Buyers and Sellerts FAQS on Timesharing
Buyers FAQS: Q: Why should I buy a RESALE timeshare from you instead of buying it directly from the resort? A: You can get the SAME timeshare on the resale market but at anywhere from 50% to 80% off the price you would pay if you bought it directly from the resort.
And, because you will have paid so little for it by buying resale you will have an easier time getting most of your money back. Or, if you decide to keep it, you may will it to your kids or give it away. Click here for the TimeSharing Today Article “Let’s give it to the kids!”. Depending on resort and market conditions. Q: Why should I buy a RESALE timeshare from a professional, licensed timeshare RESALE Broker? I have friends who want me to buy theirs. A: GOOD QUESTION… BUT BE VERY CAREFUL ! When you buy from a private party you have no way of knowing if the previous owners have put it up for collateral, have a lien against it, or owe back dues or taxes. You could be liable for heavy duty fees that you know nothing about! When you buy from a private party you have no way of knowing if the previous owners put it up for collateral on a loan or it could have a lien against it. Even though they are the best people in the world, they might not know either. Or, did they use a quit-claim deed and give it to someone else? Have they paid all the annual maintenance fees and taxes? If not, you may be liable for heavy-duty past-due bills if you buy it from them. And, you cannot use the timeshare until you have paid off those outstanding bills. We are a professional, licensed timeshare resale company and we have the same fiduciary responsibility to buyers and sellers as real estate agents who sell homes. We are successful because we offer sellers, as well as buyers, easy, fast and SAFE property transfers. Click here to see our TimeSharing Today magazine article on “Do you dare do it Yourself?”. Q: How do I know that I am buying a RESALE Timeshare that is free and clear of all liens? A: This is why it is important to buy your timeshare from an established company like Timeshare RESALE Alliance, and why we use a professional escrow company that gives you a Title Policy guaranteeing that the deeded property you receive is free and clear. The same checks are made on Right to Use or Club Membership types of property as well. Buying a timeshare involves almost as much paperwork as buying a home. You want to make certain that all the paperwork is filled out and properly recorded, that you are buying a property that is free and clear, and that the transfer of title is accurately registered with the resort.
Making sure you get what you pay for is how we earn our commission (which is paid for in most cases by the seller)—we’ve matched thousands of buyers with sellers and know how to get the job done for you. Q: Will I get the same benefits the resort offers to those who buy directly from them? A: Resorts often give you two free airline tickets, an inexpensive weekend at the resort or a comparable gift, when you come for a presentation by them. You do not get those when you buy on the resale market. On the other hand you don’t get the generally high powered sales pitch either. But, you get the same timeshare at a savings of $5,000 to $20,000! With these savings, you can afford to buy your own airline tickets and resort weekend and still pocket huge savings. Hence our slogan, “Never an Up-Front Fee. No Pressure. Just Great Values”. You know about all that “free” stuff? It isn’t really free. The buyer not only pays for his own but everyone else’s that didn’t buy as well (about seven out of ten). Resorts give away a lot of “fluff” to make it seem as though you are getting many free benefits. They sometimes also give you a “free” membership in their Travel Club or “bonus points” that give you access to discount airline tickets and “weekend getaways”. In reality, you get these same benefits from the Exchange Companies such as Resort Condominiums International or Interval International. Why spend thousands of dollars extra to buy directly from the resort so you get this “fluff” (we call it “airware”) from them, when you can get the same thing from your exchange company? Q: How will the resort treat me if I buy a “Pre-Owned” Timeshare rather than a “New” one purchased directly from them? A: During your escrow, the Escrow Company notifies the resort of the Transfer of Ownership.
When you check in to your resort, the staff does not even know that you bought the timeshare on the RESALE market. Nor do they care. The resort’s only concern is to have enough owners to pay the annual maintenance fee and taxes so they can maintain the beauty, high quality and desirability of the resort. Q: How do I know which RESALE Timeshare Resort is the best one for me? A: First, determine where and how you want to use your travel time. Where do you enjoy spending vacations? Do you love the beach, the mountains, the big cities or the desert? You have many choices. For example… If getting back to nature in the Southern California mountains is for you, you can become a lifetime “pardner” in a “Members Only” 750 acre Private Ranch located 26 miles inside the Sequoia National Forest with free RV hook-ups, cabins, horseback riding, fishing, shooting ranges and more. And, you can go there as many times a year as you wish at no additional charge. After you use it for your lifetime, you can resell it or will the membership to your kids. This is most suitable for those living from Fresno to Paso Robles to Ventura to Los Angeles, California. Is taking the family and grandparents for an annual family reunion during winter vacation in the warm desert high on your list? You can have a Palm Springs retreat that Tracy and Hepburn would have envied.
And, if you’re in the neighborhood, you can even have day use! How about a weeklong romantic rendezvous for you and your Special One in Paris one year, and on a Caribbean beach the next? Then you want to buy a top-trading, high-demand California coastal resort at a dramatically reduced price from what you would pay if you bought directly from the resort—and then trade it for anywhere in the world you want to go.
