People who are buying homes and residential real estate right now are doing so because this is an excellent time to buy. And many consumers are finding the same to be true when it comes to buying timeshares, timeshare resales, or other vacation ownership real estate.

Timeshare companies and timeshare developers who sell new timeshare are working hard to earn the timeshare sale … you may find them more negotiable than ever. But the best deals are usually available in buying timeshare resales from belt-tightening, budget conscious timeshare owners, who are anxious to sell their timeshare in order to get out from under annual timeshare maintenance fees and/or property taxes.

So if you are interested in taking advantage of the better-than-ever deals available in timeshare and timeshare resales, here are some important questions you need to ask before you sign on the dotted line.

Applies When You Are Buying Timeshare Either New or as a Timeshare Resale:

• Make sure you know the resort name and exact location. Pay special attention to timeshare resorts that have been built in phases because the description of the Phase I property could be very different from Phase V property. Know the specific address of the timeshare unit or the timeshare property usage you are buying.
• Know the annual maintenance fees, how much they have increased over the years, and the date of the last increase.
• Find out what the property taxes are, if they are included in your maintenance fee, and how and when you pay them if you are responsible for making the payment yourself.
• In a points based system, know the number of points you are buying.
• Know whether you are buying a fixed or floating timeshare interval.
• How many rooms are in the unit, what is the square footage, and can you see a floor plan?
• Find out both how many people the unit sleeps as well as the number of bedrooms. These will not be the same number!
• Ask about the view from your unit. Are you beachside? Have a scenic view of the mountains? Or are you staring at the parking lot? Desirability of view can affect the value of the timeshare.

Applies Specifically When You Are Buying Timeshare Resale:

• Learn what, if any, privileges of timeshare ownership cannot be transferred in a timeshare resale.
• Know how you will handle the timeshare title transfer, the escrow account, and the closing contract.

Applies Specifically When You Are Buying Timeshare New From the Resort or Developer:

• Know the exact sales price you will be paying and the duration and interest rate of the timeshare mortgage if you are using developer financing.
• Know if you can transfer to another financing source without paying a penalty on developer financing and if there are time limits for doing this.
• Find out if there are perks, loyalty programs, or benefits you can take advantage of because you have purchased a new timeshare at the developer’s full price.

And while all of these are critical questions to ask before you buy timeshare or a timeshare resale, based on the situation, there may be many other important questions to ask as well. To make sure you wind up owning a timeshare that fits both your vacation needs and your budget, do three simple things:

1. Take your time, don’t let anyone rush you.
2. Do your own research so that you know exactly what you are buying and the terms of the sale.
3. Do not “settle” for a property that is almost-right. There are too many great deals in timeshare sales and timeshare resales for you to buy anything less than a timeshare that is ideal for you and your family to enjoy for many happy years.

 

Topics: Timeshare Blog, Timeshare Brokers, Timeshare Buyers, Timeshare News, Timeshare Real Estate, Timeshare Resales, Timeshare Sales

We didn’t really know what to anticipate.

After all, most of our clients and potential clients at Sell My Timeshare NOW —some 2 million plus each month who come to our website — are looking for great deals on vacation ownership and vacation rentals or they are timeshare owners looking to sell or rent timeshare they no longer use. They come to us because they want to take advantage of by-owner ads on Sell My Timeshare NOW’s high-visibility websites but prefer to manage their timeshare sale or timeshare rental themselves.

Some timeshare owners need or prefer turnkey service for their timeshare sales transactions. For this reason, we added timeshare broker services and licensed real estate agents to provide sellers who go this route, the comprehensive services they seek.

We also recognized that if some people preferred turnkey services for selling timeshare, there might be timeshare owners who wanted turnkey services for using their timeshare as a rental, too. With this in mind, late in 2007 we launched Rental Assist. In 2008, it was a small effort and it wasn’t really until 2009 that the program began to get its legs and take off.

A Highly Successful Timeshare Rental Solution

Sell My Timeshare NOW is proud to report that the brokerage team of trained professionals at Rental Assist completed $2.6 million in timeshare rentals in 2009. Lucas Lanigan, Rental Sales Director, says, “With Rental Assist, our team of experienced timeshare real estate professionals match timeshare owners with timeshare renters, handling every detail of the process—turnkey service for the timeshare owner. In 2009, 1,450 timeshare owners rented their timeshare through this program for an average weekly rental rate of $1,808, which is more than triple the average owner’s maintenance fee.”

