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MSN Article on Timeshare Exit - solid work!
- Thread starter TUGBrian
- Start date
It's a pretty good article that mentions some highlights that should be mentioned. But a bit unrealistic as to the true depth of the horrors that many timeshare owners may face.
As just one example, the article makes mention of three "realistic" options for disposing of your timeshare. One of them is:
2. The $0 sale
If the resort won’t take it back, your goal is to transfer the title to anyone willing to take over the fees.
That's great if that would, indeed, be a realistic option for many, if not most, timeshare owners. But we know it isn't. You can offer the above for the next thousand years on many timeshares and you won't get a nibble. What then?
That's why I believe, as I just posted on another thread:
I know full well how difficult it is to sell a timeshare. So I'm very much sympathetic to those who hang on year after year because they see no way out. But if there's a will, there may be a way.
Start out by exploring deedback options which you've apparently done. If that's acceptable, you're done.
If the resort entity wants you to pay megabucks and that may not be acceptable, you try to sell (via Redweek, ebay, TUG, and/or wherever). Start out by offering to sell for less than others are selling. Next, offer to pay all closing expenses. If no sale, keep incrementally sweetening the deal by upping what you offer. If you ultimately sell by offering a $1 sales price, paying for all closing expenses, paying for this year's maintenance fees but offering free use, and providing $500 cash at closing, so be it. Again, you'd be done.
In the meantime, I might travel to my resort and put flyers under people's doors or under their windshield wipers offering my timeshare at a low price. If it's a resort with an active sales staff, you might thereby be able to contact people who might have just attended a presentation where your unit would have been offered for sale for tens of thousands of dollars. In any case, you'd be contacting people who most love the resort. And here you come along offering your timeshare, the same as theirs or the same as they've been offered for megabucks, for peanuts. I sold two timeshares at Sea Villas in New Smyrna Beach, my very first timeshare purchases, that way. What a relief that was!
I'd keep on renting where necessary until you sell....
....Of course, as we've often read on TUG, you could simply walk away by not paying any future maintenance fees. But I, personally, don't know what the implications of doing so might be and wish that more people might inform us what their experiences were.
The latter "just walking away" strategy recommended by many TUGgers in their posts was not mentioned in the article. And I'm waiting for someone, possibly an attorney, to do some research on it. If it's a judicial foreclosure proceeding, there's a judgment involved. That judgment can be filed for some "tens of dollars" filing fee in the county where the defendant lives. Are there ever any aggressive collection actions taken? Is the judgment ever paid off when the defendant (or an heir) sells his home (it being a lien on the defendant's property)? I don't know the answers to those questions and wish that someone would do a comprehensive study on the matter. This subject matter was not even addressed by the article.
As just one example, the article makes mention of three "realistic" options for disposing of your timeshare. One of them is:
2. The $0 sale
If the resort won’t take it back, your goal is to transfer the title to anyone willing to take over the fees.
- List it on legitimate marketplaces like RedWeek or the Timeshare Users Group (TUG).
- Price it at $0 or $1.
- Offer to pay the closing costs (usually $500–$1,000) yourself. You are essentially paying someone a small bonus to take the liability off your hands.
That's great if that would, indeed, be a realistic option for many, if not most, timeshare owners. But we know it isn't. You can offer the above for the next thousand years on many timeshares and you won't get a nibble. What then?
That's why I believe, as I just posted on another thread:
I know full well how difficult it is to sell a timeshare. So I'm very much sympathetic to those who hang on year after year because they see no way out. But if there's a will, there may be a way.
Start out by exploring deedback options which you've apparently done. If that's acceptable, you're done.
If the resort entity wants you to pay megabucks and that may not be acceptable, you try to sell (via Redweek, ebay, TUG, and/or wherever). Start out by offering to sell for less than others are selling. Next, offer to pay all closing expenses. If no sale, keep incrementally sweetening the deal by upping what you offer. If you ultimately sell by offering a $1 sales price, paying for all closing expenses, paying for this year's maintenance fees but offering free use, and providing $500 cash at closing, so be it. Again, you'd be done.
In the meantime, I might travel to my resort and put flyers under people's doors or under their windshield wipers offering my timeshare at a low price. If it's a resort with an active sales staff, you might thereby be able to contact people who might have just attended a presentation where your unit would have been offered for sale for tens of thousands of dollars. In any case, you'd be contacting people who most love the resort. And here you come along offering your timeshare, the same as theirs or the same as they've been offered for megabucks, for peanuts. I sold two timeshares at Sea Villas in New Smyrna Beach, my very first timeshare purchases, that way. What a relief that was!
I'd keep on renting where necessary until you sell....
....Of course, as we've often read on TUG, you could simply walk away by not paying any future maintenance fees. But I, personally, don't know what the implications of doing so might be and wish that more people might inform us what their experiences were.
The latter "just walking away" strategy recommended by many TUGgers in their posts was not mentioned in the article. And I'm waiting for someone, possibly an attorney, to do some research on it. If it's a judicial foreclosure proceeding, there's a judgment involved. That judgment can be filed for some "tens of dollars" filing fee in the county where the defendant lives. Are there ever any aggressive collection actions taken? Is the judgment ever paid off when the defendant (or an heir) sells his home (it being a lien on the defendant's property)? I don't know the answers to those questions and wish that someone would do a comprehensive study on the matter. This subject matter was not even addressed by the article.
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The one thing that did come up in a post a while back was that assisted living facilities for long term care can do a credit check. Basically, bad credit can impede long term care to the better facilities.
Bill
LannyPC
TUG Member
Yes, and that's far cheaper than paying any of these exit/cancel companies.
People have come onto TUG to complain that they've paid $9000 to an exit company and the exit company did nothing for them.
If they had used that $9000 (or perhaps even far less than that) to sweeten the deal for a prospective purchaser, they'd certainly be out. What were they thinking?
I'm going to make a bold beyond bold offer here on TUG. If the timeshare is paid off, I will very likely put my name on most timeshare deeds (not all of them, but most) if you're willing to give me a package worth $9000 in exchange for my doing so. I know I'm making a supreme sacrifice on behalf of others, but that's the kind of guy I am.
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It was a nice long article, with truthful information.