Getting rid of a time share.

tony241 wrote:

As an HOA Board member we have had people walk away from there Unit. We rent them out, and the unit funds (Rent)pay for the unit till it sells. Also you can rent it out, that should break even with Fees. If it is points, take a vacation...

I sincerely hope that you go after non-paying owners ... if not this is not fair to the responsible owners that do pay.

Well my wife and I have been RAPED by these organizations, they get your money to relieve you of the debt of the HOA. I have a place @ the The Villa @ the Polo Towers the HOA is over $900.00 a yr. well now they Diamond resorts are putting it up for sale, which I'm happy I have not paid the HOA for 3 yrs. and it is out of my hair. Each company that calls from Florida say they can sell it and have a buyer ready to pay $12,000 for the unit and of a same fee which will be refunded to me upon completion of sale. i said sure you take the 1200.00 out of your pocket and put it down for the sale. because the buyer in the state of NV pays all fees not the seller----------they hang up they don't even say good bye.

deanw48 wrote:

Well my wife and I have been RAPED by these organizations, they get your money to relieve you of the debt of the HOA. I have a place @ the The Villa @ the Polo Towers the HOA is over $900.00 a yr. well now they Diamond resorts are putting it up for sale, which I'm happy I have not paid the HOA for 3 yrs. and it is out of my hair.

Just curious, you say you haven't paid MFs for 3 years and it is now out of your hair .... is the HOA not going after you for non-payment .... has all this not affected your credit score?

jayjay wrote:

deanw48 wrote:

Well my wife and I have been RAPED by these organizations, they get your money to relieve you of the debt of the HOA. I have a place @ the The Villa @ the Polo Towers the HOA is over $900.00 a yr. well now they Diamond resorts are putting it up for sale, which I'm happy I have not paid the HOA for 3 yrs. and it is out of my hair.

Just curious, you say you haven't paid MFs for 3 years and it is now out of your hair .... is the HOA not going after you for non-payment .... has all this not affected your credit score?

Talk with the HOA Board. If their is no estate I am not sure what would become of the Timeshare. Tell them the situation, cannot collect from someone who has passed. But I am not a legal Attorney either...

What would be nice is if RedWeek would let threads like this allow members to pay RedWeek the $60 for a resale listing, then post a link to their ad in this thread. We could focus on owners who don't want to pay "thousands of dollars" to a company to take the unit off their hands, and people have a central source to view "Free" or super low price units rather than hunt for them resort by resort.

Since a good number of my posts get deleted because I write something in violation of RW rules, I'm hoping to suggest an option to help everyone. But I'm a bit concerned about the "Do not post ads for businesses, rentals, resales, exchanges or vacation requests in the timeshare forums".

By posting the link to a RW ad, would this be acceptable to RW?

I donated mine to Florida Veterans association and had to pay the fees for transfer etc like around 400 but was worth it to get rid of it and my maintence fees were 670 for the following year so 400 to get rid was ok with me it took about 3 months!

peterp151 wrote:

What would be nice is if RedWeek would let threads like this allow members to pay RedWeek the $60 for a resale listing, then post a link to their ad in this thread. We could focus on owners who don't want to pay "thousands of dollars" to a company to take the unit off their hands, and people have a central source to view "Free" or super low price units rather than hunt for them resort by resort.

Since a good number of my posts get deleted because I write something in violation of RW rules, I'm hoping to suggest an option to help everyone. But I'm a bit concerned about the "Do not post ads for businesses, rentals, resales, exchanges or vacation requests in the timeshare forums".

By posting the link to a RW ad, would this be acceptable to RW?

Hi Peter,

We've discussed whether allowing links to postings would be a good idea for the forums and we feel that it would be better not to allow this. The purpose of the Forums is to share information about timeshares; it is not a place to advertise. We fear what will happen is people will simply start adding links to their postings on the Forums and degrade the value of our Forums pages.

Thanks, Marty

ellensue wrote:

I donated mine to Florida Veterans association and had to pay the fees for transfer etc like around 400 but was worth it to get rid of it and my maintence fees were 670 for the following year so 400 to get rid was ok with me it took about 3 months!

How long ago did you do this .... I was under the impression that charities aren't taking timeshares in this economy.

It was in 2009 think was done by the summer took awhile becasue they were haveing some trouble ( Florida Veterans) with a company they sent the timeshares too. You do pay the cost up front for the deed etc and I paid around 450 but it was done and in jan i didnt get the bil for maintence for the 670 so was worth paying and not having anymore. I woud just call them and see.

Ellensue,

I am pleased to read that a charity accepted your timeshare. Most charities will not accept a timeshare that has no value because if it is an albatross around your neck so will it be to them.

