Get out of Westgate Resorts

My boyfriend and I went on a tour of the Westgate Resort in Williamsburg a few years ago. Then we were pressured into buying at the resort, which regrettably we did. We are looking to get out of it. Anyone have any ideas? We haven’t used it at all. We just make payments and pay the maintenance fees. I really do not want to keep paying for something I do not use. Please any suggestions are welcomed.

jessicaw272 wrote:

My boyfriend and I went on a tour of the Westgate Resort in Williamsburg a few years ago. Then we were pressured into buying at the resort, which regrettably we did. We are looking to get out of it. Anyone have any ideas? We haven’t used it at all. We just make payments and pay the maintenance fees. I really do not want to keep paying for something I do not use. Please any suggestions are welcomed.

Don't shoot the messenger, but what you purchased has no value in the resale market, regardless of purchase price.You cannot sell it (or even give it away for free) with a loan balance still remaining anyhow. No one is interested in taking over someone else's debt --- and the loan is almost certainly not "transferable" anyhow.

Lack of resale value is largely due to reservation constraints that Westgate imposes on all their ownerships which were acquired in the resale market. In essence, Westgate has deliberately contrived a way to render resale purchases worthless except for actual USE. Westgate ownerships are virtually impossible to sell (or even give away for free) in the resale market. Westgate is the slimiest and most deceitful timeshare company in the USA (in my personal opinion), although their properties are all certainly nice enough.

*IF* you have NO unpaid loan balance, Westgate will accept a "deedback" if you contact them and formally request one. This is not a "buyback"; they will not actually PAY anything. On the contrary, they CHARGE a processing fee (recently reported to be $900.00) to prepare and process a quitclaim deed and to accept return of a fully paid off ownership. All maintenance fees must also be up to date to be eligible for "deedback" acceptance.

If there is any unpaid loan balance, all bets are off. All you can do in that case is either pay off the loan and THEN deed it back (costing another $900 to do so) --- or make the decision to simply pay NOTHING further and default on the loan, understanding and accepting that foreclosure will occur at some point and understanding and accepting that negative credit report consequences will inevitably follow after defaulting on the loan. It's a personal choice and decision whether to pay off a loan for something that is literally worthless except for its' actual use and enjoyment. If it's not being used or enjoyed at all now, that decision and choice would certainly seem to be much easier to make.

This unwelcome input stinks; I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the information above is nonetheless entirely truthful and completely accurate.

Please do NOT fall for the empty promises and bogus claims of ANY upfront fee "timeshare exit / release / escape / rescue" operation. There are plenty of these parasites around, but there is NOTHING they can do --- except take your money. They cannot make a loan or a legally binding, voluntarily executed contractual obligation just magically "disappear"; NO ONE has any such magical powers. Such parasites prey upon people who find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place with now-unwanted timeshare obligations, vulnerable and feeling helpless. These parasitic "exit" operations are very active and aggressive during this time of year, when many maintenance fee bills for next year have already been issued and may be delinquent if not paid by 01 March. At least one of these upfront fee "exit" parasites even advertises extensively on radio. If you are ultimately going to face foreclosure anyhow, there is certainly no point in paying some useless, parasite "exit" operation thousands of dollars for them to ultimately accomplish NOTHING, then just sit by passively and watch as foreclosure inevitably occurs anyhow.

Don't let frustration cloud your judgement. There are NO magic beans and there are NO secret "exit" processes. Stay away from **ALL** upfront fee "exit" parasites. The only "exit" actually occurring would be your money "exiting" your bank account, never to return. Forewarned is forearmed. Good luck.

I can't necessarily disagree with anything stated above, except I have noticed recently that Westgate's Legacy Program (which is their department referenced above for deedbacks) has begun publicly posting more policies and transparency in their program do's and don't ... which must be an attempt to look better in the public eye. I found some interesting content here - https://www.westgateresorts.com/legacy/

All I can say (to re-iterate what has already been said above) is good luck.

alexv69 wrote:

...I have noticed recently that Westgate's Legacy Program (which is their department referenced above for deedbacks) has begun publicly posting more policies and transparency in their program do's and don't ... which must be an attempt to look better in the public eye.

I don't believe that Westgate cares one bit about "looking better in the public eye". Accepting "deedbacks" (and collecting the mandatory $900 deedback fee) is simply easier (and more profitable) for Westgate than having to conduct foreclosures. Moreover, with Wyndham and Diamond having both instituted "deedback" programs, Westgate is now (probably reluctantly) basically just catching up and keeping up with the current practices of their competitor second tier "chains".

