Seeking Advice

[ARSeaAir]

My mother-in-law passed away last year and left behind fully paid ownerships in two timeshares. Both are large well respected companies, and both are sizeable ownerships. (Between the two of them, you could stay about four months a year in a one bedroom unit.) The problem is none of the heirs want any of them. (The combined maintenance fees are around $5,000/yr.)

I’ve been researching selling the ownerships. I have read the “How to sell your timeshare” thread on this BBS, I have looked at offerings on Ebay, and I have contacted several websites that well be happy to list my ownerships (for a fee).

I have received offers to buy one of the ownerships for $12,500, which I am sure is a bottom feeder. I had one company offer to list the other ownership for $7,000, which I am sure is pie-in-the-sky. I have seen ownerships similar to the ones we own offered for sale for “no minimum bid” auctions (on Ebay), $25 on this website, $64,000 on another website, and all points in between. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the market for timeshares.

These ownerships amount to a headache in an already complicated estate, and I have no idea what to do. I have a fiduciary responsibility to get the highest price I can for the ownerships, but I can’t wait forever to close the estate. I would appreciate any constructive advice on how to sell these ownerships (or offers ).

Thanks for reading my rant. Part of this is philosophical and part is practical. I am just trying to make sense of what appears to be a very chaotic marketplace for timeshare ownerships.

W

 

[DeniseM]

In this economy, most timeshares are selling for 0-10% of original retail.

The people offering to sell your TS for big bucks are scammers. They charge a high upfront fee, and then do nothing to sell your timeshares - why should they - they already have your money. Scammers are rampant in the resale business.

There are reputable brokers who sell timeshares, but they charge a commission of $1,000 and up after the sale. However, if your TS has no resale value, they will not be interested in listing it, because it's not profitable for them. If your TS does have value, please see our TS Business forum, for highly rated brokers. It is a sub-forum of the Buying, Selling Renting Forum.

To see the bottom line, you need to look at the COMPLETED AUCTIONS on ebay, to see what your TS's are actually selling for.
-sign in (you must have an ebay Acct. - free)
-search for the resort by exact name
-from the menu on the left, select COMPLETED AUCTIONS
-that will tell you what they are actually selling for

If you find it has not resale value, then you may want to give it away, to get out from under the maintenance fees.

Please consider giving your timeshare away to a private individual who would like to own it, before you spend a cent with a an upfront fee company.

Why?
-You can give it away yourself for nearly no cost.
-You can control the transfer process to make sure it is truly transferred out of your name.
-You won't have to deal with companies that may or may not be Legit.
-You can transfer it to a private individual who will be happy to have it for their own use.
-You will have the satisfaction of knowing that you ended your ownership legally and ethically.

There are two places on TUG where you can give away your TS's for free (no charge for the Ads.) There are other cheap and free sites on the internet, as well.

TUG Marketplace - the only cost is your TUG membership - $15 (List it for $1 and it will automatically go in the Bargain Basement Ads.)

Bargain Deals - Totally FREE! - just write a simple post with all the pertinent info. In your post, include the following info.:

-resort name
-unit size
-season owned
-maintenance fee
-current reservations​

To make it more attractive I would:

1) Pay the 2012 maintenance fees and don't ask for reimbursement.

2) Pay for the title transfer (you can get a simple title transfer with no escrow or title search for about $100.) Many people have used Tugger TTT (Alan) at Time Travel Traders for this service in the past, but he is retired and is referring most business to Lisa Short for this service - 1.706.969.8906 readylegal@gmail.com Lisa has been receiving good reviews on TUG.

3) Reserve a popular holiday week in 2012 for the new owner

4) Instead of paying a fee to a rescue company - consider offering a cash incentive to the new owner.​

Good luck!

 

[isisdave]

W

If the cost of selling them is likely to exceed their value (which is very possible, particularly if they are not in a trust and have to be probated in a different state than the residence of the decedent), and none of the heirs will accept them, and you cannot get a charity to accept them, the estate may be able to abandon them. You'll have to get a lawyer to tell you how to do this correctly.

 

[DeniseM]

There are no charities that will accept them for free - and some of the so-called charities promise bogus write-offs.

 

[rrlongwell]

There are no charities that will accept them for free - and some of the so-called charities promise bogus write-offs.

Get everything in writting on what services are being provided for any fees charged and payments should at closing, REMEMBER (sorry for the caps), closing should include possession by the buyer (i.e. acceptance by the Resort for the new owner). This is in both the sellers and buyers interest to prevent problems after the money is gone and ethical re-sellers should have no problem with this.

 

[tschwa2]

Click on the completed listings link on ebay to see which actually sold and if so at what price. While ebay is often on the low end of the range, the completed listings will show what something can quickly and easily be sold for. While the high end may be a couple of hundred dollars more or even a thousand or so more it will take more time and effort to advertise and find a buyer at the price. Some counties also have deeds online that you can look up that show the price for the transferred deed. Not all places are online and not all deeds list the selling price though. I did a quick scan through the bargain basement and the timeshares and points listed at $25. I think you would have a hard time selling any of them for more than a couple of hundred dollars.

Now is not a good time to get a good price for selling any timeshare. It is a buyers market. It doesn't matter that your MIL paid thousands and thousands for them. The likely have very little value. If either is a points membership tell us what the brand is and maybe you can get a better idea from another owner based on the Maintenance fee per point. The only point systems that I know that has maintained a fair percentage of the price is Disney and Hilton.

 

[ausman]

I would just contact the two timeshare companies and tell them the owner is deceased. The estate is being wrapped up, all current obligations satisfied and the estate has zero money for future obligations and needs to close.

Ask them, what do they want to do. Most likely they will want a deed back.

If not, there are other replies to your enquiry.

 

[chalee94]

I have received offers to buy one of the ownerships for $12,500, which I am sure is a bottom feeder.

don't be so sure that it's a bottom feeder.

as others have said, the value is likely less than that (unless someone has a lot of time to travel and money to pay the $5000 in annual fees.) scammers often claim to have a buyer until you send money to close the transaction...then the buyer disappears (as does your money.)

if you can sell them on ebay, do so. but deeding them back to the resort or giving them away will probably be better options...

 

[ARSeaAir]

Thanks for all the responses, and those who have sent private messages.

I think a little more information for people to respond to would be helpful. As I mentioned before there are two TS, both are flexible multi-destination without any restrictions that I know of. The first is 65,000 pts/yr at Worldmark, the second is 125 pts/yr at Vacation Internationale. Both have at least a year of banked points.

I'll be listing them in the classified ad section as soon as I can get my act together. Your advice on where to find actual sales prices and how to get a good price on title transfers has been very helpful.

W