JoelyTheBear
TUG Member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2011
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 111
- Location
- USA
- Resorts Owned
- Marriott's Newport Coast Village, Carlsbad Inn
Have any of you bought at timeshare at a tax auction? If so, did you hit a surprise snag?
At Marriott's Newport Coast Villas there are 20 weeks that will be auctioned off this September at minimum bids of between $900 and $2,400. These sell for around $8,000-$9,000 on the secondary market. According to the local records, at last year's auction only around 10% of the timeshares attracted any bids at all. So this looks like a great opportunity, except that folks are voting with their feet that it's not.
Looking for the catch, I called Marriott Vacation Club and was told that the winning bidder would be presented with a bill for the prior owner's past due maintenance fees. And no, they wouldn't tell me how much those are for any property I don't already own. Their bill will almost certainly be illegal, because, as the County's site explains, by state law the winning bidder gets a clean new deed from the county, clear of any mortgages or private liens. Still, if Marriott refuses to let me reserve a week until I pay the former owner's debt, I would be looking at needing to win litigation before I could use my "bargain."
What was your experience with a tax lien sale?
At Marriott's Newport Coast Villas there are 20 weeks that will be auctioned off this September at minimum bids of between $900 and $2,400. These sell for around $8,000-$9,000 on the secondary market. According to the local records, at last year's auction only around 10% of the timeshares attracted any bids at all. So this looks like a great opportunity, except that folks are voting with their feet that it's not.
Looking for the catch, I called Marriott Vacation Club and was told that the winning bidder would be presented with a bill for the prior owner's past due maintenance fees. And no, they wouldn't tell me how much those are for any property I don't already own. Their bill will almost certainly be illegal, because, as the County's site explains, by state law the winning bidder gets a clean new deed from the county, clear of any mortgages or private liens. Still, if Marriott refuses to let me reserve a week until I pay the former owner's debt, I would be looking at needing to win litigation before I could use my "bargain."
What was your experience with a tax lien sale?