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Original Message:

Re: Selling Diamond Resorts Timeshare (by Lance C.):

williamc728 wrote:
I used to own 4 timeshares and got rid of all of them. At the beginning it was all fun using points or weeks and booking at resorts around the globe. It seemed to be a pretty good idea, however as time passed the fees kept creeping up with no sight at end that this was going to ever stop. I was threatened once to be taken to court, etc. It wasn't until I did my research on the internet that I found an organization who was willing to accept my timeshare as a donation, in turn they were going to send me a voucher or certificate for a tax write-off in the amount of 5,000 dollars. It worked like a charm and I have never looked back. The title/escrow/company involved was Trejesto title transfers. Nowadays, when going on vacation around the world, I use websites such as www.homeaway.com in which I can stay in places a lot cheaper of what I use to pay using the timeshare which included fees such as + maintenance fees + exchanges fees+ annual membership fees and in some instances even resort fees at check-in. It is true that in order to donate these timeshares I had to fork-out about 700 dollars (500 dollars to the donating institution and 200 to the title company which is kept in a escrow account until the title and or ownership has been completely transfer).

While your story seems plausible, there are a couple of things I would watch out for.

First of all, the voucher for a $5000 "donation" might get you in trouble with the I.R.S. How can you claim $5000 fair market value for something you had to pay someone to take off your hands? How did this outfit come to the conclusion that your unit was worth $5000? The I.R.S. might see a red flag here and ask you to prove your "donation" was worth $5000.

Secondly, is that they charged you only $500. Charities that take possession and continue to pay the fees owners are required to pay usually charge in the thousands. This means that this outfit will either default on the fees and let it go into foreclosure or it will transfer ownership to a shell corporation and bankrupt the company (often called the "viking ship" scheme). Even though you might no longer be the owner, there are some resorts launching lawsuits against such companies AND the previous owners (in this case, that would be you) for fraudulent conveyance.

If I were you, I would not consider myself out of the woods just yet and would tread very carefully claiming a $5000 write-off for a worthless property.