This week, Doral Golf Resort and Spa (Miami, FL) announced that for a limited time, a forecaddie will be assigned at no charge for each foursome that plays the Blue Monster. Golfers know Doral’s Blue Monster to be one of the most prestigious and challenging championship courses in the world and home to the PGA Tour’s CA Championship. Timeshare owners know the Doral Golf Resort and Spa to be home to Marriott’s Villas at Doral timeshares.

Unless you play golf at a private club that uses caddies on its courses, or you play golf professionally, you may never have experienced the services of a caddie to assist you with your game. Ask a PGA Tour player and he will tell you that a good caddie is gold; so much so, that top professional caddies earn six-figure annual incomes for their contributions to their player’s success.

A forecaddie doesn’t give the same services that Steve Williams provides for Tiger, nor does he do the things that greens keeper, Bill Murray did in Caddyshack. He doesn’t typically assist with club selection, carry your bags, or sabotage gophers. But a good forecaddie does make a round of golf more interesting and flow more smoothly.

According to Doral’s official press release, “We decided to make the Blue Monster caddie inclusive because we want golfers to experience the history and tradition of the course, from strategic shot making to entertaining stories that have been passed on over the years,” said Darrin Helfrick, General Manager of Golf at the Miami golf resort. “This is truly one of the game’s treasured courses, and this caddie program will enhance the overall golfing experience, while making history come to life.”

The complimentary inclusion of a forecaddie in the price of your round of golf is available only through May 20, 2008.

Marriott Timeshare at Doral Resort

Marriott’s Villas at Doral timeshares are located on the property of the Doral Golf Resort and Spa. There are more than 130 two-bedroom timeshare villas, as well as an outdoor pool, fitness center, and convenience store. Timeshare owners and their guests, (or timeshare renters) have access to Doral’s renowned health spa, the five golf courses, a tennis center, The Blue Lagoon water recreation area, and the resort’s restaurants and lounges.

Each timeshare villa has separate living and dining areas, a private balcony, an oversized soaking tub, a fully-equipped kitchen, and a washer/dryer.

Choices in Timeshare Sales and Timeshare Resales

Timeshare condos at Marriott’s Villas at Doral may be available through Marriott Vacation Club (Marriott Timeshare), but for the best values in Marriott timeshare sales, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW. Through Sell My Timeshare NOW, Marriott timeshare resales and Marriott timeshare rentals are available for most Marriott timeshare resorts, including more than two dozen timeshare villas at Doral, starting at just under $7000.

Remember the American Express commercial that featured Tiger Woods in the role Bill Murray made famous in Caddyshack? Thank you, YouTube for these 58 seconds of humor.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Travelocity, the online travel service, says Americans are booking shorter vacations, especially for overseas destinations. For summer trips planned by US travelers to destinations outside the US, the trip duration is more than 5 percent shorter in length than in past years.

Research from AIG Travel Guard (travel insurance) says that almost half of all clients who responded to a questionnaire say they plan to alter their summer vacation in order to save money. Some say they will eat in less expensive restaurants, (look for the crowds at McDonalds) while others say they will relax closer to home. And in anticipation of this trend, regional theme parks are gearing up for a very busy summer.

All-inclusive resorts are selling well this summer, and while the Travelocity research didn’t specifically address timeshares, one would assume that the eat-in kitchen and dining areas in timeshare condos are looking especially appealing to travelers.

Sell My Timeshare NOW is seeing a dramatic increase in timeshare rentals in 2008, compared to 2007. This increase reflects the ever-growing interest in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals. It is also indicative of a whole new market of vacationers who may never buy timeshare, but have recognized the value in timeshare rentals for spacious vacation accommodations that offer room for the whole family and let you skip (or reduce) the cost of restaurant dining.

The Timeshare Rental Solution

This is the year to rent timeshare. It has never made more sense, than now. If the high price of gas or a mortgage that has over-adjusted will prevent you from taking a vacation, then go to a timeshare resales and timeshare rental advertising company and get them started marketing your timeshare rental now.

And if you are planning to enjoy a summer vacation, forget about a crowded room in a high priced hotel, and book a timeshare rental. Get more vacation, spend less money– a timeshare rental can solve a lot of problems.

If there is a theme park in your summer vacation plans, whet your appetite here with this YouTube video of the rollercoaster at the New York, New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Do you know that you can resell your residential home (or any other type of real estate) without hiring a real estate agent or Realtor® to assist you? Of course you know that, and you’d be indignant and probably downright angry if it was any other way.

If you own a home, a piece of land, an office building, or other type of property, you have choices when it comes to reselling it. You can handle the sale yourself or hire a real estate professional to help you. You can use a by-owner company to assist with part of the process, or you can select a range of services, from title agents to real estate attorneys, using only those you need to help you.

And the fact that no law requires you to buy or sell real estate from a real estate professional hasn’t done a thing to harm the real estate industry as a whole. In fact, the diversity of ways to sell is part of what makes the industry competitive and fair.

