Trying to get rid of a timeshare already paid in full.

My timeshare is the Olympic Village (Squal Valley) in Lake Tahoe, California. We’ve had it for years And the maintenance fees keep going up. My wife and I can’t afford it any more. What is the best way to get rid of it? Thanks up front for any help.

Armando Z. wrote:

What is the best way to get rid of it? Thanks up front for any help.

The first and foremost thing to keep in mind is to not pay anyone or any outfit a large, upfront fee to get rid of it for you. Those are usually scams.

If your unit is with Wyndham, Diamond, or Westgate, check out their respective programs they have in place where they are taking back a select limited number of units. Some of them might have a small service charge. For instance, Diamond will likely charge you about $250.

If it is not with any of those, try contacting the resort's Homeowners' Association. Explain your situation that you want to surrender your unit. You might have to be firm and say that you are not going to pay any more maintenance fees and that it would be in everybody's best interests for the HOA to take the unit back amicably. They might ask you to pay closing costs but that will be a clean, legal transfer.

Another option is to list your unit for sale or giveaway here on RedWeek. You can also list it on E-Bay, My Resort Network or Timeshare Users Group (aka "TUG"; tugbbs.com) where they have a Bargain Deals section that allows you to advertise for free that you want to give your unit away. You can and should offer to pay closing costs and maybe even the next maintenance fee as an incentive for someone to take it.

What a joke HOA would love for us to default on our timeshares and give them away, so they can get them back and rent them out and make more money on us , besides us paying those high maintenance fees all these years. Again they will benefit by you giving up to them. I can understand if you can’t afford it anymore, but not us, ours is in the Atlantis Bahamas and paid up also and we are getting ready to retire . We will use it and transfer to different places on vacation resorts as long as we can. We have to rally against this HOA , get some legal help and go after them, and do something about their high maintenance fees increases. Lawsuit guys!

Have people had luck on here selling their timeshare? How long did it take?

Barbara P.: How long it will take to sell your timeshare, or if your timeshare will sell, depends on a variety of factors including how popular or in demand your resort and week is, how much competition you have and how you price your timeshare. You can view the resale history for your resort on this page: What's My Timeshare Worth (https://www.redweek.com/whats-my-timeshare-worth)

If you have further questions, please use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any page. Thanks!

I own timeshare at Club Wyndham (Governor's Green) Williamsburg, VA. I am ready to get rid of the unit because I am not using it anymore. The timeshare gave me two companies they work with that will assist me in selling the unit. This is the thing though, I am not showing any profit from the sale. I was told the going rate is a 1/2 to 1 full penny per point. If that is the case, then there is no profit to sell the unit. Where is the profit in the sell of a timeshare that is paid in full without a monthly mortgage?

jbaa2 wrote:

I own timeshare at Club Wyndham (Governor's Green) Williamsburg, VA. I am ready to get rid of the unit because I am not using it anymore. The timeshare gave me two companies they work with that will assist me in selling the unit. This is the thing though, I am not showing any profit from the sale. I was told the going rate is a 1/2 to 1 full penny per point. If that is the case, then there is no profit to sell the unit. Where is the profit in the sell of a timeshare that is paid in full without a monthly mortgage?

Despite (patently false) claims routinely and repeatedly made by hungry timeshare developer sales weasels, the blunt truth is that it is extremely rare that anyone ever realizes a "profit" when they later sell their timeshare, regardless of the system --- Wyndham included.

Resale value "is what it is". For most Westgate products, to cite a different example, that resale value is exactly zero. For timeshares in other "chains", resale value is some fraction of the developer (Wyndham, in your case) purchase price, but never is the resale value ever more than that original purchase price. Timeshares are not like real estate, where market value generally increases over time.

No buyer cares one bit what a seller originally paid for their deeded ownership (or their points); that figure is irrelevant. Buyers (understandably) only look at and only care about what they can buy that same product for in the open resale market. It's that simple.

Don't shoot the messenger, but if you can find a buyer and recover even a significant fraction of whatever you originally paid, you will be doing well. Seeking or expecting to realize a "profit" is a completely unrealistic pipe dream that will simply never be achieved. Just the same, I wish you good luck in finding a buyer.

