Want to sell, will wait for fair price

We own a studio At Marriott Mountain Valley Lodge, Breckinridge, CO--a floating week in high winter season. Want to sell b/c we prefer VRBO rentals. Hate the dues increases as well. We reserved a week that Redweek offered 1015 points today and I am not sure what to do to make it easier to sell as well as cover our $798 in annual dues we paid last month. Will it make it a lot easier to sell to "give away" the 2008 7-night stay starting Nov 29th or could we just advertise it for sale on Redweek at $1000? Our long term goal is to sell, but NOT a fire sale. We have listed it w/Marriott for re-sale since late-Oct 2007 and they have ROFR from what the re-sale person told me. She said they sell, but it takes about a year and said we may get as much as $8-9000. I am skeptical, but that is what the timeshare gig has taught me to be. Best advice to get it sold to the highest bidder?

Studios are the least popular timeshares in the marketplace, however, having said that, if your floating week is in high demand winter 'SKI' season and Breckinridge is a very popular ski destination, you shouldn't have any trouble even selling a studio (I'm not familiar with the most popular ski resorts in Colorado).

Having listed your studio with Marriott to sell in October 2007 (only 4+ months ago), I would give them some time to see if they can sell it or you can list it on Redweek and see what happens. If Marriott turns down your selling price (should you find a buyer), then have Marriott buy it back from you at their ROFR price.

Have you researched resale sites on the internet to see what studios are selling for in your time period at your resort?

As far as the $8-$9 K by the Marriott resale person that she quoted you could get for your Marriott studio, I have no idea if that is true (it all depends on supply and demand). The fact that she told you it would (quote) "take a year" (unquote), I find that a little skeptical, since she would have to have a crystal ball to know that for a fact as people look for resales all year long.

kathyk117 wrote:

We own a studio At Marriott Mountain Valley Lodge, Breckinridge, CO--a floating week in high winter season. Want to sell b/c we prefer VRBO rentals. Hate the dues increases as well. We reserved a week that Redweek offered 1015 points today and I am not sure what to do to make it easier to sell as well as cover our $798 in annual dues we paid last month. Will it make it a lot easier to sell to "give away" the 2008 7-night stay starting Nov 29th or could we just advertise it for sale on Redweek at $1000? Our long term goal is to sell, but NOT a fire sale. We have listed it w/Marriott for re-sale since late-Oct 2007 and they have ROFR from what the re-sale person told me. She said they sell, but it takes about a year and said we may get as much as $8-9000. I am skeptical, but that is what the timeshare gig has taught me to be. Best advice to get it sold to the highest bidder?

Dear Kathy:

Your stuck with the timeshare.....I tried unsucessfully for 5 years to sell our timeshare. We had red week in Newport RI with a 2 bedroom timeshare. We finally ended up getting rid of it last year by giving it away to Savvy Traveler. We had to pay our next year's maintenance dues and some other associated costs (deed transfer etc.). It stopped our bleeding each year with the high dues.

We went the route of trying to have timeshare places that send you advertisements to sell your timeshare, and then we went to a presentation of "We collect timeshares" and they wante $4,000.00 to take our timeshare back.............and finally I talked to Resort Closings.com and spoke to them about getting rid of our timeshare and they had me contact Savvy Traveler. They were up front and they told me the truth about trying to get rid of timeshare.

No one wants them anymore. It is too hard to exchange, you never get your dates that you want and the dues each year are climbing and if your unlucky enough like we were you have to pay special assessments in addition to your dues each year.

Those dues are yours, your kids, your grandkids, your great grandkids and on and on.

If your not using your timeshare...I suggest getting rid of it now!

Sorry to be so negative, but no one ever tells the truth about timeshares.

Barbara

derybj wrote:

kathyk117 wrote:

We own a studio At Marriott Mountain Valley Lodge, Breckinridge, CO--a floating week in high winter season. Want to sell b/c we prefer VRBO rentals. Hate the dues increases as well. We reserved a week that Redweek offered 1015 points today and I am not sure what to do to make it easier to sell as well as cover our $798 in annual dues we paid last month. Will it make it a lot easier to sell to "give away" the 2008 7-night stay starting Nov 29th or could we just advertise it for sale on Redweek at $1000? Our long term goal is to sell, but NOT a fire sale. We have listed it w/Marriott for re-sale since late-Oct 2007 and they have ROFR from what the re-sale person told me. She said they sell, but it takes about a year and said we may get as much as $8-9000. I am skeptical, but that is what the timeshare gig has taught me to be. Best advice to get it sold to the highest bidder?

