Timeshares by Owner

[KAS33]

Has anyone used Timeshares by Owner to rent a unit. I was contacted by them today and the program sounds good, but, they require money up front which is always a red flag. They appear to have an A+ rating from the BBB. Thanks.

 

[vacationtime1]

How much money up front?

An advertising fee of ~$50 shouldn't offend, but if anything more than that, they are getting paid before you are getting paid, which is exactly the red flag to avoid.

 

[HudsHut]

No one calls you out of the blue to rent out your unit.
You can rent your resort/week for free on Tug, CraigsList, airbnb, go-koala...
why would you pay them?

 

[LannyPC]

If you had used the Search function here on TUG, you could have seen these results:

https://tugbbs.com/forums/search/263749/?q=Timeshares+by+Owner&c[title_only]=1&o=date

There are many threads about this company dating back to when you became a TUG member. You can see that this company, despite the A+ rating, does not have a good reputation.

Besides, the general rule here on TUG that you outlined in your OP is that anyone calling you out of the blue with an offer too good to be true is a scam.

 

[RX8]

There are many timeshare advertising/listing companies out there and not one of them is a good value. Most border of being an outright scam. Timeshares by Owners is the likely the best of all the bad apples in the barrel. That doesn’t make them a recommended pick it just means that while they are still rotten, they aren’t as rotten as most others.

All these companies have the same business model which is cold call for dollars in return for advertising your timeshare. They want upfront fees and they will lie to you just to get that upfront money. Most websites are obscure, hard to find on the internet. Even if you find the website the actual timeshare listings take a back seat to their “selling” trying to get timeshare owners to pay them the upfront fee to list with them. They will advise your timeshare is worth thousands of dollars because then their fee doesn’t sound unreasonable. Once they have the upfront fee they could care less about your listing or even if anyone ever finds it to send you an offer. Their goal is to get back to “business” by cold calling for dollars again and any inquiries on listings already placed just get in the way of that.

Timeshares by owners has been around a long time. Their website’s first page at least has a resort search function. With most of these companies one has to literally sift through all the “list your timeshare with us” BS to even find how to look for a timeshare you might be interested in. However, with Timeshares by Owners the search function is still a tiny part of their website and quickly turns to them selling why a timeshare owner should list their timeshares with them.

For a company that has been listing timeshares for years one would think they know the market pretty well. I am sure they do but they would never want their customers to know the truth that their timeshare is likely worth little to nothing. However, they would never tell the truth because them no one would pay their upfront fee. I found a Westgate timeshare for sale on their website for $79,000. This is from an owner who probably listened to Timeshare by Owners spiel and felt confident that their timeshare will sell. The upfront fee they had to pay probably felt like a steal compared to what they are expecting to get from the sale proceeds.

Shame on Timeshares by Owner for taking someone’s money to advertise something that wouldn’t sell in a million years. This is just one example of many overpriced timeshare in their website.

 

[KAS33]

Many thanks for all of the responses.

 

[silentg]

There are many timeshare advertising/listing companies out there and not one of them is a good value. Most border of being an outright scam. Timeshares by Owners is the likely the best of all the bad apples in the barrel. That doesn’t make them a recommended pick it just means that while they are still rotten, they aren’t as rotten as most others.

All these companies have the same business model which is cold call for dollars in return for advertising your timeshare. They want upfront fees and they will lie to you just to get that upfront money. Most websites are obscure, hard to find on the internet. Even if you find the website the actual timeshare listings take a back seat to their “selling” trying to get timeshare owners to pay them the upfront fee to list with them. They will advise your timeshare is worth thousands of dollars because then their fee doesn’t sound unreasonable. Once they have the upfront fee they could care less about your listing or even if anyone ever finds it to send you an offer. Their goal is to get back to “business” by cold calling for dollars again and any inquiries on listings already placed just get in the way of that.

Timeshares by owners has been around a long time. Their website’s first page at least has a resort search function. With most of these companies one has to literally sift through all the “list your timeshare with us” BS to even find how to look for a timeshare you might be interested in. However, with Timeshares by Owners the search function is still a tiny part of their website and quickly turns to them selling why a timeshare owner should list their timeshares with them.

