Getting rid of your timeshare

My "ownership"(he says with a smirk) is in Wyndham on Pompano beach. Does anyone know what happens if the place gets destroyed by a hurricane? It seems to be my best hope.

They'll just charge owners an assessment to rebuild. Unless you get it out of your name they will keep charging you for any and all expenses they incur.

This thread is getting really close to the truth about timesharing.

The sad thing about most internet timeshare forums is that they are monopolized by a very small number of timeshare owners, some who make their living off of timesharing or running forums, who spend hours every day bragging about how smart they are and how great timeshares are.

I know because I did (spent hours a day, not making a living doing it).

They run off anyone who has anything different to say.

They cannot stand that anyone might have an opinion different than theirs, and acquire positions of "management" on the forums that allow them free reign, m/l.

So, those few who actually use Internet search engines to see if it would be a good idea to buy a timeshare, which for those few who do is normally after they have already bought one, too late, get a highly-skewed, rose-colored-glasses view of timesharing.

The lack of balance on Internet forums purporting to be neutral and unbiased is almost as misleading as how the industry sells them to begin with. Biased forums support the industry.

There does not appear to be any forums telling the truth. After all, once you don't want anything to do with them, very few people would spend their time on forums about them. Only very special people feeling compelled to tell the truth. (smilie here)

The truth is that millions of people vacation every year without the burden of a timeshare. They get great accommodations and great prices, even staying in timeshares for less than the owners have to pay.

You do not find out timesharing is not for you, is not what you were told it is, until it is too late, and you have that "all-so-important" legal obligation to live up to your promises.

Take a look at the major forums. With dozens of boards on each of them, how many have boards devoted solely to the problems associated with timesharing?

And with that, I will probably not be able to post on other forums any longer, even having not mentioned any specifically.

It's hard for me to be saying this because I have been very close, virtually, to a lot of people on internet forums, but, oh well, don't you think 15 years is long enough? (another smilie)

Thank you, jlb, for your continued advocacy for consumer protection. Your 15 yrs. of frustration are multiplied by millions of us caught in this dead-end trap, because we lack the political clout of the timeshare industry. We were all deceived, outright or by implication, into thinking that we were buying an asset that we could expect to appreciate (regardless of the legally crafted hokus-pocus of a massive contract). Many thought we were getting a deal when they offered us the "opportunity" to grab it at less than what they claimed was full price. I want to reiterate that polital corruption is at the heart of our problem. The IRS disallows deducting these as losses based on the fact that they are demontrably worthless. So why does the Attorney General's office allow them to continue peddling a worthless product to unwary consumers for thousands of dollars, exacly as they have all along? Campaign funding & tax revenue & Industry lobbying come to mind. Are they "too big to fail"? They can wiggle through legalese ad nauseum, but the whole fraudulent racket is a transparent abuse of the system. We need to organize!

My hurricane comment was mostly in jest, but you are right, donp. A few yrs. ago I actually did receive a special assessment for storm damage. I responded that it was Wyndham's responsibility to insure the property. Their respose was a second copy of the bill...

I have a management company wanting to rent my weeks. Bad idea right?? I just want to get out of the whole thing. Been since June 2014 haven't paid my January 2014 maintenance fees. Don't want this. Horrible mistake. I just want out.

NEVER pay anyone an upfront fee to rent or sell your timeshare. They only want your upfront money and then they disappear. Contact your home resort and see if they will take it back from you through a deed back. Also try listing it for one dollar and offer to pay all the closing costs. A small investment to get rid of a lifetime of ever increasing maintenance fees and assessments.

& what advice do you have for those who have tried all those things, offering to give them away, pay an extra year's fees, pay all transfer and documents fees, and have also offered them back to the resort, again paying an extra year's fees, for several years, and still have them?

What is the last resort, to get rid of your last resort?

Have you tried to rent the week out through a Redweek listing? Take a look at the Redweek listings, you might be able to get enough to pay your maintenance fees. Rents at even a portion of your maintenance fees might be better than suffering a total loss.

I have rented out my timeshare at Welk resorts that way. Much better than doing it through the resort, which takes 40% of the rent!!!

Sure, you can work your butt off (here, look at mine, it's gone) trying to rent to people, typically for less than the maintenance fees. You can run ads and field numerous calls and emails, go back and forth with people trying to convince them you are legitimate. You can take time away from other things to go meet with them to check them in and show the unit and explain the rules, or pay a fee to have them there as your guest.

Then, you can worry about whether they liked the place or whether they trashed it out on your nickel.

