ARDA

Do you know that you can resell your residential home (or any other type of real estate) without hiring a real estate agent or Realtor® to assist you? Of course you know that, and you’d be indignant and probably downright angry if it was any other way.

If you own a home, a piece of land, an office building, or other type of property, you have choices when it comes to reselling it. You can handle the sale yourself or hire a real estate professional to help you. You can use a by-owner company to assist with part of the process, or you can select a range of services, from title agents to real estate attorneys, using only those you need to help you.

And the fact that no law requires you to buy or sell real estate from a real estate professional hasn’t done a thing to harm the real estate industry as a whole. In fact, the diversity of ways to sell is part of what makes the industry competitive and fair.

Millions and millions of people, who have sold their homes by a method, other than hiring a real estate professional, will tell you that they saved a lot of money that would have gone to an agent or a broker for advertising and showing the property or other fees that are paid as part of the commission. You also see the same ads on television that I see, with testimonials from people who have used a buy-owner real estate company to help them sell their homes, and are thrilled with the money they saved, or other features of the service they received. And as with anything, there are stories of people who tried to sell property themselves, and for whatever reason, got burned and wished in hindsight they had used a Realtor®.

In any industry, including those that involve the sale of real estate, and those that involve the sale of timeshare real estate, there are good services and bad ones; there are services that work well for one person but maybe not for another. But American business is built on our freedom to choose to work with companies that we think, best serve our individual needs.

Ways to Sell Timeshare and Timeshare Resales

Timeshare developers, timeshare resellers, and timeshare advertising and marketing companies are all valid and contributing parts of the timeshare industry. Professional associations, such as ARDA, the American Resort Development Association, recognize this and support all factions of the industry.

While a few timeshare developers offer buy-back programs, the majority does not, leaving timeshare owners to come up with their own ways to sell timeshare they no longer wish to own.

Some people have a network of personal contacts that is so large, and a way to get the word to all of them, that they can sell timeshare themselves. But most of us don’t, nor do we want to hit on our friends and family members, trying to convince them to buy timeshare from us.

Some people want to sell timeshare but be separate from the process, letting someone else handle all the details, and for them it may be a great idea to work with a timeshare broker. And other people, just need help marketing their timeshare resale or perhaps handling the closing paperwork. The right choice for them could be a timeshare advertising and marketing company or perhaps a timeshare title transfer company. But it all goes back to choices…

Real Estate and Timeshare Real Estate in the US

Let’s face it. The residential real estate market in the US is about as bad as it has been in many years. But who do we blame for that? We can lay part of the blame on the rising price of oil that leaves people pumping larger and larger chunks of their paychecks into their gas tanks, with less and less money to spend on a new home.

We can blame a greedy element of the mortgage industry, that put people into mortgages that were so riddled with hidden charges the people couldn’t get out of them before the one obvious cost – that ever- adjusting interest rate, soared through the roof. We can blame politicians, heads of business, or just a predictable swing in the pendulum of life, but we can’t logically say that buy-owner or help-u-sell real estate services are to blame for the falling value of home prices. And it wouldn’t make any sense to say that timeshare resale companies are responsible for the resell price you can or can’t get for your timeshare property.

Whether you are looking at residential real estate, timeshare deeded property, timeshare points, or something totally different like new and used refrigerators, things sell for what the market will bear. People, not companies, set prices by what they are willing or able to pay.

New cars sell for prices that are comparably much higher than the price for which used cars sell. And new cars will continue to sell for that higher price because we are willing to pay the price, and because auto manufacturers spend huge dollars on advertising to convince you to buy their product instead of someone else’s. When that same car is resold, the second buyer pays market value (the price the market will bear) because he or she no longer has to absorb the cost of the car manufacturer’s pricey advertising.

The lower resell price has nothing to do with the used car dealer; it is just a fact of economics that applies in much the same way for resale timeshares as it does to resale automobiles. The economics of this aren’t complicated, but sometimes, you have to keep explaining them over and over again, because a few people, just don’t get it.

A Texas-based timeshare resales brokerage, that is a division of Stroman Realty, Inc., has released an interesting study on timeshare resales buying trends for transactions handled within their company. The study looked at timeshare sales based on the size of the timeshare unit, the location, and other factors that influence a consumer’s decision to buy timeshare. It also reported on trends that affect timeshare resales across the industry, such as why people resell timeshare or what marketing media best reaches potential timeshare buyers.

Like the research Sell My Timeshare NOW released earlier this year, both studies found that people don’t typically resell timeshare because they are unhappy with it, but more often because it no longer suits their lifestyle, needs, or the way they vacation.

