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.

I’ve written about this before, but in light of Sell My Timeshare NOW‘s press release this week supporting more consumer education for people who buy timeshare resales or sell timeshare resales, it never hurts to pass on this message again.

The “Nigerian scam,” also called the “419 scam,” never seems to go away, although its sources have spread far beyond Nigeria and touched many areas besides timeshare sales. When it comes to selling timeshare, here’s basically how the Nigerian scam works:

The timeshare owner receives a letter, email, or phone call saying that someone wants to purchase his timeshare unit. The phony timeshare buyer, or his phony representative, then sends the timeshare owner a check for more than the purchase price of the timeshare unit, a check that the elated owner deposits. If the timeshare owner makes the mistake of promptly sending to the phony buyer the executed deed to his timeshare and the difference between the check sent and the sales price, then the timeshare owner has lost both his timeshare and the money he or she sent back to the buyer.

Even though many people have heard about this timeshare scam, they get bitten by it because the check they receive from the phony timeshare buyer usually looks so authentic that even the timeshare owner’s bank may initially accept it as either a valid bank check or credit union draft. Despite the fact that your bank accepts the buyers check and at first credits it into your account, days or even weeks later, when the counterfeit check works its way back to the issuing bank, its fraudulence will be discovered.

Why People Still Fall for Timeshare Scams

As old as this timeshare scam is, people still get caught by it. While dozens, maybe hundreds, of bogus deals may cross your desk, never doubt the ability of one lone criminal to craft an approach that sounds so sincere and so genuine, that even savvy skeptics fall for it. Letterheads that look like they come from a timeshare resales company, from eBay, or another seemingly authentic source may trick you into believing that you have a genuine offer to buy timeshare in your hands.

Another variation on this timeshare scam is for you to be contacted by someone who says he or she has a guaranteed buyer for your timeshare weeks or timeshare unit, and asks you to send a check – say for $200 – to cover the transfer costs. Mail that check, and guess what happens next?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

You might as well have taken two one-hundred dollar bills and flushed them away. The loss is not as great this way, but it is still money gone with nothing to show for it.

Reliable Ways to Sell Timeshare

The message here is not a warning against paying fees upfront to sell timeshare, despite what some voices in the timeshare industry try to preach. There are many situations in which it makes good sense to pay someone to help you advertise and market your timeshare for sale. Just make sure you first confirm that the timeshare company you are paying has a proven record of successfully advertising timeshare resales and timeshare rentals in a global marketplace.

More than 1.7 million people visit Sell My Timeshare NOW’s website each month. In 2007, Sell My Timeshare NOW presented over $274 million in offers to buy timeshare or rent timeshare advertised on its website.