Advice on purchasing a resale

There are a number of websites (timeshare resales, ebay, etc). where you can purchase a timeshare. What are the pros and cons to purchasing through these avenues? Do you get all the same benefits you would if you purchased through the resort? What should you look out for if you go through a timeshare resale website or ebay or options like that?

Many people buy resale ..... that's the only way to go since when you sign on the dotted line from developer your purchase has already lost value .... a LOT of value 50% to 90% ..... the reason developer bought timeshares are so expensive is the overhead involved and in this economy ALL timeshares have lost value greatly even the highend Marriots, Westins, 4 Seasons, Hiltons etc.

If you're purchasing from Ebay, be sure to notice the seller's positve/negative ratings. If you buy from a positive rated seller, then you should be okay.

The vast majority of resale timeshare buyers get the same benefits as someone that bought from the developer, other than a few high end resorts that may offer some expensive incentives to buy from them ..... it's not worth it.

Before buying any timeshare be aware of the ongoing rising yearly maintenance fees and possible special assessments ..... also, the only reason (in m opinion) to buy a timeshare in this economy is if you want a certain resort, in a certain season, in a certain area of the resort (ie: summer oceanfront , winter ski-in, ski-out etc)

Also, buying to exchange is a risky business ..... it's easier to BUY a timeshare than to SELL a timeshare ..... thousands of weeks can't even be given away in this economy (low season, low demand) and exchanging takes pre-planning (up to a year or more for popular exchanges) and you have to have a strong trader to even get those a year in advance.

Before you buy any timeshare, please educate yourself on all aspects of timeshare ownership and what that involves. Also, you might consider renting first to see if timeshare ownership is for you.

In today's very depressed market, there must be some fantastic deals, but the buyer must still shop hard. consider the travel time to your destination, its attractions and amenities, and the annual maintenance fee. And let a professional do the paperwork,otherwise you have no recourse againest anyone if the deal goes bad. Good luck:

Yes, there are some fantastic deals out there these days and many timeshares are being given away or selling for 1 cent or 1 dollar with owners paying all closing costs.

Just make sure the timeshare is where you want to go every year in a location you desire ... bottom line is that you can take over ownership of many timeshares for merely the upcoming yearly maintenance fees when that very exact timeshare may have cost several thousand dollars when the owner bought it initially.

It's definitely a buyer's market.

Thanks - appreciate your advice!

JayJay -- awesome and detailed advice! I will still proceed slowly, and am more comfortable now that I know what to look for. Thanks!

caraf10 wrote:

JayJay -- awesome and detailed advice! I will still proceed slowly, and am more comfortable now that I know what to look for. Thanks!

You're most welcome ..... one more thing, never buy a timeshare for the sole purpose of exchanging as exchanges are driven by supply and demand UNLESS you're not picky at your choices of resorts/locations/timeframes.

Do not ever buy a Hyatt timeshare, Great advice, so you are warned...

Thanks -- what problems did you run into or know of with Hyatt?

I can't and won't answer or elaborate for the vague complaint posted by "scally" above -- and I don't own within Hyatt. One of my close friends does, however, and he certainly seems to like what he owns and speaks (mostly) favorably about the Hyatt system overall. The only "negatives" he has ever shared with me are as follows:

1. Obscenely expensive to purchase. Even resale prices seem extraordinarily high (a fact which I have observed for myself in watching numerous eBay auctions for resale Hyatt weeks). For very high quality facilities, perhaps this is not surprising.

2. A somewhat odd internal "points" system. My buddy owns a high season, valuable fixed week (in Key West, FL), but that fixed week also has an underlying allottment of "internal points" within the Hyatt system. On the (very rare) occasions on which he has inquired into using those points elsewhere instead of using his owned fixed week, he claims that his allotted points "aren't enough" to actually do so. This seems very strange to him (and to me) since he owns at one of the highest demand locations (by far) in the entire USA. So, how can his points possibly NOT be "enough" to get a LOWER demand week somewhere else instead? I don't claim to know that answer.

In any event, overall my buddy seems quite pleased with his Hyatt ownership. He's a fussy and "picky" sort and he claims that there is no such thing as a "even remotely dumpy" Hyatt facility.

Perhaps "scally" will return to provide some (completely absent) useful or informative details to support and explain his apparent (...but entirely unspecified) dissatisfaction with Hyatt.

Question...if you purchase a Marriott timeshare in the secondary market, are you able to exchange/trade that week purchased through the Interval International program as you would with a unit purchased throught the Marriott system. Can it be deposited with Marriott for points under their new system? I understand that you can't run the resale unit through the Marriott Rewards points trade but that isn't of interest to us. Thanks for the response...

bjs23 wrote:

Question...if you purchase a Marriott timeshare in the secondary market, are you able to exchange/trade that week purchased through the Interval International program as you would with a unit purchased throught the Marriott system. Can it be deposited with Marriott for points under their new system? I understand that you can't run the resale unit through the Marriott Rewards points trade but that isn't of interest to us. Thanks for the response...

I know that you can deposit a resale Marriott week with II for exchange .... I don't know anything about depositing a resale with Marriott for points in their new system.

You might ask this question on www.tugbbs.com as they have an entire Marriott forum.

Thanks for the information..I'll check out their web site. We own with Marriott now and have converted our current units to the points system because it works best for us. But with the resale values out there thought we might purchase another to use and/or exchange through Interval. We've had great success in the past in the exchange system!

where is your home unit, we have great difficulty exchanging from our orlando unit thanks,

We have an Orlando and a Hawaii unit...have never had any trouble trading through Interval for either of our units. We haven't entered the re-sale market so I can't respond to the issue there. That is one of the things that we have wondered about. Do you exchange through Interval or RCI? I have friends who have problems with RCI as far as reasonable availability at other resorts.

bjs23 wrote:

We have an Orlando and a Hawaii unit...have never had any trouble trading through Interval for either of our units. We haven't entered the re-sale market so I can't respond to the issue there. That is one of the things that we have wondered about. Do you exchange through Interval or RCI? I have friends who have problems with RCI as far as reasonable availability at other resorts.

Getting good trades through ANY exchange company (RCI, II, Dial-an-Exchange, etc.) is dependent on a number of factors:

1) How early you deposit.

2) The demand for your week. For instance, if you deposit a winter week in Missouri, you will get less "trade value" than depositing a winter week from Maui.

Is there a form/site that list owners,brokers or agents to stay away from? or who have been great to deal with on resale purchases?

lennyb7 wrote:

Is there a form/site that list owners,brokers or agents to stay away from? or who have been great to deal with on resale purchases?

Stay away from any company that charges a large upfront fee (hundreds to thousands) .... it's that simple.

The only reliable people are those that don't charge an upfront fee such as www.tsxmls.com ..... Judi Kozlowski's company is one.

tsxmls