Millions and millions of people, who have sold their homes by a method, other than hiring a real estate professional, will tell you that they saved a lot of money that would have gone to an agent or a broker for advertising and showing the property or other fees that are paid as part of the commission. You also see the same ads on television that I see, with testimonials from people who have used a buy-owner real estate company to help them sell their homes, and are thrilled with the money they saved, or other features of the service they received. And as with anything, there are stories of people who tried to sell property themselves, and for whatever reason, got burned and wished in hindsight they had used a Realtor®.

In any industry, including those that involve the sale of real estate, and those that involve the sale of timeshare real estate, there are good services and bad ones; there are services that work well for one person but maybe not for another. But American business is built on our freedom to choose to work with companies that we think, best serve our individual needs.

Ways to Sell Timeshare and Timeshare Resales

Timeshare developers, timeshare resellers, and timeshare advertising and marketing companies are all valid and contributing parts of the timeshare industry. Professional associations, such as ARDA, the American Resort Development Association, recognize this and support all factions of the industry.

While a few timeshare developers offer buy-back programs, the majority does not, leaving timeshare owners to come up with their own ways to sell timeshare they no longer wish to own.

Some people have a network of personal contacts that is so large, and a way to get the word to all of them, that they can sell timeshare themselves. But most of us don’t, nor do we want to hit on our friends and family members, trying to convince them to buy timeshare from us.

Some people want to sell timeshare but be separate from the process, letting someone else handle all the details, and for them it may be a great idea to work with a timeshare broker. And other people, just need help marketing their timeshare resale or perhaps handling the closing paperwork. The right choice for them could be a timeshare advertising and marketing company or perhaps a timeshare title transfer company. But it all goes back to choices…

Real Estate and Timeshare Real Estate in the US

Let’s face it. The residential real estate market in the US is about as bad as it has been in many years. But who do we blame for that? We can lay part of the blame on the rising price of oil that leaves people pumping larger and larger chunks of their paychecks into their gas tanks, with less and less money to spend on a new home.

We can blame a greedy element of the mortgage industry, that put people into mortgages that were so riddled with hidden charges the people couldn’t get out of them before the one obvious cost – that ever- adjusting interest rate, soared through the roof. We can blame politicians, heads of business, or just a predictable swing in the pendulum of life, but we can’t logically say that buy-owner or help-u-sell real estate services are to blame for the falling value of home prices. And it wouldn’t make any sense to say that timeshare resale companies are responsible for the resell price you can or can’t get for your timeshare property.

Whether you are looking at residential real estate, timeshare deeded property, timeshare points, or something totally different like new and used refrigerators, things sell for what the market will bear. People, not companies, set prices by what they are willing or able to pay.

New cars sell for prices that are comparably much higher than the price for which used cars sell. And new cars will continue to sell for that higher price because we are willing to pay the price, and because auto manufacturers spend huge dollars on advertising to convince you to buy their product instead of someone else’s. When that same car is resold, the second buyer pays market value (the price the market will bear) because he or she no longer has to absorb the cost of the car manufacturer’s pricey advertising.

The lower resell price has nothing to do with the used car dealer; it is just a fact of economics that applies in much the same way for resale timeshares as it does to resale automobiles. The economics of this aren’t complicated, but sometimes, you have to keep explaining them over and over again, because a few people, just don’t get it.

According to the Post and Courier’s Charleston.net, the city of Charleston, SC, and the Private Escapes Vacation Club have agreed to a settlement in their current court battle. Charleston zoning rules prohibit a timeshare company or vacation club from operating in an area of the city that has residential zoning. The Private Escapes Vacation Club’s Smith Street resort currently violates this law.

At Private Escapes, members pay both dues and up-front fees to stay up to 50 nights per year at the company’s resorts and private luxury homes, which are located worldwide.

Although an appeal by Private Escapes LLC was pending in the South Carolina Court of Appeals, the company agreed to the settlement with the city. Terms of the agreement include the City of Charleston agreeing to dismiss pending fines for zoning violations while the vacation club company agreed to stop offering accommodations at their Smith Street location, effective June 2, 2008.

Steep Price Tag on Some Luxury Vacation Clubs

Private Escapes bills themselves as a “luxury vacation club.” In 2007, Private Escapes and Ultimate Resorts announced a merger that the companies are still in the process of implementing. Private Escapes has resort properties in the Bahamas, Utah, Florida, New York, and South Carolina. Ultimate Resorts are located in London, Paris, St. Thomas, the Bahamas, Mexico, Wyoming, Hawaii, and South Carolina.

According to the Robb Report, membership requires a $325,000 deposit, $22,000 in annual dues, and nightly rates of $185. At the Ultimate Resort, Elite level members pay between $380,000 and $407,500 for 180 travel days in luxury homes that have an average value of $3 million.

Timeshare and Affordable Vacation Clubs

There’s no word yet on whether or not the Private Escapes plans to open a new resort destination in another part of the city of Charleston, although their partnership with the Ultimate Resorts expands their resorts to include a SC location, in Kiawah Island. But for all the people who want vacation ownership in Charleston, SC, there are plenty of great opportunities to buy timeshare resales or rent timeshare in this charming and historic seaside town.

If you can’t shop for vacation ownership with a $300,000 to $400,000 price tag, but you still expect luxury accommodations, go to Sell My timeshare NOW to learn more about timeshare resales and vacation club memberships.