Q: After I speak with your Consultant and determine which Resort is the best for me, what’s the next step? A: This is the easy part—we do all the work for you and lead you through the process step by step. After you decide on the resort and price, our personal Timeshare Resale Travel Consultant will FAX or mail a Purchase Agreement to you for your signature. The agreement contains the entire dollar amount of your purchase, including all fees and escrow charges—there are no surprises down the line. Simultaneously, she or he will take your credit card number and charge your Deposit of $500 (sometimes more on more expensive RESALES – You will know in advance what it will be) and alert the Seller. As soon as she receives your signed Purchase Agreement, she presents the offer and if accepted instructs our Escrow Coordination Department to open your escrow at a major national Title Escrow Company. They credit your escrow account for $500. The balance is due back to the independent Escrow Company along with your signed Escrow Instructions. When your escrow closes, the Escrow Company then sends the monies due to the Sellers to them and the Grant Deed to you and you are now the proud new Owner of a wonderful future full of fabulous vacations. Sellers FAQS: Q: Do you charge an upfront (“Listing”, “Appraisal” or “Marketing”) Fee to list my timeshare? A: NO! NEVER, EVER PAY AN UPFRONT FEE! We have Sellers who, after paying even $800 – $1,500 in upfront fees that never resulted in a sale of their timeshares, come to us and we sell their timeshares for them and NEVER charge them an upfront fee.
Q: Why should I list my timeshare with you? A: 1. Because we spend thousands of dollars monthly to market YOUR listing. 2. Because our sales agents are more than salespeople. They are experts in the specialized field of timeshare resale. They know YOUR listing is in our inventory and p
resent it to buyers who are interested in California resorts. Even if a buyer wants a resort in another state, we show them why YOUR resort may be better for them. Our licensed agents know all the strategies for getting the most from timeshare travel and act as Timeshare Travel Consultants to help your buyer understand all the reasons why they should buy YOUR timeshare. 3. Because we’ve been doing this successfully for years and have matched thousands of sellers with buyers. 4. Because we use a professional escrow company that handles all the money and delivers a Title Policy on all deeded transactions so the it can never come back to bite you. Q: How much can I get for my timeshare? A: How quickly do you want to sell it? We do not set the prices; Sellers set the prices. There are many reasons for selling a timeshare: death of a spouse, divorce, illness, and financial setbacks. Some Sellers just want to give it away and place a very low price on it – they are your competition. We research the prices in the resale market to help you determine a fair price. The timeshare resale market is very much like the automobile market. You will pay a dealer a large sum for a new car. The second you drive it off the lot, it’s worth much less on the resale market. Prices are also influenced by the quality of your resort location, size, season of use, and its trading power in addition to comparable sales of similar units. Resale timeshares normally sell for 50%-70% off the price paid when purchased new. You paid a fair price to the developer who bought expensive land and paid the construction costs to develop a beautiful resort. Also their marketing costs to sell it are extremely high (on the order of 50% of your price).
But like a car, there are a lot of Sellers who drive the prices down by selling at low prices. It is to our advantage to get the most we can for your timeshare and we make every effort to get top dollar for you. But if we ignore the realities of the marketplace we simply won’t be able to sell it for you. What good does that do you? Q: How much is your commission? A: Here is some background on how timeshare resale commissions work: In the residential real estate market, commissions are usually 6%. They are so low, because the price of a house is so substantial. Six percent of a $400,000 house (the median price in California now) is $24,000 in commission. A timeshare sale involves almost as much work as selling a house, sometimes more! Yet, in timeshare resales, the commission dollars are so low that most real estate agents won’t even consider selling a timeshare. Note that the 3% Selling Broker’s commission is still $12,000.00 (more than the selling price of most resale timeshares). Because of this disparity in commission dollar amounts, the normal commission throughout the timeshare resale industry is 30% so that the resale company can get enough to advertise it, sell it and oversee the transaction for both the Buyer and the Seller and still stay in business. Occasionally a company will state a 20% commission but with a $1,500 minimum. That is still a 30% commission on a $5,000 resale. In exchange for this, what we do for you is maintain numerous sales locations, advertise in newspapers, magazines, resorts, yellow pages and on our website. In addition, we have highly trained, experienced sales agents answering our 800 toll-free telephone lines to sell your timeshare to interested buyers who call us. When your unit sells, we prepare all the paperwork and open an escrow for the transaction. We then follow through on the details of the Escrow activity to make certain it closes in a timely fashion.
Q: How long does the listing last? A: Because we spend so much money to advertise our listings, we take the usual industry-wide listing period of one year. Some timeshares sell very quickly. Others can take 6 months to a year to sell depending how many are on the market. Q: Can I sell my timeshare if it is not paid for (there is a loan balance)? A: We cannot sell a timeshare if more money is owed on it than what you would receive for it after closing costs and commissions are paid without you coming up with the cash difference (usually a bad idea). How much did you pay for it? How much do you owe? One thing you can do, if your timeshare is not paid for, is pay down the loan so that what you owe on it is what you would receive for it when it sells. If you cannot do that, you can pay off the balance on a no/low interest credit card. Or, if you qualify, we can help you get a home equity line of credit to pay it off – you can save a lot on the interest and deduct from your taxes whatever interest you pay on it. Or, you can send cash for the amount needed to pay off your loan at close of escrow. Q: Who handles my money? A: When we sell your timeshare, everything is handled for you by a professional escrow company, just like the ones used for buying and selling homes.
We use well-known national title companies that have a fiduciary duty not only to you, but to your Buyer, as well.
They efficiently prepare the legal documents for you and your Buyer to sign. They receive the money from the Buyer. They distribute any dues owed to the resort. They pay us our commission and they subtract any other closing costs. They then send you the balance – that is what they are legally required to do at the same time they send us our commission. We never handle your money. Q: Yes, I want to list my timeshare for sale. What’s the next step? A: IT’S EASY!! Call us and we walk you through it, step by step. One of our professional, licensed timeshare RESALE consultants will ask you some questions regarding the resort you own and help you determine a price. Then we will send you a Listing Agreement that shows, usually to the penny, what you can expect to receive. You sign it and send it back to us with a copy of your deed and loan payoff documents (if it is paid for). We do the rest. As soon as we receive your signed listing agreement, all of our sales agents are made aware of your property so they can begin offering it to buyers who call us daily.