One observation that came from this timeshare resales study is this, “As consumer internet usage has increased, the Timeshare Resale Industry has benefited significantly from the use of the Internet to advertise units for sale. This is because timeshare owners/sellers have never been able to use signage to help with their marketing due to resort restrictions. Since about 1995, the Internet has created an interactive growing conduit for timeshare property information utilized by buyers, wholesalers, brokers, and sellers. The Internet is the single largest factor that has improved the market for timeshare resales.”

Above all else, the study, like research developed for ARDA and research by timeshare developers, reinforces the idea that timeshare sales – both of new timeshare and timeshare resales – are on a very positive upward trend, and that consumer’s confidence in the timeshare or vacation ownership industry increases every year.

In other words, it is a good time to buy timeshare. And it is a good time to sell timeshare. Whatever your needs, at this point in your life, find a reliable, highly rated company to assist you and then move forward confidently with your timeshare transaction.

I am thrilled to be part of the 2008 ARDA Convention & Exposition. When this, the largest event for the timeshare and resort industry, meets in Las Vegas in April, I will be one of the presenters of a program titled: SEM, SEO, SMO & SOS! A Website Traffic Rescue.

Paul Savage of Savage Direct Marketing, Marc Saxe of Resort Opportunities, and Greg Anton of Avitech will be my fellow presenters. Together, we are spreading the message that if your business has a website, then you absolutely must know what these acronyms mean, and how to make them work for you.

One of the many exciting things about the ARDA convention is that it involves people from all areas of the timeshare and resort industry, including management, resort operations, development, and marketing. Every one of these people’s livelihoods is directly affected by the decisions their company makes, or fails to make, about maintaining a strong web presence. And search engine marketing, social media optimization, and search engine optimization, are only the beginning of the important internet marketing strategies businesses must utilize for reaching and serving clients via the world wide web.

What the Internet Can Mean for Timeshare Sales and Timeshare Resales

Sell My Timeshare NOW knows and understands just how critical the internet is to business today. It has been less than five years since we started our timeshare resales and timeshare rentals advertising and marketing company with three people working from home computers. Today, we employ over 100 people in our Dover, New Hampshire office and have satellite offices across the US. Our website, www.sellmytimesharenow.com, attracts more than 1.7 million visitors each month. These are people who are looking to buy timeshare, sell timeshare, or rent timeshare. In a very short time, our timeshare company has grown to be a leader in the industry today.

Some of our website visitors show up because they have entered our company’s web address in their web browser. Yet, thousands and thousands of other potential timeshare buyers or timeshare sellers come to us because they type terms such as, “buy timeshare,” or “Florida timeshare” into their search engine and consistently, the search engine lists Sell My Timeshare NOW, at or near the top of the list. In 2007, we presented our clients who want to sell timeshare or rent timeshare with more than $247 million in offers to buy or rent. The internet is a powerful tool, and it’s a message I never get tired of teaching; I can’t wait for the upcoming ARDA Convention & Exposition.

Links to Sell My Timeshare NOW’s most recent press release:

• Timeshare Internet Advertising Trailblazer to Speak at National Convention

The 2008 ARDA Convention & Exposition will be held next month, April 6-10, at the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. This is the top event in the resort and timeshare industry and it will draw some 5000 attendees from more than 40 countries worldwide.

Speakers at the ARDA Convention

Each year the ARDA Convention & Exposition offers resort and timeshare professionals the most up-to-date information on services and new directions within the industry. For the 2008 convention, Rick Barrera will be the keynote speaker. Barrera is a nationally recognized speaker, marketing consultant and acclaimed author. He is probably best known for his unique approach to brand building and holistic customer service. Barrera’s strategies can be seen in use today by such business giants as Google, Hummer, and Tivo.

In tomorrow’s Timeshare Owners Blog, I will be sharing information about a few of the ARDA Convention’s other speakers and panelists, including the panel on which I will be presenting. Here is also a link to Sell My Timeshare NOW‘s most recent press release about the ARDA Convention.

Entertainment at the ARDA Convention

As if just being in Las Vegas isn’t entertaining enough, the ARDA Convention includes a performance by Terry Fator. If you are not familiar with this multi-talented entertainer, then the idea of watching a ventriloquist may not seem too exciting.

Think again. Terry Fator, winner of last year’s American’s Got Talent competition on NBC, is one of the single most entertaining, genuinely talented performers today.

I have attached a YouTube video of Fator during his first televised appearance on the, America’s Got Talent competition. Once you watch this first video, you may want to go back and view the many others available on Fator’s website or on YouTube – he is guaranteed to brighten your day.