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There could be many reasons why people wish to sell their time shares. It can be the prohibitive mortgage costs or sheer boredom of visiting the same place and doing the same activities. The family might be looking for a change of location and their group may not be offering that location.

Weekly time shares offer great relaxation and there are always people looking to buy them from others as a resale because costs are lower than buying new. Fortunately for those who are selling there are many others who have the money to spend. It just takes a little more effort on the seller’s part since there is much more competition out there.

So after the fun is over, owners start wondering, how to sell their units? Now this question can be tackled in many ways. There are endless numbers of brokers who can help on a resale. Generally, the recovery price is very low. Therefore, their owners usually want a quick resale to get it over with. When owners say, I am selling my unit, the first thing the agent asks is if it is in peak season or off season. If the time share is in the off season, it becomes a little more difficult to sell them.

How do I sell if it is an off season unit? Maybe if the unit is well maintained and the unit has good trade potential on RCI or the like there is a chance of recovering some of the money. There are also many forums and free classified add areas for those who don’t have the budget for brokers or fee based advertising sites.

The maintenance and facilities are another important factor. Some units are not maintained properly and after some time resale becomes that much more difficult. It is estimated that units in the peak or flexible weeks sell for around 55% of the original value approximately.

If you want to sell your time share now visit a broker. They list all the time shares at one resort as a group. Therefore, your time share has to offer the best price for the buyer to choose yours over the others. Re-sales of time shares do not require appraisal fees. Sometimes the company or chain that started the time share may themselves offer to buy it back. In some cases, the chain has to waive the right of buying back the time share for the owner to resell to others.

In this economy, if you really need to sell quickly, you will need to do some research and price your unit below the rest of the market. If you have plenty of time and want to minimize your losses, price it higher than what you want and be prepared to come down in price a little. Use the forums and classified ads to avoid paying a brokerage fee for the most potential return.

Don Nolan is a freelance writer and web master who provides advice and entertainment content for the masses. http://bestsellmytimeshare.com/.

Usually if something appears too good to be true when trying to sell your timeshare, it usually is!  If a company promises to be able to sell a timeshare for you, those promises usually run empty, especially since they already have your money when they ask for it upfront.  So, what is the incentive for them to work hard to sell your timeshare if they already have your money!  They don’t care much about promises, they just use some excuse and go on to the next customer who will give them additional money for the same empty promises.
 
So, when trying to sell your timeshare, whatever you do, do not pay any upfront fees to any company claiming to be able to sell your timeshare.  The only reason companies request money upfront is because they know they most likely will not be able to sell it, and they want to make sure they have a nice pay for their efforts.  If companies felt confident of their ability to sell, then they would only ask for payment after the sell, cause they would be able to get a lot more customers that way, hence, more money.   Even during the time companies are not able to sell the timeshare, the owner is still required to pay all the fees associated with the timeshare such as maintenance fees.
 
If the market is hot for selling timeshares, you will know it and you will be able to sell easily on your own.  If the market is not hot and sellers are few and scarce, then not even the best companies can make such promises as to being able to sell your timeshare!  Most timeshares on the resale market sell for about half the price or less as what was initially paid.  The reason for that is the initial payment lots of times is done through listening to a high-end sales pitch with promised deals and perks in the package such as vacations and such.  Your resale listing will not have buyers at the edge of their seat!  
 
So, you must keep in mind the right price to list your timeshare at, not the price you wish to list it at.  Timeshares do not go up in value like homes.  Therefore, it is really important to look for similar timeshares that have sold so you know the right selling price to list yours at!  Some ideas of how you can sell is your local bulletin boards, websites such as e-bay and other on-line websites that can be found through Google, and local newspapers and newsletters. 
 
 If you find that your selling price is much lower than your loan for the timeshare, there are some things you may want to consider. You could always refinance your loan to a lower interest rate so you can pay off the remaining balance, or if that is not enough, take out a home equity loan on your house to pay off the balance.  Or, you could always try to rent your weeks, one week at a time, to help pay the cost of the balance.
 
Beware of scams when trying to sell your timeshare too!  Don’t count on checks clearing unless they do, because if you give them money for whatever reason and their check bounces, you are stuck further in debt.  Also, beware of selling your timeshare through companies that offer to take if off your hands for you if you buy vacations from them, etc, because usually they are a huge rip-off and so not only are you way overpaying for your vacations, but you are most of the time stuck with many additional charges too that somehow, unexplainably so, you were not aware of!  
 
Once you do sell your timeshare, be sure to tell the truth about all the fees associated with it cause the buyers will eventually find out and you could lose the sell or even if you don’t lose the sell, you could have legal issues resulting from the buyers complaints and filings against you.  Even if nothing happens, it is just plain rude.  Always treat the buyer how you would want to be treated and things will always go much smoother.
 
If you just can’t sell or rent, there is another option: Donation.  Donating your timeshare to your favorite cause can not only make you feel good about the money you spent on it, but you can also get a good tax deduction from it doing it that way too.  If you want to learn more about selling your timeshare go to the link.

You can learn more about selling your timeshare at http://www.webuytimeshares.org

One Response to “Selling Your Timeshare”

1. Mary says:

   June 24, 2009 at 7:24 pm

   Timeshare owners have a wealth of information available for review before they choose how they want to go about selling. It’s practically mind numbing. What method appeals and works for one person can be entirely different for the next. Thankfully, the choices are many from selling on ebay to using timeshare specialists. My Dad, then 88, chose to use http://www.TimeshareAdventures.com because he wanted them to do the work, not him. He paid the up-front fee and within a reasonable amount of time he sold 2 of his timeshares. He had enjoyed them for 28 years. The services of their attorney reassured him that all the details were handled correctly. When it’s definitely not a “hot market”, what do you think gives the seller an advantage? Placing an ad where buyers are already looking and hoping to find the timeshare they want with no commission fees or closing costs.