Those of you who watch NBC’s “Today Show” on a regular basis might have seen the interview between Natalie Morales and Prudential Realty agent Barbara Corcoran, regarding how to sell a timeshare. She offers some good advice to owners who are considering selling a timeshare. If you have not viewed this interview yet you can do so at the following link:

Click Here to See Interview

Here are some of the items Ms. Corcoran addressed that I agreed with and thought were important to address. In the beginning of the interview she states that timeshares are more difficult to sell right now than other pieces of real estate. With the current state of our economy many people are finding it hard to sell their home let alone selling a timeshare, which is considered by many to be a luxury item. Many people have begun to cut back on items that are not a necessity for daily life; hence timeshares are not going to sell as fast as they have in the past since they are not considered a necessity for many families. She also states that you must price your timeshare competitively/cheap to have a chance at attracting a buyer. People who read this blog on a regular basis or have spoken with me know that I have been preaching to people about pricing their timeshare competitively according to the prices of similar units currently on the market. Another idea of Ms. Corcoran’s that I found interesting was to post a week on the resort’s bulletin board, I am not sure that every resort has a bulletin board for owner’s to use but it might at least be worth taking a look at. Some resorts also have newsletters that might be useful to post a week that for sale; after all if someone is receiving a newsletter about a given resort they must have some level of interest for the resort. The best advice that I feel she gave was to never believe someone that tells you they can sell the timeshare for an amount that is above the asking price from the resort or even above the current market value of timeshares in the secondary market. Also never pay a high up front fee, most people that have been burnt by this scam found once the up front fee was paid they never heard from the company in question again.

While there were many great comments and pieces of advice given there were a few items that I took issue with. Ms. Corcoran states that it is difficult to find out the actual selling value for a timeshare in the secondary market; actually here at Vacation Timeshare Rentals we offer a service to provide owners with an accurate resale value of their timeshare. Our timeshare market evaluation provides owners with the values of units similar units sold within the past year, giving the owner a good idea concerning the amount they can expect to receive from a sale. She goes on to say timeshares are currently selling for 30%-50% of the original sale price from the resort. Currently, the range that we have been seeing is more around 10%-30% of the original asking price from the resort, I have always told people timeshares are not a monetary investment the value comes from its use. In the latter part of the interview she states that the seller is responsible for paying the closing costs, I would never recommend that the seller pay the closing cost for the sale of a timeshare. I always tell owners to have the buyer pay the closing cost this way if the buyer backs out they would be taking the loss for the closing costs as oppose to the seller taking the loss. Some owners will discount the price of their timeshare for an amount that is equal to the amount paid by the buyer for closing to entice buyers.

All in all I thought this was a good interview that provided owners with solid information on what to expect when selling a timeshare. This is an important topic for many people and hopefully we will start to see more and more information and interviews like this one concerning this topic. Obviously I would have much rather heard an endorsement for www.VacationTimeshareRentals.com at the end of this interview.

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