Here is an excerpt from an article that appeared this week on The Canadian Finance Blog, the Canadian Source for Personal Finance.

This portion of “The Smart Consumer’s Approach to Buying Timeshare Resales” is reprinted here with permission. However, it is only a small portion of this informative article that is helpful to anyone, from any country, who is interested in learning more about timeshare on the secondary market.

To read the article in its entirety, go to: http://canadianfinanceblog.com/the-smart-consumer%E2%80%99s-approach-to-buying-timeshare-resales/

Canadian Timeshare Owners and Canadian Timeshare

Until the fall of 2007, Canadian timeshare buyers had, for at least thirty years, been in the position of paying for United States timeshare with Canadian dollars at an exchange rate that worked against Canadians. But as the US dollar has weakened, the playing field has become leveler. During the past few years, parity has shifted back and forth between the US dollar and the Canadian Loonie, but has remained roughly equivalent.

As long as the US dollar remains weak, Canadian consumers can head south to enjoy warmer winters in United States timeshares, taking advantage of the competitive prices of timeshare resales as well as a Canadian dollar that has strong buying power in the US.

For Canadians interested in buying Canada timeshare, global economic challenges again work to the benefit of Canadian buyers. American and European buyers have tightened their belts, cutting back on purchases of luxurious ski resort or mountain retreat timeshares in Canada, creating reduced demand and driving the price of Canadian vacation ownership even lower.

Buy Safe and Buy Smart

If you see the value in locking in the price of a lifetime of vacation accommodations at today’s prices and recognize the convenience and time savings of having a pre-paid, pre-planned vacation that rolls around year after year, then a timeshare resale is likely to be a great purchase for you. Know before you buy, that timeshares are an investment in vacationing, not a traditional investment from which you seek to gain financial return or appreciation.

Look at the cost of maintenance fees and or taxes you will need to pay annually. If you want to vacation in different destinations each year, consider the exchange value of the timeshare you are purchasing. Timeshares in peak times at high-demand destinations are easier to exchange than are smaller timeshares in off-season or low-demand resorts. Look at the potential cost to exchange your timeshare. Some resorts offer timeshare owners an internal exchange at a select group of resorts for little to no exchange fee. Timeshare exchange may also be made through membership with a timeshare exchange company. Such companies vary in cost, with some charging an annual membership fee and others charging you only a flat fee at the time of exchange.

In addition to which timeshare you buy, you also have options regarding how you buy it. You may wish to purchase a timeshare resale through a timeshare by-owner service or you may want to deal only with timeshares sales facilitated by a timeshare broker. Whichever option you choose, do your homework first.

Look to see what other comparable units or intervals are selling for as resales at the resort you are considering. If you are buying through a by-owner service or timeshare broker, look for one with a large, well-established website, and ideally a company that is a member of both ARDA (the American Resort Development Association) and CRDA (the Canadian Resort Development Association). Be extra cautious of timeshare sold through online auctions, as they may have many hidden fees or costs that aren’t evident until you are deep into the closing process.

Before you buy, understand that typically purchases of timeshare are governed by the law of the country in which the timeshare stands, but can occasionally be governed by the country in which a timeshare company is headquartered. Canadian law, like those in other countries, has ramped up in recent years, taking a tougher position on timeshare sales and resales for the increased protection of the consumer. You can view the most current Canadian regulations at Can LII under the heading: Time Share and Points-Based Contracts and Business Regulation.

Consider renting timeshare at a location where you are interested in buying as a way to try before you buy. Although over 80 percent of timeshare owners use and enjoy their timeshare, vacation ownership is not the right choice for everyone. Before buying a timeshare resale, take your time to shop, study and understand what you are buying; timeshare that you don’t use is never a smart way to spend your hard earned money

Related posts from The Timeshare Authority blog:

Canada Timeshares and Sell My Timeshare NOW

Alberta Canada Passing Tougher Timeshare Laws

CRDA Timeshare Conference and the Future of Canada Timeshare

Canadian Vacationers and Timeshare Owners Tired of Staycations

Banff Rocky Mountain Resort, a beautiful Canada timeshare

With a great Canadian Resort Development Association Conference wrapped up and a lot of enthusiasm perking throughout the Canada timeshare industry, let’s look more closely at where vacation ownership actually stands in Canada.

