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Renting and /or selling...

[Q=ken1193] Many people do not want to exert the effort or spend the time to rent or sell a timeshare on their own. That's not a judgement or a criticism, just a statement of fact. In truth, it has been (historically, anyhow) virtually ALWAYS possible for an owner to either sell or rent on his/her own. In terms of return on time and/or money invested, it has generally been time and money well spent. Sites like RedWeek, MyResortNetwork, Vacation Timeshare Rentals (free), Craigslist (free), Bidshares (also free) have made selling and renting a relatively painless process. Owners even report (on various timeshare site discussions) success on eBay with late or "last minute" rentals, although rarely at top dollar. The problem developing more and more for timeshare owners, renters (and travellers of ALL kinds, for that matter) is that the cost of travel and airfare is already very high and is clearly still heading upward into the stratosphere --- and will continue to do so. The airlines have to pay for fuel just like everyone else and they use enormous quantitities of it on each and every flight. Accordingly, the cost of airfare is likely to soon meet or exceed the consideration of initial cost of purchase or rental of a timeshare. Air travel (even driving) cost is going to have a significant and increasing impact on ALL long distance travel, whether for business or pleasure. My suggestion to U.S. owners who own timeshares located outside of the U.S. (and who want to rent it out) would be (in addition to using the various advertising sites already specified above) to: 1. Look for and find an entity which markets OUTSIDE of the U.S. People from Europe and Japan are currently more than happy to take full advantage of a weak U.S. dollar. Even with costs high, their favorable exchange rate mitigates this factor. 2. Look for and find an entity which takes their rental commission only upon actual rental, with no "upfront" fees of any kind required. No rental, no fee. Period. 3. Finally, many resorts have their own (very profitable) "in house" rental programs. They typically take a 25-30% commission, which is certainly a big bite, but the owner need do nothing more. Additionally, when the resort conducts the rental, the resort assumes full responsibility for any renter damages. In a private rental, with or without a rental contract, the owner is ultimately fully responsible for any incurred damages. Owner may be able to "chase" the tenant on the basis of the rental contract contents regarding responsibility for damages, but the resort doesn't care one bit about that. The resort is ONLY going to "chase" the actual OWNER, if damages occur in excess of the renter credit card authorization amount which was provided at renter check-in. Just my personal thoughts and opinions on the subject....[/Q Our family just returned from a stay at the Grand Mayan in Puerto Vallarta, MX. We went to a presentation and bought at the Mayan. We now need to sell our timeshare at Paradise Village (just a few resorts away from the Mayan resorts.) They gave us a list of rental/resale companies, but I don't like the idea of giving them money up front - they have no real incentive to sell your property at that point. Thanks for the info in your message. I will try the websites you mentioned. Have you had success in selling/renting timeshares? If so, which website did you use? Please let me know if there are any other tips I should know before trying to sell my Paradise timeshare. Thanks, Guest