I attempted contacting the Legacy Program after my ex and I split. He didn't want the timeshare and I have since become unable to afford it, not to mention disgusted with the idea of paying for something I will never get to use. The lady I spoke to told me I should pay to get the account current and then remove my name from the deed. I thought that was about the lowest form of advice I have ever received.

barbs183 wrote:

I attempted contacting the Legacy Program after my ex and I split. He didn't want the timeshare and I have since become unable to afford it, not to mention disgusted with the idea of paying for something I will never get to use. The lady I spoke to told me I should pay to get the account current and then remove my name from the deed. I thought that was about the lowest form of advice I have ever received.

I agree that the "advice" you got from Westgate was (not surprisingly) both remarkably poor and badly uninformed. For starters, if there are two names on the deed now, in order to make any changes thereto the cooperation, consent (and notarized signatures) of both of the parties on the current deed would be legally required as grantors on a new deed. If people could just unilaterally "remove" their name from a deed at their whim, it would be done all the time. It may sound good, but it just simply ain't so.

It's unfortunate that resolving this timeshare ownership was apparently overlooked in the course of your divorce proceedings. The good news however is that even if your ex "doesn't want" the timeshare, if his name is on the current deed then he remains a co-owner whether he likes it or not. If you decide to simply stop paying anything further and allow foreclosure to occur, any other co-owner will share equally in the consequences of default and / or foreclosure.

Stopping any further payments is something to at least consider. You may want to first consult legal counsel; the lawyers may well be the ones who failed to adequately address and resolve this matter in the first place during the divorce.

Even if fully paid off and current, a Westgate ownership is still essentially worthless in the resale market. Accordingly, I would think long and hard before throwing any more money into it if you are never going to use this "product". Good luck.

My husband and I own a timeshare at Westgate Leisure Resort . 1 week every odd year. We no longer want it nor can we afford it. Bought and used it since 2008. It is paid for and we have tried to sell it but only have run into scammers. We wouldn't be able to rent it for what we are paying in taxes and fees. We did not pay the fees or taxes for 2017. We don't trust anything they say and don't want to pay $900.00 US to get out of this plus what is now owed. Canadian dollars don't go as far as they did in 2008. We just feel that they got enough of our money. Just wondering if they will eventually just take this timeshare back and leave us alone.

cherylf250 wrote:

My husband and I own a timeshare at Westgate Leisure Resort . 1 week every odd year. We no longer want it nor can we afford it. Bought and used it since 2008. It is paid for and we have tried to sell it but only have run into scammers. We wouldn't be able to rent it for what we are paying in taxes and fees. We did not pay the fees or taxes for 2017. We don't trust anything they say and don't want to pay $900.00 US to get out of this plus what is now owed. Canadian dollars don't go as far as they did in 2008. We just feel that they got enough of our money. Just wondering if they will eventually just take this timeshare back and leave us alone.

It's not clear to me from your post whether or not there is still any unpaid loan balance in addition to prior year(s) unpaid fees. If there is no unpaid loan involved, Westgate will eventually just foreclose (after some collection efforts which you can simply ignore) and that will be the end of it. However, if there is a unpaid loan balance on which you default, there will likely be some negative credit report consequences. Negative credit report may or may not be of any particular concern to you, depending on whether you'll be seeking any loans or mortgages anytime in the seven years after defaulting on the loan.

Unfortunately, there is little or no point in trying to sell (or even give away for free) a Westgate timeshare in the resale market. Westgate reservation policy constraints, unfairly imposed upon all resale Westgate ownerships, essentially make resale purchases nearly worthless in the secondary market.

Thank you for your help. The mortgage is fully paid. We owe for 2017 fees and taxes only. I am certainly tired of Westgate. Everytime we went there they would pester the life out of you to buy more.

ken1193 wrote:

cherylf250 wrote:

My husband and I own a timeshare at Westgate Leisure Resort . 1 week every odd year. We no longer want it nor can we afford it. Bought and used it since 2008. It is paid for and we have tried to sell it but only have run into scammers. We wouldn't be able to rent it for what we are paying in taxes and fees. We did not pay the fees or taxes for 2017. We don't trust anything they say and don't want to pay $900.00 US to get out of this plus what is now owed. Canadian dollars don't go as far as they did in 2008. We just feel that they got enough of our money. Just wondering if they will eventually just take this timeshare back and leave us alone.

