Report Abuse

I've been speaking to a representative from BML Marketing in Orman, Fl, regarding selling a timeshare. They charge a one-time advertising fee of $899 to sell, and/or $499 to rent a timeshare property. They use this money to offer 3 days/2 night stays to entice their customers to attend a presentation for after-market sales/rentals, just like the developers. So they have face-to-face sells, as well as 6 websites, which I've found to be very professional and easy to navigate. The rep said she makes money when the customer buys and finances their purchase, so she does have an incentive to sell the property. This sounds and looks legitimate. I still wonder about giving money up front. What do you think - have you heard anything about this organization? [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]