Buying resale timeshares

I have been looking to purchase another timeshare (I purchased one a few years ago from Marriott) but was hoping to get a better price by buying resale. I found some that I am interested in, but am a little afraid to buy privately. Has anyone ever purchased from bidshares.com? Do you have any feedback? Did you use one of their closing companies? Can anyone provide me some questions to ask the owner to make sure this is legit? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, mikec211

You are right to look for a timeshare on the resale market ... you can save a ton of money. I've never bought a timeshare from Bidshares but I've sold a couple there. I like Bidshares, along with Redweek and MyResortNetwork ... 3 of my favorite resale ad sites on the internet.

There shouldn't be any problem with the transaction as long as you use a reputable closing company. I don't know what closing company Bidshares advertises, but I would certainly think it would be legitimate.

After the seller sends a copy of his deed to the closing company they will then handle all of the paperwork such as drawing up a new deed in your name, transferring the ownership into your name at the resort and holding all monies in escrow until the transaction is complete.

If you search 'closing companies' in these forums, you can find others that are also recomended.

Thanks for the reply and information jayjay. I have another question or two. Before I submit a bid on the unit, how can I be sure that the Owner is telling the truth regarding things like "It's a platinum week" etc. What if he says that, I submit a bid and win, and then the documentation shows otherwise? Is there something I can ask for to "prove" it before I bid? I asked the Owner in an e mail, and his response was "It's a little early in the negotiation for that". Also, he asked me what kind of offer I had in mind - I plan on offering the minimum bid, as no one else has bid on this in the last auction or so far this one, so I figure he is not getting much interest. I did not answer him, as I also wonder if he can have someone (a relative or something?) bid up the price.

jayjay wrote:

You are right to look for a timeshare on the resale market ... you can save a ton of money. I've never bought a timeshare from Bidshares but I've sold a couple there. I like Bidshares, along with Redweek and MyResortNetwork ... 3 of my favorite resale ad sites on the internet.

There shouldn't be any problem with the transaction as long as you use a reputable closing company. I don't know what closing company Bidshares advertises, but I would certainly think it would be legitimate.

After the seller sends a copy of his deed to the closing company they will then handle all of the paperwork such as drawing up a new deed in your name, transferring the ownership into your name at the resort and holding all monies in escrow until the transaction is complete.

If you search 'closing companies' in these forums, you can find others that are also recomended.

mikec211 wrote:

Thanks for the reply and information jayjay. I have another question or two. Before I submit a bid on the unit, how can I be sure that the Owner is telling the truth regarding things like "It's a platinum week" etc. What if he says that, I submit a bid and win, and then the documentation shows otherwise? Is there something I can ask for to "prove" it before I bid? I asked the Owner in an e mail, and his response was "It's a little early in the negotiation for that". Also, he asked me what kind of offer I had in mind - I plan on offering the minimum bid, as no one else has bid on this in the last auction or so far this one, so I figure he is not getting much interest. I did not answer him, as I also wonder if he can have someone (a relative or something?) bid up the price.

It seems the owner is a little illusive in answering your questions, however that doesn't mean that he's not legitimate.

You can go on and bid and if you win tell him to fax you a copy of the deed OR some form of verification concerning the week for sale. If the information doesn't corelate with his ad, then you have the right to back out of the purchase due to false or wrong advertising.

Also, you MUST use a reputable closing company to handle the paperwork, drawing up a new deed, recording of the deed and transfer of ownership at the resort with escrow services (holding all monies until the transaction is complete).

You can search for closing companies recommended by Redweek forum members by performing a forum search at the upper right corner of this page by entering 'reputable closing companies'.