Retire in Paradise

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Mention timeshare and eyebrows be raised. Although there are many happy users of timeshare, there are many more who think it is nothing more than a scam. The extreme marketing methods employed by the timeshare marketers is largely to be blamed and they have caused many unwilling and reluctant buyers to plonk money for something they never wanted and may never be happy using. Inevitably, these people, if they did not manage to get refund, would be soon looking for ways to sell their timeshare.

What is worse is that many timeshare companies are only interested in closing the deals and refuse to help their customers enjoy the timeshare ownership. Without any support, these timeshare owners are often unable to enjoy their timeshare ownership and they too, begin to think of ways to sell their timeshare.

As if being harassed to buy the timeshare in the first place is not enough, scammers prey on them again when they need to sell. There are many scams in the market and you should learn to avoid them when you are selling.

Should You Sell Your Timeshare?

Here are are few questions you should ask yourself to help you decide if you should sell your timeshare.

1. Do you love to travel?

2. Does staying for a week or more in a single resort excite you?

3. Do you like a leisurely holiday?

4. Do you enjoy being familiar with the place?

5. You feel at home when the staff recognize you and call you by name?

6. You prefer resorts that are more like serviced apartments than hotels?

7. You like the flexibility of being able to exchange to over 3000 resorts and condominiums worldwide?

If you answered yes to any or several of the reasons above, then perhaps you should seriously reconsider your decision to sell.

Take Note Of These Before You Sell Your Timeshare

Here are some important things to take note of before selling your timeshare.

1. Be patient. It can take very long to sell your timeshare. If you’re in urgent need, you will most likely need to sell at a big loss.

2. Remember that buying a timeshare ownership is for leisure and not for investment as you will almost definitely lose money by selling your timeshare. Resale values can range from 20% to 50% of the price you bought for most units, and up to 85% for the very good ones. If you factor in the legal, administrative and marketing fees and commissions, the loss will be even greater.

3. Avoid scammers. One easy way is to reject everyone who calls or emails you to say they can sell your timeshare for you, especially those who say they can sell at your buy price or higher.

4. Compare different brokers, their costs, service attitudes etc. before committing to any one of them.

5. Some brokers will ask you to appraise or value your timeshare ownership before putting it up for sale. By and large, this is unnecessary as you will be able to find the prices of other units in your timeshare resort for comparison without having an appraisal or valuation. Moreover, many buyers will not buy based on the appraisal or valuation anyway so it will be a waste of your money.