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Donating our timeshare (by Dr. K.):

rond168 wrote:

Do you actually have experience with DFAC...or is this just a general statement for the whole timeshare industry (which I would agree with)?

Do you know of a regular realtor who will sell on commission that is collected at closing?

Actually jayjay and a few others have no experience with donating timeshares and refuse to accept detailed quotations from IRS laws and publications regarding the issue. When asked repeatedly to document or reference their claims of scam and unscrupulous shenanigans they fail to do anything but scream even louder. All that can be found in the thread "Getting rid of your timeshare".

The reality is that there are a few charities that will actually accept the title to your timeshare. Once that's done the resort, jayjay or anyone else that works for the the resorts can do nothing to reverse it and you remain free. Willing it to a non-heir is a legal question, but I have seen where such actions have been rejected by the recipient and it's held up in court so that probably wouldn't work.

The unfortunate reality is that timeshares used to have value on the secondary market which meant when a charity took the donation, they didn't actually take title, they were able to find a buyer who gave them the money while the donor signed over the deed to the buyer. The purpose of the process was to convert it to cash for the charity operating expenses.

Charities aren't finding magic buyers any more easily than anyone else today. So, the charity will charge a fee at closing so they can cover potential ownership costs until they can finally unload the timeshare somewhere somehow. It's the same purpose, convert the asset donated to cash for operating expenses.

We are a charity that charges a $500 fee to accept a timeshare donation. It must be done through a licensed closing company of your choice. That closing company will require you to deposit their fee plus any other costs, including our fee, into their bonded escrow account. After all, this is a real estate transaction just like buying a house. Hopefully, no one is foolish enough to think real estate transactions don't require upfront deposits into escrow accounts.

Once the deed has been recorded by the closing company the funds are released to their designated destinations. If the deal doesn't go through, all the money is returned to the donor or seller. This is normal legal common every day real estate business. Unfortunately, some people don't understand that or don't want to believe it.

In the worst case scenario check with different charities. Make sure they will take actual title into their name at closing. Make sure any money you pay is into a licensed escrow account so it's protected by law. At that point just consider it a cost of business or future maintenance payments to finally get rid of it.