• 89 percent of Canadians surveyed in a recent study say their opinion of Canada timeshare either is the same or better than it was ten years ago.
• 80 percent of Canadians know about timeshare but 72 percent have not been exposed to offers for vacation ownership products.
• 68 percent of the Canadians surveyed have never attended a timeshare sales presentation.

These stats about Canadian timeshare reveal a large, untouched market of people who could be future timeshare owners if only they are exposed more directly to the benefits of timeshares and timeshare resales.

What Canada Timeshare Means to the Timeshare Market

For US timeshare owners looking to sell timeshare they no longer need, Canada offers a large population of vacationers, many of whom already travel south for their holidays, and who may want to buy a timeshare. And for any vacationer who loves winter sports, amazing scenery, mountain hiking, cosmopolitan urban areas and plenty of great outdoors, Canada timeshares and Canada timeshare resales provide a wonderful vacation ownership opportunity.

As Jim Madrid, keynote speaker at CRDA’s conference last week in Vancouver, explained: with change comes both challenges and opportunities.

Right now, the economy is changing; so are the ways people vacation and the ways they shop for vacation ownership products. Both the timeshare industry and the vacationing consumer have an opportunity to be part of this change in real and measurable ways.

Here are just a few of the many beautiful Canada timeshare resorts: Marriott Residence Inn Gravenhurst Muskoka Wharf Timeshare; Shell Vacations Club At Carriage Hills Resort Timeshare; Whistler Resort & Club Timeshare and all the great Aviawest timeshares and WorldMark timeshares.

My trip to Vancouver for the CRDA Conference this week includes time spent with the great team at Aviawest. You may not know the Aviawest story, but it began in 1989, when Andrew Pearson spotted a piece of oceanfront property on the east coast of Vancouver Island, south of Parksville.

The 15-acre property, known as Pacific Shores, was being used as a campground and trailer park, but the visionary Pearsons saw so much more. With the help of investment partners, the Pearsons bought the land, and began developing condominiums there.

By 1991, they had realized that using the beautiful condos as vacation ownership property was a winning plan that would enable many vacationers to enjoy the beauty and serenity of this British Columbia destination. As pioneers in Fractional Ownership of Vacation homes, the Pearsons sold 1/10th interest in fee simple, deeded real estate. Soon they had sold all 50 shares of the property and had bought out their original investment partners.

Canada Timeshare with Aviawest

Today Pacific Shores Resort and Spa features themed floral gardens, a secluded beach, salmon fishing, a health club, outdoor heated thermal pools, complimentary kayaks, a full spa service and much, much more.

But Pacific Shores Resort is only a small part of the Pearson’s story. By 2002, Aviawest Resort Club was established offering vacation ownership through a multi-destination, real estate driven, vacation club. There are now six Aviawest properties in British Columbia, including the Parkside Victoria Resort and Spa in Victoria; Water’s Edge Resort at Pacific Rim in Ucluelet; The Pinnacle Lodge at Sun Peaks; the Rosewood Victoria Inn in Victoria; and Aviawest in Vancouver.

Follow these links to learn more about some of the opportunities in Aviawest timeshare resales.

The 2011 CRDA Resort Development Summit, has announced that Jim Madrid will be its Keynote Speaker. The Summit, conducted by the Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA), is scheduled for April 27 – 29, 2011, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver, BC.

Jim Madrid is the founder of Entelechy Training and Development, a Human Performance firm based in California. Known as an advisor to CEO’s who want to optimize their performance, and that of their companies and their employees, Jim is widely respected as a speaker, consultant, author. His staff development programs and performance management systems are nationally recognized, making him a perfect person to kick off the CRDA event with its theme: Snap Out of It!

Ross Perlmutter, CRDA president and CEO, says, “We’re thrilled to have Jim speak at our event this year. His message to businesspeople is to “snap out of it!”, and that’s ultimately the theme of this year’s conference: to move past the negativity and refocus our collective efforts, energies and talents on getting back to what our industry does best.”

Registration for the conference has already begun, with “early bird” rates ending March 25.CRDA urges you, not to miss this event that will, “highlight the newest innovations in the shared ownership industry, and it could very possibly change your company’s direction forever.”

Click here to learn more about Canada timeshares and Canada timeshare resales.

René Cardinal has officially been announced as the new President of the timeshare group, Club Intrawest Resort Club Group, a division of Intrawest ULC.

