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

Last week was the first annual Global Networking Expo & Perspective Magazine Awards Gala, held at the Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island, Bahamas—also known as, “The GNEX Conference.”

This new event to the timeshare industry brought opportunity for learning, networking, connecting. It also offered the perfect venue for looking at some of the “BURNING ISSUES” of timeshare. I enjoyed speaking on a panel, along with Ross Perlmutter, President, Canadian Resort Development Association; Ramy Filo, CEO, Classic Holiday Group; Harry Taylor, Executive Chairman, Timeshare Association Timeshare Owners Committees, Robert Webb of Baker and Hostetler; and Bryan Lunt, Chairman & CEO, Absolute World Group of Companies.

Burning Issues of Timeshare Sales and Timeshare Resales

We didn’t sidestep the difficult questions or shy away from the challenges our industry faces. We looked seriously at the consumer issues of timeshare; media perception (and misconception) about vacation ownership; and weaknesses in the both the timeshare product and its delivery to consumers.

Here are some of the points that were made in our Timeshare Burning Issues Panel:

1. Timeshare has to change its marketing model. Fewer and fewer people are willing to “be sold to” at a timeshare sales presentation.
2. The timeshare industry must accept the fact that consumers will comparison shop. The industry can’t be afraid of that or back off from it. Consumers in control, comparison shopping, is the reality of a web-connected world, where people are “armed” with iPods, iPads, and Blackberries.
3. Timeshare sales are an international product, sold to an international market. Seventeen percent of the timeshare resales and rentals at Sell My Timeshare NOW involve international clients.

4. Demand for timeshare sales, timeshare rentals, and timeshare resales via an online inventory and an online transaction is already high. As fellow panelist, Rob Webb, an attorney who specializes in real estate and hospitality law, says, “In five years, the timeshare product will be sold on the Internet. If a company is not ready for that, they’ll be out of business.”

We covered a lot of very important territory at the conference. By the way, here’s a photo from the event which shows all of us on the Burning Issues panel.

Next week when the timeshare industry assembles at the Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island, Bahamas, for the first annual Global Networking Expo (GNEX 2011) and Perspective Magazine Awards Gala, I will have the privilege of being part of one of the “Burning Issues” discussion panels.

Under the heading of “Challenges We Face,” we won’t be making presentations. Instead, we will engage in a panel discussion with the audience. Look for debate on topics including consumer and media perception; potential weaknesses in the products we offer; and other burning topics of the timeshare and vacation ownership industry.

Speakers on our panel include: Ross Perlmutter, President, Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA); Robert Webb, Partner, Baker & Hostetler; Ramy Filo, CEO, Classic Holiday Group; Harry Taylor, Executive Chairman, Timeshare Association of Timeshare Owners Comittees (TATOC); Bryan Lunt, Chairman & CEO, Absolute World Group of Companies and me, the founder & CEO, Sell My Timeshare NOW.

If you are planning to attend the GNEX event, I hope you will drop in on our session; it’s schedule on Day One of the conference, May 11. During the two-day event, with a theme of Navigating Change, you will also enjoy Keynote Speaker: Ron Kurtz, founder and president of the American Affluence Research Center.

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.

I got fooled recently by a letter I personally received in the mail. It appeared to be ‘official’ and appeared to require me to file a certain form with a state agency. Yet because the letter almost made sense, but didn’t quite, I called a financial advisor with questions about it.

He said, “It’s garbage. It is a marketing come-on from disreputable company. If you call the number in the letter, you will get someone trying to sell you services you don’t need, designed to fulfill requirements that aren’t really required. Throw it away, or better yet, send it to the State Attorney General’s Office and file a complaint.”

Although relieved I didn’t have to add one more task and one more expense to life, I was also annoyed—really annoyed both with the disreputable company that had done this and with the fact that I almost fell for it. Luckily I didn’t. I escaped the ploy without throwing away any of my money.

But the experience served as a good reminder for how many consumers must feel when they try to deal with timeshare, whether they want to buy timeshare, resell timeshare, or rent timeshare.

Identifying the Reputable Timeshare Sales Companies and Timeshare Brokers

1. Look for history. Timeshares themselves are still a relatively new concept in the marketplace, not available before the 1960’s and with the global hospitality brands not moving into timeshare and vacation ownership until the late 1980’s and the 1990’s. So while there are no ‘oldies’ in the business, there are companies that have at least been around five to ten years in timeshare resales and brokerage, and longer than that as timeshare developers. A disreputable timeshare company often has to shut its doors and reopen under a new name, once, twice, sometimes even more than that. SellMyTimeshareNOW, LLC (also seen in our communications as Sell My Timeshare NOW) has been doing business successfully and consistently under the same name for more than 7 years.
2. Look for strong professional affiliations. Reliable timeshare sales companies are members of and are actively involved in the premier professional organizations for the timeshare industry, including ARDA, the American Resort Development Association and CRDA, the Canadian Resort Development Association. Sell My Timeshare NOW is a member of and is now or has recently served on various panels and committees for both associations.
3. Look for specific numbers not empty claims and promises. Because there are many naysayers out there, who want you to believe that it is impossible to sell timeshares, it is very important for a timeshare reseller to communicate the truth in precise numbers. Questionable timeshare companies will tell you they have offers for hundreds of timeshares or thousands of timeshares on the resell market. Sell My Timeshare NOW will tell you that in 2009, we generated 61,743 offers to buy timeshare resales and 85,949 offers to rent timeshares
4. Finally, look for validation from experts and professional agencies. If you are not sure about a timeshare sale or timeshare resales company with which you are considering doing business, do exactly what I did when I got the questionable ‘con’ letter in the mail from a business in another industry—turn to a third party expert for validation. Contact the Office of the Attorney General for the state or states the company does business in; ask questions of industry experts. Beware of random information you find on the internet that attacks a brand or company; sometimes it is created as an attempt at competition by the very companies you are trying to avoid—the con artists. Sell My Timeshare NOW never targets attacks on other companies; it is unprofessional and it is a waste of our time to put it out there and a waste your time to read it.

Sell My Timeshare NOW obtains formal legal advice from the highly respected law firm of Baker & Hostetler LLP, affirming that the business practices of Sell My Timeshare NOW and Timeshare Broker Services are in full compliance with Florida real estate brokerage laws. Sell My Timeshare NOW is counseled by Robert J. Webb, RRP of Baker Hostetler, a board certified Florida real estate lawyer with substantial experience in commercial real estate, timeshare and hospitality industry law.

The facts speak for themselves.

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).

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