[2011] What's happening with resales of Canadian timeshares?

[pwrshift]

The erosion of timeshare resale prices in the USA is shocking over the last couple of years. Marriott platinums selling on eBay for just a few hundred dollars in the US made me wonder what is happening with Canadian timeshare resale prices. Are they holding up any better?

Brian

 

[Tfish]

No, many are available on ebay and other places at the same discouraging prices.

Mike

 

[richardm]

The entire resale industry has been impacted by the economy. As more owners either will not or can not pay their annual fees- it causes increased fees for the other owners who are still paying. This in turn causes more owners to abandon their timeshares.. It's a snowball effect and as yet it has not slowed.

With the rapidly increasing maintenance fees, more and more owners are trying to sell or give away their timeshares. When you have increased sellers and decreased buyers- prices will always be pushed down.

This simple rule has impacted timeshares across the board. The few developers that have right of first refusal and have been aggressively supporting resale prices have managed to weather the storm somewhat, but I cannot think of a single developer that has not been negatively impacted by the general malaise of the world economy.

 

[Maple_Leaf]

Last 14 Days on Ebay

2 Canadian timeshares have sold:
- A 20K Geoholiday points package for $0.01
- A 2BR at Club Cranberry for $0.01

27 Canadian timeshare listings expired unsold, most at asking prices of $1 or less.

 

[rtf2017]

Maple Leaf, I am a Canadian now living in CA for the past 20 years...can u comment on the best Canadian TS systems, and value in Canada especially in Ontario? No TS's in Toronto I assume?

 

[Maple_Leaf]

I'm no expert...

Maple Leaf, I am a Canadian now living in CA for the past 20 years...can u comment on the best Canadian TS systems, and value in Canada especially in Ontario? No TS's in Toronto I assume?

...but I do have a few opinions and you may want to take them with a grain of salt. I would hestiate to buy in Canada, for several reasons. Timeshare governance is usually poor, dominated by developers instead of owners. Also, peak season is brutally short, usually 8 summer weeks, with exceptions at big ski resorts of course, resulting in a lot of weeks that owners don't really want. Finally, taxes. The HST in Ontario adds 13% to your maintenance fee bill, for example. I personally own in the US and trade into Canada.

That said, I know many Canadians who like Club Intrawest, bought resale of course, not from the developer.

Perhaps some of the experts on TUG can help us out here?

 

[Meow]

As maintenance fees continue their upward climb, timeshare as vacation option can no longer compete with cruise and all-inclusive resort packages that often include airfare. Add in the difficulty and uncertainty in trying to complete an exchange in a high quality property. Exhanging has become more and more of a hassle.
I now consider my timeshare week as a financial burden, rather than a real estate asset.
There is no resale market for weeks in our Fairmont, B.C. property. (Even though a local Invermere realtor maintains a listing that grows day by day.)
I am no longer expecting to find a buyer for my (leasehold) Fairmont week. When that day comes I will consider just walking away. Has anyone tried to do this in B.C. (or elsewhere in Canada)?

 

[Maple_Leaf]

Try giving it away

I am no longer expecting to find a buyer for my (leasehold) Fairmont week. When that day comes I will consider just walking away. Has anyone tried to do this in B.C. (or elsewhere in Canada)?

Try giving it away for free on TUG. Offer to pay the transfer costs. Couldn't hurt. If that doesn't work, tell Fairmont you want to give it back. It's just a long-term lease, they can easily take it back if they want. It sure beats trying to sell something that is worthless.

 

[kenie]

As maintenance fees continue their upward climb, timeshare as vacation option can no longer compete with cruise and all-inclusive resort packages that often include airfare. Add in the difficulty and uncertainty in trying to complete an exchange in a high quality property. Exhanging has become more and more of a hassle.
I now consider my timeshare week as a financial burden, rather than a real estate asset.
There is no resale market for weeks in our Fairmont, B.C. property. (Even though a local Invermere realtor maintains a listing that grows day by day.)
I am no longer expecting to find a buyer for my (leasehold) Fairmont week. When that day comes I will consider just walking away. Has anyone tried to do this in B.C. (or elsewhere in Canada)?

Have you used it for exchanging or do you not use it at all?
We have always had good trades through II.
We pre-paid our 2013 M/F and sold(gave) our Winter week away and use our golf weeks for exchanging. We always go for at least 2 weeks to offset the travel costs. we have purchased 2 more timeshares since then.. lol
Try and give it away. I'm still tempted at the thought of a "free" Gold Hillside week....