Dear Kathy:

Your stuck with the timeshare.....I tried unsucessfully for 5 years to sell our timeshare. We had red week in Newport RI with a 2 bedroom timeshare. We finally ended up getting rid of it last year by giving it away to Savvy Traveler. We had to pay our next year's maintenance dues and some other associated costs (deed transfer etc.). It stopped our bleeding each year with the high dues.

We went the route of trying to have timeshare places that send you advertisements to sell your timeshare, and then we went to a presentation of "We collect timeshares" and they wante $4,000.00 to take our timeshare back.............and finally I talked to Resort Closings.com and spoke to them about getting rid of our timeshare and they had me contact Savvy Traveler. They were up front and they told me the truth about trying to get rid of timeshare.

No one wants them anymore. It is too hard to exchange, you never get your dates that you want and the dues each year are climbing and if your unlucky enough like we were you have to pay special assessments in addition to your dues each year.

Those dues are yours, your kids, your grandkids, your great grandkids and on and on.

If your not using your timeshare...I suggest getting rid of it now!

Sorry to be so negative, but no one ever tells the truth about timeshares.

Barbara

=============== Just curious. What TS did you own in Newport? Did you have a summer Red week (late June through Labor Day)? Newport in the summer is usually a fairly high demand week and thus the exchange value (or rental value) should have been pretty good.

derybj wrote:

Sorry to be so negative, but no one ever tells the truth about timeshares.Barbara

Hi deryb, we regular posters here in Redweek's forums try to 'tell it like it is' concerning timeshare ownership. If you will look at all the threads concerning such, you will see that we don't always paint timeshare ownership necessarily in a positive light.

There are pros and cons of buying a timeshare, depending on one's personal travel needs, wants and desires, many of which we have discussed in these forums.

I've always said that it's much easier to buy a timeshare than to sell a timeshare. Some timeshares can't even be given away which is evidenced on Ebay.

I sold all nine of my timeshares a few years ago on internet ad sites such as Redweek, but that was before postcard companies (that you mentioned in your post) came along with all the $1 timeshares on Ebay .... I was lucky.

I would absolutely dread the thought of owning a mediocre timeshare this day and time and trying to sell it. The market has changed so much in just a few years time, and, like you said, timeshare responsibilities are passed on to your heirs after death.

I always try to convince people to rent from timeshare owners before even considering buying a timeshare. There are literally thousands of rentals on Redweek alone, not to speak of all the other rental outlets out there.

I am very pleased with my timeshare. Yes I wish maintence fees would go doen instead of up but inflation happens. I think renting is a good idea if you don't want the hassle of a long term commitment to a fee that will rise. SA are just that and they are special but they will happen and should be accounted for in making your purchase. However renters should not think that when our fees climb that they will eventually get our accomodations in high demand areas for cheaper then we do. Rental prices will increase with it IMHO. Also, not everyone is displeased. I love owning a timeshare, get what I want 90% of the time, and expected when I bought that my fees would climb with inflation. Not to mention as resorts become older renovations and general upkeep add to the cost. However in the end, I snicker to myself when people preach that renting is cheaper than owning. My average cost is around 52 per night for my accomodations. IMHO I utilize a point system and utilize it well. You can find that in the rental market but not generally in prime locations seasons ect. So, Yes renting is great but timeshare ownership is not something everyone wants out of. Also it is the driving force behind the rental market so don't expect to get a better deal unless you are ok going to the less in demand locations or seasons... If anything I will add more points to my portfolio to take more vacations. I am a very happy owner and I guarantee I am not alone. Jim

First: If you plan to "wait for fair price" and your definition of "fair" is anything over 10 percent of what you paid for it, be prepared to wait until hell freezes over.