Then you can start that all over again, hoping for someone for next time.

And that's if you're lucky.

But, when you longer need, want, or use your timeshare, you don't want to have to spend any more time with them.

When you're done with them, there should be a way to be done with them, like just about anything else when you're done with them.

&, you don't want to be told what you need to do with them so you can keep them.

I only know Marriott properties. I routinely rent out weeks in excess of our needs. I have never experienced any problem and certainly not the things mentioned by the last contributor. It is just not that tough to do this successfully using Redweek.

This is not be a tit-for-tat about what you need to do to keep something you don't want anything to do with. This is not about how easy or how hard it is to rent something, which my wife and I have been doing for more than 15 years.

If it's easy for you (anyone) to rent your timeshares, and that's what you want to do, good for you.

But, that's missing the point, which, again, is . . . when you are done with something you should be able to be done with it. You should not have to be subjected to being told how to keep and waste time with something you are done with.

The topic of this thread is "Getting Rid of Your Timeshares", not "How to Rent Out your Timeshares."

- - - - - - Full Definition of DONE 1: arrived at or brought to an end <one more question and we're done> - - - - - -

Except for a few exceptions, that is the major failing of a greedy industry, not providing an exit strategy.

I tried that with Los Abragados just last month. They had No interest in taking it back or making any adjustment. We bought before the resort went bankrupt and was taken over by Diamond and new rules were made by the new owner, and the previous buyers were left out of the equation. I've owned at Los Abragados 10 years and never have been able to reserve a week or stay there. Questions: 1. If one buys and is promised certain benefits in writing and then the place goes bankrupt, and the buyer can no longer get anything they were promised in the contract, how can the contract be upheld as valid? 2. How can a resort hook in succeeding generations in owning a timeshare, if the children and grandchildren never signed the contract, were not ever present at the sale, or knew nothing about the purchase?

My plan is to stop paying on the defunct Los Abragados timeshare as I own no house at this time. They are criminal so I feel no guilt at all. I may have 7 years of a mark on my credit, but usually they do not bother to take it that far. After a couple years ( or months ) contest the entry on your credit and unless the resort submits proof of contract in writing to you within 10 days, they have to remove it from your credit. It is extremely doubtful that the resort can come up with the contract in the Los Abragados situation, since they weren't involved at the time, and the collectors definitely usually have no paperwork--they just lie and say they do. Don't believe them!!! Ignore any collectors who call--you don't owe them anything and they just put whatever you pay in their pocket and continue to dun you. You still owe the resort, no matter what you pay the collectors and they will not remove it from your credit--they will say that to get your money, but it is a lie. If they say they will take a settlement for lesser money, they will pocket the money and sell the remainder of the total owed to other collectors, even though they said it's paid in full--lies. Change your phone # and PAY NOTHING and never believe anything they promise-they are all liars, both resort and collectors. The bottom line is they are scammers, but they rely on the honesty of their victims to pay up and be afraid of threats, most of which are untrue and lies. NOTE: If you do decide to try a settlement, get in writing prior to paying anything, that IF AND WHEN you pay the money it pays off the debt in full. If they do not want to do this, the money you pay is useless. they will say they cannot give you anything in writing BEFORE you pay, but if the wording is IF AND WHEN it does not obligate them UNLESS you pay. then when you get further duns from other collectors, this document puts an end to all collection. NEVER THROW AWAY ANY RECEIPT OF PAYMENT!!! NO MATTER HOW LONG AGO YOU PAID!!!

A resort or program that does not fulfill their promises clouds the point I'm trying to make. Even with a resort or program that does everything it promised, and that you have been completely satisfied with, when you are done with it, you should be able to be done with it.

I'm not talking about not fulfilling your obligations, I'm talking about the industry not providing an exit strategy, a way for owners who are done with them to be done with them.

I'm talking about not holding people captive to something they do not want by threats and ugliness. Those tactics alone pretty much tell the story.

There are ways it could be done if they wanted to.

What is it they are afraid of? Their house of cards falling down?

I got out of my DRI by surrendering it to them and paying $250 in closing costs.

annetter60 wrote:

I got out of my DRI by surrendering it to them and paying $250 in closing costs.

That's good that you were able to do that for so little. But remember, some resorts will take units back and some won't. It depends on the value of the unit (size, location, time of year, etc.).

Also, some resorts will vary as to when they will take units back. In your case, it's possible that the resort would have said "No" had you asked six months earlier or six months later.

Is that still if you're over 75, like you said before?

yes, I believe so.