Selling a Timeshare

Hi, folks. Has anyone ever heard of www.buyatimeshare.com and a person named Chris Murphy? I am trying to sell my timeshare.

Buyatimeshare.com is an advertising site with a high upfront fee. Are they a scam? They do actually advertise your timeshare. Do they give you accurate pricing information when helping you decide to advertise with them? I doubt it although they will blame their customers when called on it. I own at a resort that has more than 20 for sale listings with them. The average price listed is about $12,000 with some listed as high as $23,000. You can regularly buy the best weeks on Ebay for $1 if you pay closing. The worst weeks will be free with no closing costs and a year's use included free. The most I could imagine it selling for on Redweek would be $2000 for the best season/size unit. None of the sub $5000 listed are the best. I don't think any of the listing will ever sell at the prices listed.

I don't think you will get any more for advertising with them then you would with Redweek and the fee will be a lot less. It doesn't mean that it will sell on redweek. There are a lot of TS worth $1 or even less, meaning that MF's are more than what you could easily rent them for. I own a week with a mf of $400 which is pretty decent. It is in a seasonal location. In the summer they rent for $800-$2000. Most winter weeks sit empty although you could rent it off RCI for less than $200 for the week. There just is no demand for off season weeks at that location.

WOW what an eye opener. You mean to tell me and others that we (I) pay almost $70,000 for a Silverleaf Presidential timeshare on Galveston a few years ago and it is now worth a couple of thousand dollars? That is tough to swallow.

But thanks. Anyone else know these people?

Tracey, are you confusing buyatimeshare.com with sellmytimesharenow.com? Or are they the same people? I know Sell My Timeshare Now follows the exact same business model that you are outlining regarding Buy a Timeshare Now.

Garrett, now that you realize that your unit is worth a minute fraction of what you originally paid for it, don't get sucked in by many of these scam outfits that claim they can sell your unit for mega-bucks if you pay a huge, upfront fee. If your goal is to relieve yourself of ownership, then be realistic in what price you will ask. As Tracey said, many units where you own are selling for a dollar on E-Bay.

I don't know if they have the same principals but i went to buy a timeshare now and checked prices listed for resorts I own the listed prices were off by a factor of 1000 or more. I wouldn't think it would be a ace to list. Here on redweek you might have a few or even several unrealistic listings. Overall more than half are probably in the right ballpark. I certainly couldn't say the same about Buyatimeshare.

Chris Murphy is a crook. He will take your money and you will NEVER hear from him again. I'm surprised he hasn't changed his name by now.

I have had my Florida timeshare listed on those sites for years without hearing a peep from them. Lowered my selling price to FREE AND WILLING TO PAY ALL TRANSFER FEES. Still no bites and still listed.

Which sites have you used? You said that "[you] have had [your] Florida timeshare listed on those sites for years", in that time, have you tried updating your ads or "bumping" them?

If you are dead set on giving it away, have you tried offering to pay the following maintenance fee for the new owner?

Buyatimeshare.com is where my listing resides and yes bumped many times. Offering to pay upcoming maintenance fees is a good idea and will update my listing.

lancec13 wrote:

Which sites have you used? You said that "[you] have had [your] Florida timeshare listed on those sites for years", in that time, have you tried updating your ads or "bumping" them?

If you are dead set on giving it away, have you tried offering to pay the following maintenance fee for the new owner?

I rarely look at buyatimeshare because there are so many ridiculously priced timeshares and so many that have been sitting for years. It isn't worth sifting through all the junk to find anything reasonably priced.

Very true Tracy. I just edited mine listing it for $1, 2016 fees paid, and closing costs paid for my me. Let's see what that does :)

What is the difference between RTU and deeded unit?

jayned28 wrote:

What is the difference between RTU and deeded unit?

Right-to-use (RTU) means that you do not actually own the property or deed like you own your house or condo. It just gives you the right to use it (and more importantly, "right" to pay maintenance fees) for a specified length of time. It can range from about 10 years to as many as 99 years. These are very common in Mexico and the Caribbean. For Mexico, the main reason is that there is a law restricting what deeded foreigners can own so they circumvent that by calling it RTU.

Deeded property is just like your house or condo except it's generally for a fraction of the year such as one week. You legally own the property. There is no expiry date like an RTU. That also means that, after you die, your estate will have it and whoever is handling your estate will be responsible for what to do with it.

Something else that was introduced recently in Florida was a sunset clause which affects deeded property there.

mikeh937 wrote:

I just edited mine listing it for $1, 2016 fees paid, and closing costs paid for my me. Let's see what that does :)

Have you tried listing it here in RedWeek's Bargain Bin? You can also try E-Bay, Craigslist (just watch our for the many spammers and scam attempts), Bid Shares, or My Resort Network? Also, Timeshare Users Group (aka "TUG"; tugbbs.com) has a Bargain Deals section where, for free, you can advertise that you simply want to give your unit away. Just follow the directions at the top of the page there.

The other thing to try is to write to the resort's Homeowners' Association explaining that you need to give your unit back. Offer to pay closing costs and possibly the next maintenance fee. You can even try what Don P says about how deeded one back. Let the HOA know that, one way or another, you are getting rid of your unit and that the HOA can accommodate this the easy way or the hard way.

Interesting lance I will look into this thanks.

Anyone hear of, or have success with, the following ?

https://www.donateforacause.org/

"Donating" through DFC usually means paying several hundred if not $1000-$3000 to relieve yourself of your timeshare. It is usually less expensive to try to give away your timeshare yourself. There are a few resorts/weeks they will take for free but those are only the ones they can usually sell on ebay easily making $5000 or more.

I would gladly pay $1,000-$2,000 to get out of my timeshare, that's why I am willing to pay the maintenance, taxes, and closing fees. Yes I do agree though that there are many scammers claiming to be a "Donating cause".

Generally I have heard that donate for a cause - gets the TS out of your name. At this point in time they would probably make you prepay your 2016 MF as well. I suggest you go to tugbbs.com and try to give it away first, get some advice and try to give it away first. You may want to even try adding a $500 or so incentive. It would still be cheaper than DFC.

Some timeshares DFC will not touch, notably Spinnaker timeshares. Reason is that Spinnaker requires sellers/current owners to get information about prospective buyers so that they, Spinnaker, can "approve" prospective buyers. Further, Spinnaker requires new owners to deposit $750 for every-other-year timeshares or $1500 for annual use timeshares into a maintenance account which amounts to having to pay maintenance in advance of normal billing cycles. The DFC representative I talked to was most scornful of Spinnaker properties and policies.

tracey75 wrote:

"Donating" through DFC usually means paying several hundred if not $1000-$3000 to relieve yourself of your timeshare. It is usually less expensive to try to give away your timeshare yourself. There are a few resorts/weeks they will take for free but those are only the ones they can usually sell on ebay easily making $5000 or more.