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Cabo Mexico Timeshare (by KC):

stefanieb53 wrote:

I purchased outright a timeshare in 2005, and have not been back since. I am trying to decide what to do and need some advice or experience. I would love to sale it, but seems most exit companies are scammers and I do not feel like paying someone upfront to have no guarantee that they can or will be able to do it. I have seen many say there is little value in resale, but would am trying to find out if that is true. If I am not going to use it, which likely I won't since I haven't in 11 years, I should figure out best options and move forward. I saw yesterday that it might be helpful first to find out if there is a value and opportunity to sale. I am looking for a timeshare realtor now that might be able to tell me this first.

Any thoughts, recommendations, or suggestions would be most appreciated.

My knowledge about Mexican RTU timeshare contracts is somewhat limited, but I will nonetheless offer a few applicable and relevant observations for your consideration:

1. Forget about a "timeshare realtor" for a Mexican RTU contract. If your Mexican RTU contract has any resale value at all (unfortunately, that's very unlikely) you can find a new recipient entirely on your own. Also, the transfer paperwork for RTU contracts is usually generated by the resort itself, so there is very little (almost nothing, quite frankly) that any "timeshare realtor" can possibly do for you that you can't easily do for yourself. Also, any so-called "timeshare realtor" will want a minimum $1,500 -- $2,000 commission, even if the contract is ultimately given away for free. Why pay that for what might well be a "giveaway"?

2. Mexican RTU contracts generally have a specific expiration date (often 15, 20, or 30 years from date of original contract execution). Before you attempt to sell (or give away) your contract, make sure that you know exactly what that date is. It is the first question you will be asked by any experienced, prospective new recipient. "I don't really know" is NOT an answer that will hold anyone's further interest.

3. Many Mexican RTU contracts require a hefty fee when a RTU contract is transferred. Some Mexican transfer fees are as much as TEN TIMES the annual maintenance fee amount. Make sure that you clearly and accurately know exactly what that transfer fee amount would be. It is the second question that any prospective new recipient will want to know (as well as WHO is going to PAY that transfer fee, of course),

4. To see if you can determine the resale market value of your RTU contract (if there is any value), look for listings comparable to your specific resort / RTU contract on eBay, RedWeek, MyResortNetwork, Timeshare Users Group. If you find one, yours will obviously need to be cheaper than anything else you can find advertised in order to draw any interest at all. You may very well have to offer to give it away for free and, even then, you may find no interest.

5. In the (unfortunately quite likely) event that your Mexican RTU contract has no resale market value at all, you can of course always just choose to simply walk away and pay not another penny. This will obviously result in termination of your RTU "membership" and loss of your future right to access that property. So what? By your own statement, you haven't actually been there in the past 11 years anyhow so you clearly have little or no interest in returning in the future.

Hope some of this helps you. Good luck.