As a part of Club Intrawest for more than ten years, Cardinal serves as a Director of the Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA) and a trustee for ARDA, the American Resort Development Association, where he sits on the Finance Committee.

Prior to assuming the responsibilities of President of Club Intrawest, Cardinal was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Intrawest Resort Club Group, a position he will continue to hold.

Intrawest CEO, Bill Jensen says Intrawest is particularly excited about “the opportunities that we anticipate will come available over the next year. Given the new playing field in the vacation ownership market, our confidence in Club Intrawest’s solid track record of excellence makes us very optimistic about what lies ahead. René’s long term history with Club Intrawest and our organization’s strong team of seasoned professionals will enable us to create, direct and manage new growth as the Club expands its horizons.”

More on Club Intrawest Timeshare and Vacation Club

Club Intrawest is a private vacation club with destinations that include Canada timeshare, California timeshare, and Mexico timeshare, as well as access through Hilton Grand Vacations to Florida timeshare, Hawaii timeshare, and Las Vegas timeshare. Since opening its first timeshare resort in 1994, the company has grown to include eight resorts in Canada, with its Whistler ski destinations being many of the signature properties that come to mind when people think of Intrawest timeshare.

Club Intrawest is exclusively managed by Intrawest Resort Club Group. Intrawest ULC is controlled by funds managed by Fortress Investment Group LLC.

We thought you’d find this interview between Jason Tremblay of Sell My Timeshare NOW and The Timeshare Authority blog and Tim Wilson of AskMando.com very interesting. It was recorded in October during the CRDA Conference in Toronto and released just before the Thanksgiving holidays. (For more information about the conference see: CRDA Timeshare Conference and the Future of Canada Timeshare).

At the time of the interview, Jason had just finished his role earlier that day as part of the CRDA Conference’s speaking panel on the topic of timeshare on the secondary market. The panel spoke candidly about how timeshare resales are an issue for the entire industry in a forum called “Resale Forum, Where do we go from here?”

Here are some of the points made in this discussion:

• The secondary market for timeshares is real, growing, and not going away.
• It is time for the developers to pick a horse by choosing what service they either are going to establish or partner with to provide timeshare owners options regarding resales.
• The industry’s future requires that timeshare developers start working hand-in-hand with the resales companies; the time is now.

As Jason advises, timeshare developers can’t leave their owners to try to sort though the timeshare resale market on their own. Choosing to take no action is in fact, making a choice.

Sell My Timeshare NOW is proud to be an active part of both the Canadian and the US timeshare associations through CRDA (Canadian Resort Development Association) and ARDA. (American Resort Development Association).

Camping and getting back to nature is wonderful fun, but sometimes, a person can experience too much of a good thing, which may be the case for Stuart Nelson.

Nelson, a veterinarian from Idaho, was enjoying a solo wilderness trip into the Yukon Territory of Canada when he lost his kayak in a strainer, which is any river or stream obstacle (often a tree) that lets water and small items flow by, but catches larger items such as kayaks. Specifically, the strainer that disrupted Nelson’s plans was called a ‘sweeper’ because it is actually an evergreen tree that once grew close to the bank, but has since fallen over into the river, because of erosion along the shoreline. When the kayak was lost, so were Nelson’s food, camping gear, and satellite phone.

But this traveler, was no rookie to the great outdoors. He was prepared, having kept on his body, essential gear to sustain him in just such an event. He carried on his person, a knife, snare wire, a space blanket, sterno can, three fishing lures, fishing line, iodine, and a signal mirror. As Nelson explains, “The most important thing you need to remember about survival gear is that it’s not survival gear if it’s not on your body.”

Stuart Nelson’s plan worked, because with just these limited items, he stayed alive and healthy for 15 days before a group of hikers rescued him. Despite the environment, the cold temperatures, grizzly bears, and Nelson’s challenges in fire building which left him eating the salmon he caught like sushi, he survived the ordeal quite well.

And although this traveler’s story has nothing to do with timeshares or fractionals, it is a great survival story with a very happy ending.

It also allows The Timeshare Authority Blog to remind you that Canada timeshares offer you many venues for exploring the great northwest all of which will still let you sleep in a warm, dry, and comfortable bed, every night.

