Timeshares are very difficult to sell. In fact, during recessions it’s hard to even give them away. Therefore, when you’re a seller, you have a serious problem. How are you going to get rid of your timeshare if you can’t sell it?
Trade for Recreational Property
You might trade for such things as an RV, boat, or ATV. Trade your timeshare for anything recreational. A timeshare is recreational. Someone who is a recreational enthusiast like you is a prime prospect for buying your timeshare. They may have a timeshare in a different place that’s acceptable to you or some other recreational property that they no longer desire to own.
One Week If you were desperate to get rid of your timeshare, would you trade your timeshare (ownership) for just a timeshare week (not ownership) or the short term use of an RV, boat, yacht, airplane, house, or cottage for a certain period? Sure you would, if you were desperate.
The trouble is, the likelihood of making a transaction won’t come without some effort on your part. You need to make dozens of offers to anybody and everybody that has something recreational to offer on an online listing or advertising website. If you make enough offers, sooner or later somebody will seriously consider taking your timeshare. Remember, you’re going after the recreational folks. That’s a market of people who are much more likely to buy your timeshare then people in the general population.
Trade for Personal Property
You don’t necessarily have to trade for recreational assets. You can trade for any asset. And everybody has personal property. Trade your timeshare for someone else’s personal property.
You can trade for a car, truck, motorcycle, boat, lathe, computer system, TV, furniture, tractor, camera, and the like. There are plenty of people around who would like to have a timeshare if they don’t have to pay for it up front yet are willing to pay the yearly maintenance. Find a way to propose trades for persoanl property (e.g., on a website). Make many proposals. Sooner or later you may get a taker.
Trade for Down Payment
Four items of greater value, such as high-value personal property or real estate, offer your timeshare as the down payment or a portion of your down payment. In fact, this is not an unusual offer in real estate. (And it can work for personal property too.)
Obviously this approach is not going to work with institutions on the other side of the transaction. Institutions have no means of handling such exotic transactions. But with an individual or small business on the other side of the transaction, you can negotiate easily.
Let’s say you’re buying a house. You don’t have quite enough for the down payment, and you want the owner to take your timeshare as a portion of the down payment at its FMV. Is this transaction is likely to happen? You never know until you ask.
Chances are the seller doesn’t want your timeshare. But the seller may have a daughter with a family who can enjoy the timeshare. The seller may have a 65-year-old mother who loves to travel. Consequently, the seller may accept the offer of your timeshare as part of the down payment.
Ask not, and you shall receive not.
Value
In your attempt to sell you have to be realistic about the value. You have to know what you can realistically expect somebody to pay you for your timeshare. Then you have to determine what you would actually be willing to take in payment for it; if what you’re willing to take is less than FMV, that opens up a lot of negotiating possibilities.
For a trade, never set a value on your timeshare. Convey the attitude to the other party that it’s valuable. But never state how valuable you think it is or think it should be. Let the other party place a value on it.
Simply offer your timeshare in return for something specific that you want to get from the other party. No matter what value you put on your timeshare, the other party is not going to agree. But the other party can decide whether they want take the timeshare to make the deal.
For example, suppose your timeshare has a FMV of $2,000, and the other party has a car for sale at $6,000. Don’t say your timeshare is worth $6,000 and this will be a good trade. Simply say, I will trade you my timeshare for your car.
It could be that the seller of the car can go online and get the same timeshare for $2,000. But he or she may not know that. The seller may figure that the timeshare has to be valuable, probably more valuable than the car. Or, the seller may feel that the timeshare is not as valuable as the car, but she will take the timeshare if you will put an additional $1,000 cash into the transaction. Bingo! You just sold your timeshare for $5,000. It’s all a matter of negotiation.
Make it easy
A timeshare trade is still a timeshare sale. You have to market to the other party just as you would to any potential buyer. That means providing full information on the timeshare, explaining the specifics of how you’re going to close the timeshare transaction, and assuring the other party that the timeshare comes with no immediate liabilities. That means that timeshare is free and clear and that the maintenance fee has been paid in full. The buyer should never be obligated to pay a maintenance fee the first year of ownership unless he has ample opportunity to use the timeshare week the first year. If you are unable to bring the maintenance fee up to date, it’s going to be more difficult to negotiate a trade.
Giveaway
Give away your timeshare. A lot of timeshares for sale online are really giveaways. But before offering a timeshare online for a giveaway price, you might want to try giving it away to friends or relatives. You have to make a sales pitch, just like you do to the general public. Before that sales pitch you can simply state that you don’t expect to get a substantial price for the timeshare when you sell it, so you thought it would be a nice gesture to offer it free to friends or family first.
Most of your relatives won’t understand timeshares, so you’ll have to educate them on the basics. But if anyone is thinking of buying a timeshare, why would they not take one as a gift from you instead. With a timeshare of reasonable value (nice resort, high season) they can exchange each year get whatever resort they want to visit.
Donate
Donate your timeshare to a cause (a non-profit organization). This is something of a long shot. The “cause” has to accept the donation and pay the annual maintenance fee. Let’s say the cause is a church. The church might be able to use the timeshare each year for many of the same purposes that a business uses one, such as a retreat or a bonus for an employee (read Chapter 6).
