I am trying to sell my timeshare and saw in your quote that you would help. I have advertised it on TUG and Redweek, any other suggestions?
I don't have any kind of business or anything. My posts here on this thread are to discredit companies like Timeshare Relief, who take your hard-earned money, up to $3,495, to take your timeshare and resell it.
People have an unrealistic notion of what their timeshares are worth. The simple fact is that your timeshare was never worth what you paid the developer for it. Unlike a car, that depreciates a few thousands dollars when you drive it off the lot, the timeshare may only be worth 10-75% of the original price. Marriotts and Hiltons are worth more after a few years, and there are a few others that do not lose most of their value, but a generic timeshare, like Vacation Village at Parkway (even with the points), which is a nice resort, and many, many others, are not worth much. I have no idea what you own, but if you owe money on it, you may just be stuck paying it off.
I am not one to advise that you walk away from a debt, even if it is a timeshare debt. It could ruin your credit and if you want to buy a house or a car later on, or even get a credit card, that unpaid debt could cost you more than the interest you are currently paying. As a Realtor/broker, I help people buy houses that have lousy credit and they don't get the 5 7/8% interest rates, they pay 8 1/2% in this market. I just helped a couple of young people buy a house that are paying $600 more per month than they should, simply because they let a debt go two years ago. You cannot walk away from debt without repercussions, plain and simple. This couple had the income to buy a home and would not settle for an FHA mortgage because they wanted a $380,000 house and had the down payment, but they had that one obstacle. After a year or so, they can always refinance their mortgage and get a better rate, but for now, they are just going to have to pay.
There are no magic answers for getting rid of a timeshare when you have unrealistic expections of its worth or you owe on it. We have friends who own two Florida beach timeshares, bought from the developer a few years ago, and they asked if I could sell them. I couldn't, no way, because they owed five times more than their timeshares are worth. Sad but true. My advice is always to use them and pay the loan as quickly as possible. Put yourself on a tight budget, don't eat out, save money wherever you can, even cut coupons, and put all that money toward the payments. When the debt is over, you will be a happier person. That sounds like a lecture I would give to my kids, but it is the only advice I can give.
If your timeshare is paid off, you may just have to bite the bullet and either keep it and use it to your best advantage or sell it for a pittance of what you paid and accept the fact that you were swindled by a developer, the same as we were our first and second times, 20 and 25 years ago.
Unlike Timeshare Relief and their brainwashing against timeshare as a waste of money and a debt that goes on and on without end, I believe that timeshare works, similarly to how sleazy salesman told you it would. You can use or exchange what you own for something in another location. This will be a lesson well learned, but you will never be sucked in again by a sales pitch.
You can always attend sales presentations and walk away with the gifts. That might give you a little satisfaction. I know a person who goes to every sales pitch while on vacation, determined to get even with the developers. It is a funny kind of revenge and he and his wife have been stuck with some sleazy salespeople, way after the 90-minute presentation was supposed to end, but he does not feel guilty and he keeps a journal of all the lies the salesmen tell him. He has plans for that journal, though I cannot tell you what he will do with the information he is gathering, I am sworn to secrecy, but you might be able to guess.
