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Re: BE WARNED CONCERNING MAINTENANCE FEES (by Carvan A.):

tesora wrote:

While it is wise to call the resort and find out if there will be special assessments or planned increases in the maintenance fees, it is a lot harder to get a straight answer than you might expect. Just this week I called Marriott to inquire about a timeshare that I was interested in purchasing from a third party. The Marriott person I spoke with pretended that he couldn't find any of the pertinent information. He would not even confirm the 2007 maintenance fee until I told him the amount. Basically I had to tell him what I knew about the unit and then he would tell me if that was correct. Does it trade red? Yes. Are those weeks x -x? Yes. Shockingly he told me that he had no idea what 2008 fees would be and had no way of knowing whether a special assessment had already been announced. It is impossible to conduct due diligence with unhelpful management. I passed.

Marriott as well as any other resort that refuses to give out information to a stranger is protecting the privacy of the owner and rightfully so. You can secure a release from the owner of the timeshare authorizing the release of the information. The following format is suggested:

To: Name of Resort From: Name of Owner Date: Re: Unit 304/Week 40

Resort Acct # 9994999

We hereby authorize you to provide the prospective buyer named below the maintenance fee schedule, assessments current and/or pending and we further authorize you to confirm that we are the owners of record of the above named unit and week.

Prospective buyer: Name

Sincerely,

Your Name

This approach protects the resort and allows them to release the information to the person you name