Tips on selling one’s timeshare
In the last few years, vacation ownership, better and widely known as timeshare has transformed into one of the most popular ways to vacation. The idea allows people the prospect to own condo-style, usually luxurious, accommodations and spaces at resorts of excellent quality in much-visited international as well as domestic destinations. Featuring an expansive floor plan, the other usual offerings in timeshare accommodations include multiple spacious bedrooms, living room space complete with an outdoor area, laundry services, well-equipped, large kitchens and other home-like amenities.
If you are the proud owner of a timeshare, then you are one of the more than 7 million timeshare owners across the world!
However, what happens when your vacation accommodation is no longer fulfilling your needs, and now you wish to sell it? How to sell my timeshare is one of the most asked questions across the spectrum of timeshare forums everywhere. Read to know more about it.
Tips about selling timeshares
If you’re intent on selling your timeshare, these are tips that you should keep in mind:
- If you are an owner and you wish to sell your timeshare yourself (for-sale-by-owner), then this advertising option is perhaps the most cost-effective and convenient methods of selling one’s timeshare. Only – you need to have separate time allotted to manage buyer queries independently, for that is a full-time job in itself. Also, there are two particular factors which affect timeshare sale and over which the seller has complete control – price and exposure.
- Choosing the correct FSBO (for-sale-by-owner) website is imperative. Since there are tens of thousands of timeshare accommodations across more than 190 countries, so one should be careful about selecting that website which is truly visible on the web search engines and where it makes sense to advertise. However, one’s ad for selling their timeshare should have the relevant search terms such as sale timeshares. The website must also be uniquely positioned to attract the correct kind of buyer traffic.
- The most important aspect to remember while selling a timeshare is to have a realistic expectation of the price that you want to sell your timeshare at. One needs to remember that there will be significant price differences between the new timeshares sold by developers and the resale timeshares. So, no matter from whom or at what price you bought your timeshare originally, you cannot make a profit now and neither will you get back the amount that you originally spent. That being said, do not undersell your property. For instance, some brands and properties (Four Seasons, etc.) will always have a higher resale value as well.
- Timing and amenities being offered by your timeshare property are important when you are trying to sell timeshare. Aspects such as the time period or the season, whether your timeshare is a studio or a 3-bedroom condo complete with lockout, the time frame, whether it is points-based, floating or fixed, what extra amenities the place offers, etc. every factor mentioned above, and more, will be affecting the pricing of your timeshare.
- The process of selling timeshares differs from person to person and the goal and objective with which they are selling it. For instance, if a person’s goal is to sell timeshare at the earliest, he/she will price the property in the lower range for similar properties around – some people usually start by looking at low-priced properties. However, if someone’s else’s goal is to get the best value from their timeshare with time not being an issue, they can price theirs in the higher range – who knows, someone might be willing to pay more.
- For all those who own timeshares in older communities or those that haven’t been well-maintained – these vacation accommodations are the hardest to sell the timeshare. In fact, the delinquency rates in unsuccessful, peeling away and failing resorts can be as high as 30-40%, which essentially means that there’s probably not enough money for improvement and maintenance, spelling death for timeshares.
- One of the biggest issues faced by those who wish to sell their timeshares is not falling into the trap of well-laid scams specifically targeting these owners. What most brokers and real estate agents who deal in timeshares say is never to strike a conversation, let alone a deal, with any company which asks for more than $100 upfront during the sale process. Agents and brokers collect their commission money only after the timeshare has been sold, so any establishment which asks for a big payment up front, or one which calls unsolicited, sends e-mails and postcards are looking to con the people wanting to sell their timeshare.
Last but not the least, if you are unable to sell your timeshare, for whatever reasons, it’s always a good idea to rent it out. Since the rental market is always more dynamic and robust as compared to the retail market, timeshare owners might end up making money off of it.