Second: With respect to believing what the developer's representative told you -- If by now you don't understand that ANYTHING a developer's representative tells you is a complete lie designed to separate you from from your hard-earned money, then there are quite a few people out there with a bridge in Brooklyn they'd like to sell to you

derybj

kathyk117 wrote:

Sorry to be so negative, but no one ever tells the truth about timeshares. Barbara

Except those of us who were stupid enough to buy one...

samd12 wrote:

Except those of us who were stupid enough to buy one...

Back in the 1970's, and after timesharing was introduced in the USA, timeshare became a dirty word. However, in the last several years many highly known namebrands have entered the timeshare world (Marriott, Disney, Westin, 4 Seasons, Hyatt, Hilton etc.) giving timeshare a better reputation.

However, one should buy a timeshare ONLY if they intend to use it each year OR if they are very flexible choosing several different locations/destinations/resorts when trying to exchange with an exchange company). Many people buy a timeshare thinking they can get very tough trades with a mediocre owned timeshare in a low season (not in the real world).

Many people buy a timeshare to exchange ONLY (which is NOT recommended), many people buy and never use or trade their timeshare at all (ridiculous - why did they buy in the first place?), many people buy thinking their maintenance fees will never go up (hello, inflation raises it's ugly head) and many people have no idea what special assessments are (updating a resort) and when they are billed they are totally shocked, many people buy thinking that a timeshare is a frivilous purchase and they can just quit making payments (if financed) or quit paying their maintenance fees with no repercussions (sorry, but it just doesn't work that way).

Timeshare education is the key. One would never buy any other high ticket (costly) item without researching ever aspect before purchasing, but it seems many people that buy timeshares have no idea what they are getting into as a long term purchase.

mike1536 wrote:

derybj wrote:

kathyk117 wrote:

We own a studio At Marriott Mountain Valley Lodge, Breckinridge, CO--a floating week in high winter season. Want to sell b/c we prefer VRBO rentals. Hate the dues increases as well. We reserved a week that Redweek offered 1015 points today and I am not sure what to do to make it easier to sell as well as cover our $798 in annual dues we paid last month. Will it make it a lot easier to sell to "give away" the 2008 7-night stay starting Nov 29th or could we just advertise it for sale on Redweek at $1000? Our long term goal is to sell, but NOT a fire sale. We have listed it w/Marriott for re-sale since late-Oct 2007 and they have ROFR from what the re-sale person told me. She said they sell, but it takes about a year and said we may get as much as $8-9000. I am skeptical, but that is what the timeshare gig has taught me to be. Best advice to get it sold to the highest bidder?

Dear Kathy:

Your stuck with the timeshare.....I tried unsucessfully for 5 years to sell our timeshare. We had red week in Newport RI with a 2 bedroom timeshare. We finally ended up getting rid of it last year by giving it away to Savvy Traveler. We had to pay our next year's maintenance dues and some other associated costs (deed transfer etc.). It stopped our bleeding each year with the high dues.

We went the route of trying to have timeshare places that send you advertisements to sell your timeshare, and then we went to a presentation of "We collect timeshares" and they wante $4,000.00 to take our timeshare back.............and finally I talked to Resort Closings.com and spoke to them about getting rid of our timeshare and they had me contact Savvy Traveler. They were up front and they told me the truth about trying to get rid of timeshare.

No one wants them anymore. It is too hard to exchange, you never get your dates that you want and the dues each year are climbing and if your unlucky enough like we were you have to pay special assessments in addition to your dues each year.

Those dues are yours, your kids, your grandkids, your great grandkids and on and on.

If your not using your timeshare...I suggest getting rid of it now!

Sorry to be so negative, but no one ever tells the truth about timeshares.

Barbara

=============== Just curious. What TS did you own in Newport? Did you have a summer Red week (late June through Labor Day)? Newport in the summer is usually a fairly high demand week and thus the exchange value (or rental value) should have been pretty good.

We had Newport on Shore.......week started Memorial Day weekend. Not during high summer.

