Disposal Of Vacation TimeShare

[Rustward]

Hopefully some of you clever people can offer suggestions for disposing of a vacation timeshare. For the one or two of you that might not be so clever, here's your opportunity for an upgrade in status.

A little background: About a year ago DW's sister (in her 50's) got the "we'd like to retire" bug and did the firedrill of figuring their expenses and looking at assets and the conclusion was that they were not very close. One major issue is that her (then) husband freely spends quite a lot, mostly on rapidly depreciating items for hobbies. Efforts to curb his spending failed and they are now divorced. It was pretty civil, and I believe they mutually agreed on an uneven split of assets, but they must have thought it was fair.

One of the last remaining assets is two weeks/year vacation timeshare that they own together; the decree requires SIL's EX to dispose of it as best he can and split the proceeds 50/50. Until then they are on the hook for $230/month maintenance fee that they are to split until the timeshare is sold. This is not a very good deal. I don't think there is anything special about this timeshare. If I understand how it works, the owner chooses from one of several locations and books a week at a time. To me, this seems more like a prepaid condo rental with limited choices.

The EX has listed the timeshare with some kind of broker. My amateur research into timeshares reveals that there is really no market for them unless they are in a unique location; there are many for sale on ebay for $1 which tells me they are difficult to give away. SIL and her Ex might be happy just to be free of the maintenance fee even if they got nothing else.

Posting here on the chance somebody has experience with this and can offer a suggestion we can pass on. Who knows -- anything is possible. Until a couple of days ago I did not know that I did not know that you can make a Christmas wreath out of a coathanger and dryer sheets.

 

[zinger1457]

As you found out the resale value of timeshares are at best only a fraction of what was paid if purchased from the developer. That is a very high maintenance fee. Where is the timeshare located? Timeshares have also been hit hard by the economy and when someone doesn't pay their maintenance fees the timeshare company ends up raising the maintenance fees for all the other paying owners. Suggest you go to the TUG forum, Timeshare Users Group Online Community Forums, to ask your timeshare questions. You may not like the answer but you will get good information from owners that are dealing with similar problems.

There are many scams out their dealing with the sale of timeshares. Never deal with a company that will offer to buy or sell your timeshare for an upfront fee.

 

[Rustward]

... Where is the timeshare located? ...

Thanks for the reply. I am surfing through the TUG site.

This is not one particular unit. If I understand correctly (I am not the principal here, so I don't know all the details) this company owns multiple properties in multiple locations and the timeshare owners are able to choose from any available units through some kind of booking process.

 

[powerplay]

Very interesting to look at the timeshares for $1 on E-bay and not even a bid at the $1 price on many.

 

[TooFrugal]

So there is really nothing to sell except an annual expense of $2760. That is like paying almost $200 a night for a condo, so most people can just book vacations on their own through any travel site they want for any dates they want for that price without having to be locked into an annual commitment. Maybe having an attorney go over the contract would be a good idea to try to see if there is a way to get out of it altogether.

 

[youbet]

When I FIRE'd a friend offered to sign over his Florida timeshare to me for $1 saying he was sure we'd enjoy it since we now had the time, etc. I took a glance at the maintenance fees and quickly decided we could rent for a week most anywhere we wanted for that annual amount or less.

Not saying there aren't some good deals in time shares out there....... But........

 

[Rustward]

Rusty and Rustette are pay-as-you-go types with the option to not pay and not go.

$230 * 12 = 2760 / 14 = $192.14 per night if you use them all. I understand these are nice two or three bedroom condos, but still expensive.

 

[saluki9]

Timeshare Rentals, Timeshare Resales, Timeshare Ratings, and Timeshare Reviews

We've had a lot of luck with that site for buying timeshares. I assume that they're a fairly big player based on the number of listings.

 

[martyb]

I've got a female friend in Phoenix (from before marriage to the current missus) who's been trying to sell a timeshare for about 20 years. I advised her at least 10 years ago she needed to just dump it & cut her losses. I doubt that's even possible anymore. Luckily, before there was a missus martyb, I got to use it with her a few times in various locations. All over southern California & Arizona....ah..the good old days!