 

[Meow]

Have you used it for exchanging or do you not use it at all?
We have always had good trades through II.
We pre-paid our 2013 M/F and sold(gave) our Winter week away and use our golf weeks for exchanging. We always go for at least 2 weeks to offset the travel costs. we have purchased 2 more timeshares since then.. lol
Try and give it away. I'm still tempted at the thought of a "free" Gold Hillside week....

We have an annual Golden Week and a biennial Golf Prime week at Hillside/Riverside. We try to spend a week each year at Fairmont and also exchange through II. But I have found that it has become harder to get a good exchange. Ten to fifteen years ago it was much easier. I'm now finding it much too stressful to arrange timeshare vacations. Do you book your flight first (and take advantage of a good seat sale) or wait until you have your timeshare unit locked in? Once you have your exchange booked, then you don't know what kind of a unit you will get. I have found more and more that the resorts treat the exchangers as second class citizens. Our last exchange to a Marriot in Maui we found that II exchangers were relegated to the older wing of the complex and booked into the units overlooking the parking lot and the garbage bins. Nice if you enjoy being roused at 6:00 A.M. to the sound of garbage trucks and crashing bins!
I am also disturbed that "Sunchaser" is trying to get us to convert to RCI points. I wouldn't touch RCI with a ten foot pole given their record (As the various class action suits against RCI by its members will confirm). Also, I don't see the sense in repurchasing my timeshare just to join the new program. It seems more like a Ponzi Scheme.

 

[htusa2002]

Canadian Timeshare-help

HI,

I am reading all these posts and wondering if my next purchase is a waste--it is for 1 week premier summer August 18th week in Whitefish, MT for $4500 for 2 bedroom--is this too high what i am paying for this?

Also I purchased a 2 bedroom Platinum in Canmore by Banff for summer weeks for $1000. I thought that was a good deal--but would resale be even hard for this?

 

[gnorth16]

HI,

I am reading all these posts and wondering if my next purchase is a waste--it is for 1 week premier summer August 18th week in Whitefish, MT for $4500 for 2 bedroom--is this too high what i am paying for this?

Also I purchased a 2 bedroom Platinum in Canmore by Banff for summer weeks for $1000. I thought that was a good deal--but would resale be even hard for this?

The Canmore (depending on which one) could easily be rented out for MF's or possibly a profit. I have tried getting a summer week (instant exchange) for the Banff area during the summer and I have never seen one (I check almost daily on II). They most likely get scooped up with ongoing requests. As for selling it, I would consider it a sunk investment. I look at my timeshares at a zero resale value because a lot can happen between now and then.

As for Whitefish, if you plan on using it every year, then it can be worth it. Montana summer weeks are hard to find and if required pull good trades for exchanges. If you PM me the week/unit I could find the TPU's on RCI. As for $4500, I don't really know. but it does seem high to me.

Quality summer weeks have value. I would not say the same for some of the lower demand weeks when you can't swim, golf or ski.

 

[Maple_Leaf]

2 more sales on Ebay

2BR at Carriage Hills in Ontario sold for $0.01 on Dec 10.

210 points at Club Intrawest Whistler, BC sold for $2,817 on Dec 6.

21 auctions for Canadian timeshares since Dec 1 have expired without bids.

 

[kenie]

We have an annual Golden Week and a biennial Golf Prime week at Hillside/Riverside. We try to spend a week each year at Fairmont and also exchange through II. But I have found that it has become harder to get a good exchange. Ten to fifteen years ago it was much easier. I'm now finding it much too stressful to arrange timeshare vacations. Do you book your flight first (and take advantage of a good seat sale) or wait until you have your timeshare unit locked in? Once you have your exchange booked, then you don't know what kind of a unit you will get. I have found more and more that the resorts treat the exchangers as second class citizens. Our last exchange to a Marriot in Maui we found that II exchangers were relegated to the older wing of the complex and booked into the units overlooking the parking lot and the garbage bins. Nice if you enjoy being roused at 6:00 A.M. to the sound of garbage trucks and crashing bins!
I am also disturbed that "Sunchaser" is trying to get us to convert to RCI points. I wouldn't touch RCI with a ten foot pole given their record (As the various class action suits against RCI by its members will confirm). Also, I don't see the sense in repurchasing my timeshare just to join the new program. It seems more like a Ponzi Scheme.

We locked off our 2012 golf week and exchanged it for 2 x 2 bdrms at the Royal Sands in Cancun next May.
We will be using 1/2 of the 2011 lock-off for a week at the Kona Coast Resort this February and last May we had 2 weeks at the Royal Haciendas.