B

derybj wrote:

mike1536 wrote:

derybj wrote:

kathyk117 wrote:

We own a studio At Marriott Mountain Valley Lodge, Breckinridge, CO--a floating week in high winter season. Want to sell b/c we prefer VRBO rentals. Hate the dues increases as well. We reserved a week that Redweek offered 1015 points today and I am not sure what to do to make it easier to sell as well as cover our $798 in annual dues we paid last month. Will it make it a lot easier to sell to "give away" the 2008 7-night stay starting Nov 29th or could we just advertise it for sale on Redweek at $1000? Our long term goal is to sell, but NOT a fire sale. We have listed it w/Marriott for re-sale since late-Oct 2007 and they have ROFR from what the re-sale person told me. She said they sell, but it takes about a year and said we may get as much as $8-9000. I am skeptical, but that is what the timeshare gig has taught me to be. Best advice to get it sold to the highest bidder?

Dear Kathy:

Your stuck with the timeshare.....I tried unsucessfully for 5 years to sell our timeshare. We had red week in Newport RI with a 2 bedroom timeshare. We finally ended up getting rid of it last year by giving it away to Savvy Traveler. We had to pay our next year's maintenance dues and some other associated costs (deed transfer etc.). It stopped our bleeding each year with the high dues.

We went the route of trying to have timeshare places that send you advertisements to sell your timeshare, and then we went to a presentation of "We collect timeshares" and they wante $4,000.00 to take our timeshare back.............and finally I talked to Resort Closings.com and spoke to them about getting rid of our timeshare and they had me contact Savvy Traveler. They were up front and they told me the truth about trying to get rid of timeshare.

No one wants them anymore. It is too hard to exchange, you never get your dates that you want and the dues each year are climbing and if your unlucky enough like we were you have to pay special assessments in addition to your dues each year.

Those dues are yours, your kids, your grandkids, your great grandkids and on and on.

If your not using your timeshare...I suggest getting rid of it now!

Sorry to be so negative, but no one ever tells the truth about timeshares.

Barbara

=============== Just curious. What TS did you own in Newport? Did you have a summer Red week (late June through Labor Day)? Newport in the summer is usually a fairly high demand week and thus the exchange value (or rental value) should have been pretty good.

We had Newport on Shore.......week started Memorial Day weekend. Not during high summer.

B

I've seen some really creative ideas for getting rid of unwanted ts. I cannot take any credit for having them or attest to them working. search the forums there are alot of good ones. The one that stands out to me is rent w/ option to buy. Tell them to tour and then they will hear the inflated developer price. Apply a portion of rent to purchase. Let the developer sell it for you. Obviously they would be happy tp pay if they like the resort and at all were sold on the idea by the "professionals" but were getting a substantial discount. They would think they were getting a deal. In some respects they would be. I believe this makes alot of sense to me because I believe we lose a lot of our value resale because we don't have a magical sales team that will make the sale by any means necassary. We don't get to offer people freebies for checking out our ebay listing and we don't have millions to inflate our product in the buyers eyes to look like something they HAVE to have. Not my idea but one I read here on redweek. I could see it working. Again I can't take credit and that is one of many creative things I read on here. jim

Jayjay said "many people buy thinking their maintenance fees will never go up". This a bit disingenuous friend. Of course we expect the maintenance fee to go up, but not at 5 times the rate of inflation. And then, we do not expect our so-called maintenance fee to be nearly the same amount of money it would cost us to stay in similar accommodations in a hotel (which would not be holding the thousands we paid for the TS). I am sick of the Time Share Crooks with their creative accounting that enables them to charge $670 maintance for an annual week TS in a 600 sq ft hotel suite -- this is nearly $35,000 per annum. Just think about that $35,000 each year to "maintain" a small suite, pay the salaries of housekeepers who make up the room maybe twice a week, and for the 5 minutes per guest visit the front-desk people spend with you????

After the developers scam you into buying one of these and separate you from thousands of dollars, you then have the privilege bending over for them year after year so they can keep stealing from you more and more and more and more.