 

[Rambler]

So, I think the answer is, she might get 50 cents...if she's lucky, and may have to pay $2760 (maybe more, maybe less) until it sells for a buck...

My sis has one in Hawaii. They've had it for 5 years. Used it once. Going to use it again next year. Once every three years...such a waste, and they are paying the maintenance fees and the loan they took out to buy it. I tried to tell her, but...

R

 

[Dimsumkid]

I've seen a few timeshares posted on the Craigslist free section in the last year. I couldn't tell if people were posting scam ads or not. Now after reading this topic, they were legit! The offers would be for Wisc. Dells timeshares and the price was free, but you had to pay the annual maint. fees. All these people were wanting to do was get rid of the annual fees attached to the timeshares.

 

[Rambler]

Yeah, I just took a quick look on ebay for Hawaii timeshares. There were 86 listed, and most of them were listed for a dollar or two for a week/year with some type of floating arrangement. I looked at a few, most looked nice. Maint fees ranged from 600-1000/year depending on the unit (location, size) and include taxes, maintenance, and utils.

So if you really planned to go to the same spot for a week every year and had a kitchen so you could save on the eating out (dollars and calories) then it might not be bad if your maint fee was 600-800. But, I certainly would not want to pay $20,000++ for the title, AND the annual maintenance for only 1 week per year. Invest the 20k instead, use a 4% SWR, and have 1400-1600 for a hotel or condo rental instead...anywhere instead of a fixed location.

I know this doesn't help Rustward, but it is what it is. I think it would be hard to rationalize owning a timeshare, even at $1 + annual maintenance.

R

 

[mrsbusto]

We own a timeshare in Kauai Hawaii. Can't get rid of it. So, upon a recommendation, we joined Redweek.com and posted our timeshare as a rental. We were lucky enough to get it rented for a week for our very high maintenance fee. I think we will continue to go this direction until maybe the timeshare business improves. You can look around the website for free, but if you want to post something you have to pay a yearly fee. I think it was $39.00. But it ended up being worth it for us. At least check out the website. Hope this helps.

 

[haha]

I've seen a few timeshares posted on the Craigslist free section in the last year. I couldn't tell if people were posting scam ads or not. Now after reading this topic, they were legit! The offers would be for Wisc. Dells timeshares and the price was free, but you had to pay the annual maint. fees. All these people were wanting to do was get rid of the annual fees attached to the timeshares.

Can't you just walk on these things?

Ha

 

[Pasha]

"So what will happen if you simply stop paying the maintenance fees? The timeshare company will probably sell the debt to a collection agency. This will ruin your credit rating, it will result in legal consequences, and all of the debt collection calls will definitely irritate you...
For timeshare owners that own their property outright and simply want to get out their timeshare contract due to no longer traveling or not wanting to pay maintenance fees, the best way to go about obtaining a deed in lieu of foreclosure is to simply stop paying your maintenance fees. Eventually your home owners association (or HOA) will turn your account over to a third-party collection agency that will begin to use the traditional routes of communication including letters, email and phone calls in an attempt to collect the money owed. After this collection firm has used up all of their money-collecting ammunition, and it has been made clear that the owner has no intention of bringing the account current or continuing to pay, they will inform you that your home resort will accept a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure to sever all your ties with the timeshare property."

Walk away from a timeshare*|*Timeshare Council

 

[kcowan]

We had three weeks of fixed unit/fixed time and were lucky enough to sell it to another owner who had one week and wanted three more. We sold it for $4000 for the 3 weeks. The maintenance fees were $945/week! But it was a 1650 sq. ft. ground floor unit on the ocean, with 2 patios.

FIL bought it for $40k in 1984. He probably paid about 5 times what the property was worth at the time.

