Mar 05

How Much Is Your Timeshare Worth? Many Are Below Zero

Timeshare Costs No Comments »

Timeshares Resale Value Go Below ZeroFor anyone that has ever bought a new car, we know that sinking feeling we get as the value drops like a rock after we drive it off the dealership parking lot. Once you sign the contract for a timeshare, the impact is as if you bought and drove several new cars off the dealership lot at once. You’re going to lose a lot of value immediately.

A timeshare can lose 40% to 75% of their market value immediately after you sign the contract with the timeshare salesperson. One factor that contributes to the steep drop in value is that the salesperson and the company immediately receive their percentages on commission.

In the short time that it takes for the ink on your contract to dry, the timeshare turns into a notch on the timeshare salesperson’s belt. Immediately considered an asset to the timeshare resort, the clock starts to siphon money from the fresh timeshare owner in the form of maintenance and special assessment fees.

After a while, the timeshare resorts have little incentive to provide upkeep and to upgrade the timeshare. There is a reason for that. The timeshare contract guarantees revenue through all the fees the resorts collect from timeshare owners, so they do not need to bother with improvements. They take this money and use it to build new resorts that guarantee that they can collect even more maintenance fees from new timeshare owners.

As the timeshares age and the maintenance fees increase, there is less desire to purchase a condo unit from that location.  Most potential buyers would prefer new, more modern timeshare units.  At the same time, if the value for the increased maintenance fees paid begin to annoy timeshare owners, how do you think it will affect a potential owner who never vacationed there before?  For many owners, they end up paying for something they don’t use and no one is looking to purchase from them.   So, the value of that timeshare is negative — below zero — it’s taking money away constantly.

Timeshare Relief helps people out of this vicious downward spiral of value and get rid of those timeshares.

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Dec 20

Love & Hate – Opinions About Timeshares on the Internet

Timeshare Relief No Comments »

More and more it seems as if everyone has an opinion about timeshares – even people who have never owned a timeshare know about them and have formulated opinions.  Opinions span from love to hate: those enthusiast owners who love their timeshares and go year after year to those who think timeshares are a complete rip-off.  Some harbor resentment and quietly resign themselves to the fact that they own a timeshare that they will have to pay for year after year.  Some proudly claim ignorance to the entire industry.  When you jump online onto the Internet, you’ll see a full expression of opinions given the security of anonymity of cyberspace.

So, it’s important to keep in mind that every opinion, article, blog post that you read has a particular bias stemming from a vested interest in the topic being discussed.  This holds for any subject on the Internet, and timeshares are no different.  Many of the websites about timeshares are produced and maintained by those in the timeshare industry who are in the business of pushing timeshare sales & related services.

The timeshare industry is a huge one.  In 2008 in a down economy, timeshares generated $9.7 billion in revenue with the average timeshare cost of over $20,000 according to ARDA, the American Resort Development Association.  The large developers and hotel chains that dominate the industry certainly have the financial resources to invest in timeshare promotion and marketing.  As a result, the Internet is now permeated with pro-timeshare messages and positive marketing spin by using the anonymity of the Internet to contribute to forums, post blogs, write articles.  The aggressiveness of such marketing has tended to drown out those who are dissatisfied with their timeshares.

There is a reason why a number of online forums and discussion boards have so many positive comments about timeshares and why you can find the very same posts repeated across different websites.

Of course, this blog and the content produced through Timeshare Relief has a bias as well.  We see it as a voice for the silent and sometimes desperate timeshare owners who have no other place to turn.  Our goal with our content is to appeal to common sense rather than hype and exaggeration.  Our research and our experience with timeshare owners provide a level of understanding of the difficulties of timeshare ownership.  We take it as our responsibility to educate buyers about the timeshare industry, to discuss the options available to buyers who no longer want or need their timeshare, and to listen and address any related concerns that timeshare buyers might have.

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Jul 21

A New Era for Timeshare Sales

Timeshare Industry, Timeshare News 1 Comment »

Wyndham Skyline Tower, Atlantic CityWhen the Wall Street Journal reports that the major hotel chains are pulling back significantly on their most profitable divisions in their companies, its a definite sign that the economy has changed and that discretionary income is much tighter.

As reported by Anton Troianovski and Kris Hudson, the big players in the hotel and resort industry – Wyndham, Marriott and Starwood are all scaling back their timeshare divisions.  Whereas these profit centers were major contributors to the bottom line in past years, they are increasingly becoming dead weights from the lack of buyers, the difficulty of selling timeshare loans and pricing pressure from the resale market.

Here are some eye-popping stats:

- Wyndham has 150 resorts world-wide and an estimated 830,000 timeshare owners!
- Wyndham will cut it’s timeshare business by 40% DOWN to an estimated $1.2 billion!
- In 2008, timeshares contributed 53% of the overall revenue to Wyndham and 42% earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)!!
- Resale listings on a timeshare broker site increased by 30%, but sales have fallen by 50%!
- Delinquencies are now over 5% industry wide versus being slightly under 3% a year ago

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