Resource: The Bonner County Daily Bee

In August, Sell My Timeshare NOW announced the acquisition of the primary assets and customers of Rapid Resale, LTD, a popular Canadian timeshare sales website and service. While the company’s timeshare resale and timeshare rental services have always been available for Canada timeshare and Canada timeshare owners, extending our Canadian outreach via Rapid Resale provides Sell My Timeshare NOW with greater depth and breadth in the timeshare resale market in Canada.

As we continue to deepen our relationship with Canadian timeshare owners, buyers, and Canada timeshare renters, we strive to understand and then serve this market as fully as possible. Here are some of the interesting updates we’ve learned from researched developed by Ipsos (the third largest survey‐based research company in the world) and shared at the recent CRDA Conference on Canadian timeshare.

Profile of Canada Timeshare:

The clear takeaway in studying all of these facts is that timeshare sales and timeshare resales have to do a better job of reaching the market that isn’t currently being reached, the startling 18 percent of Canadians who seem to have never heard of timeshare. To go with this insight is the solid impression that a highly visible, well-optimized website is the critical tool for anyone who wants to buy, rent, or sell Canada timeshare.

It’s been nearly two weeks since the CRDA (Canadian Resort Development Association) timeshare conference in Toronto and here at The Timeshare Authority blog, we’ve been remiss in not already sharing with you the full story of what an outstanding timeshare event this was.

First, let me thank Ross Perlmutter, Executive Director for CRDA, and all of the CRDA team and the sponsors, speakers, and exhibitors who worked to make this such an excellent conference. “The Resort Development Summit: the 2010 Canadian Resort Development Association Annual Conference” was held at the Radisson Admiral Hotel Toronto Harbourfront, overlooking Lake Ontario, and the beautiful venue made the time there even more enjoyable.

Day 1 started with a look at the Canadian timeshare owner and the Canada market for buyers and renters. We’ll be sharing more of that information with you in tomorrow’s The Timeshare Authority blog.

Howard Nusbaum, President/CEO of ARDA (American Resort Development Association) delivered the Keynote Address, with a serious (and optimistic) look at the state of the timeshare industry. And then it was time to roll up our sleeves and dive into the breakout sessions, with topics that included:

1. Fundamentals of Finance: Back to Basics for a Better Bottom Line
2. Resort & Club Management: Finding Money under the Rocks
3. Meet The New Market
4. The Legal Eagles
5. Resale Forum: Where do we go from here?
6. Timeshare Technology
7. And an Opportunity to Ask the Experts

I know I speak for everyone there that the time was enriching, inspiring and informative, which is good news for the hard working people in the timeshare industry, millions of timeshare owners and two strong countries working to bounce back from economic challenges.

Other Canada timeshare and CRDA News:

• Sell My Timeshare NOW Targets Expanded Presence in the International Vacation Market
• Canada Timeshare Association (CRDA) and US Timeshare Association (ARDA) Announce Expanded Relationship

One of The Timeshare Authority blogroll’s favorite blogs is a part-English, part-French blog, written by Jaime Horwitz. The blog, known as, “Canadian Tourism,” fills an interesting niche, providing excellent insight on traveling, vacationing, and tourism in Canada.

A Canada vacation—or better still a Canada timeshare vacation—affords you the opportunity to enjoy the majesty of the Canadian Rockies or the historic charm of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. In addition to timeless tourist favorites such as Niagara Falls, the Stratford Festival of Ontario, and the Calgary Stampede Rodeo, Canada is home to outstanding golf courses, festivals, and trendy metropolitan areas known for their museums, restaurants, shopping, and entertainment.

Rebuilding Economy and Growing Interest in Canada Timeshares

Over the years, Canadian and US vacationers have often crossed borders and the two economies are closely tied together. However, Canadians are taking pride that their banks are perhaps “better managed” than those of other countries. They are seeing their country as making a faster recovery in the current economic crisis than the recovery of many other nations, including the US. If this is so, then it is good news for Americans looking to resell timeshare, as it may open the gates to greater numbers of Canadians buying timeshare resales than in the past.

The most desirable outcome is that both the US and the Canadian economy rebound and then remain strong. But if either lags behind the other, look to cross-border tourism as one of the avenues that will help the other catch up faster.

A Canada timeshare resale or Canada timeshare rental provides an easy and enjoyable way to experience the beauty, cultural heritage, winter sports, and vast, natural terrain that is Canada. And when the balance is shifted, the Canadian vacationer and timeshare buyer is a welcomed boost to the US economy and timeshare sales, resales, and rentals.