How can I rent a timeshare?

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Original Message:

How can I rent a timeshare? (by KC):

fredc76 wrote:
I am ready to pay for a rental. The owner asked for a check and promise to add my name to the reservation list. This is obviously not comfortable to me. Besides paying for an escrow to handle this? Do you have other tips? How much is an escrow service cost for rental?

Last question answered first --- there is a fellow (a licensed, bonded realtor) on TUG who handles "escrow only" situations for $100. First American Title charges $150. In either instance, the expectation is likley that if an escrow service is accepted by the owner, the renter will pay the entire "escrow" fee. Generally, that's because for an owner, escrow services are often regarded as a "less than desirable" process, since the owner doesn't receive a dime until after the rental is actually completed. Some owners (understandably) find those terms to be unacceptable and will simply reject outright the use of escrow services. That's their right.

As mentioned already (and it's good advice) you want and need a mutually signed, detailed, written contract. Be certain that cancellation refund terms are specifically included. Personally, I think that it's a bit unreasonable to ask or expect any owner to actually put your name on a reservation until and unless some "good faith" has first been demonstrated at your end. Return of a signed contract and an accompanying 50% deposit would be a sufficient "good faith" gesture in my book, but that's just my own personal opinion and viewpoint.

One of the most important things for you to do is to FIRST verify that the person from whom you are potentially renting IS actually the owner of the unit and week being rented out in the first place. Confirm this fact for yourself directly by phone call with the resort. Don't get caught up in any underhanded, prohibited transactions where someone is trying to rent you a week which they don't even own in the first place, but have instead merely acquired for one time use through an exchange with RCI or II. Such exchanges CANNOT be rented out and, if caught, you (even as innocent renter) risk being turned away completely at check-in and the intrepid "improper landlord" risks termination of exchange company membership. Good luck.