Buying a Resell Timeshare

[Evergreen160]

We are considering buying a resale timeshare. How does this work? Can the whole sale be done privately or do we need to go through a company? Are brokers and lawyers involved? Any help you could give would be great!

 

[DeniseM]

What resort?

Generally, you don't need a broker or a lawyer.

What you need is a title company to do the transfer:

-prepare the contract
-prepare the new deed (in compliance with local law and resort rules)
-record the new deed with the county records office
-record the deed with the resort management company

Depending on the state, and any resort fees, you can get a professional title transfer for around $150.

If you are buying at a RTU resort (most timeshares in Mexico are RTU) the process is different, because there is no deed.

 

[csxjohn]

Denise's answer is true for most purchases but there are exceptions. Some TS are right to use and involve no deed transfers. Some are points based pooled resorts and no specific deed. Others like Bluegreen do their transfers for a fixed amount and if you use an outside transfer agent you still pay them.

So it depends on what you plan on buying and who you buy it from. Some sellers such as many on eBay and other companies require you to use their closing services.

Once you get to the point of know what you want to buy we can better answer your question.

 

[Evergreen160]

It is a local company - Breckenridge Grand Vacations http://www.breckenridgegrandvacations.com/ I know you can exchange your time for international travel but I'm not sure what system they use. I'm such a newbie! We are looking at the Grand Lodge on Peak 7 at Breckenridge in Colorado. I do know that the time share is deeded.

We are specifically looking at this resort in Breckenridge because we ski there and live 1.5 hrs away. Maybe at some point we will transfer the week but we want the timeshare to be able to ski at our home mountain. Looking for 1 week a year but ideally we could break that into weekend trips.

Thank you!

 

[DeniseM]

In many cases, you cannot split a timeshare into weekend trips - so you want to verify that.

If you buy from a timeshare resell company, they will process the transfer, and may or may not charge you for it.

If you buy from a private owner, you can do all the paperwork yourself, but since it's not very expensive, I think it's preferable to let an expert handle it.

If you accidentally mess up the transfer, undoing the mess could end up costing you a lot more.

 

[Evergreen160]

Does the seller need to identify a TS resale company or is that something that we could do?

 

[theo]

Does the seller need to identify a TS resale company or is that something that we could do?

If you are referring to a closing company (i.e., an entity to handle escrow of transaction funds, deed preparation and recording, resort notification after deed recording), it is almost always preferable for a buyer to use (and pay) a closing entity of his / her own choice, to ensure independent verification of sale details and objective, arms' length handling of the transaction. It's money well spent to use an independent, third party "closer" and cost can be as little as about $150 if using LT Transfers.

That being said however, many sellers routinely try to steer closings to someone of their choice, which often means that the "closing" entity is looking out for the seller and not necessarily for your best interests as the buyer. Sometimes, an "in house" closer is even the very same people as those doing the selling, merely wearing a different cap for the closing. Not the best situation for a buyer; think "foxes handling hen house transactions" when a "in house" closer is involved.

P.S. I hope you aren't considering developer-direct purchase. You'll pay pennies on the dollar resale compared to the exorbitant and inflated developer-direct prices.

 

[DeniseM]

Does the seller need to identify a TS resale company or is that something that we could do?

This is something that is negotiable between a private buyer and private seller, but generally, whoever pays for the closing, chooses the title company.

However, if you buy from a re-sale company, they will want to use their own services, and may charge you for closing in addition to the purchase price of the timeshare, as another source of revenue.

 

[pacman777]

It is a local company - Breckenridge Grand Vacations http://www.breckenridgegrandvacations.com/ I know you can exchange your time for international travel but I'm not sure what system they use. I'm such a newbie! We are looking at the Grand Lodge on Peak 7 at Breckenridge in Colorado. I do know that the time share is deeded.

We are specifically looking at this resort in Breckenridge because we ski there and live 1.5 hrs away. Maybe at some point we will transfer the week but we want the timeshare to be able to ski at our home mountain. Looking for 1 week a year but ideally we could break that into weekend trips.

Thank you!

I actually bought a resale for a Winter+ ski week at Grand Lodge on Peak 7. Haven't stayed there yet but drove by it in December when we were passing through Breckenridge. Awesome property! I know the same developer started a new property on Peak 8 and I'm sure those will go for a pretty penny. I also own a resale ski week at Grand Timber Lodge which was also developed by this same developer. I ended up buying from a TUG contact and used LT Transfer closing company to close the transaction for around $250. One caveat for GLP7 is that they have two different winter season designations. Regular winter deeded units can not book March Spring break weeks. I think they call it Winter+ which are the deeded units that are able to book all ski weeks except week 51 and 52 which were sold as deeded weeks. Obviously the Winter+ units are more valuable than just the regular winter weeks.

 

[Evergreen160]

pacman777: Thanks for the info! The resale we are looking at is a winter plus season so, I think, the only weeks that are excluded are Christmas and New Year's. We also looked at the new peak 8 and for the same price we would get smaller accommodations and less time during a less desirable time of the year!

I'm under the impression that you can break your week into individual weekends. Do you know if that is true? That was one of the selling points at the new peak 8 development.