Lucas goes on to explain, “1,450 families enjoyed timeshare rental vacations last year because our Rental Assist team was able to get them the destination and price they wanted for their vacation during the dates that matched their schedule. Personalized service for the timeshare renter and worry-free, comprehensive service for the timeshare owner, and we are just getting started. In 2010, we expect to see timeshare Rental Assist soar, as timeshare owners recognize its value.”

The results of Rental Assist are very exciting. Imagine getting a weekly rental rate of $1,808 for your timeshare. This is easily more than enough to pay most owners’ annual fees for maintenance and to even let them put some money in their pocket.

Click this link to read Sell My Timeshare NOW’s most recent timeshare media release about our exciting results at Rental Assist. And contact our timeshare rental specialists to learn how you can take advantage of this new and exciting comprehensive timeshare rental service.

We love to check out the advice real estate guru Barbara Corcoran has to offer for buying or selling a home or vacation property. Besides the fact that Corcoran took a $1000 loan and turned it into a five billion dollar real estate business, she is also the expert who told viewers of The Today Show to turn to online timeshare advertising—and specifically named Sell My Timeshare NOW – as the recommended way to resell timeshare.

Here’s what Barbara Corcoran’s advice about selling your home that’s equally meaningful for anyone who wants to resell timeshare.

• Remember that the most enticing homes on the market are the newest to the listings and the lowest priced.
• Stay ahead of the pricing curve in a down market.
• Be prepared to price your house 15 percent below comparable homes on the market.
• If you have to make a price reduction to get your property sold, don’t make it a tiny one that just causes your property to languish on the market even longer and eventually results in you making a second, third, or even more price drops.

In a good real estate (or timeshare sales and timeshare resales market), price your property aggressively in order to get the sale, pricing it as low as competitive properties. And in a difficult market—if you really want to sell your timeshare or your home—be the most competitively priced property in your market.

More about Barbara Corcoran from The Timeshare Authority:

• The Today Show Recommends SellMyTimeshareNOW.com for Timeshare Resales
• The Today Show’s Real Estate Expert Who Suggests Sell My Timeshare NOW, a Star on Shark Tank

And just for the fun of it, see if you can catch reruns of Barbara Corcoran wheeling and dealing during this season’s Shark Tank on ABC.

Did you see Tuesday night’s episode of Shark Tank on ABC? Inventors and entrepreneurs present their ideas to a panel of multimillionaire investors, with each entrepreneur hoping to secure backing for his or her fledgling business.

Yes, there are some similar shows (or have been in the past) but this one has more personality and zip and perhaps will make a bigger hit with audiences and claim higher ratings. Our interest in the show was captured when we realized that included among the board of millionaire expert investors is Real Estate Mogul Barbara Corcoran – the same Barbara Corcoran who last year told millions of viewers on The Today Show that the best place to sell timeshare is online.

Corcoran went on to identify during her The Today Show interview, that there are a “couple of websites that sell timeshares only” and then named SellMyTimeshareNOW.com. Follow this link to learn more about Barbara Corcoran’s wisdom on the best way to sell timeshare.

And, for the fun of it, watch this video from Shark Tank:

Golf’s elite players and most ardent and well-heeled fans thought they were all set to become timeshare owners at St. Andrews. Four years ago, Wasserman Real Estate Capital secured the consent of planners to convert Hamilton Hall at St. Andrews into luxury timeshares.

The 114-year-old historic building, which sits adjacent to the Royal & Ancient (R&A) Golf Club of St Andrews, was once the famed Grand Hotel of Scotland where Edward VIII, George VI, and even Rudyard Kipling vacationed by the sea. In 1949, the building was converted into student housing for the University of St. Andrews and was used as such until it was sold in 2005 to Wasserman for approximately £20 million.

However, we all know what has happened to the real estate market since the celebratory day when Wasserman announced it had secured £84.3 million in project finance from Bank of Scotland. Instead of building 23 luxury golf timeshare apartments to be sold to 115 timeshare owners as “resident memberships” for between £750,000 and £1.9 million, (plus annual fee), Bank of Scotland found itself repossessing the property that Wasserman could no longer afford.

Now the Good News about Golf Timeshare at St. Andrews

Yet news last week says the golf timeshare project may be back on track. American businessman Herb Kohler, (a name you may recognize from the fixtures in your bathroom) already owns the luxury Old Course Hotel that sits at the other end of St. Andrews’ eighteen hole. And reports say Kohler is in the market to purchase the Hamilton Hall property for an estimated £14 million to £15 million.

Pending any unexpected problems or protests by Wasserman that believes it was unfairly evicted, Kohler may soon be the new owner of Hamilton Hall and golf timeshares on the eighteenth at St. Andrews may become a reality after all.

