How to get rid of Timeshare?

[manfromjax]

If you can't sell it, can't give it away without paying a "FEE"
what other altrnative are there?
Can you just not pay the maintenace fee anymore?
And they will come and take it from you?
Why is it so easy for all these homeowners to walk away from there mortgages
but us timeshare holders are stuck forever?

 

[rickandcindy23]

You can ask your resort if you can deed it back. You can give it away and have the new buyer pay all costs, which you can do here on TUG. Or you can list it on eBay for $1.00 (same thing--buyer pays costs).

It hurts the resort if you just stop paying, but if you contact the HOA board, which you should be able to do through the management company, perhaps you can work something out.

Personally, I love timeshare and have bought a few resales in the last year, so I see value in it.

If you cannot get rid of it, learn how to use it. Believe it or not, any timeshare will get you someplace you would love to visit. I have weeks that are blue, off-season, and I have gotten some great trades with them.

If you travel at all, whether it is to Hawaii or Hilton Head, you can exchange into those places, but you need to figure out how to do it, and we can help.

 

[applegirl]

Welcome to TUG!

Are you sure you don't want to spend some time here on TUG and learn how to get the most out of your timeshare?

If you still want to get rid of it, you could list in here on TUG in the classifieds under the bargain basement section for $1.

You can also list it on ebay for $1 and maybe if you were willing to pay all closing costs you could move it pretty quickly.

I wouldn't recommend just walking away from it. Your credit score will definitely be hurt.

Best of luck,
Janna

 

[Mel]

If you can't sell it, can't give it away without paying a "FEE"
what other altrnative are there?
Can you just not pay the maintenace fee anymore?
And they will come and take it from you?
Why is it so easy for all these homeowners to walk away from there mortgages
but us timeshare holders are stuck forever?

It's just as easy to walk away from your timeshare as it is for those homeowners - it's just that you aren't willing to take the same credit hit.

If you still owe the developer, stop payment to them, and they will eventually take it back - of course, they might hit you with a judgement requiring you to still pay the loan off, but you're out from under the annual fees.

If you don't owe the developer, speak to the HOA, and see if they will take it. They may be able to find someone willing to pay the annual fees.

When people grouse about the ongoing fees, they need to remember that these are no different than the utilities they pay to live in their home. You've got property taxes, phone bills, electric, water, gas, oil, cable... plus you have to shovel the driveway, cut the grass, do all the cleaning... repair broken appliances, replace worn out furnishings...

I wouldn't be surprised to see a change in the travel industree in the not too distant future - we're already seeing it with some of the airlines, as they cut flights that are costing them money. For every flight or hotel room that we get below-cost, someone is paying an exhorbitant price. We may be heading to an era where the lower-middle class can't afford to fly regularly, which will mean a big change in vacation patterns. When that happens, we may see fewer rentals below the cost of maintenance fees - some will always exist, when people can't use their weeks, and are willing to settle for less.

I suspect when you purchased you did so because you saw some value in your ownership. That value is still there, you just need to figure out how to use it.

 

[Keitht]

When people grouse about the ongoing fees, they need to remember that these are no different than the utilities they pay to live in their home.

Whilst I agree that the fees are used in part to cover such costs you can't really equate maintenance fees with costs for running a home. M/f for my resort currently run at about the equivalent of $700 per week owned. It certainly doesn't cost me $35000 per year to run my home.

 

[vacationhopeful]

$35K a year would be cheap for weekly maid service, pool, hot tub, all maintenance (interior and exterior), decorating updates with new furniture every 7-10 years ... plus electric, cable, heat, a/c. Within sight of the beach and water.

 

[timeos2]

Costs are real and substantial

$35K a year would be cheap for weekly maid service, pool, hot tub, all maintenance (interior and exterior), decorating updates with new furniture every 7-10 years ... plus electric, cable, heat, a/c. Within sight of the beach and water.

Exactly. People don't usually have weekly check ins, maid service, laundry, furnishings, utilities, common areas, pools, hot tubs, etc that make up a resort with residential condos vs a home. The wear and tear as well as the labor involved is beyond most hotels and magnitudes higher than the costs at a single family home. The idea of ongoing costs are the same as a home while the amounts needed are much higher for a timeshare operation.

 

[Keitht]

$35K a year would be cheap for weekly maid service, pool, hot tub, all maintenance (interior and exterior), decorating updates with new furniture every 7-10 years ... plus electric, cable, heat, a/c. Within sight of the beach and water.

That may well be true, but my resort doesn't have hot tubs, isn't within sight of beach and water, only replaced furniture etc after closer to 20 years after complaints from owners & stung us with a special assessment for site maintenance that hadn't been done when it should have been in order to prevent deterioration. We also get charged for electricity usage and have to pay to use the pool etc if we wish to visit outside our owned week. Quite a large number of owners originally purchased because they were told they could use the leisure facilities free 52 weeks a year.

 

[w879jr1]

We have entered another of those periods where the short term investor has fled with his takings. The people with longer term views will realise that promises made to them do not have much value.

I am very sorry for people whose commitments are now beyond their means. Others will have to make the best of their investments. We will need to press for good value from those supplying us with the promised services.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Easy, Shmeezy.

Why is it so easy for all these homeowners to walk away from there mortgages
but us timeshare holders are stuck forever?

If I walk away from my mortgage, it's nobody's business but mine & the bank's.

If I walk away from my timeshare, I'm messing up all the other owners at my timeshare resort because their annual fees go all go up to cover their share of my unpaid timeshare bills.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[e.bram]

AwayWeGo: TOUGH!!!