With the recession hitting hard and everyone feeling the effects, I thought it would be a good idea to re-post an article I wrote a while back regarding Holiday Clubs and Timeshare Resales.
There are many genuine reasons why so many people want to sell or just get rid of a Timeshare or Holiday Club. It could be that when you first brought it you had a young family so you brought a two bedroom unit in the high season and maybe even two or three weeks together, to secure the family school holidays for years to come. If your children are now grown up and doing their own thing with their holiday plans, you might find that you are now holidaying on your own again and out of the school holiday seasons, if this is the case you don't want to be paying the higher maintenance fees on a two bedroom high season ownership that you’re no longer using.
I quite often find that when there is bereavement in the family the remaining partner doesn’t want to continue holidaying alone and when they are ready to start holidaying again the holidays they take will tend to be more group organized activities with other people in the same situation as themselves.
There are also the couples who get divorced and just like everything else they own together, it needs selling or dividing up.
Unfortunately there are also a lot of people who are selling their Timeshare because they were badly advised in the first place, or “closed into buying it” on some hard sell Timeshare presentation and they didn’t buy the right sized unit or on the right resort or even ended up buying it for completely the wrong reasons.
Whatever your reasons are for wanting to sell your Timeshare, let’s look at some things you should consider before trying to sell your Timeshare or Holiday Points System.
1. Don’t expect to make a profit. You might have been told by the Timeshare sales rep who sold it to you that you were investing in property and property always goes up in value. This is true when talking about freehold property. Timeshare is more like buying a brand new car. As soon as you start it up and drive it off the forecourt you’ve lost 50% of its value through the built in marketing costs. The resort will go up in value, but for the people who own a deeded timeshare, not for the people who just own weeks, points or the right to use.
2. Before thinking about passing it to your children make sure they want to continue with the growing debt of a yearly maintenance or not?
3. If you own fixed weeks, you may be able to trade in with your home resort and change into a more flexible system that suits you better if your resort is now selling a points based holiday club or another system, but do expect to pay something on top for the privilege. The marketing company is in business to make money not spend it.
4. When setting your price look at other Timeshares similar to yours either on the same resort or in the same location and set your price accordingly.
5. Always use a reputable resale company that is licensed to do all the legal paperwork through a recognised trustee or you could be left with additional and hidden legal costs.
6. Never pay money up front to register your timeshare with a resale company. A good resale company should work like a real estate agent and only charge a commission once they have secured and completed the sale.
These are just a few pointers. Most importantly, always seek expert legal advice before entering into any type of sales contract and remember. Be realistic with what you’re willing to accept to sell it. You can’t put a price on all those lovely memories, good times and great holidays you’ve had with your family whilst using your timeshare, if you’ve owned it for a number of years; you’ve probably had your initial investment back over and over again.
Please feel free to leave any comments below, all input is much appreciated.
See you all next week.
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