Selling Divi Resort Timeshares - WARNING!

After contacting Divi Resorts corporate to inquire about transfer fees with regard to selling multiple Divi timeshares in the same year, this is the response I received:

The transfer fees are $250.00 for the first transfer and then $1,000 for each additional transfer done within the same 12 month period.

In my opinion, this is a blatant attempt to dissuade people from selling multiple weeks at the same time. Sadly, there are times when things happen and people are no longer able to travel. Penalizing timeshare owners in this manner seems usurious.

Has anyone ever been in a position of selling two weeks simultaneously and challenged this? Quadrupling the transfer fee for additional transfers within a 12 month period seems arbitrary, to say the least!

Wow, that's expensive. However, realistically, most ppl don't sell theirs that close or fast.

first ive heard of a "multiple transfer" type penalty, id certainly like to know what sort of scam/scheme/whatever caused someone to implement this policy.

Resales Hamper Developer Sales

lprstn said:

Wow, that's expensive. However, realistically, most ppl don't sell theirs that close or fast.

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If that were the case, Divi corporate would not have jacked up the transfer fee to a grand in order to discourage people from selling multiple weeks within a 12 month period.

For people who know where to look, why would they even think about paying full price when they can still get to use a timeshare for over 20 years for a fraction of the price?

The current nightly rate at some Divi resorts is about $250. For about the price of ten nights, you mean to tell me that someone wouldn't be interested in a time share with over twenty WEEKS remaining on the contract?

Sure they would, especially at a tropical destination!

Wondering About the Legality of This

TUGBrian said:

first ive heard of a "multiple transfer" type penalty, id certainly like to know what sort of scam/scheme/whatever caused someone to implement this policy.

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This information came straight from a representative of Divi Resorts, and I believe it's a new policy. I'm not sure if a scam or a scheme prompted it. Instead, I suspect that word is slowly getting out at the resorts about resales, causing presentation conversions to sales to decrease.

Divi Corporate is located in North Carolina, and I've read in prior posts that any disputes are governed by the laws of that state. If any timeshare owner reading this is or knows of a lawyer practicing in North Carolina, I'd be interested in knowing whether or not Divi Corporate can increase transfer fees for subsequent units to four times the fee of the first transfer! That seems to be arbitrary and usurious to me!

NJ2Aruba said:

This information came straight from a representative of Divi Resorts, and I believe it's a new policy.

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Does your contract with them mention anything about transfer fees? I ask because we own a Mexican timeshare and on the purchase contract there is a paragraph about assignments. It says that any assignment of rights under this contract must be accompanied by a $100 transfer fee.

If you have any such wording that specifies the amount of the transfer fee, perhaps you might be covered by that. Maybe since it's a new policy it would apply only to contracts made after the date they started that new policy.

NJ2Aruba, I own at the Divi Phoenix and was not aware of this policy. Seems crazy to me and makes me glad I only own one week. Are you going to try fighting it?

topmom101 said:

NJ2Aruba, I own at the Divi Phoenix and was not aware of this policy. Seems crazy to me and makes me glad I only own one week. Are you going to try fighting it?

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I'll have to take a look at the contract to see if it specifies a monetary amount for the transfer fee or any wording with regard to assignment so vague as to be broadly interpreted under the law.

It's not the transfer fee that is a problem, of course. It's the fact that if an owner wants to sell/transfer more than one timeshare week in the course of a 12 month period, Divi Corporate now claims that a transfer fee of $1,000 will apply from the second transfer, on.

I don't have the time to look into fighting this, beyond examining the two contracts to see what the terms of assignment are. If a fixed fee reflects, it will be easier to dispute. If not, a real estate attorney in North Carolina would have to opine as to the legality of this assessment.

I was also told that Divi doesn't have a buy-back policy for Phoenix timeshares, which I don't think is smart business sense. If the resort had a large portfolio of resale units which will have less than the complete # of RTU years that a developer contract has, they would be able to offer these purchases as an option to people who either balk at the full price after a presentation is complete or those who clearly had no intention to buy a timeshare when they agreed to the presentation, who may be converted to buyers due to the lower price.

I feel that resale weeks in a $10K-$15K range would sell briskly.

noone would buy divi phoenix weeks at 10-15k when they regularly sell for under 2k on ebay...many in the few hundred dollar range.

saw one recently sold for 90 dollars

EBay Bait and Switch

I've read too many things about timeshare "sales" on EBay that cause me to doubt whether or not these are legitimate sales and purchases. Since people are still taking resort timeshare tours and paying full price for timeshare weeks, the option to purchase a resale week for a fraction of the price would be a way for the resort to sell to people who simply can't afford the full price payment amount.

I love my Divi Phoenix unit and, thanks to TUG, I got it for free on Bargain Deals. It was a lucky day, indeed.

I also want to add that I have purchased 3 other timeshares on EBay, one of which was $1.00.

ha..so you mean you really can buy a Timeshare for a $1? who knew =)

congrats! not only did you get what you wanted for $1...you assisted another TUGGER in unloading a timeshare they no longer wanted.

cant get much more win win than that!

NJ2Aruba said:

This information came straight from a representative of Divi Resorts...

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Was that representative a salesperson by any chance?
(Lips moving = lying.)

In any case, as mentioned above, the real story is probably in your contract.

I have reviewed my contract and it makes no mention of closing costs. I am going to ask Divi Corporate to document the legality of a quadruple increase in closing costs from $250 for the first transfer, to $1,000 for each successive transfer within the same 12 month period. Why not $1,200, or $1,500? In other words, the $1,000 amount seem arbitrary to me, unless I am provided with a law that allows successive transfers within the same year to be "capped" at $1,000.

Keep us posted.

transfer fees

i have seen some of the timeshare groups in mx jack up the transfer fees. The guy who got his unit for $1 probably wont see that again if the transfer fees are jacked up- so it affects both buyer and seller at that point.