REPEAT -- there are NO HONEST PEOPLE connected with the Time Share Industry - neither developers, nor resellers, nor all of those sending out come-ons purporting to "help" you get out of them. They are all scum who mislead honest-but-gullible people to cheat them out of their hard-earned savings, and there is no place in hell hot enough for them to eternally fry.

jimy21 wrote:

derybj wrote:

mike1536 wrote:

derybj wrote:

kathyk117 wrote:

We own a studio At Marriott Mountain Valley Lodge, Breckinridge, CO--a floating week in high winter season. Want to sell b/c we prefer VRBO rentals. Hate the dues increases as well. We reserved a week that Redweek offered 1015 points today and I am not sure what to do to make it easier to sell as well as cover our $798 in annual dues we paid last month. Will it make it a lot easier to sell to "give away" the 2008 7-night stay starting Nov 29th or could we just advertise it for sale on Redweek at $1000? Our long term goal is to sell, but NOT a fire sale. We have listed it w/Marriott for re-sale since late-Oct 2007 and they have ROFR from what the re-sale person told me. She said they sell, but it takes about a year and said we may get as much as $8-9000. I am skeptical, but that is what the timeshare gig has taught me to be. Best advice to get it sold to the highest bidder?

Dear Kathy:

Your stuck with the timeshare.....I tried unsucessfully for 5 years to sell our timeshare. We had red week in Newport RI with a 2 bedroom timeshare. We finally ended up getting rid of it last year by giving it away to Savvy Traveler. We had to pay our next year's maintenance dues and some other associated costs (deed transfer etc.). It stopped our bleeding each year with the high dues.

We went the route of trying to have timeshare places that send you advertisements to sell your timeshare, and then we went to a presentation of "We collect timeshares" and they wante $4,000.00 to take our timeshare back.............and finally I talked to Resort Closings.com and spoke to them about getting rid of our timeshare and they had me contact Savvy Traveler. They were up front and they told me the truth about trying to get rid of timeshare.

No one wants them anymore. It is too hard to exchange, you never get your dates that you want and the dues each year are climbing and if your unlucky enough like we were you have to pay special assessments in addition to your dues each year.

Those dues are yours, your kids, your grandkids, your great grandkids and on and on.

If your not using your timeshare...I suggest getting rid of it now!

Sorry to be so negative, but no one ever tells the truth about timeshares.

Barbara

=============== Just curious. What TS did you own in Newport? Did you have a summer Red week (late June through Labor Day)? Newport in the summer is usually a fairly high demand week and thus the exchange value (or rental value) should have been pretty good.

We had Newport on Shore.......week started Memorial Day weekend. Not during high summer.

B

I've seen some really creative ideas for getting rid of unwanted ts. I cannot take any credit for having them or attest to them working. search the forums there are alot of good ones. The one that stands out to me is rent w/ option to buy. Tell them to tour and then they will hear the inflated developer price. Apply a portion of rent to purchase. Let the developer sell it for you. Obviously they would be happy tp pay if they like the resort and at all were sold on the idea by the "professionals" but were getting a substantial discount. They would think they were getting a deal. In some respects they would be. I believe this makes alot of sense to me because I believe we lose a lot of our value resale because we don't have a magical sales team that will make the sale by any means necassary. We don't get to offer people freebies for checking out our ebay listing and we don't have millions to inflate our product in the buyers eyes to look like something they HAVE to have. Not my idea but one I read here on redweek. I could see it working. Again I can't take credit and that is one of many creative things I read on here. jim

Jim, I like the idea of the rent to buy option--my biggest concern is the ROFR Marriott may place on the situation. I would use my 2008 week to be that incentive, as I agree, it is a way to use the developer to my best advantage. Is that a waste if Marriott pulls the rug out w/ROFR? Kathy K

samd12 wrote:

Jayjay said "many people buy thinking their maintenance fees will never go up". This a bit disingenuous friend. Of course we expect the maintenance fee to go up, but not at 5 times the rate of inflation. And then, we do not expect our so-called maintenance fee to be nearly the same amount of money it would cost us to stay in similar accommodations in a hotel (which would not be holding the thousands we paid for the TS). I am sick of the Time Share Crooks with their creative accounting that enables them to charge $670 maintance for an annual week TS in a 600 sq ft hotel suite -- this is nearly $35,000 per annum. Just think about that $35,000 each year to "maintain" a small suite, pay the salaries of housekeepers who make up the room maybe twice a week, and for the 5 minutes per guest visit the front-desk people spend with you????