Last April The Timeshare Authority told you about Danny Pang, a Los Angeles businessman, who the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged had raised hundreds of millions of dollars, (much of it from Taiwan) in investment money that he and his company then repaid with monies other clients had more recently invested in timeshare projects.

Now, the facts of the case may never be fully understood. Pang, age 42, died last week in an Orange County California hospital, one day after being taken from his Newport Beach home by paramedics. No foul play has been found in Pang’s death, pending results of a scheduled autopsy and of toxicology reports that may take as long as several months to be processed.

Was Timeshare Real Estate Investment Really Just a Timeshare Scam?

The charges brought against Pang alleged that his company was running what was essentially a Ponzi scheme, where he showed false returns on investments in timeshare real estate and life insurance policies, but was using the money from recent investors to pay returns to earlier investors. His family maintains his innocence.

Pang, known for socializing with Hollywood’s rich and famous, attracted speculation about his high profile and luxurious existence including the allegation that he used investor’s money as a “personal piggy bank to fund a lavish lifestyle, that included spending $35 million on a fleet of jets.”

In 1997 Pang’s wife, former exotic dancer Janie Louise Pang, was murdered at the couple’s home. Pang’s attorney, Hugh “Randy” McDonald, was tried for her murder but the jury was never able to reach a verdict and no new trial was ever sought. The case officially remains unsolved.

Source: AP News and others.

Related The Timeshare Authority blog post:

Frequently Asked Questions About Timeshares and Timeshare Resales

Are you familiar with the concept of the reverse mortgage? A reverse mortgage or reverse equity mortgage is a financial instrument through which senior citizens (age 62 and over) can create an ongoing cash flow tied to the equity in their home. In simplified terms, homeowners who have reverse mortgages receive a lump sum payment followed by periodic payments (typically monthly) or a credit line from the holder of their reverse mortgage. Reverse mortgages are somewhat like home equity loans, except that no repayment of the loan is required until the property is sold or the homeowner dies. At that point, the loan plus interest is then repaid.

But from time to time the question comes up about using a reverse mortgage for a timeshare condo. Despite the fact that reverse mortgage have been available for condo owners and for co-op owners, they have never been available for owners of timeshare condos. Timeshare condo owners, no matter how many weeks of timeshare they own, cannot utilize reverse mortgages.

While the laws are changing regarding reverse mortgages and condo ownership, don’t expect any change on the matter of timeshare condos. With the changes, most condominium owners who want to obtain an FHA-insured reverse mortgage must apply for the loan and receive a counseling certificate prior to a designated cut-off date of October 1 of this year. Yes, there will still be reverse mortgages available to condo owners after that date, but most of the condos that had been previously certified to qualify for these mortgages will have to be re-qualified, and none of them now or after requalification will be timeshare condos.

Over the next few weeks, you’ll find Sell My Timeshare NOW’s name in the news frequently as we announce new additions to our staff and talk about our long term vision for growth and expanded service. We’ve been on an interesting journey for the past six years, beginning as a three-person, start-up idea and growing into the company we are today. Now we have offices in Dover, New Hampshire and Orlando, Florida and more than 160 employees. Every day we help people buy, rent, and sell timeshare on the resale market.

Because of what we have been able to do, families, couples, and individuals all over the world can buy or rent timeshare, opening up new opportunities for them to enjoy much needed leisure time and affordable vacation accommodations.

And timeshare owners who are ready to resell their timeshare benefit from Sell My Timeshare NOW’s vast global marketing presence, enabling them to advertise their timeshare resale or timeshare rental to a targeted market of potential buyers.

Businesses and entire industries are reinventing themselves today to respond to changing consumer buying patterns and the demands of a challenging economy. We’ve always been a frontrunner, always been on the cutting edge of new ideas and new technologies in our industry. Today we see the ‘new order of business’ in the world as our chance to step up, setting even higher goals than before, and embracing new ideas for how Sell My Timeshare NOW can better serve the needs of timeshare owners, buyers, sellers, timeshare developers, and the entire timeshare resale industry.

And I don’t think I am going out on a limb with this prediction: The companies that survive (and even thrive) in today’s economy will not be defined by how big or small they are, or how long they have been in business. They will be those companies that are responsive to the needs and desires of consumers and are willing to change, grow, and adapt to better serve those needs.

Could some residential homeowners or investors find opportunity by selling properties as fractional ownership vacation homes?