We generally book a year ahead and will stay for at least 2 weeks at a time to minimize the cost of the flight from where we are. Then we start looking for flights.

We are already looking for our 2013 stays.

So far we're very happy with what the Fairmont Golf weeks have pulled. We always reserve the last week of Prime Golf because the demand rating is just a bit less than the Gold weeks.

 

[Antonio 8069]

Canadian timeshares

I am also interested in pwrshift's original query! (Cdn. versus US timeshare re-sale values)

Canadian real estate values have NOT experienced the same collapse as the US i.e. there must be more of an explanation of the low observed re-sale values!

I can add some additional considerations:
- limited size of the market, mainly in ski/golf destinations;
- Cdns. propensity to travel south i.e. outside of the country.

Despite these factors, some Canadian t/s properties seem to be holding their values:
- Intrawest properties (e.g. Mt. Tremblant);
- Banff;
- Whistler?

I would be interested in t/s owners actual experiences? i.e. not only what you read on e-Bay!

Also, what evidence have you seen on rapidly escalating maint. costs in Canada? For example, I know that is not the case for the t/s in Calabogie! What about Intrawest?

I know, for example, that there are no re-sales listed in the "Recent Sales History" listings on TUG! Are re-sales taking place privately?

 

[htusa2002]

Resale Prices

Hi--this is what I have noticed...

It is pretty easy to pick up a prime summer or golf week for $1000 at the Fairmont, BC resort. However--this plaqce is sort of in the middle of nowhere. Places like Banff and Canmore are more attractive to people because they are close to a major city.

I have been watching ebay listings for a while now--but the cheap ones are always for unpopular resorts during low seasons. I tried for a long time to get a Marriot Platinum 2 bedroom in california or Arizona, but by and large that was hard--they come up, but the lowest I saw Marriott Newport Coast go for was around $4000.

The people having a hard time selling seem to ones on off season. However, in some ways buying a cheap 1 cent rci points resort is good because you can have it and then just buy points from someone and then travel the world if you can get good resorts 10 months out through RCI or on a search---which i always got almost anything i wanted with my RCI points account-no trouble at all high season all the time.

Happy Travels

 

[pwrshift]

It's a sad story in the US ... Perhaps even worse than Canada. Example of a lockoff platinum week.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320809511657?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_899wt_922

 

[Antonio 8069]

agree, but............

I agreee, but can you stay on topic?

The thread is about re-sale of Cdn time shares.

Seriously, any of us can find $1 t/s sales in the US. What about Cdn t/s's?

 

[htusa2002]

What about Canadian ones...

In response to the last response-there has been a Whistler, BC one listed on ebay for the past month for $1--no one bidding on it at all... as well plenty of people on kijiji asking people to just take over their Canadian timeshares for free -just pay the transfer fees.

 

[Maple_Leaf]

Summer Fairmont just sold!

There is no resale market for weeks in our Fairmont, B.C. property. (Even though a local Invermere realtor maintains a listing that grows day by day.)
I am no longer expecting to find a buyer for my (leasehold) Fairmont week.

A 2BR summer week at Fairmont just sold on Ebay for $425.

 

[kenie]

A 2BR summer week at Fairmont just sold on Ebay for $425.

The negative on this 1 is it looks like it's not a lock-off unit.

 

[Icefan]

As suggested by kenie, the 2 Bedroom 2 Bathroom at Mountainside is not a lock off unit. Lock off units are available at Fairmont Hillside. (Not sure about Riverside or Riverview at Fairmont Hot Springs).

 

[kenie]

Riverside and Riverview both have lock-off units.

If we had known about the re-sale market when we bought at Hillside, we would have picked up a Summer "Gold" but because of the pricing differrence, we went with a Prime Golf week.

 

[mumsy66]

Giving back Whistler lease will impact my credit ?

Try giving it away for free on TUG. Offer to pay the transfer costs. Couldn't hurt. If that doesn't work, tell Fairmont you want to give it back. It's just a long-term lease, they can easily take it back if they want. It sure beats trying to sell something that is worthless.

Mountainside Lodge has refused to take back my lease. I can no longer make the yearly fees of $890. They have said they will turn me into collections. How much effect will this have on my credit rating ?

 

[Maple_Leaf]

Try giving it away

Mountainside Lodge has refused to take back my lease. I can no longer make the yearly fees of $890. They have said they will turn me into collections. How much effect will this have on my credit rating ?

You're at Mountainside in Whistler. Try giving it away on TUG in the Bargain Deals section. If it's a ski or summer week, try selling it first on TUG in the Marketplace.