The Timeshare Owners Blog (March 12, 2008) first wrote about a timeshare scam involving Branson Log Homes, a company that does business as Executive Timbers Resort and Golf Course.

Currently Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon is seeking restitution for timeshare buyers for alleged fraud, deception, and misrepresentation by Executive Timbers in the advertising and sales of timeshare memberships, timeshare real estate, timeshare vacation club plans, and timeshare resale brokerage services.

Following up on the charges, AG Nixon has stated, “A number of consumers spent thousands of dollars and attempted to trade in their existing timeshares as part of an agreement to purchase a new timeshare from Branson Log Homes.”

The lawsuit requests that the court order Executive Timbers to stop violating state consumer protection laws and to pay restitution (including civil penalties and all costs associated with the investigation and prosecution) to all consumers who suffered a loss due to the timeshare company’s unlawful conduct.

Unrelated Charges Against the Branson Timeshare Company

According to Branson Daily News, Branson Log Homes, has also been cited by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for chronic failure to conduct required bacteriological testing on its drinking water system. In Missouri, the DNR requires that all public water systems be tested for bacteria at least once per month to verify that the system provides safe drinking water to the public. Failure to monitor drinking water does not mean the water is necessarily unsafe, however routine testing is a crucial part of maintaining a safe water supply.

Consumer Complaints Against the Branson Timeshare Company

For a list of the consumer complaints filed against the timeshare company, or to file a complaint of your own, against Branson Log Homes, visit the website for the Missouri Office of the Attorney General.

For a list of reliable Branson timeshare resales and Branson timeshare rentals, visit the website of timeshare advertising and marketing company, Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Currently there are timeshare resorts in the Mozambique coastal cities of Ponta de Ouro and Tofo, and in the seaside province of Gaza (not to be confused with the troubled Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean Sea). But until now, the rest of Mozambique has been more or less cut out of the timeshare industry. Complex laws governing ownership of property have made it challenging for outside investors to own and develop properties of any type, but particularly timeshare real estate.

When Orlando Candu, the Mozambique national Inspector General of Tourism, spoke last week at the first Vacation Ownership in Mozambique Seminar, he explained, “Getting property rights, especially for commercial ventures, is difficult in the country but with new legislation like the regulation of timeshare, things would be easier.”

Candu is referring to Mozambique’s recent regulatory changes governing timeshare ownership that enable both local and foreign investors to enter the competitive timeshare real estate property market on an equal basis. At this time, the few existing timeshare resorts in Mozambique are owned by tourist operators from the neighboring countries of Zimbabwe and South Africa. Now, potentially both local business people and international hoteliers will have a green flag for developing in Mozambique.

Why You Should Keep Your Eye on Mozambique Timeshares

While Mozambique historically has been a country marked by political strife and a struggling economy, keep your eye on them as a potential timeshare resort growth destination – much like South Africa timeshares.

Mozambique offers miles and miles of sun-soaked, pristine beaches and tropical offshore islands. The country’s rich cultural heritage is an interesting mix of native Bantu tribes and the Portuguese colonists who settled there in the 1500’s. The Portuguese influence is still so strong that it remains Mozambique’s official language.

As the world continues to discover South Africa timeshares and as vacation ownership grows in this region, Mozambique could easily be the next stop on timeshare developer’s hot list. The perceived safety of vacationing at timeshare resorts will ease security concerns about traveling in Africa in the minds of many people. In addition, for US travelers facing the dollar’s declining value in Europe, Africa, where the US dollar remains strong, could become an increasingly attractive vacation destination.

To learn more about current opportunities in South Africa timeshare resales visit Sell My Timeshare NOW’s website. If you are interested in being ahead of the game in the timeshare industry, keep your eyes on Mozambique timeshare.

Enjoy this 30-second video of mysterious Mozambique:

Easter is only slightly less than a week away, yet much of the US is still shoveling snow in their driveway and scraping ice from car windshields. With that in mind, it’s not hard to be enticed by the idea of packing your sunscreen and flip-flops and becoming a vacation property owner in the Maldives, the beautiful islands known as the pearls of the Indian Ocean.

