The next owners educational conference for the National Timeshare Owners Association will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and will feature national speakers and the opportunity for those with timeshares and vacation ownership to ask questions and get real answers. Scheduled for September 19 at the Clarion Hotel in Milwaukee, registration to attend the event deadlines on August 19.

David Turriff, Midwestern coordinator for the NTOA, says, “Many Wisconsin citizens own timeshares and it is very difficult to obtain unbiased information about what they should do with their ownership.” The meeting is designed to offer what NTOA describes as “up to the minute information and insights” from the perspective of timeshare owners, not timeshare developers.

In order to attend the Milwaukee meeting, you must be a member of the NTOA, a consumer protection organization that defines its mission as:

1. To be a powerful recognized influence in the timeshare industry;
2. To provide a forum for face-to-face exchanges of experiences and ideas among timeshare owners;
3. To keep members informed about events and developments in the timeshare industry;
4. To provide a means for informal exchanges, rental, and sale of units.

To find out more about the NTOA, contact Ed Hastry (410) 536-0064 or by email at [email protected]

Media release from Sell My Timeshare NOW about the National Timeshare Owners Association: Timeshare Resales CEO Part Of Speakers Panel For National Timeshare Owners Association

Headlines float around the internet with enticing messages about your personal debt bailout or your credit card relief plan. They imply that the federal government has in some way offered consumers the same type of debt relief that has been made available to big business and the banking industry—but this is simply misleading messaging. You will even find timeshare related articles that suggest that somehow these erroneously named ‘bailouts’ address timeshare mortgages. This is smoke and mirrors talk; no transparency to it.

Here’s what is accurate. Timeshare owners who are struggling to make their timeshare mortgage payment can find some timeshare relief from new governmental programs…indirectly. If you are able to renegotiate your homeowners mortgage (for your residential home, not your timeshare) to a lower interest rate, then you will have more cash flow in your monthly budget to make paying other expenses, including those related to your timeshare, a little easier.

And although credit card companies have always been approachable about payment plans and sometimes about reducing the overall amount of debt if you are in over your head, there is more pressure on them than ever before to work with consumers. If you successfully negotiate a consolidated monthly payment for your credit cards, or even just a lower payment on the ones that give you problems, then again, you may indirectly have more money to use to pay other expenses, including your timeshare mortgage or timeshare annual fees and/or taxes. Additionally, as part of the credit card reform act, your credit card bill should now be easier to read and communicate to you more clearly how much you are actually paying in interest—information that should make it easier for more people to control debt in the future.

Option: Use Your Timeshare as a Vacation Rental

Another alternative for offsetting the cost of your timeshare is to use your timeshare as a rental. Timeshare rental is a vacation accommodations option that is growing in popularity. And as more timeshare companies make renting timeshare easier to do, vacationers are realizing that timeshare rental affords them more space, typically for less money than renting a hotel or motel room.

Timeshare rental can be a win-win because it lets the timeshare owner retain ownership of the timeshare for use in the future while creating some income from it to offset the cost of ownership. If you think timeshare rental is an alternative that can help you, you can learn more here: Rent your timeshare

It seems appropriate to pause this week on The Timeshare Authority blog to talk about the game of golf. With the British Senior Open wrapped up and the US Senior Open set to tee off, you have to look at such events and reflect on the fact that anyone — amateur or pro — past champion or tournament rookie – has the opportunity to polish his skill, go out on one of sport’s biggest stages and write his name in the history books. And while the same is true for all events in professional golf that permit open qualifying, there’s something to be said about the idea that a man, 50 years old or older, who may have never competed in a pro tournament before, has the opportunity to become the US Senior Open Champion.

Golf is one of the few sports you can take up as a child and play throughout your lifetime. Because of the handicapping system, your teenage son can play a round of golf with Grandma, on a level playing field. Families can share the game; they can play together, play on their home course, and play while on vacation. Professional golf superstar, Luke Donald, credits his early interest in the game to playing at his family’s timeshare.

Even physical challenges don’t have to stand in your way of enjoying the game of golf. If you haven’t read Dave Kindred’s Golf Digest article this month on the triumph injured war veterans are claiming on the golf course, (“The Healing Game”) I encourage you to do so. In it, golf professional Jim Estes explains, “Fear inhibits the ordinary person’s ability to perform. But these guys — they have no fear. When your leg is blown off, who cares if you don’t hit that little white ball perfectly?”

Yet as U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ramon Padilla, injured in Afghanistan, says after taking up the game, “I had a sense of accomplishment. I thought, I may be missing an arm, but I’m still whole, I’m still one person.”

This week, as the favorites at the US Senior Open tee up at the beautiful Sahalee Country Club (just outside of Seattle, WA.), I will likely be pulling for some amateur playing who qualified on a wing and prayer. There is something uniquely inspirational about the idea that an ordinary guy can do extraordinary things, through a combination of determination, hard work, and perhaps a little luck.

• You can learn more about golf timeshares at: Take a Timeshare Golf Vacation in an Orlando Timeshare and Myrtle Beach Timeshare Resales
• And find out how all of us can do more to help wounded veterans at: woundedwarriorproject.org

Enjoy this excellent video of Luke Donald’s swing:

As if South Africa timeshare wasn’t already a growth market, the global attention on South Africa during the World Cup served to fuel an ever-increasing desire of many people to travel and vacation there. This year, VOASA, the Vacation Ownership Association South Africa, will be hosting its annual industry conference at the Southern Sun Elangeni Hotel in Durban.

Planned as a time for focusing on the future of the growing South Africa timeshare market, attendees can also expect plenty of opportunities for exchanging ideas, interacting with others in the timeshare industry, and helping to chart the future in this potentially hot market. David Clifton, Managing Director of Interval International will be the event’s keynote speaker.

Topics for discussion include:

• The Consumer Protection Act, presented by Brian Mdluli, CEO Direct Marketing Association of South Africa.
• Understanding the New Estate Agents Curriculum, presented by Margaret Nicol, CEO Margaret Nicol and Associates.
• Timeshare Sales, Tele-Sales, and Telemarketing Workshop, presented throughout the conference sessions by Mr. Clive Price of the Peer Group.

The VOASA Conference 2010 (August 29-31) will also include entertainment, a gala awards evening, and of course, great golf. The opportunity to take part in the sponsored Golf Day to be held at the Durban Country Club Beachwood course on August 29 is a reason within itself to attend this timeshare conference. Beechwood, a narrow, links style golf course, is now considered part of the famed Durban Country Club, one of the greatest golf courses in the world.

If you have never been to South Africa, August is an ideal time to go, as the South African ‘winter months’ come to a close, and spring is just around the corner. And when playing the Beechwood Golf Course, don’t be surprised if you run across monkeys in the bushes. Just consider them your gallery, however, and don’t invite them to lunch; golfers are discouraged from feeding the monkeys.

You can learn more about the VOASA Conference 2010 at: www.tisa.co.za