Original Message:
What about BUYING thru SMTN? (by KC):
susanw33 wrote:OK, on the flip side....is SMTN legit for buying a timeshare? I am a seasoned timeshare owner of over 30 years. Looking to add to my pool of timeshares. The resort that I have wanted for years to buy into does not have a resale program and seems to show no interest in putting me into contact with owners who want to sell. Yet, SMTN has several listings at seemingly reasonable purchase prices and maintenance fees. Can I trust SMTN to conduct the entire buying process? Of course, I just want to negotiate a fair purchase price and pay the industry standard transfer and closing fees. And frankly, I will want to do that in person, regardless of where I have to travel to perform the transaction.
Good question. Here is the straight scoop:
Sometimes you will find a timeshare of interest on the SMTN site which may be available at a price acceptable to you. HOWEVER, you will have NO say or ANY choice regarding the "closing" entity. Closing costs through SMTN are quite excessive --- multiple times the cost of customary and usual closing costs. You have no option to conduct a SMTN transaction "in person", but that is the case in most any resale timeshare transaction anyhow, so SMTN is not unique in that regard. It would frankly be both highly unusual and entirely unnecessary to conduct a resale timeshare transaction "in person". Objective, third party "closers" who have no association with either buyer or seller (not an available option via SMTN, unfortunately) look out for the interests of BOTH buyer and seller, holding all funds in escrow until closing if necessary. This obviously eliminates any need for any travel or physical presence by either the buyer or the seller just to "close" on a resale transaction.
With SMTN, you essentially have to determine ALL of the collective costs as a buyer and then ask yourself if that bottom line figure is acceptable to YOU to acquire that particular timeshare listing, despite the exorbitant closing costs. Far more often than not, the answer will be NO, but there are (relatively rare) exceptions. In all fairness, in the performance of your due diligence you really have to look at the big picture and ask yourself if the TOTAL expenditure involved justifies acquisition of that particular timeshare for YOU. You obviously first need to accurately determine the bottom line total figure before you can possibly make that fully informed evaluation and personal decision.
SMTN of course has nothing whatsoever to do with maintenance fees, regardless of the resort involved. Maintenance fees are determined only by individual resorts --- and they are not "negotiable". That said, I would independently verify the accuracy of ANY figures SMTN indicates for maintenance fees. This is very easily done by contacting the resort directly for confirmation of any figures claimed by SMTN in their listings.