see.

The answer to your question was given in MOXJO7282's post above


It bascially comes down to oversupply of standard quality TSs in many areas. Because of such someone can rent the same unit for less than the owners MFs so owners have no ability to get any value back from a rental. Oversupply effects the resale market the same way.

If mf is less than fair market rental prices, than it works,

for me; the actual amount of the mf doesn't matter as long as rent is more

MOXJO7282 seems to prefer the high mf /high rental value model....I prefer the low mf, low rental value model...He probably wouldnt feel comfortable in the units I own, and I know I wouldnt be comfortable in his...It dosent matter we both seem to be happy

 

[bobby]

Along with aging owners and children who don't/can't use the timeshares, there is much more availability these days for comfortable suite motels, enticing package tours to all areas of the world, more all-inclusive resorts with activities, etc. You can only take so much vacation time a year and leave your pet home.