Before you buy vacation property, learn the facts.

According to statistics recently released by the National Association of Realtors, four out of every ten homes sold are purchased either as investment properties or as a second home. As today’s baby boomer generation enters their peak income earning years, as well as comes into inherited money from previous generations, this trend is expected to escalate.

The vacation home market it thriving and with it comes new options for ownership beyond the traditional cabin in the woods or condo on the beach. Fractionals and private residence clubs are choices for people looking to buy deeded property to use on a part time basis. Destination clubs are another option in which owners do not acquire a deed to a specific property but instead gain the right to use a portfolio of homes.

Condo hotels or condotels are actual operating hotel properties that offer some or all of their suites for sale to individuals. While the hotel units may be privately owned, the condo hotel management assumes responsibility for running the hotel and providing contracted management of the units to be rented like regular hotel rooms. Owners can schedule the units at any time for their personal use.

And of course, there are timeshares and vacation club memberships which offer a variety of products from deeded ownerships, to right-to-use, to points-based programs. Timeshares enable you to buy vacation property yet pay for only the days and nights you actually schedule to use. While new timeshare in 2005 sold for an average price of more than $17,000 per week or interval, resale timeshare is available at much lower prices. If you are among the many people who are looking for vacation ownership, ARDA, the American Resort Development Association, has developed the following questionnaire to help you decide which option is best for your lifestyle and your budget:

1. How much time will we be using the vacation home?
2. Is the destination choice difficult to purchase in, or seem over-valued due to location popularity?
3. Are we looking at this second home as an investment and/or family legacy, or perhaps primarily as an annual ‘go to’ vacation spot?
4. How much time and money are we willing to invest in home maintenance or decor?
5. Is it important to be in the same vacation home every time we visit the area, or do we prefer variety?
6. What level of luxury are we seeking, and are we realistically able to achieve it in a second home?
7. Is it important for the vacation home to be deeded?
8. What is our annual vacation budget?

Here’s one more important addition to the list: Before you buy any vacation property, visit www.sellmytimesharenow.com and look into your opportunity to buy resale timeshare at excellent prices.

Gatlinburg, Tennessee is seeking to curb overly enthusiastic timeshare sellers.

“Thank you, I’ve already been asked,” is the badge some tourists will be sporting when they visit the Smokey Mountain resort city of Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Vickie Simms, executive director of the city’s chamber of commerce, told The Mountain Press that they were receiving too many complaints about the “repetitiveness and behavior” of timeshare sales people soliciting on the streets. The chamber’s intention is not to discourage those who are interested in viewing timeshares and attending timeshare sales presentations. However, they do want to offer visitors the choice to request the sticker and hopefully be spared repeated overtures by the OPC’s—the off-premise contacts (or off property contacts) who represent timeshare sales. Simms was quoted as saying, “As the tourism industry is the lifeline of the business community, it is the chamber’s goal to provide our visitors with the most gratifying and memorable experience possible.”

You can also shop for Smokey Mountain timeshare resales and timeshare rentals at www.sellmytimesharenow.com. You will by-pass all the eager OPC’s who want to sign you up for presentations you don’t really want to sit through. Instead, you can browse the inventory of right-priced vacation ownership properties on your own schedule and without any heavy-handed sales pitches trying to sell you something that is not right for you.

Additional information about the timeshare company, Divi Resorts that timeshare buyers need to know.

Rarely do I write three consecutive blogs about the same timeshare company, but as I became aware of new information about Divi Resorts, I thought it was important to keep you up to date.

The Cayman Net News is reporting that after closing the Divi Tiara Beach Resort in September of 2006, Divi resort management has announced they have made a business decision to also close their Cayman Brac operations. According to Mark Steward, vice president of sales and marketing at the Divi Tiara Beach Resort, “As part of a strategic plan to refocus its resources on potential growth markets in the Caribbean, Divi Resorts has decided to cease business operations at Divi Tiara Beach Resort in Cayman Brac.”

Whether or not the timeshare resort buildings at Tiara Beach and Cayman Brac are on the market, is not immediately clear, although the rumor mill does indicate that Divi management is in discussion with some interested parties.

Why this decision? Why now?

According to Steward, “Certain economic realities of continuing a dive-oriented resort on Cayman Brac also influenced our decision. Factors included airlift issues, which have affected Divi Tiara’s dive guests in particular as they need to bring additional gear for their sport; increased competition from the growing number of niche market dive destinations throughout the Caribbean; and weather which in the past years has pushed up insurance costs.”

Closing some timeshare resorts at the same time the company is renovating others isn’t necessarily either a negative or a positive indicator. After all, bigger is not necessarily better from the perspective of the consumer. On the other hand, if you are shopping for a Divi Resort timeshare or timeshare resale, do your homework before you buy. No vacation ownership resort company can promise you that they will be operating the same resorts five, ten, or twenty years in the future that they are operating on the day you buy your interval timeshare. But if you have your heart set on staying at a Divi Caribbean timeshare resort and visiting specific dive sites, make sure it is at least an option at the time you make the decision to buy timeshare.

Continued expansion of a well-established Caribbean timeshare company.

One of the things many people like about the Divi Resorts is that they are specialists, not generalists. All eight of Divi’s timeshare resorts are located on one of five Caribbean islands. And while the vacation ownership company is currently in an expansion mode, don’t expect them to move outside their warm, sunny paradise.

According to TravelDailyNews.com (February 16, 2007) the Divi Little Bay Beach Resort in St. Maarten is expanding their portfolio by $25 million, as they convert beachfront hotel rooms into timeshare units.

Meanwhile, the Divi Village Golf & Beach Resort in Aruba, has already completed 82 luxury golf villas, of a planned 240 suites. Fifty-two more units are expected to be complete by mid-2007. The Aruba Phoenix Beach Resort is also expanding; growing from 140 to 280 luxury beachfront timeshares.

Timeshare on a Caribbean beach. A good thing that just keeps getting better.