- With top destinations like Orlando, Key West, Park City, Las Vegas, Cancun, the Bahamas,
and so much more we're talking timeshares this morning.
Now did you know that there are over 1500 timeshare resorts in the US alone?
And more than 9.5 million timeshare vacation weeks owned?
Understanding timeshare ownership and all the options out there can be a bit confusing.
So help is here this morning.
Joining me from SellMyTimeshareNow.com is Abigail Bradshaw their Vice President of Marketing.
Good morning!
- Good morning.
- So let's get down to the basics first.
Let's talk about timeshares and why they're so popular.
- A timeshare in simplified terms is really just a way that you can own a portion or a
share of a luxury resort property.
It's typically gonna be in the form of a week long vacation stay that's guaranteed to you
annually.
The benefit of timeshare is that they combine the best aspects of owning a vacation home
with none of the stress and also the best aspects of staying in a luxury vacation resort.
So these timeshares will typically have full kitchens, living rooms, washers and dryers
in the units, which is great for families.
And most importantly, they have separate bedrooms so everybody in your family has that space
that they need to really enjoy the vacation.
The next best thing is the amenities that you find at these resorts.
They're absolutely fantastic.
- [Olga] The pools are great.
- [Abigail] They fantastic.
Some of them even have water slides.
- [Olga] Now timeshares sometimes get a bad rap and I wanna talk about a few myths, shall
we?
- [Abigail] Yes.
- [Olga] All timeshares are the same and lock you into vacationing at the same resort during
the same week every year.
You've heard that.
- There's actually a little more flexibility out there.
There are those types of ownerships that you're talking about.
They're called fixed week ownerships.
They do allow you to go back to the same resort and for some families that's a great option.
But there are also floating weeks.
This might allow you to travel to any resort in a specific season, or you can get a points-based
ownership, which is probably your most flexible option.
Those typically work where you get an annual allotment of points based on your membership
level, and then you can use them almost like a currency to book any stay you want at any
resort in the collection.
You can also book shorter stays, so if you wanted to go to Orlando for four nights with
your family and then later go somewhere like Key West with just your spouse you have that
option.
- [Olga] Timeshares aren't affordable for the average family.
That's not true.
- Not true.
There's a couple different ways that you can purchase which is important to note.
You can buy directly from the developer or the resort and there's a lot of incentives
to doing that.
The second way is that you can purchase on the resale market which just means that you're
purchasing from an individual owner instead of buying from the resort.
- [Olga] Okay.
- [Abigail] The advantage of the resale market is that you can find some great deals.
These timeshares are typically priced anywhere between 25-70% off the retail purchase price,
which makes it really, really affordable for more families.
- [Olga] You can't sell timeshares.
- [Abigail] We would not be in business if that was the case.
- No you would not.
- The most common factors that we see that have a serious impact on your ability to sell
are pricing and exposure.
So on the pricing, it really just goes back to the point that these buyers are looking
for a deal.
So sellers need to take that into account when they're pricing their properties and
set their expectations properly.
Even more important than that, though, is the market exposure.
If you're selling a timeshare you're not necessarily going to be able to go to your local real
estate agent to sell that.
Chances are they might not even know what a timeshare is and they're certainly not gonna
have the resources to advertise that property nationally or globally which is really what
you need.
When you're selling a timeshare you need that global exposure because your buyer can really
come from anywhere in the world.
So the best place to do that is typically online through a website like ours.
- Which is where you come in.
So what sets you apart.
Why?
- We've been in business since 2003 and we are the most active marketplace, and the reason
for that is we really offer that targeted exposure to buyers who are online searching
for these properties or looking for more information about ownership.
Annually we attract more than 5.5 million visits to our website-
- [Olga] Wow!
- [Abigail] Which is crazy.
- [Olga] That's a lot.
- [Abigail] And that represents buyers and travelers from more than 175 countries and
territories worldwide.
- And how does it work?
- Typically what happens is you'll go to our website, fill out a form, you can also call
our toll free hotline.
We're always there to help.
If you're an owner we'll work with you, explain how the process works, and we're there with
you every step of the way from the time you list on our website to your closing where
we can actually refer you to a fully insured, licensed, bonded title company that specializes
in timeshare.
So you make sure all the paperwork is done correctly.
And if you're a buyer definitely don't let our name fool you.
We really do have the best selection of timeshare properties out there which means we also have
the best deals.
And you can find great deals on properties from well-known brands like Marriott, Disney,
Hilton, Vita Vacations, Wyndham Resorts and more.
And we also have licensed real estate agents who can help you if you're not quite sure
what you want to buy, they can help match you to the perfect property for your family's
needs.
- For our viewers who'd like more information, where do they go?
- SellMyTimeshareNow.com.
- [Olga] Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- Appreciate your time.
And if you'd like more information you can always just go to our website and we'll take
you to their website.
The Balancing Act.com.