It's not clear to me from your post whether or not there is still any unpaid loan balance in addition to prior year(s) unpaid fees. If there is no unpaid loan involved, Westgate will eventually just foreclose (after some collection efforts which you can simply ignore) and that will be the end of it. However, if there is a unpaid loan balance on which you default, there will likely be some negative credit report consequences. Negative credit report may or may not be of any particular concern to you, depending on whether you'll be seeking any loans or mortgages anytime in the seven years after defaulting on the loan.

Unfortunately, there is little or no point in trying to sell (or even give away for free) a Westgate timeshare in the resale market. Westgate reservation policy constraints, unfairly imposed upon all resale Westgate ownerships, essentially make resale purchases nearly worthless in the secondary market.

So if the loan is paid in full, Westgate will foreclose and take it back. Is this correct? Will it still hurt my credit and show up on credit report? Also how long does the foreclosure and taking it back process take? Thanks for any help!

jessicaw272 wrote:

So if the loan is paid in full, Westgate will foreclose and take it back. Is this correct? Will it still hurt my credit and show up on credit report? Also how long does the foreclosure and taking it back process take?

There is really no way to know for sure how long Westgate would wait after ongoing non-payment of maintenance fees before they would intitiate foreclosure proceedings --- that's entirely up to them. It would likely be soon enough after two consecutive years of unpaid fees (and some collections efforts undertaken) before they would foreclose, but it could possibly be sooner. There is simply no way to know.

This has been addressed in detail already, but a negative credit report is a virtual certainty if / when defaulting on a loan --- any loan. A negative credit report can result after foreclosure alone (even with no loan default) but most developers generally won't bother to initiate a negative credit report solely upon foreclosure for non-payment of fees *IF* there was no loan default also involved. If there was no defaulting on a loan, they they will usually just recover full ownership through the legal foreclosure process and leave it at that --- but there are no guarantees.

How long does a foreclosure take from start to finish? It varies, depending on the individual state. In many (but not all) states, an expedited "non-judicial foreclosure" option now exists, which makes the foreclosure process quicker, less expensive and less burdensome on the court system. I cannot itemize all 50 states, but Massachusetts, Florida and numerous others are among the many states in which non-judicial foreclosure is now available and routinely practiced.

can you rent it to try and get some money back

tomc183 wrote:

Can you rent it to try and get some money back?

Certainly. You can rent out any timeshare that you own, as long as your fees are fully paid up to date. No occupancy will be permitted if the account is delinquent. If the account is current, you just need to let the resort know in advance if you are authorizing someone else to occupy your owned and reserved unit / week --- and provide your tenants' name(s) to the resort so that those tenants will not encounter any difficulties when checking-in.

The difficulty with renting is that you generally have to advertise your week well in advance to find a tenant. The "supply vs. demand" nature of timeshares strongly influences rental prices. Your rental price obviously needs to be competitive with all other advertised comparable weeks in the same time and size unit as yours at the same facility. Depending on supply and demand (and the location and season) of your particular week, your net rental income after paying for advertising costs may or may not cover your annual maintenance fees. If it's a low demand week and / or a low demand location or overpriced (or in an area with lots of available timeshares --- like Orlando, FL) or you place your ad too late to get sufficient exposure, you may not be successful in even finding a tenant at all.

My parents bought a timeshare a long time ago from westgate and they have since paid off the loan but stopped paying the maintenance and fees. They have received mail from westgate stating they will foreclose on the property. My question is if and when upon foreclosure will the deed finally be null and void? Will they continue to harass my parents afterwards since it was a contract? My fear is that upon foreclosure they continue to send mail regarding the timeshare to pay for fees even though it has been foreclosed since it is a contract. Confused to know whether if going through this process will they outright finally be out of the contract, or continue to try to collect future "debts" (maintenance feeds etc) on the contract?

johnh2286 wrote:

My parents bought a timeshare a long time ago from westgate and they have since paid off the loan but stopped paying the maintenance and fees. They have received mail from westgate stating they will foreclose on the property. My question is if and when upon foreclosure will the deed finally be null and void? Will they continue to harass my parents afterwards since it was a contract? My fear is that upon foreclosure they continue to send mail regarding the timeshare to pay for fees even though it has been foreclosed since it is a contract. Confused to know whether if going through this process will they outright finally be out of the contract, or continue to try to collect future "debts" (maintenance feeds etc) on the contract?

Foreclosure is a procedure in which Westgate will "recover" legal ownership (either through the courts or through non-judicial foreclosure proceedings, depending on the state).

The existing deed will cease to be valid once the legal ownership is "retrieved" by Westgate. Don't worry; there will be no future billing of maintenance fees (or likely any other correspondence) once the foreclosure process is complete. There might be some "collection calls" until then, however.

