timeshare news

Since the media seems to prefer to cover more stories of timeshare scams and problems than the testimonials of the many very happy timeshare owners, it can be easy to get the impression that timeshare is the only part of the vacation industry where unscrupulous people try to make money by preying on others.

But when you hear the recent accounts of house stealing, you realize that no industry can be fully insulated—no matter how hard they many try.

House stealing is a crime on the rise and while it shows up in all areas of real estate, privately owned vacation homes can be especially vulnerable.

The crime begins with the identity theft of the vacation home owner (although any property can be at risk). At a vacation home, it can be especially easy to set up mail delivery to the physical address because the absentee owner might never realize this has occurred. However, even safeguarding your mail delivery is not enough to protect you. Home stealers can also operate without access to your mail.

The criminal then uses standard forms for real estate transfer (available at any office supply store) to transfer your vacation home property (at this point they have fake IDs to prove they are “you”) to whomever is their working partner in their crime or even back to their own real identity. Now they appear to own your home, which they can then sell or refinance—either way, keeping any cash for themselves.

Some vacation home stealers take photos of the property to make it easier to sell it online. Out of state buyers may not visit the home for many months. Little will that buyer know that the photos (which could be real pictures of your vacation home or could be photos of any other property) and the keys he received to the front door are totally bogus.

Self Defense for Vacation Home Owners

Owning a vacation home you only visit occasionally has always come with its own measure of challenges, including maintenance, security, and ongoing repairs that all fall to the homeowner. Now it seems that the risk of scams, fraud, and house stealing have become part of the package too.

Here’s what the FBI advises to help you protect yourself, “From time to time, it’s also a good idea to check all information pertaining to your house through your county’s deeds office. If you see any paperwork you don’t recognize or any signature that is not yours, look into it.” They also suggest that you be vigilant about getting to the root of any documents you receive in the mail that are related to a mortgage or property transaction. Don’t just assume that because they aren’t from your mortgage company that they are a paperwork error. They could be the tip of the iceberg to a serious crime, of which you may be the victim.

The Timeshare Alternative

Owning timeshare means vacation ownership where you only pay for the days and nights you are entitled to use the property—and not for all the days your schedule wouldn’t permit you to be enjoying it anyway.

Timeshare ownership means that someone is always at your resort property, 365 day a year. Your timeshare vacation home is never a vulnerable empty site, prey to criminals.

When repairs or maintenance is warranted, your timeshare is covered. Your annual fees, along with the fees of all the co-owners at your timeshare resort, take care of not only the cost of the service but the property management to get the job done and follow up that it is done properly.

Owning a timeshare or timeshare resale gives you vacation opportunities at your favorite destination, but, let’s face it, it eliminates many of the vacation homeowner headaches and concerns.

This weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, bloggers and representatives from all areas of the media are gathering for the BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2009. We’re very interested in this event, as well as all the other developments in business communication and information exchange that are happening today.

Publishing The Timeshare Authority blog has given all of us at Sell My Timeshare NOW a better perspective on the purpose, the power, and the effectiveness of blogging as part of ‘New Media.’ But if you are not sure what the words New Media really include, don’t feel bad, the concept is literally being defined and redefined daily as everyone involved in communications, marketing, and business tries to understand the changes that are happening around us.

The concept we all understood of the media telling the public what is going on in the world today is being challenged, replaced by New Media that is much more about the public telling the media what is going on instead. User-driven, user-defined, New Media is not just new technologies for delivering information; it is a whole new way of engaging and exchanging information.

Sell My Timeshare NOW on Twitter

At Sell My Timeshare NOW, we’ve been blogging on The Timeshare Authority (formerly The Timeshare Owners Blog) for over five years. And you’ll find us on Twitter as well: @VacationHotDeal

We are also working to establish our communication channels through other areas of social media, such as Facebook. It is not a matter of Sell My Timeshare NOW “talking” to you, but much more about the opportunity for timeshare owners, timeshare buyers, renters, and sellers communicating with us and with each other and making the timeshare sales and timeshare resales industries stronger , more responsible, and better in tune with people’s real needs.

Thank you for reading The Timeshare Authority and thank you for following Sell My Timeshare NOW on Twitter.

Here at Sell My Timeshare NOW, we are pleased to welcome new hire, Jacqueline Russ as our Chief Financial Officer.

We’re very excited to have Jackie onboard and we see her as an important part of our company’s growth and development plans for the future.

Before joining us at Sell My Timeshare NOW, Jackie spent twenty years successfully leading start-up companies in times of rapid growth. She was most recently the President for Home Brands, Inc., a Portsmouth, New Hampshire based company where she helped that company double its revenue and grow into one of the industry’s most successful home installation programs.

Jackie is the former Chief Financial Officer at MicroArts Corporation, an online and offline marketing and brand strategy company, and the former Chief Financial Officer for Newmarket International, a provider of group sales and automated solutions in the hospitality industry.

Jackie, who holds a BS degree in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire in Durham, began her professional career with Arthur Andersen & Co. in Boston. She is also a Certified Public Accountant.

So a warm welcome to Jackie Russ from everyone at Sell My Timeshare NOW, a leader in the online marketing of timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, where excellent opportunities are available for timeshare buyers, renters, sellers, and timeshare owners.

Officially (as of last week) the Ritz-Carlton Destination Club is ten years old. Originally just called the Ritz-Carlton Club, this brand stands for some of the best in fractional elegance and luxury vacation living in the timeshare vacation market today.

Member owners at Ritz-Carlton Destination Club enjoy fractional ownership through their Home Club membership and deeded, points-based Portfolio Membership. Fractional properties at the Ritz-Carlton Destination Club are typically from one to four-bedrooms, with a living area, a fully equipped kitchen, and luxurious bathrooms. Most units include a washer and dryer; LCD TV and DVD; a fireplace, and Wi-Fi or high-speed Internet access.

Destinations include some of the choice vacation locations in the world such as the brand’s first two resorts in Aspen Highlands, Colorado and St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Other popular Ritz-Carlton vacation ownership resorts are Jupiter, Florida; Bachelor Gulch, Colorado; San Francisco, California; and Abaco in The Bahamas along with the newest locations, Kapalua Bay in Maui, Hawaii, and the newest Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, which is scheduled to open in Lake Tahoe, California by the end of the year.

And here’s the best news of all – Yes, you can buy Ritz-Carlton fractionals (Ritz-Carlton timeshare) on the resale market!

• Ritz-Carlton Club Kapalua Bay
• Ritz-Carlton Club, Aspen Highlands
• Ritz-Carlton Club St. Thomas

The 2009 Robb Report’s 21st annual “Best of the Best” issue calls the Ritz-Carlton Destination Club the top “Fractional” vacation home in the world.

And just as you follow @VacationHotDeal for your timeshare resale, timeshare rental, and timeshare owner news, you may want to also follow @RitzCarltonClub.