In addition, a non-profit organization may be able to dispose of the timeshare to raise money in a fundraising auction, or otherwise sell it to someone. Suppose you donate it to a cause, and the cause accepts on the condition that the cause sells it in a fundraising auction. You suddenly have the cause marketing your timeshare for you.
If you dispose of your timeshare via a donation, you don’t get anything for it. But you may get a tax deduction. Consult your tax advisor.
Deed Away
How about just deeding your timeshare to a person, anyone? First, in order for the deed to be valid, it has to be delivered. The delivery of a deed implies that the recipient of the property agrees to take ownership. Otherwise, the deed is not valid, and you still own the property.
Second, if the deed is delivered, the person receiving it (the grantee) has to accept it. If the grantee refuses to accept it, a transfer of ownership is not made. Consequently, you can’t deed away your timeshare to someone who doesn’t want it.
The deed must also be recorded at the county clerk and recorders office in order to attain legal acknowledgment of the transfer of the property. If the recipient doesn’t record it, the deed records will show it still in your name. In order to be sure the deed is recorded, you may have to get possession of the deed back after delivery to the buyer and go to the county to record it yourself.
In addition, a resort may require a transfer fee be paid in order for it to recognize the real estate transaction. Presumably this is to cover the administrative work. If such a fee is not paid, the resort does not have to recognize transfer of ownership, and you’re still liable for all the expenses of ownership including the annual maintenance fee.
Thus, in order to be successful in transferring ownership of your timeshare to someone else, they must be a willing recipient and willing to acknowledge that they have taken over the ownership. You must notify the resort developer (or resort HOA) that the property has been conveyed and pay the fee. You must also record the deed after it has been delivered. If you cannot get all this accomplished, you cannot successfully transfer the ownership of your timeshare to someone else.
If the timeshare is not an interest in real estate but is a membership or another legal format, a transfer is much the same except you don’t use or record a deed. Instead, you use a bill of sale or similar transfer document, and recording is not necessary.
In other words, even if you give your timeshare away, it’s best to close the transaction in escrow via a timeshare closing company.
Auction
Auction off your timeshare. There are online auctions. There are offline auctions. And some nonprofit organizations have auctions (to raise money).
Trade for Services
Trade your timeshare for services from local people who provide the services you need (e.g., plumber, dentist). This is like making a sale. You want to have plenty of information on the timeshare to provide to the person whose services you intend to employ. Many people (service providers) are reluctant (thanks to the timeshare industry’s reputation) to buy a timeshare. But if they can buy your timeshare and pay for it with services, it’s a potential sale.
Trade for Maintenance Fees
I know of at least one timeshare resort chain that makes it possible for owners to give their points back to the resort each year; that is, the developer allows them to use points to pay their maintenance fees. A year’s points are not going to cover a year’s maintenance fees, but such an allowance by the resort can certainly reduce the cost of ownership when you don’t use your points. The resort may require ownership of a minimum number of points or units in order for you to take advantage of this particular benefit.
Trading Currency
If you happen to be one of those people who likes to trade real estate or personal property occasionally, you can use a timeshare as currency in such trades.
It works like this. Suppose a resort developer sells a timeshare for $20,000. Later the owner might sell it for $5,000 in the resale market, if the owner is patient and promotes it for a year or two. If the owner has to sell it quickly, a $2,500 sales price, or even lower, might be more likely. Let’s say you buy a timeshare from such an owner for $2,500, primarily in order to trade it for other property at a future date.
What is its trading value? The $20,000 developer value? The $5,000 resale market value? The $2,500 quick-sale value? For trading you don’t have to set a value. You let the other party set his or her own value. Clearly there is some potential leverage here. You can use this timeshare like money (it’s reasonably easy to transfer), and its value is potentially $5,000 or more.
Can you use this currency effectively? Perhaps not by itself. But you can use it to sweeten the pot. For instance, suppose you negotiate to buy a house. You offer $190,000, but the seller wants $200,000 and won’t budge. You can’t afford more. So you offer to throw in the timeshare (without putting a value on it). The seller of the house may be able to use the timeshare. The seller accepts. Bingo! You’ve just created $10,000 of currency for only $2,500.
For another example, suppose you are negotiating to buy a used Ford Explorer (SUV). The seller wants $28,000. You have only $18,000 cash to spend on a vehicle. You offer to throw in your $2,500 timeshare (without putting a value on it). The seller accepts. You’ve just created $10,000 of currency for only $2,500.
Trading Trading works best in a structured situation, such as a trading organization where the expectations of both buyers and sellers are that trades or partial cash purchases will be made. Trading is less effective in normal transactions where the expectations are that the buyer will pay all cash.
Combo
You offer your timeshare plus $5,000 worth of your time and labor (your services) to buy something such as a vehicle. If the seller accepts, you get rid of your timeshare plus you have a new customer (client.)
Last Word
There is more than one way to get rid of your unwanted timeshare. And it might be more fun to use it to wheel and deal than to try to sell it for cash.