In theory, Westgate could pursue legal action to collect previous unpaid fees; the truth is that it's simply not worth the time, bother or expense for them to do so. Once foreclosure is completed, it's "game over". Once Westgate recovers the ownership, they will simply peddle the product to some other "lucky" individual(s) who will inevitably later regret their decision to buy into Westgate.

How many years did they not pay maintenance fees before they got mail stating they will foreclose on the property? How long did it take for the foreclosure mail to start after it wasn’t paid? Just asking in case I decide to do the same. Thanks. Any help is appreciated

jessicaw272 wrote:

How many years did they not pay maintenance fees before they got mail stating they will foreclose on the property? How long did it take for the foreclosure mail to start after it wasn’t paid? Just asking in case I decide to do the same. Thanks. Any help is appreciated

Different resorts have different policies and practices; there is simply no "one size fits all" answer. Regardless of the resort, it is probably safe to assume that collection calls (and interest charges and late fees) will commence very soon after the first year of unpaid fees and that foreclosure proceedings would likely be initiated around (maybe even before) the third year of unpaid fees.

I regretfully bought 1 from Westgate last 2015 and had an immediate bitter taste in my mouth the following day. I talked to them and tried to return the property and, not knowing that time as I was a noob, they stated that i cannot just return it as I have signed a contract. They immediately peddled a smaller unit and took away the one i bought. i paid for a year and realized I was duped. I stopped paying them and the maintenance fees altogether and they have been calling me ever since. I put their phone in block and sent an email to add me to their DO NOT CALL list but they still chugged along with their calls and i kept blocking them. They even tried using a different number and I blocked those too.

My mind was set for the inevitable foreclosure or an offer of Warranty for Deed in Lieu of Forclusure (WDIL) and will not pay them another penny. Just last Friday, I received the WDIL and they are asking for $1395 as their "release program" so I emailed them saying I cannot pay this amount and offered $150 and this is the response i received:

Good Morning: The WDIL is one of three options you qualify for. The goal is to either help you keep your property before the bank finalizes their foreclosure proceedings or the WDIL is a way for you to be released from the 10 year promissory note and contract. The WDIL and the cover letter that comes with it states what it will do for you is the “draft for release of debt”. The $10 is not for you to pay. The $1395 is your responsibility as part of that “release program”. Once the forms are completed and received and the fee paid you will be released from the contract the debt and avoid the foreclosure that if it finalizes would bring a credit judgment for the amount of the debt at that time. Please advise. The cover letter states a discount if you pay over the phone it is 10% or you can set up a 3 month postdated arrangement through this office and once the total amount is paid the release takes place. The fee changes/increases month to month as it sits in the delinquency or once you receive a summons can get up to $2500. Let me know what you decide before we run out of month. Jane

To be continued...

Thank you for sharing. I recently purchased a timeshare through Westgate and have regretted the decision everyday since. Immediately, after purchasing I was hit with numerous fees on top of the monthly payment. Nothing that was mentioned to me during the high pressure sales pitch, has been seen. For the monthly price of the timeshare, I could have gone on several vacations. Im so disappointed that such a large timeshare would prey and deceive hardworking people for their gain. Im considering the foreclosure route because i'm approaching 1 yr of ownership and have nothing to show but high monthly payments. I want out immediately!

msgg wrote:

I recently purchased a timeshare through Westgate and have regretted the decision everyday since. Immediately, after purchasing I was hit with numerous fees on top of the monthly payment. Nothing that was mentioned to me during the high pressure sales pitch, has been seen. For the monthly price of the timeshare, I could have gone on several vacations. Im so disappointed that such a large timeshare would prey and deceive hardworking people for their gain. Im considering the foreclosure route because i'm approaching 1 yr of ownership and have nothing to show but high monthly payments. I want out immediately!

You are obviously well beyond the time period provided by applicable state law to rescind (cancel) the contract; that ship has sailed.

Your options are very few at this point. One is to simply allow foreclosure to occur, which will inevitably happen at some point. You mention "monthly payments", so I assume that a loan is involved. If you unilaterally default on the loan without any negotiation with Westage, a negative credit report is inevitable and it will remain in place for seven years. Your other option is to "pony up" the Westgate demand fees to be released from the contract more immediately. There are otherwise simply no magical escape routes or any secret potions or processes.

Wastegate is among the slimiest and most predatory of all timeshare companies in the USA, in my personal opinion. Only the timeshare sales weasels operating in Mexico are worse. Do whatever you need to do to escape their slimy clutches.