What Can I Do With My Timeshare?

Timeshare Resales Getting Tougher

April 29th, 2009

The economy continues to be questionable, and many timeshare owners are finding themselves having to make tough decisions as far as their budgets are concerned. I have had a rash of timeshare owners questioning me on the possible back lashes that they would be in for if they just stopped making payments.What concerns me is the number of new timeshare owners that state they were caught in a moment of weakness and are now outside the rescission period. My first question to them is, what were you thinking in the first place? I understand that it is everyone’s dream to be able to vacation like a rock star, but at some point in the sales process logic should come into play. Especially when many are barely surviving in the first place.

Getting back to the problem at hand, what can you do as a timeshare owner if you can no longer afford your timeshare. There are several options that I am going to list, but you must know that there are many variables that must be taken into account. This is not a one size fits all matter.

1. The first and most logical is to sell your timeshare. This is where the problem and the title of this article comes in. There are many who claim to have all the answers as far as selling timeshares are concerned. Just do any amount of research in timeshare resales and you will find company after company that claims to be able to sell your resale. Then there is reality. There are many statistics out there on how many timeshares are owned. If you take the average of all those stats it is about 4.2 million timeshares. That is points, fixed week, and floating weeks. How can you set your timeshare apart from the millions of others, and how can you market it so you can get money for it? There have been many articles and research done that shows that the majority of timeshares are for personal enjoyment and not an investment. With that being said, you never go into purchasing a timeshare to make money. Dave Ramsay, a syndicated radio show host often says that timeshares are worthless as soon as you sign on the dotted line. Mark Silverman, a writer for the Timeshare Examiner has written many articles on this topic and has recently written an article about the Arkansas AG issuing warnings concerning timeshare resales.  The point is that resale is not a given and you are not guaranteed to sell your timeshare. Realistically, you will be lucky to find someone to simply take it from you. If you are a timeshare owner and owe a considerable amount on your timeshare, do yourself a favor and do not even put yourself through the frustration of attempting to get what you owe out of it.
2. Another option is to try to find a friend, family member, or co-worker who can afford to take the timeshare until you can afford to maintain it. You could either quick claim deed it to them, or just have them pay you the fees and they use the time.
3. There are companies that claim to rent timeshares. I will not name all of them here, but if you google them, you will be amazed with how many there are. If you choose this route, ensure that you do your research on the company before you choose to business with them.  Another way to rent is to find a friend, family member, co-worker, church member, or anyone you know. If they are going on vacation for a week, make the reservations for them and have them pay the maintenance fees. That is a deal for both parties. If your maintenance fees are low, you might be able to put some cash in your pocket. I am not a big fan of Ebay, or Craigslist because of the sheer volume of timeshares being listed daily.
4. If your timeshare is paid for, you can try to give it to charity, but the overwhelming majority of charities will not take a timeshare because it is not an asset, it is a liability.
5. Lastly, there are companies out there that will take your timeshare off your hands for a fee. The problem is that you are already in the hole on this so called investment, and the last thing your need to do is to pay more to dump it. What I will tell you is that you need to weigh the cost of keeping it versus the cost of dumping it. I know that sometimes I will pay more for an item for the convenience of getting it now and not having to go too far to get it.

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