Getting rid of a time share.

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Original Message:

There are no "one size fits all" answers... (by KC):

don603 wrote:
Ken, As I read some of your back posts, you are good are getting folks to be real and to present factual and useful information. And maybe I've missed it, but has anyone EVER been able to get out of their timeshares? Can't just one of the companies that are springing up everywhere be legit?

We own 5 timeshares (purchased in the 1990's) of which we'd like to get rid 2 or 3 of them. We actually owned a 6th bought in 2009 (yeah I know STUPID) that we were able to give back to them in 2010 later. I've tried to do the same with the others, but of course no company is going to do that.

Thanks for your insight!

Thanks for your kind words.

Hope springs eternal, but the simple fact of the matter is that NO entity which charges an upfront fee is likely ever going to prove to be legitimate. NONE. While "Donate for a Cause" (DFC) may be "legitimate", for a low value timeshare the DFC "donation" costs are actually every bit as much as any upfront fee company or PCC (PostCard Company) charges. For people with multiple weeks to part with, it is not generally even a viable option to consider PAYING several thousand dollars PER WEEK just to get rid of them.

There is no way to "make a silk purse from a sow's ear". If a timeshare has no current market value, you may well have to advertise offers to GIVE it away (for free). You can advertise such offers as a "Bargain Deal" on RedWeek. You can place an "auction" ad / listing (for free) on Bidshares (free ads on Craigslist too, but Craigslist is unfortunately the current scammer capital of Planet Earth). You may even have to offer to pay all of the closing costs yourself in order to make a "free" offer more attractive. Even then, paying three hundred dollars in closing costs is a whole lot better than paying three THOUSAND dollars to DFC (...or to some shaky, questionable PCC which might take your money now and then disappear entirely two months from now).

I wish I had better words of encouragement or wisdom to offer, but the cold, hard facts are simply the cold, hard facts.