 

[nwsteve]

While it has been awhile, I have seen some charities that accept deeds to some properties as a gift. You will still have to pay any transfer fees but you will escape the annual dues. A lot of your options will, of course, depend on the desirability of the property.
One more direct options would also be to connect to other owners who own the weeks before and after you and see if any of them express any interest in having your week to give them an extended holiday.
We also had a timeshare we bought some years ago at a highly desireable resort. We primarily got it to have a place to go over Thanksgiving and give my DD a place to take friends for the holidays. It is a world class ski resort and DD express interest in it so we gifted it to her as part of her wedding celebrations. Maybe you can find someone who could use and is willing to spend the $$ for the annual fee.
We did exchange our week several time getting some great trips to Spain and Hawaii.
Good Luck
Nwsteve

 

[LOL!]

This thread suggests a new business to get into. Maybe I can convince thefed that he needs to do this:

You need to become a TimeShare broker of the Third Kind. What you do is find someone who is about to declare bankruptcy anyways and get them to buy or accept timeshares from folks who want to get rid of them.

That way the folks who get rid of the timeshare(s) do not get dinged on their credit report while for the person going bankrupt it just doesn't matter. Indeed, they might be able to make a little money by getting people to pay them to take on the ownership of the timeshare.

Of course, the broker gets a commission for connecting these two parties to the deal.

 

[Moemg]

To bad timeshares are not like cars . In New Jersey if you had a car you really wanted to get rid of you just parked it in certain areas and it would disappear never to be seen again .

 

[Brat]

We sold our timeshare by advertising it in the assn news letter. It was purchased by another owner who had others in the same weeks and had a big family. We got what we bought it for from the developer 15 years earlier. The fact that is was in Jackson Hole adjacent to a golf course no doubt helped.

 

[kcowan]

We got what we bought it for from the developer 15 years earlier. The fact that is was in Jackson Hole adjacent to a golf course no doubt helped.

Wow that is an amazing resale value. I think it underlines how tricky it is to resell these things.

 

[tryan]

You need to become a TimeShare broker of the Third Kind. What you do is find someone who is about to declare bankruptcy anyways and get them to buy or accept timeshares from folks who want to get rid of them.

... or form a corporation which will hold/dispose of the troubled assets.

For less than the cost of a few monthly maintenance fees, the thing could be deeded into a corporation (created for this pupose).

Can't get blood from a stone.

 

[LOL!]

I can see the headlines now from The Onion:

"Fannie Mae Converts All Foreclosures to Time Shares"

 

[dlhanson]

From ClarkHoward.com (Clark Howard has a syndicated consumer oriented radio show):
Aug 09, 2010 -- Getting rid of a timeshare may cost you $2,000

For the last eight years, Clark has guided timeshare owners who wanted to get rid of their obligation to DonateforaCause.org.

This group allowed you to donate your timeshare to charity and claim a tax deduction of up to $5,000 with no costs involved. It eliminated all maintenance fees, taxes and any special assessments from your life.

Before the economy tanked, DonateforaCause.org was able to take on the majority of timeshares that people brought to them to unload. Recently, however, we got complaints from listeners who said they were either getting the brush off from the company or being asked to pay money, which is a big red flag in Clark's book.

So Team Clark called DonateforaCause.org and spoke to the company's president Crystal Foss. She explained the timeshare resale market is so broken that they can't accept more than 90 percent of the properties people try to get rid of.

So her company set up a guaranteed for-profit operation that will charge you $2,000 to take the timeshare off your hands.

 

[mrsbusto]

I like Brat's idea for us to post our timeshare in the assn newsletter. We bought our timeshare in 1999 in Kauai. We still really love it there, but for what it costs to fly, stay in our timeshare and maybe stay another week due to the long flight, we can go to Florida for a month. Our maintenance fees are $1430 every other year. We have a float/float oceanfront timeshare. Paid $7800 for it and really feel we have enjoyed it. But I don't want to give it away either. So, until I take up Brat's idea, I am going to continue to try to rent it. First time out, we were successful.