Many people would agree that reselling a timeshare is not as easy as buying one. You get loads of invitations in mails; get courtesy calls and emails to attend a timeshare presentation. They offer you bounties and favors in return for attending a presentation. Why all this? To convince you buy a timeshare. Buying is as easy as making a simple enquiry and many companies come knocking to your house to sell a timeshare. But, have you ever wondered is selling a timeshare as easy as buying one? The harsh truth is “no”. Reselling a timeshare can be a real pain in the neck. That is why many experts advice not buy timeshare as an investment. It is never going to rewards you with the returns of a real estate property. It is an investment in your life, dreams but not for financial returns. True that many people buy timeshare with the intention of vacationing only but certain unforeseen circumstances may force some timeshare owners to resale their timeshare unit. So this article is exclusively for those people and may also benefit others also who are contemplating selling their timeshares due to reasons such as change of taste, family has grown and you no longer want to go to the same location etc.
- Check with the timeshare developer who sold you the timeshare. Sometimes the developers offer the original buyer an option to resell their timeshare back to the developer. If not find out if your timeshare is associated with a licensed broker handling timeshare resale.
- You have to be realistic in your expectations. Do not expect wonders. It is a bitter truth that timeshare properties do sell at less than their original price. Not only that, it may be difficult to resale as well especially if it is in a not so popular destination, is a small unit for example a studio and if the time of use is in an off season. It might be a challenging task to sell a timeshare like the one discussed above. But in case of a property which is located in popular vacation destinations, is reasonably big and offers usage during peak season might sell easily. But again even if the property sells it might sell at 30-50% less than its original price. So be prepared mentally about that, think that it is like your car which depreciates with each passing year.
- Make sure you do your home work first. Research the market well to know about the prices. Also know what you are selling by thoroughly studying all the documents. Try to ascertain whether your property is a deeded property or right to use one. Some right to use property values decrease considerably when they approach their expiry. Knowing all these facts makes you knowledgeable about your timeshare and helps you in reselling the property with confidence.
- List your timeshare with a real estate agency. There is no dearth of online and traditional brokers. But do enquire whether there is any upfront fee for listing the advertisement or commission on sale of property. You may not want to go with a broker who charges very large upfront fee or commission. You can also list your timeshare in classified ads offered by many timeshare developers. The latest trend that is catching up is to list your timeshare for auction on sites such as e-bay which lest you develop your own ad campaign with your own ideas.
- Do not fall prey to scammers who might dupe you by offering quick resale of your timeshare. Never believe their promise to resale it quickly as we have discussed in detail earlier how touch it is to resale a timeshare. There is no guarantee whatsoever that your timeshare might resell in a specified time period.
- Also do not commit to any offer on phone. Do not make decisions in haste. Take your time to make a decision and to come to a conclusion whether to accept the offer or not. Also request the offer in writing and also obtain a written contract.