Timeshare Sales Tactic – Limited Offer, Today Only!

Whether you’ve been sold a vacuum cleaner, or a gym membership, or even a timeshare property, you are familiar with this phrase:  “today only.”  In other words, buy it right this very instant.  Because if you don’t, the price is going to be astronomical and you will spend the rest of your life wishing you hadn’t walked away from such an incredible offer.

Except maybe it’s not exactly true.  If a deal is legitimate and profitable today, it will be tomorrow, too.  The only reason the buy it now price is such a big deal is so you won’t go home and think about it.  Or ask for advice from an attorney or accountant or someone else you trust.

Here’s one person’s experience.  The salesman said a membership, was $6000.00. We couldn’t afford that, so he said a 10 year was $3999.00 and you have 36 months to upgrade to the lifetime membership. $395.00 down & $91.00 a month. Plus $300.00 in maintenance fees per year.

The catch?  This deal is only good for the day you go.

We asked, “You mean we can’t go home and think about it, and let you know Monday.” He said “Absolutely not, the price then would be $12,000.00.”

It won’t surprise you to learn that two weeks later a friend of his went to the same presentation and the $3999 price was still good.  But just for today.

Timeshare Resales: Hand Me Down Vacations?

In this economy, most families are learning to save pennies wherever they can.  Fashionable consignment stores have sprung up in even the most metropolitan of cities, selling brand-name clothing at a fraction of the retail price.  Other resale stores sell everything from sports equipment, furniture, and wedding dresses, to high chairs, electronics and kitchenware.

Depending on what you need, buying a used item saves money-sometimes as little as 10-15%, often as much as 50%.  Timeshare properties are no exception.  Owners are often looking to get rid of timeshares.

Timeshare developers accumulate significant marketing related expenses – primarily through costly timeshare promotions which offer free giveaways in exchange for consumer attendance at high-pressure timeshare sales pitches. Even if you don’t attend a timeshare presentation, when you purchase directly from a resort, you pay to absorb all of the administrative and marketing costs associated with the sale of the property. When buying from a current owner, you pay only the fair market value of the timeshare – a price that’s often 65 percent less than the developer’s price.

However, unlike buying golf clubs, the price for a timeshare also includes future debt- the amount of money you will be required to pay in the future – from annual maintenance fees to surprise surcharges that you might not expect.  Regardless of where you buy, do your homework.

Debt Cancellation Policies for Timeshares – Buyer Beware

Lobbyists from the time-share industry are pushing for legislation in Florida to allow timeshare resorts sell debt-cancellation policies as part of timeshare mortgages.  The policies would allow owners to return their timeshares due to loss of income.  The policies themselves would have a set cost to be added at the time of sale of a timeshare.

The bill comes at a time when timeshare sales have dipped considerably due to the economy.  Well-known developers like Walt Disney World and Westgate are among those lobbying for the bill to provide prospective owners one less hurdle to purchase a timeshare.

From my perspective, the primary goal is to boost sales and increase the number of buyers.  The debt-cancellation insurance policies are a win-win for the developers as they gain an extra form of revenue from people who are pre-screened for viability of being able to afford a timeshare.  They’ll be able to price the policies accordingly and make profit from the policies as well.  They’re not in business to lose money!

At the same time, they’ll get back a number of buyers that will finance their timeshare purchases.  So, the revenue stream from finance charges will again improve, as will revenue from maintenance fees.  The entire timeshare industry runs on these residual forms of revenue — all from the pocketbooks of the timeshare owners.

For more information, click here for the article from the Orlando Sentinel by By Jason Garcia and Sara K. Clarke

Timeshare Owners Unknowingly Supporting Political Campaign

This is a reminder to timeshare owners that they should question every line item on their maintenance fee bills or any bills from their timeshare company…

Please read this article by Dan Christensen of the Miami Herald:

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/786132.html

It turns out that tens of thousands of timeshare owners received small $3-$5 line item charges on their maintenance and tax bills.  These fees were forwarded to a political action committee as contributions.  Since many timeshare owners were unaware of the purpose of the fees, an audit of the billing system found that the billing scheme was an ”improper solicitation of contributions.”

Always question your timeshare bill!

What are your thoughts?

[Timeshare Relief] Opinions about Timeshares on the Internet

Every person seems to have an opinion about timeshares – whether that person has actually bought a timeshare or not. There are those people who think timeshares are a rip-off and wouldn’t even think about buying one. Then there are those proud buyers who love their timeshares and still others who continue to pay for their units year after year but who really don’t see the value in maintaining ownership. Opinions of timeshares cover the entire spectrum and online everyone is free to express their opinions in the security of the internet’s anonymity.

It’s important to keep in mind that online contributors often have a particular bias claiming truth and/or a vested interest in the particular topic being discussed. When it comes to timeshares, this is certainly the case, as almost all websites about timeshares are created and monitored by people within the timeshare industry who are, of course, in the business of promoting timeshare purchasing and timeshare related services.

Developers and many popular hotel chains rely on timeshare buyers to boost their companies’ profits. In 2007, the timeshare industry generated a $10.6 billion in sales even as the economy was experiencing a significant downturn. Developers and hotel chains have huge amounts of money to invest in timeshare promotion and as a result the internet is now permeated with pro-timeshare messages. These companies have staff members generating positive PR for their timeshares by using the internet’s anonymity to post blogs or contribute articles to websites while posing as satisfied and contented timeshare owners.