Timeshare Brokers

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.

USA Today ran a question and answer this week in their “Personal Finance” segment that was intended to deal with an IRS tax issue. Instead, it sounded more like a ‘criminal’ matter to me.

A reader posed the following question to tax expert, Andy Mattson of Mohler, Nixon, Willams and Campbell:

“I sold my timeshare for a gross gain of $3,000. However, because of the huge commission I paid to the timeshare company for selling it, my net was a loss of $6,000. Do I have to pay capital gains on $3,000 or do I consider it a loss and not report anything?”

Wait! Set aside the matter of capital gains and taxes owed for a minute. Is this reader really saying that he or she paid a $9000 commission to sell a timeshare unit for $3000? If this was the case, then I say that the terms of this timeshare sale are a lot bigger problem than the matter of paying capital gains taxes.

Selling Timeshare through a Timeshare Broker

There are times when a timeshare owner who wants to sell timeshare needs or prefers to work with a licensed timeshare broker. The broker earns a commission when the timeshare unit or weeks sell. People who are considering selling timeshare with the assistance of a broker, should understand from the beginning what the commission rate is and of course, the rate should be clearly defined in the written agreement between the seller and the timeshare broker.

But there is simply no way that you should ever have to pay a $9000 commission on a $3000 timeshare sale – that’s why I called it ‘criminal’. If you are facing this scenario, why wouldn’t you donate your timeshare, save the sales commission, and perhaps gain a tax deduction in the process? Or consider using Sell My Timeshare NOW to help you advertise and market your timeshare resale, and handle the sales transaction yourself. Either option makes far more sense than paying 3 times more in commission than you are grossing in your timeshare sale.

Answering the Question of Capital Gains on Timeshare Sales

Now back to the matter of the capital gains owed. Mattson, the tax expert, must have interpreted the timeshare seller’s question the same way I did, because his answer was this:

What a shame this timeshare owner didn’t contact Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Last week, Florida’s Attorney General, Bill McCollum increased his focus on consumer education specifically targeting scams in timeshare sales.

It makes sense that McCollum would have a particular interest in timeshare issues since more timeshare resorts are located in Orlando than in any other city, and more timeshare resorts located in the state of Florida than any other US location. McCollum’s office recommends that people who want to sell timeshare use either, a licensed real estate broker or they sell by owner — and both are excellent suggestions.

Avoid Timeshare Scams: Sell Timeshare Through a Timeshare Broker

A licensed real estate broker, like Sell My Timeshare NOW’s sister company, Timeshare Hot Deal, is an excellent choice for some people who are ready to sell timeshare. A timeshare broker gives you the benefit of a commission-motivated sales professional and the plus of paying no fees until your timeshare unit or timeshare weeks actually sell.

Avoid Timeshare Scams: Sell Timeshare By Owner

Selling timeshare by-owner is also a good option. By owner selling lets you control every detail of your timeshare resale; and it is the way many of the timeshare sellers at Sell My Timeshare NOW handle their timeshare resales transaction. Sell My Timeshare NOW advertises and markets available timeshare real estate, attracting over 1.7 million visitors per month to our website. In 2007, more than $274 million in offers to buy timeshare or rent timeshare were made on properties in our inventory.

But Attorney General Bill McCollum’s message for more consumer education is important! Before you buy, rent, or sell timeshare, do your research to ensure that whomever you hire to help you is reputable and has a proven track record in the timeshare resales industry.

To read more about the importance of consumer education for people who want to buy timeshare, sell timeshare or rent timeshare, click here to read Sell My Timeshare NOW’s press release.

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.