Has anyone sold their timeshare whilst at their resort?

Last year on my annual visit to my home resort one owner (my neighbour there) was very successful in selling her timeshare to a holidaymaker who had swapped in through RCI. She got far more than she would have got selling through TUG or ebay as she was able to quote near the developers price and knock off about 20%. This was still cheaper than trying to sell it through the timeshare office who charges a higher commission rate than that and who, understandably, have a vested interest in selling new rather than resale.

The lady who purchased the timeshare is very happy and is now my neighbour there!

I just wondered if anyone else has tried this and whether they have had any success?!

Happy timesharing!

Babs

No, But We May Make A Sales Pitch To Our Renter.

After successfully renting out a 2005 week we were unable to use, The Chief Of Staff decided to see if she can come out ahead by renting out a 2006 week.

By advertising on Craig's List, she got a renter right away & has received approximately 1/2 the agreed rental amount as of last week. (Check-in is in May 2006.) Her idea is to wait till she gets the rest of the money, then coach the renter about what to expect on the updates & tours & presentations & so forth that the renter can anticipate being exposed to, then advising the renter that if she likes her experience at the resort so much that she'd like to become an owner, she can buy The Chief Of Staff's week for about 1/2 what the developers are charging for the same thing.

Plus, if the renter chooses to buy from The Chief Of Staff, The Chief Of Staff will not only pay all closing costs, resort transfer fees, & alll that, but also will refund in cash 100% of what the renter paid to rent The Chief Of Staff's 2006 week.

If that happens, & if the renter goes for it, then we can start looking on TUG, eBay, RedWeek, etc., for another equivalent timeshare week as a replacement.

From what I've seen on TUG, eBay, RedWeek, etc., there are plenty of'm out there.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.

One of the radio talk show guys, Clark Howard, suggests talking to other resort guest about buying your TS as one of the best ways to sell a TS. You'll be offering your fellow guests, a large discount on a resort which they may be already considering.

Don't give too many discounts!

I do not suggest giving a refund on the rental monies that you have already collected -- sounds way too eager to sell which is a turnoff. I suggest to renters to go through the presentation, get the price sheets and that we will sell the same unit for x amount (which is about 1/3 the developer price). We have one renter somewhat interested but no bite yet. Since the rental price was 350 over our maintenace fees we do not "need" to sell but wanted to keep that option open.
As to selling at the resort, I have visions of the security guard escorting me from the pool area in my bathing suit for soliciting other guests which I think may be against the R & R's for most resorts. I guess some resorts may be better avenues for this than others especially fixed weeks where you may know more people. I am interested in the experience of others on this.

I haven't done it, but know someone who did. While we were at Alexandra Resort in Turks & Caicos, we met up with an owner that had bought 6 weeks and owned ther for about 3 years. He had become disatisfied with management's lack of maintenance and was selling his units. He was just casually talking with guests and other owners alike while sitting poolside or on the beach. He had sold one week during his last trip down and sold two more while we were there and had someone possibly interested in another one. I think if it is done casually, you can probably get away with it.

I had another owner at my resort tell me via email how he sold. He had a sales friend who he gave his weeks use for free , + a % of an agreed sale amount, to find a person to sell the unit to while there. Made three people happy -the old owner, the sales person and the new owner.

We sold our week 14 at Calini Beach Clb on Siesta Key while using week 14 at Calini. We knew that it would be our last time to "need" week 14 for spring break, as we were retiring from schools. The management co. called and asked us if we minded them "showing" our unit to a couple buying our unit for week 13. We did allow them to show our unit. Later that week, while doing laundry at the resort, we met the same couple who saw and purchased our unit for week 13. In the process of talking to them, we discovered the woman was also a teacher who actually needed week 13 or week 14 for her school's spring break (depending on which week actually was the first full week in April). They ended up purchasing our week 14, avoiding any realtor fee. Win, win situation for both of us!

funtime said:

As to selling at the resort, I have visions of the security guard escorting me from the pool area in my bathing suit for soliciting other guests which I think may be against the R & R's for most resorts. I guess some resorts may be better avenues for this than others especially fixed weeks where you may know more people. I am interested in the experience of others on this.

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The resort might have trouble enforcing that sort of thing. I mean, as owners you have a right to be on "your" property, and the right to dispose of it as you see fit, as well as the fact that there is such a thing as freedom of speech, at least in the US.

Now, if you set up a table in the lobby next to the salespeople and had people touring your unit every few minutes, or knocked/left flyers on every door that would be different.

What would be interesting is how the resort would deal with an ROFR (would they enforce it just out of spite?) when dealing with a buyer who already owns time there, and how fast the turnaround would be on the transfer.

Freebies.

Gadabout said:

Now, if you set up a table in the lobby next to the salespeople and had people touring your unit every few minutes, or knocked/left flyers on every door that would be different.

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All the more so if you were offering sandwiches & lemonade just for showing up plus some other kind of freebies for sitting there & listening to a 90-minute sales pitch -- or maybe just 45 minutes, since we're talking about "used" (resale) timeshares.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.