I looked at the "Florida Veterans Assistance, Inc" web page and saw a lot of red flags. Their timeshare page says they pay a finders fee for timeshare donations. Seems strange for a non-profit charity and they do claim to be a 501(c)3 corporation. The page tells you that you will "get up to $5,000 in Tax Credit" for the donation. That phrase was not drafted by a CPA or a tax attorney because there is a significant difference between a credit and a charitable deduction. A credit is a dollar for dollar reduction in your total tax bill whereas a charitable deduction is subject to many restictions and varibles that affect the amount of the deduction allowed. You would not be entitled to a tax credit for the donation. There are several other red flags on the page but who am I to say whether the charity is on the "up and up"?

It is a good sign that you did not receive a maintenance bill in January. Still it might be a good idea to ask Florida Veterans to fax you a copy of the recorded deed, a copy of the exempt status letter from the IRS as well as a copy of the Form 1021 filed initially with the IRS, a copy of their letter to the resort requesting a change in ownership on their records, and a closing statement setting out how the $450 in closing fees you paid them was distributed. A 501(c)3 charity should not make any money on the closing process. If they fail to respond to you then for your own peace of mind you should call the County Clerk in the county where the timeshare is located and ask for a search of the grantor index which will lead the clerk to the volume and page for the recordation of the deed from you to the buyer. They will funish you a copy of the deed for a fee. If the owner of record appears from the name on the deed to be a questionable donee - name is of a non-existent corporation, trust, and etc - then you may have cause for concern. Hopefully, your attorney reviewed all the documents involved in the transfer.

Again, it seems like you are among the fortunate few to "get rid of a worthless timeshare" by giving it to a charity and I commend you. By the way, just out of curiosity, in what state did you attend elementary school?

I didnt care about the income tax deduction I just wanted to be free of it. It was in florida and we used it every year we iked to go there but we bought a place here and no longer needed the timeshare. I called the resort and it was out of our name so we are all set. Just why did you want to know where i went to school at.

Ellensue,

My reference to the "red flags" on the Florida Veteran's web site - calling a deduction a credit, a non-profit 501(c)3 offering a finders fee for referrals, and charging $450 up front for a "closing" - was not intended to address your need for a tax deduction but rather to alert others to the need to do their due diligence before paying $450 to this charity. You were fortunate in your transaction but again time will tell.

My question about where you received your elementary education was totally inappropriate on this forum and for that I apologize. Goodness knows that I have dangled a few prepositions myself in the past as well as inadvertently used "their" where I intended "there" so I think the quality of one's grammar is far less important than the information provided. Your information may prove very valuable to others who have a timeshare to donate.

I see . I guess maybe we are all not as smart as u an so forgive me on that. I was only trying to help others on getting rid of their timeshare I didnt try to offend you or anyone else. Now those that have timeshares this is what I did as of last aug. or so and it worked for me.

ellensue wrote:

I see . I guess maybe we are all not as smart as u an so forgive me on that. I was only trying to help others on getting rid of their timeshare I didnt try to offend you or anyone else. Now those that have timeshares this is what I did as of last aug. or so and it worked for me.

Just curious, where did you own and what week ????

ellensue wrote:

I see . I guess maybe we are all not as smart as u an so forgive me on that. I was only trying to help others on getting rid of their timeshare I didnt try to offend you or anyone else. Now those that have timeshares this is what I did as of last aug. or so and it worked for me.

Ellensue, pleeze don't apoligize. Peeple liike Carvana are Edumacated Idiots!! Ha Ha! Have NUTTIN' Bedder two du than corekt sumones spellin'. !!!

Joel, thanks!. I deserved that. I appreciate your satire. Your prior posts have always been informative and helpful and presented in a non-condescending manner. We often fail to see ourselves as others see us and your comment brought me painfully back to earth. Thanks again.

Sure! We owned week 41 at Hollywood beach Towers top floor end unit for about 8 years.

Ellensue, we went to a timeshare resale company's meeting a few years ago and were told that we could claim the loss as an income tax deduction. I checked with the IRS and learned you can claim it only if you use it primarily as rental property. We did get rid of the timeshare, but did not claim it as a loss. You may already know this, but others may not know it. The tax deduction is commonly used as a tactic by some of these companies.

julias32,

I agree with what you say but would also add that there is a significant difference for tax purposes between the transfer of a timeshare to a charity as Ellensue has done and the sell of a timeshare at a loss. One may deduct capital losses on investment property only and a timeshare purchased and used exclusively for personal purposes never qualifies for the capital loss deduction.

The capital loss is offset against capital gains and is limited to $3,000 per year for a married couple. Claiming a capital loss on the sell of a timeshare is in my opinion and experience a "red flag" for an IRS audit. Anyone misled by a sham resale company into believing they can claim a capital loss on the sale of a timeshare should check first with their tax attorney or tax advisor or go to IRS.gov for more information.