Tips on selling your Timeshare

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Also do not commit to any offer on phone. Do 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 written contract.

Alternatives to Timeshare

Over the period of decades the popularity of timeshares has grown by many folds so much so that over two million Americans have timeshare properties in country and out of country. But the rise of timeshare industry saw the rise in scams and frauds. More recently the timeshare industry has been plagued by unscrupulous activities of frauds and scammers. Notwithstanding these serious problems with timeshares a new breed of alternatives are emerging. One of the main reasons why people were attracted towards timeshares was that it will be an expensive affair for a big family to vacation every year at a hotel or a resort. Timeshares proved to be an economical solution to all that.

But on the flip side of it, buying a timeshare requires large upfront fee and the timeshares typically range anywhere from ten thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollars also. On top of that the buyers have to pay the annual maintenance fee, property taxes, management fee etc. which could range from few hundreds to over a thousand also. People have begun realizing that why pay more money and still use the same property every year for only one week. And people get bored of going to the same place again and again. Although some timeshares offer exchange program which would allow owners to exchange their timeshare units across different resorts and locations but it is not that easy with exchange costing more bucks. And when the owner wants to sell a timeshare unit it is not that easy task. Timeshares are one of the most difficult properties to sell. Even when they sell they sell at 30%-50% lower than their original price.
Now a new era of concepts is taking vacation industry by storm. And this era is represented by concepts such as resort memberships and condo hotels. A resort membership is a one time investment i.e. you have to pay the membership fee only once and you can enjoy the benefits of the resort life long. And what more you are not required to pay any maintenance fee or taxes. Resort memberships can cost anywhere from few grand to few hundred grand. Some resort membership may also have yearly fee. But if you do a good research there are some resorts within the range of affordability. The best deal that one can get is may be a lifetime member ship for around three grand and a limited five year membership for two grand. And the members have access to not only the resort they have membership in but they can choose from hundreds of resorts worldwide available in resort company’s network. And there is no limit on number of times you want to go and at what time you want to go, your vacation is always assured.
Another concept that is getting popular is condo hotel which is a relatively new concept and only very few people own condos in hotels. But the concept is receiving good reviews and is gaining popularity with the time. The way it works is it allows people to buy condos in luxurious hotels and utilize the benefits of all the amenities available in the hotel. If the owner is not using the condo he can put his condo for rent and can receive percentage of the revenues it produces. A condo hotel in comparison to a timeshare offers more flexibility, is better furnished, and has better amenities, better services and many locations.

Knowing enough about Timeshare to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you've just learned about Timeshare, you should have nothing to worry about.

Tax Information about Timeshares

Some people have a misconception that timeshare sales are not subjected to income tax. But in reality timeshares sales are subjected to income tax. It is treated similar to any other kind of real estate property. As a timeshare property is a capital asset so when you sell a timeshare and make profit on it, it is considered as a capital gain. But you have to own the property for more than one year for it to be eligible for income tax. You can include all the costs associated with buying a timeshare like closing costs you had to pay when buying your timeshare, the annual maintenance fee for all the years that you owned the property and special assessments if any.

But Like any other real estate property if you sell your timeshare and if you incur loss which is called capital loss, you many not be able to deduct the losses in your tax returns. But situation might differ if you regularly rent the unit; any loss on sale would be termed as allowable business loss and would thus be deductible as an allowable ordinary loss in tax returns. Loss on sale would not be allowed by IRS if the unit had been converted back to personal use before selling.

There are no other deductibles allowed against timeshares. The exception is the property tax only if it is billed separately. They are also deductible if the resort differentiates it as a different item on your maintenance fee bill. You may also be able to deduct the interest on a timeshare loan, but, only if the loan is taken as a mortgage and there should be no other deductible mortgages except your primary home mortgage. But sad thing is not all timeshare loans qualify as mortgage loans as they are primarily termed as consumer loans. Also you have to keep in mind that you cannot deduct interest on multiple timeshare loans at a time if you also have a primary home mortgage. But you might be able to deduct interests on multiple timeshares if they are at same resort, as they can be viewed as one timeshare.
The timeshares can also be used for donating to a charity. But there are some restrictions. If you want to donate a deeded timeshare, the allowable deduction is normally equal to the fair market value of the timeshare on the date of donation. If the fair market value exceeds five thousand dollars you will have to get a written appraisal that should meet IRS guidelines. In case of non-deeded and right to use timeshares which are considered as tangible assets, additional rules apply. The fair market value of the timeshare must be reduced by the amount equal to any gain that would have been made had the property been sold by the owner.
When it comes to renting your timeshare you can claim deductions on all expenses including depreciation cost, cost of advertising, rental commissions and maintenance fees. Certain kind of special assessments may be deductible like repairs and unexpected expenses. Expenses like remodeling may not be deductible, so are the travel expenses

Also one has to remember that vacation home rules apply if you use it for at least fifteen days each year for personal use. The timeshares can also qualify however you should use it at least 15 days.

Know your Timeshare Rights

One of the biggest reasons why many people fall into the trap of scammers and frauds is that they do know their legal rights when buying a timeshare. It is always a good practice to know your rights when you are signing any contract or agreement. As with any other industry timeshare industry is also prone to unscrupulous tactics by some people. Everyday you hear a story of somebody being duped into buying a timeshare and the property doesn’t even exist or in some cases, is not up to the standard and what they were promised. We here these horror stores and we should learn from these. Here are few things that you should remember while buying a timeshare.

To understand our rights let us understand different types of timeshare plans first. They are basically of two types. A deeded and title timeshare and the second one are right to use also as called license to use timeshares. A deeded and title and ownership means the buyer owns the timeshare and acquires a specific facility for a specified length of time each year, for a specified number of years (generally 40 years) and a deed. A right to use timeshare means the buyer has the right to acquire all the above mentioned things except the deed i.e. title. A deeded timeshare is inheritable whereas a right to use timeshare is like a lease which expires after certain number of years.

Timeshare industry has also acquired the reputation of used car industry in terms of selling tactics they use. It starts off with an invitation to a presentation offering you an expensive gift. When you actually go there it turns out to be a pressure selling session of a used car dealer who doesn’t want you to go out unless you sign a paper. And the expensive gift also turns out to be a mere gimmick. And the people have to go through the trauma of sitting through the presentation which goes on for two hours also sometimes, full of pressure selling tactics. But as per the law the people are supposed to be informed about the length of the time they have to sit before receiving a free gift. Also they must be informed about the physical condition of the facility. The timeshare companies are also legally not permitted to misrepresent the market value of the timeshare property. They are also not supposed to misinform you about the resale or exchange potential of the timeshare property.

The law also prohibits the timeshare companies from not including the oral promises that were made before the purchase of the property in the written contract and also including any kind of fees that were never ever mentioned orally. The rules may vary from state to state. Some states also have a cool-off period usually of two weeks to allow you to cancel your contract should you change your mind.

Apart from these rights one should also consider things such as do you really want to buy the timeshare? Did u check out the facility? Did you contact the better business bureau? Did you talk to existing owners in the timeshare property? Do you plan to rent it? Do you plan on reselling it? Do you plan on exchanging vacation sites frequently? The answers of all these questions should be found out before making a final decision about buying a timeshare.

Knowing enough about Time Share Investments to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you've just learned about Time Share Investments, you should have nothing to worry about.