Mardia
newbie
We have owned timeshares for five years, and are certainly much better educated about buying them, and using them, now than we were when we started. Generally, we love our timeshares at Starwood (Westin Kierland in Scottsdale) and BlueGreen (Big Cedar in Branson, MO).
But our first purchase years ago [resort info, removed.] It has since been purchased by Westgate. We never use it except to exchange into other properties around the country. Our first exchange of it through II was for the small side of our two bedroom lockoff in [resort info, removed.] for a 2-bedroom in Scottsdale at the Four Seasons. Unbelievable!!!
We've been trying to sell this property for several years. This is our first time on this BBS, and it is quite informative. We have learned not to buy through the Timeshare company as we did with our first three. We also know now not to pay up front to try to sell one (a lesson costing a total of $1,600 - see below). And we will own the property.
So my question is, we are willing to part with our Westgate Property for much less than we paid for it. The fact is, we don't have the time to take vacations to use all the properties we have. While renting it is an option, it seems to take a lot of time that frankly, we don't have to invest in this. So.....how can we get rid of our property for a very reasonable discounted price? Oh, and when I go to e-bay or the Timshares By Owners website, there are many ads for this property (20 pages on TBO, just for our timeshare). Am I just stuck? The maintenance fees don't bother us as we generally let someone use it or exchange to something or AIM it to Bluegreen. We just want to be out of it because we HAVE to do something with it each year, and it generally isn't to use it.
Anyone have ideas to help us?
By the way, I have a funny story about Timshares By Owner. We paid $799 to Timshares By Owner who made all the promises that it would sell our property. Well, time went by, they screwed up the price on their website. They called once in 18 months to say we had 10 hits on our property. It turns out they were all us checking the website. Anyway, they called to offer us an e-bay auction which ALWAYS moves these properties. It just cost another $799. We factored in what they said they would get for the property netted by what we were paying them and we ending up paying them....again. Now, while you are laughing, let me say that neither my wife or I are idiots. We re actually rather smart when it comes to most things. But we were uninformed and in this case, gullible. So after the e-bay auction fails, of course, I call the girl back who has been feeding me bull for all this time. I begin to get terse with her and tell her that I have no other recourse but to sue them to get my money back (I've never sued anyone in my life and hate the idea, but I thought it might stir them to action). The owner gets on the phone immediately, introduces himself, and tells me I must be an idiot. He said to me, "Don't you think if I am going to have a business like this, that I have learned how to protect myself from you and all these other lawsuits. Read your contract, we did what we said we would do, regardless of what anyone told me on the phone. So go ahead and sue, you will be wasting your money." Amazing. We no longer deal with them.
[Specific resort info. that may be misconstrued as advertising, removed.-DeniseM Moderator]
But our first purchase years ago [resort info, removed.] It has since been purchased by Westgate. We never use it except to exchange into other properties around the country. Our first exchange of it through II was for the small side of our two bedroom lockoff in [resort info, removed.] for a 2-bedroom in Scottsdale at the Four Seasons. Unbelievable!!!
We've been trying to sell this property for several years. This is our first time on this BBS, and it is quite informative. We have learned not to buy through the Timeshare company as we did with our first three. We also know now not to pay up front to try to sell one (a lesson costing a total of $1,600 - see below). And we will own the property.
So my question is, we are willing to part with our Westgate Property for much less than we paid for it. The fact is, we don't have the time to take vacations to use all the properties we have. While renting it is an option, it seems to take a lot of time that frankly, we don't have to invest in this. So.....how can we get rid of our property for a very reasonable discounted price? Oh, and when I go to e-bay or the Timshares By Owners website, there are many ads for this property (20 pages on TBO, just for our timeshare). Am I just stuck? The maintenance fees don't bother us as we generally let someone use it or exchange to something or AIM it to Bluegreen. We just want to be out of it because we HAVE to do something with it each year, and it generally isn't to use it.
Anyone have ideas to help us?
By the way, I have a funny story about Timshares By Owner. We paid $799 to Timshares By Owner who made all the promises that it would sell our property. Well, time went by, they screwed up the price on their website. They called once in 18 months to say we had 10 hits on our property. It turns out they were all us checking the website. Anyway, they called to offer us an e-bay auction which ALWAYS moves these properties. It just cost another $799. We factored in what they said they would get for the property netted by what we were paying them and we ending up paying them....again. Now, while you are laughing, let me say that neither my wife or I are idiots. We re actually rather smart when it comes to most things. But we were uninformed and in this case, gullible. So after the e-bay auction fails, of course, I call the girl back who has been feeding me bull for all this time. I begin to get terse with her and tell her that I have no other recourse but to sue them to get my money back (I've never sued anyone in my life and hate the idea, but I thought it might stir them to action). The owner gets on the phone immediately, introduces himself, and tells me I must be an idiot. He said to me, "Don't you think if I am going to have a business like this, that I have learned how to protect myself from you and all these other lawsuits. Read your contract, we did what we said we would do, regardless of what anyone told me on the phone. So go ahead and sue, you will be wasting your money." Amazing. We no longer deal with them.
[Specific resort info. that may be misconstrued as advertising, removed.-DeniseM Moderator]
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Although, granted, even 25 cents on the dollar is a lot less! 
