Timeshares: Odd Duck or Golden Goose?

Timeshares Daily carried an article earlier this week titled, “Real Estate Industry’s Odd Duck is a Golden Goose Called Timeshare Resales.” The article looked at a recent The Today Show segment with Natalie Morales and real estate expert Barbara Corcoran, as well as included an interview with us, here at Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Corcoran is a knowledgeable resource for information on real estate, having turned a $1000 loan from a friend into the real estate industry powerhouse, known as the Corcoran Group. In 1971, Corcoran sold her company for $70 million. The article notes that Corcoran refers to timeshares as, “…the odd duck of the real estate business.” But as the author points out, “…she wasn’t calling them an ugly duckling; Corcoran was simply pointing out that in the world of real estate, timeshares are different.“

Timeshare Sales are Different than Other Types of Real Estate Transactions

Sell My Timeshare NOW elaborated on Corcoran’s point, explaining that timeshare sales are unique in the real estate industry. Here’s an example to further explain what I was referring to in the Timeshares Daily article: imagine trying to sell your home by luring prospective buyers with promises of discounted vacations, tickets to theme parks and free dinners. If you did pass out these freebies to everyone who toured your home, you’d have a substantial out-of-pocket expenditure and you’d be looking to recoup this cost by marking-up the asking price of your home. The person who ultimately bought your home would bear the costs of all the free giveaways you handed out in hopes of attracting that one person who was ready to buy. And as odd as this sounds in terms of residential real estate, this is exactly how timeshare developers sell timeshare.

The person who buys timeshare new from the developer pays to cover the developer’s upfront marketing costs. But when timeshares reach the resale market, the playing field gets level. Timeshare owners looking to resell their vacation ownership property aren’t trying to make back what they initially spent to buy the timeshare; they are simply trying to sell timeshare at the price the resale market will bear.

When you read the Timeshares Daily article, you’ll see that on the subject of selling timeshare, Corcoran’s advice from a real estate perspective is for timeshare owners to use an online timeshare resales company. You will also see that it is exactly the same advice I gave in the article.

Timeshare resales sell at market value – the price the buying market is willing to pay for the product. But pricing your timeshare resale at fair market value is only half of what it takes to sell your timeshare. You must also get your timeshare resale advertised in front of as many prospective timeshare buyers as possible.

… And that, of course, is where Sell My Timeshare NOW comes in.

To watch the full clip from The Today Show interview, click here to play the video.