P.S. The absence of a mortgage does not enhance resale value. In fact, you couldn't even give any timeshare away at all for free if there was still an outstanding loan balance. That outstanding debt would have to be satisfied first before you could even attempt a sale (or a giveaway).

jbaa2 wrote:

This is the thing though, I am not showing any profit from the sale. I was told the going rate is a 1/2 to 1 full penny per point. If that is the case, then there is no profit to sell the unit. Where is the profit in the sell of a timeshare that is paid in full without a monthly mortgage?

I will concur with KC above but add this little warning. Scammers prey on owners who are delusional about the actual resale value of their units. If you have these fantasies about recouping what you paid for it or even making a profit, you're setting yourself up to be scammed by these upfront fee scammers who'll tell you that they have buyers lined up around the block waiting to pay big bucks for units like yours.

Make sure you are well aware of the actual resale value of your unit and be prepared to accept that it is probably significantly less than what you paid and what you were hoping for.

Purchased a timeshare just yesterday. At a Williamsburg resort I can pay it off fairly quickly but I want to know the PROS and CONS that someone who has owned a property already may have experienced.

Tiera: This article may help you: Timeshare Pros and Cons

tiearas wrote:

Purchased a timeshare just yesterday. At a Williamsburg resort I can pay it off fairly quickly.

If you purchased at a sales presentation, you still have time to rescind.

Ours is paid off as well and we enjoyed many years with it. After trying unsuccessfully to sale it, someone suggested we donate it to charity. So, we did several years ago. We got a $5000 deduction at that time. Not sure if you can still do it under current IRS laws. I was pleased because at that level, the deduction was really worth it as it significantly reduced our taxes that year.

No charity will accept a timeshare anymore .

carlettar wrote:

Ours is paid off as well and we enjoyed many years with it. After trying unsuccessfully to sale it, someone suggested we donate it to charity. So, we did several years ago. We got a $5000 deduction at that time. Not sure if you can still do it under current IRS laws. I was pleased because at that level, the deduction was really worth it as it significantly reduced our taxes that year.

If your timeshare "donation" was to an outfit called "Donate For A Cause" (formerly in Bozeman, Montana, with a man named James Tarpey being the principal), the IRS shut them down completely some years ago for providing bogus, inflated valuations for "donated" timeshares. IRS rules (then and / or now) allow only "fair market value" for a donation deduction --- and the fair market value of a timeshare that cannot be sold at any price but can only be given away for free (or by paying someone to take it off your hands) is obviously and precisely ZERO.

Anyway, you are very fortunate if DFAC was the outfit you dealt with and you had no subsequent legal repercussions. No legitimate charity on planet Earth wants any part of accepting the "donation" of a timeshare, since a timeshare is basically an ongoing financial liability; it's certainly not an asset that can be of any use or value whatsoever to a charity.

carlettar wrote:

...someone suggested we donate it to charity. So, we did several years ago. We got a $5000 deduction at that time. Not sure if you can still do it under current IRS laws.

That must have been many, many years ago. You're actually pretty fortunate that you did not get audited. You won't see charities accepting timeshares as donations today unless you pay them thousands of dollars to take it them off your hands. If you can find one that actually does that, your tax deductions would be zero based on the fair market value.

What is success rate of either renting out my timeshare or prefer to sell it

The success rate will depend on how popular or in-demand your resort and week is, as well as how you price your week. You will find the historical rental and resale data for any timeshare on this page: What's My Timeshare Worth

Need assistance with getting rid of time share. It’s paid off and never used. I am 72 and in poor health and need to get rid of it before I die so family not burdened with this. Thank you

Never pay anyone money that claims they claims they can get you out of your contract . You can do it yourself . First thing is to contact your home resort and tell them that you can no longer pay the maintenance fees . Explain your circumstances and ask them to take it back through a simple deed back . If they agree it's quick and inexpensive . They may ask you to pay the next years fees to give them time to find a new owner . That's a small price to pay to get out of future fees and assessments . Take the time to locate someone at the resort that handles the deeds . If it's a little too much for you right now ask a family member to assist you . I got rid of two timeshares in 2011 this way . I notified them that I was going to get them out of my name with or without their cooperation and apparently I was convincing enough that they agreed and in less than two weeks I was free of my contracts . Good luck .

Hi Donna, Did you end up getting rid of it? Is it the Squaw Valley Lodge? Thank you Ryan. Campbell CA.