Financial Hardship
During the current economic crisis, many of the luxuries and perks we once took for granted are being lost. When you bought your timeshare, you may have been in a sound financial position to pay for it, but now, that may have changed. With more bills piling up and taking larger cuts of a smaller financial pie, cutting out luxuries may be the only thing that keeps you above water.
If you are no longer interested in owning your timeshare, there are options for you to explore. If the period of rescission is still in effect, you can use it to get out from under the debt. More than likely, though, that period is long over.
Most timeshare companies want you to believe that once that period is over, they will not buy the property back from you and that you have to fulfill your contractual obligations. This is not precisely true.
What is true is that most timeshare companies will not willingly take the timeshare back. They have little incentive to do so, since if you default on your timeshare payments or on the maintenance fees they will get it back eventually, anyway.
Avoiding defaulting on your contract and taking a hit on your credit rating should be your primary concern and there are some timeshare companies that will work with the buyer to either lessen the payments or to find another buyer.
Selling your timeshare is an option. It is wise to be wary of listing companies. There have been many examples of scams or unscrupulous companies taking advantage of desperate timeshare owners. Do your research and find a reputable timeshare resale company, if you decide to go this route.
There is also the potential for selling your timeshare yourself through sites like Craigslist or eBay. Although selling your timeshare yourself is much more difficult to do than having it sold by a resale company, desperate times can call for desperate measures.If the developer handles reselling of timeshares, you can list it through them or through a timeshare resale broker. Keep in mind, though, that any company that requires an advance fee to list or sell your timeshare should be avoided. Paying an advance fee to a company to list your timeshare is like paying one to a realtor to list your home. Reputable realtors take their fees from the eventual payment of the home, it gives them the incentive to sell your house. Timeshare resale companies should do the same thing.If selling your timeshare is not possible, you can research donating it to a charity. Organizations that accept donated timeshares are becoming rarer, however. Maintenance fees have continued to rise and many of these organizations see timeshares as more trouble than they are worth.It may be possible to transfer the ownership of your timeshare with the receiving party taking over yearly maintenance obligations, but, in some cases, the timeshare company will not recognize the transfer or impose heavy transfer fees which makes the process prohibitively expensive for owners who are faced with financial difficulties.
Curious about what’s really going on when you’re sold a timeshare? Find out more here.
