I know you’ve heard it before, the admonishment that one should, “Never pay upfront fees when trying to sell timeshare.” Unfortunately, this advice always comes from people who work in timeshare resales businesses that are based on being able to extract money from timeshare sellers through one add-on fee after another before ultimately hitting the timeshare owner up for a hefty commission when, and if, they ever sell the timeshare unit.

Dollar by painful dollar, some timeshare resales companies, (and some unethical timeshare brokers) charge timeshare owners fees for services the owners do not really need. Property appraisals are a perfect example of an unnecessary service used to generate an add-on and unnecessary fee. Under most circumstances, resale timeshares simply do not need a property appraisal.

When you buy residential real estate, you pay for an appraisal, typically because the mortgage lender requires you to do so. When you buy a resale timeshare, there is no need for an appraisal, unless the timeshare unit itself collateralizes a loan (very rare with resales) and the lending company requires the appraisal as a condition of the loan.

Yet over and over again, you hear warnings directed to people with timeshares they wish to sell, to never pay an upfront fee to sell, advertise, list, or market their timeshare. The warning should be, “never pay an upfront fee unless you know specifically what the fee covers and that the company to whom you pay it has a proven track record of helping timeshare sellers successfully connect with timeshare buyers.

If you have timeshare you want to sell, visit the website of Sell My Timeshare NOW. Read the information offered there to help you understand more about your options for selling timeshare. No one answer is right for every situation, but I can tell you that Sell My Timeshare NOW averages six hundred thousand dollars per day, in offers made to timeshare owners who are trying to sell or rent their timeshares. Obviously, sometimes, paying an upfront fee for the right services is a pretty good idea.

One Nevada developer has finally received government approval to commence constructing six timeshare units at Homewood, Nevada, in the Lake Tahoe area. The West Shore development received the go-ahead earlier this month after the developer agreed to downsize the plan from nine timeshare units to six timeshare units. The proposed timeshare vacation homes will be constructed on Highway 89, across from Homewood Mountain Ski Resort approximately twenty miles north of South Lake Tahoe and six miles south of Tahoe City.

Conditions of the approval, according the website for Placer County, California government, include demolition of an existing property known as the Marina Lodge; constructing a facility for washing boats; building screens to block views of existing boat racks; and contributing $100,000 to the Homewood Home Owners Association for public beach access.

This particular project is one more instance where local government officials agonize over whether an area should be zoned for use as residential property, traditional hotel property, timeshare units, or as fractional ownership. I think it is the concept of fractionals that has really added to the justifiable confusion and concern of planning boards.

Residential property has predictable patterns for use, density, and the type of traffic, tax revenue, and demands on government services it will create. The pros and cons of hotel use are equally predictable. In both cases, a zoning or planning board can realistically project what an area will be like in five, ten, or even fifteen years, based on its zoning. But when you add timeshare vacation property—most especially fractionals—to the mix, neither the standard projections for residential property or for hotel property accurately apply.

As developers of fractional properties or timeshare units often explain, fractional ownership (whether it is one week at a time or a thirteen-week increment) creates more business for area restaurants, attractions, and other businesses and services that benefit from tourist trade. On the other hand, fractional owners generate less business for services such as dentists, hardware stores, or computer repair shops, which are all good examples of places a vacationer is less likely than a resident to spend money. And from a third perspective, some restaurateurs argue that timeshare units (because so many of them have kitchen and dining areas) and fractionals (which essentially offer all the features of a private home) hurt their business by comparison to hotels, where guests often have little choice but to dine out three times per day.

It’s always a tough call for those who carry the responsibility of planning our cities’ futures, but this past year, I have definitely seen more instances like this one. City planning boards are compromising and permitting developers to intermingle small developments that have a limited number of fractionals or timeshare units, into areas that are traditionally zoned for residential use only.

To learn more about other Lake Tahoe timeshare resales and rentals, or Nevada timeshare resales and California timeshare resales, visit the website for Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Earlier this month, Silverleaf Timeshare Resort increased their fiscal outlook for 2007. According to revised projections, Silverleaf timeshares expect 2007’s profit to range between $27.5 million and $28.5 million. Silverleaf timeshares had previously forecasted a profit of $25.5 million.