For a company that has been listing timeshares for years one would think they know the market pretty well. I am sure they do but they would never want their customers to know the truth that their timeshare is likely worth little to nothing. However, they would never tell the truth because them no one would pay their upfront fee. I found a Westgate timeshare for sale on their website for $79,000. This is from an owner who probably listened to Timeshare by Owners spiel and felt confident that their timeshare will sell. The upfront fee they had to pay probably felt like a steal compared to what they are expecting to get from the sale proceeds.

Shame on Timeshares by Owner for taking someone’s money to advertise something that wouldn’t sell in a million years. This is just one example of many overpriced timeshare in their website.

View attachment 36957

This is what I’m seeing, very unreasonable. I found a place that seems to be reasonable, but I’m hesitant to inquire, because it could be a place that’s unavailable then they show me others that are overpriced and not what I would want.

 

[RX8]

This is what I’m seeing, very unreasonable. I found a place that seems to be reasonable, but I’m hesitant to inquire, because it could be a place that’s unavailable then they show me others that are overpriced and not what I would want.

If you see something you like it doesn’t hurt to inquire. I am not endorsing Timeshares by Owner but they have been around since 1998 so they aren’t one of the fly by night operations. And unlike SMTN, which has significant buyer closing fees, this one looks like you can choose your own closing company.

 

[silentg]

Mine was on redweek ( im looking at)

 

[dioxide45]

There are many timeshare advertising/listing companies out there and not one of them is a good value. Most border of being an outright scam. Timeshares by Owners is the likely the best of all the bad apples in the barrel. That doesn’t make them a recommended pick it just means that while they are still rotten, they aren’t as rotten as most others.

All these companies have the same business model which is cold call for dollars in return for advertising your timeshare. They want upfront fees and they will lie to you just to get that upfront money. Most websites are obscure, hard to find on the internet. Even if you find the website the actual timeshare listings take a back seat to their “selling” trying to get timeshare owners to pay them the upfront fee to list with them. They will advise your timeshare is worth thousands of dollars because then their fee doesn’t sound unreasonable. Once they have the upfront fee they could care less about your listing or even if anyone ever finds it to send you an offer. Their goal is to get back to “business” by cold calling for dollars again and any inquiries on listings already placed just get in the way of that.

Timeshares by owners has been around a long time. Their website’s first page at least has a resort search function. With most of these companies one has to literally sift through all the “list your timeshare with us” BS to even find how to look for a timeshare you might be interested in. However, with Timeshares by Owners the search function is still a tiny part of their website and quickly turns to them selling why a timeshare owner should list their timeshares with them.

For a company that has been listing timeshares for years one would think they know the market pretty well. I am sure they do but they would never want their customers to know the truth that their timeshare is likely worth little to nothing. However, they would never tell the truth because them no one would pay their upfront fee. I found a Westgate timeshare for sale on their website for $79,000. This is from an owner who probably listened to Timeshare by Owners spiel and felt confident that their timeshare will sell. The upfront fee they had to pay probably felt like a steal compared to what they are expecting to get from the sale proceeds.

Shame on Timeshares by Owner for taking someone’s money to advertise something that wouldn’t sell in a million years. This is just one example of many overpriced timeshare in their website.

View attachment 36957

Oh, but they need a real estate license in order to provide pricing guidance on real estate. In most cases they are not licensed real estate agents and just list whatever price the owner wants to list it for. Many other outfits out there like this, SMTN and Timeshares Only to name a couple.

 

[RX8]

Oh, but they need a real estate license in order to provide pricing guidance on real estate. In most cases they are not licensed real estate agents and just list whatever price the owner wants to list it for. Many other outfits out there like this, SMTN and Timeshares Only to name a couple.

Good to know about needing a real estate license. However, I am sure there are verbal validations for ridiculously high prices. Also, SMTN has a timeshare pricing tool at their website. I was going to enter mine to see what huge price they suggested but the last step was to enter your contact info. Wasn’t worth continuing in return for being bombarded by phone calls.