After the developers scam you into buying one of these and separate you from thousands of dollars, you then have the privilege bending over for them year after year so they can keep stealing from you more and more and more and more.

sam, you and I are in complete agreement on everything you stated in your post above. The MAIN reason we sold all nine of our timeshares was because we were beginning to see the handwriting on the wall as far as the neverending rise in fees related to timeshare ownership.

We bought all but one of our timeshares resale (lost $ bigtime when we sold the developer bought on the resale market), but there wasn't that much money involved in the other resale buys, however the straw that broke the camel's back was when one of the resorts charged a special assessment and then went on to raise maintenance fees outragageously for two years in a row after the special assessment. That's when we put it, and the others, on the market to sell.

I believe, as more people become educated concerning timesharing (via internet research and forums such as Redweek), that the reputation of timeshares will once again be in the gutter as was the case in the 1970's UNLESS some sort of federal regulatory agency is developed to step in with strict guidelines for developers and resellers.

The timeshare market (both developer and resale) is rampant with untruths and outright lies (upfront fee resale companies is one good example).

Developer salespeople are not held responsible for what they tell (untruths) to prospective buyers in presentations. I believe all presentations should be video and audio taped. In this day and time of electronic genious, this would not be a hard thing to do.

As more and more people become disenchanted and state their disenchantment to whoever or whatever entity that will listen (the media is a good place to start), then I believe one day the government will HAVE NO CHOICE but to step in to regulate the industry. I don't particularly care for government intervention in our lives, but in the case of timesharing I think it should be mandatory.

Kathy, True Marriot could execute ROFR...If the price is right (agreed vefore purchase) they won't and it would still be substantially lower then what the developer pushes. Worst case IMHO you have the thing rented out to cover your costs. i would let the buyer know that if they execute ROFR it is because they didn't offer enough. Not your fault. It will make them agree to a higher amount and rightfully so. Sometimes these things slip right thru anyway, but i would use ROFR to my benefit and try to get a higher offer.They may say no I want to offer this lower amount, be nice, let them, and then they go to the presentation. After they here the developer price and are able to add the rent cost as part of purchase they will probabally offer more and that will probabally make it more than Marrriot wants to buy back for. Plus either way you win cause its rented and they have to buy back for that amount, right? I don't know it would work for sure...Its not my idea, but in theory it sounds pretty good. Jim

IMHO you are in a better resale situation then most because Marriots hold there value pretty well. Just check ebay. jim

jimy21 Kathy, True Marriot could execute ROFR...If the price is right (agreed vefore purchase) they won't and it would still be substantially lower then what the developer pushes. Worst case IMHO you have the thing rented out to cover your costs. i would let the buyer know that if they execute ROFR it is because they didn't offer enough. Not your fault. It will make them agree to a higher amount and rightfully so. Sometimes these things slip right thru anyway, but i would use ROFR to my benefit and try to get a higher offer.They may say no I want to offer this lower amount, be nice, let them, and then they go to the presentation. After they here the developer price and are able to add the rent cost as part of purchase they will probabally offer more and that will probabally make it more than Marrriot wants to buy back for. Plus either way you win cause its rented and they have to buy back for that amount, right? I don't know it would work for sure...Its not my idea, but in theory it sounds pretty good. Jim[/ Jim, Appreciate the suggestion and will try it, but what does IMHO mean? Kathy

kathyk117 jimy21 Kathy, True Marriot could execute ROFR...If the price is right (agreed vefore purchase) they won't and it would still be substantially lower then what the developer pushes. Worst case IMHO you have the thing rented out to cover your costs. i would let the buyer know that if they execute ROFR it is because they didn't offer enough. Not your fault. It will make them agree to a higher amount and rightfully so. Sometimes these things slip right thru anyway, but i would use ROFR to my benefit and try to get a higher offer.They may say no I want to offer this lower amount, be nice, let them, and then they go to the presentation. After they here the developer price and are able to add the rent cost as part of purchase they will probabally offer more and that will probabally make it more than Marrriot wants to buy back for. Plus either way you win cause its rented and they have to buy back for that amount, right? I don't know it would work for sure...Its not my idea, but in theory it sounds pretty good. Jim[/ Jim, Appreciate the suggestion and will try it, but what does IMHO mean? Kathy[/Q] IMHO In my humble opinion

jimy21 wrote:

