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Re: sELLING MY TIMESHARE (by KC):

adahiscout stated: >> Very true, but isn't that rather like the way a new car drops in value as soon as you drive it off the lot? You can buy a used car but it lacks some of the warranties and may have "reasons for selling" that are not fully disclosed. If you own with a large points system resort group, however, it is like having access to a fleet of vehicles, some new, some older, but all in good condition and designed to fill a variety of needs. MD<< ====================================

I had actually considered making that same automobile analogy when I first constructed my initial reply, but decided against it, feeling that it really didn't fit well. In the new car purchase, for example, there is a universlly known and openly disclosed "MSRP", and even a viewable "dealer invoice" identifying exactly what the car dealer paid the manufacturer for the car (except for undisclosed sales volume incentive rebates, often offered to the dealer by the manufacturer). Rarely will a new car ever actually be sold for "sticker price", and certainly not for any more than that amount. The purchase price then clearly lies somewhere between dealer invoice and MSRP figures. Those parameters are eminently "knowable" to (and often obtained by) the smart new car buyer.

In timeshare developer sales, on the other hand (with very few noteworthy exceptions), there is no publicly known or disclosed "sticker price". There is never a construction / marketing "recoup" figure known either. There is, in fact, really no "range" of figures ever known to the buyer at all at any time. In addition, the selling prices can often fluctuate with the sales team, the time of year, the pace of progress toward "sellout", even with the perceived solvency and /or "pain threshhold" of the individual buyer. In short, the naive buyer can (and very frequently does) pay well OVER the (not publicly disclosed) figure at which the developer "needs" to make each initial sale. Finally, the new car literally depreciates by 20% as soon as it leaves the lot because it is now officially a "used" car. The "used" timeshare, on the other hand, is not necessarily inherently worth ANY less money --- weeks, months, or even years later. It's simply that the unfortunate developer-sales buyer likely paid 50% more than "real" actual market value in the first place.

You mention points systems, which muddies this "apples and oranges" discussion a bit, but in some instances large point systems may indeed level the playing field somewhat. But..... there are so many different flavors and so many different "currencies" in the various, assorted points systems that broad generalizations are difficult to make. Some packages may have some measure of pricing consistency at the developer sales level (Marriott, maybe?). Others have absolutely no consistency or range in pricing (RCI jumps immediately to mind here as the one with which I am most familiar) -- RCI points purchase figures are just absolutely all over the map.

In the end, perhaps the only "absolute" or "one size fits all" statement is that a buyer who purchases from a developer will likely NEVER recoup anywhere near that figure later in the resale market.