Other LanguagesSummer’s finally here and that brings thoughts of a vacation – if you can afford one in this sluggish economy. Lifestyle changes, unemployment and rising costs have many timeshare owners hoping to sell their vacation properties. If you’re one of them, be careful.
Victims throughout the nation have cheated by sleazy businesses that claim they’ve got an interested buyer. The scammers solicit sellers by phone and through online ads. In order for the middle man to close the deal, victims are told to pay a nonrefundable service fee upfront.
"After that we never heard from them," said Patricia Valdez in this interview.
Art Heist had a similar nightmare. "They just took my money and claimed they would sell the timeshare and they haven't done anything," he said.
A Tacoma man told KING 5 that after paying a company to list his condo, he was hounded with deceptive sales calls.
If someone calls you out of the blue about buying your timeshare, that’s a red flag. If you’re asked to pay upfront for help selling one, that’s another. If a company promises an easy sell, roll your eyes and hang up.
Some alternatives to safely dump your timeshare:
- Go to a licensed timeshare real estate broker. Licensed brokers won't collect a fee until they sell your timeshare.
- Advertise it yourself.
- Try renting. Don’t have the resort do it, though, because you’ll pay more.
- If all else fails, donate to charity for the tax write-off.
- As a reminder, be sure to read your contract since it may limit how you sell.