Silverleaf Timeshare Resorts has been in operation since 1989, and has been a publically traded company since 1997. They market their timeshare resorts as “drive-to locations,” perfect for family vacationing at luxurious destinations, yet with affordable prices.

Here’s a list of Silverleaf resorts with links to affordable options to rent or buy Silverleaf timeshare resales. You’ll also find a link to our Sell My Timeshare NOW blog of April 30, 2007, when we took a closer look at the Silverleaf Oak N Spruce Timeshare Resort:

• Silverleaf Timeshares Apple Mountain – Clarkesville, Georgia
• Silverleaf Timeshares Fox River – Sheridan, Illinois
• Silverleaf Timeshares Hill Country Resort – Canyon Lake, Texas
• Silverleaf Timeshares Holiday Hills Resort – Branson, Missouri
• Silverleaf Timeshares Holly Lake Ranch – Holly Lake Ranch, Texas
• Silverleaf Timeshares Lake O The Woods – Flint, Texas



• Silverleaf Timeshares Oak N Spruce Resort – South Lee, Massachusetts
• Silverleaf Timeshares Orlando Breeze Resort – Davenport, Florida
• Silverleaf Timeshares Ozark Mountain Resort – Kimberling City, Missouri
• Silverleaf Timeshares Piney Shores Resort – Conroe, Texas
• Silverleaf Timeshares Seaside Resort – Galveston, Texas
• Silverleaf Timeshares Timber Creek Resort – Desoto, Missouri
• Silverleaf Timeshares Villages – Flint, Texas

Buying new timeshare at the developer’s price is not always a day at the beach…

Singer Island, just north of Palm Beach, Florida, is home to the community of Riviera Beach. Marriott Vacation Club International has a splendid timeshare resort on the south shore of the island at Ocean Point Reef, but in recent months has been in negotiations with the city council of Riviera Beach to build a timeshare resort on the northern end of the island.

Marriott timeshare’s plan was to raze a beachside Crowne Plaza Hotel and replace it with two, 19-story timeshare towers. Because some area residents were opposed to the action, and several council members likewise had objections, a series of negotiations began. The result was council approval in a 3-2 vote for the construction of the Marriott timeshare towers, with certain “community benefits” to be thrown in as part of the deal.

The required community benefits call for Marriott timeshare to give the city of Rivera Beach $1.4 million in cash contributions, of which $1.2 million will go to the city’s minority housing trust fund, with $100 thousand going to the beautification of highway A1A, and another $100 thousand going to the Riviera Beach job-training fund. Marriott timeshares also agreed to give 25 percent of the hotel’s supply orders to minority or women-owned businesses and to hire 60 percent of its operational staff from minority groups.

Ocean Point Reef is a magnificent Marriott timeshare and I feel certain that the new Marriott Singer Island timeshare resort will be just as luxurious, with similar breathtaking ocean views. But when $1.4 million gets tacked on to a project, before the first shovel of dirt (or in this case, sugary-white sand) gets turned, who do you think absorbs this cost?

Timeshare resorts are expensive to build. But basic mathematics tells us that the number of units in a timeshare resort multiplied by the developer’s selling price per unit, and then multiplied by the fact that each timeshare unit is sold at that price, to 51 separate owners, yields a tidy sum of money, any way you figure it.

Buying timeshare from the developer often results in a net savings to the timeshare owner on the cost of vacation accommodations, over multiple years of usage. However, the timeshare resale market probably reflects the true market value of timeshare units or intervals more accurately than the prices developers charge for new timeshare. Yet, as long as people are willing to pay the prices developers charge, the mark-up on timeshares is not likely to go down.

If you are considering buying timeshare, I seriously recommend you shop the inventory of timeshare resales that are available to purchase directly from the person who actually owns the timeshare unit. The website for Sell My Timeshare NOW offers a great place to start your search.