Good question and one addressed in a recent issue of Perspective Magazine. David M. Disick, president of David M. Disick & Associates writes about the opportunity that fractionals may hold within the real estate market. Disick is considered to be a pioneer in the fractional vacation home industry. He is the developer behind the Private Residence Club, Franz Klammer Lodge in Telluride, Colorado and is currently developing Club ElyseeSM.

Is a Fractional Just Another Name for a Timeshare?

If you are unfamiliar with the concept, let’s start with the argument of whether timeshare and fractionals are the same product on different scales. Fractionals afford owners the chance to buy a percentage of ownership in a vacation home. The property is typically a luxury or uber-luxury home, located in a desirable vacation destination. Unlike a timeshare where there are often as many as 50 individual owners, each claiming a week or perhaps two of interval ownership, a fractional is typically owned by a limited number of owners (10 or fewer) who many own several months of interval usage time.

Good approach? Probably it is, since statistics show the fractional industry accounted for some $2 billion in sales in 2007 and another $1.5 billion in 2008. Fractional industry expert Sherman D. Poptvin points out, “Even in the economic downturn of 2008, the fractional market was still the fastest growing real estate product.”

The logistics of sales for fractional ownership vacation property comes down to this: A vacation home in a highly desirable location may be a tough sell at $5 million, but expand the ownership pool to 6 or 7 individuals at $750,000 apiece and you have a much greater market of potential buyers from which to draw.

But here’s the warning. While selling a luxury home (either as the current owner or as an investor) to multiple joint buyers may be a way to expand your market, Disick warns it, “is not for the uninitiated.” He calls the concept relatively simple and potentially very profitable but cautions, “A wide variety of skill sets is required for a successful development.”

Fractional Expert David Disick’s Advice for Selling a Vacation Home as a Fractional

• Before you do anything, consult a financial and a legal advisor.
• Location, location, location. Prime locations in prime resorts are essential for a successful venture into fractionalizing a property.
• Check the zoning laws. Not all properties can be turned into fractionals.
• Find financing sources for your venture. You may even have to educate them about the concept and the opportunity of fractionals.
• Study the rate of return expected as well as the return on investment.
• Look at your pro forma in a best and a worst-case scenario.
• Find properties that you can acquire at a favorable price.
• Be prepared to update the home’s furnishings and technology, or to furnish the home from scratch.
• Be prepared to make any necessary repairs to the property.
• Consider the needs that will arise for property management, concierge or reception services, reservations, bookkeeping and auditing procedures, and documentation for ownership, as your starting needs, with the eye-opening recognition that more needs will become evident as you move through the process.

And lastly, don’t let this list scare you off. As Disick advises, the market is sure to bounce back. He suggests that if the approach of selling fractionalized property appeals to you, then you should prepare now in anticipation of the “pent up demand” there is sure to be from people who have, during this recession, delayed their vacation ownership purchases.

(Source: Perspective magazine, July 2009.)

Again this year, Sell My Timeshare NOW has earned the honor of being a part of the prestigious Inc. 5000 List. Of the more than 7 million businesses, only the 5000 fastest growing, privately held companies (that also meet additional criteria regarding revenues, etc.) make the list, with Sell My Timeshare NOW ranking as number 1599 overall.

We also ranked:

• Number 13 on the Top 100 List for fastest growing, privately owned companies in all categories in the state of New Hampshire.
• Number 21 on the Top 100 List for fastest growing, privately owned real estate companies nationwide.
• Number 51 among the fastest growing, privately owned Top 100 Businesses in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH metro area.

Sell My Timeshare NOW, Embodies Entrepreneurial Spirit Combined with American Hard Work and Ingenuity

Since we started in 2003, Sell My Timeshare NOW has grown from three employees to more than 160 and we have seen our revenues triple between 2005 and 2008 (the evaluation period for the 2009 Inc. 5000 Awards). The companies on the Inc. 5000 list have, since their founding, been responsible for creating more than 1 million jobs. Inc. Magazine describes Sell My Timeshare NOW and the other companies that made the list as “America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs” and possibly the best example of the impact private, fast-growing companies can have on the economy.

While not all of the companies on the Inc 5000 List are small businesses, every single one of them started out that way. And as Brian Headd wrote in The Small Business Advocate published by the US government’s Small Business Administration:

“Small Businesses Most Likely to Lead Economic Recovery … While recent job losses are widespread, small businesses’ historical overall rate of net job creation makes them a key player in solving our labor market woes.”

You know what they say, “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” In our troubled economic environment, Sell My Timeshare NOW is proud to be part of the solution, and in our own small way, part of America’s outlook for better days ahead.

Follow this link to read Sell My Timeshare NOW’s newest media release.