I've seen some really creative ideas for getting rid of unwanted ts. I cannot take any credit for having them or attest to them working. search the forums there are alot of good ones. The one that stands out to me is rent w/ option to buy. Tell them to tour and then they will hear the inflated developer price. Apply a portion of rent to purchase. Let the developer sell it for you. Obviously they would be happy tp pay if they like the resort and at all were sold on the idea by the "professionals" but were getting a substantial discount. They would think they were getting a deal. In some respects they would be. I believe this makes alot of sense to me because I believe we lose a lot of our value resale because we don't have a magical sales team that will make the sale by any means necassary. We don't get to offer people freebies for checking out our ebay listing and we don't have millions to inflate our product in the buyers eyes to look like something they HAVE to have. Not my idea but one I read here on redweek. I could see it working. Again I can't take credit and that is one of many creative things I read on here. jim

Jim not to pat myself on the back but I posted this plan years ago on other sites and have posted it on Redweek and Tugg and also on Trip Advisor few times!

We won a trip to Pv Mexico from the Oakland A's in 1970 and as most young married couples fell in love with the resort.

Back then you didn't have resale offices at resorts or computer on--line forums to learn and get help.

After owning it for few years and only going one time with friends we traded through Rci and never had a decent trade from them and had last two years of vacation totally messed up because of them.

We went the upfront company and paid about $400 back in 1974 and lost our money. I just decided to use the resort sales to sell our timeshare and ran ad in paper that would rent our three bedroom timeshare in PV MEXICO and if the family wanted they could buy it from us for $4500 minus the $1200 rental fee if this was done within two weeks of vacation. I recommended they go on the tour and take all the free crap they give away and decided what to do.

The fourth day they called and said they were buying our unit. It was third fixed week in Oct and right at the end of rain season so it wasn't hot and it was beautiful.

They found they could buy the unit they were in and bring up to 13 people each year for about $3300 and closing fee's or spend $9500 at the resort plus closing fee's.

Couple years ago a friend of ours started asking me about timeshares and how to sell and I told what we did and even help him write up his ad. He sold the first year he tried this.

The good part of this is you get your unit rented if you were not using it that year.

The bad side is you can only do this once a year so you need to be careful about the renter if possible. Also don't go stupid and over price your selling price because remember one of the biggest hooks is(RESORT WILL FINANCE) so they can buy with little down and make payments and this is how most young couples get hooked!

If they buy from you they need cash from somewhere.

As far as Kathy's problem and its a good one is her place is sold if she has a buyer. I have never dealt in ROFR but understand if the resort pulls this they have to buy your unit at that price.

Kathy seems to be over thinking this idea a little. First she needs to set the price she wants and then who cares if buyer or Marriott buys it as long as someone buys it. All Kathy wants to do is sell and if she is working a renter against Marriott she is doing nothing wrong as long as she puts this information on the rental contract and explains to renter what could happen.

Remember the deal is to rent your timeshare for that year and letting renter buy is a bonus for them if it works out.

Jim if this was us dealing I would tell you I will rent my unit to you for $1500 and sell it if you decide within two weeks of trip there. If you buy the price will be $10,000 minus the $1500 rental fee for total of $8500 and you are paying all closing/transfer fee's.

Also this deal can be stopped by Marriott with ROFR and offer will only show your offer is for $10,000.

If this happen to Kathy then she gets $10,000 from Marriott and made $1500 for renting that year.

PHIL

I really like Phil's idea. I would advertise in the Denver paper (we live 60 miles north of Denver) or Redweek.com, or even TUG2? Play up the rent to buy option, I assume and see what happens? Any suggestions or cautions other than appropriate price and trying to find the right renter/buyer? I talked to Marriott again yesterday and they re-market the resales just as they do all the unts in their sales talk. When it sells for $14,900, they give me $8000 and pay all the fees. Said that timing is unknown and said chances are "fair" that it will sell during the next winter ski season. NO promises, which at least sounded honest. I will wait to get final suggestions from Phil and proceed ahead. Kathy