Forty-four of the 200 inhabited islands in the chain of “pearls” are developed exclusively as resorts. Now the United Arab Emirates-based developer, Emerald Vacation Group, is about to add one more – this one, a timeshare resort. The new Turtle Cove Resort will be the first vacation ownership property in the Maldives.

On the private island of Mahadhdhoo, in an idyllic setting on the northern Huvadhu Atoll, the exclusive Turtle Cove Resort and Spa will offer unique timeshare vacation properties. Completion of the resort is scheduled for 2009, and when finished, the timeshare resort will offer 77 one-bedroom villas, with future plans for ten two-bedroom timeshare units. Thirty of the timeshare villas will be located on the water at the lagoon and each one will have a private swimming pool and personal concierge service.

The resort will include fine dining restaurants, a spa, shopping promenade, and a water sports center. According to Emerald Vacation Group’s general manager, Chris Jackson, “The launch of Turtle Cove Resort and Spa marks Emerald Vacation Group’s first foray into the international property arena. We have therefore chosen a unique and exclusive island in a highly sought after part of the world as our entry into an industry that looks set to soar in the coming years. As the first vacation ownership property in the Maldives, we anticipate that Turtle Cove will attract a great deal of interest.”

Opportunities in Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals

Here’s a YouTube video that will help you get a better picture of just how beautiful life is in the Maldives. And once you watch this video, you will be so ready to head to your own island paradise vacation, you will need this list of timeshare resales in areas near the Maldives, that are ready, waiting, and are currently available at excellent resale pricing from Sell My Timeshare NOW.

• Malaysia Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals
• Indonesia Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals
• United Arab Emirates Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals

An article in the March/April issue of TimeSharing Today motivated me to research a situation that sounded like a timeshare owner’s worst nightmare. It seems that a timeshare condo located on St. Pete Beach was closed and then sold at auction as part of a property tax sale in Pinellas County, Florida in November of 2006.

The timeshare unit owners at the Camelot timeshare owned their property by individual deed. Yet despite this, when property taxes went unpaid on the timeshare resort for three years, the individual owners were not contacted by the property tax office. Instead, with unpaid property taxes totaling $180,000, Camelot timeshares (a timeshare resort valued at $15 million) was sold to Luke Investments for two million dollars.

A Questionable Timeshare Owners Association

According to an article that appeared in the St. Petersburg Times last year (March 26, 2007), the president of the Camelot homeowners association said he, “…has not been able to contact timeshare owners because Luke Investments won’t let him in the building’s office where all the records are, including contact information for all the owners.”

The article goes on to explain that when he was asked why he hadn’t looked up the timeshare owners’ deeds and contacted them that way, he (the TOA president) said it would be too time consuming. As an explanation of why this problem went on for three years unchecked, the president said the office manager never informed him the taxes were unpaid.

Okay, surely this response brings up some questions like: why the timeshare owners’ association president never checked to be sure that the property taxes were being paid or why he apparently didn’t notice that there was $180,000 surfeit in the association budget. Nevertheless, the St. Pete Beach police chose not to press charges against any of the Camelot association board members or its employees, so we have to assume they were able to answer those questions to someone’s satisfaction.

A Happy Ending for the Timeshare Owners

The good news for the timeshare owners at Camelot was that a County Judge in Florida agreed with them, that they should have been individually contacted by the property tax office before the timeshare resort was auctioned to pay the back taxes. His ruling voided the timeshare sale.

Of course, this decision did not set well with Luke Investments, who believed they had purchased the property fairly. According to TimeSharing Today, a Florida Appellate Court recently brought the matter to an end, upholding the County Judge’s decision to void the tax sale of the property.

And perhaps the best news of all for the timeshare owners at Camelot is that they have fired their old property management company!

To learn more about opportunities in Florida timeshare resales and Florida timeshare rentals visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.