Original Message:
Upfront fee Listing and advertising (NOT selling) companies... (by KC):
lancec13 wrote:Well, there are several plainly evident reasons for this:...seems Florida is the only state trying to shut down these companies.
1. There are more timeshare weeks in the state of Florida than exist in all of the rest of the country combined together. Accordingly, it's only logical that any attempts at regulation would begin in Florida.
2. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum wants to get elected to be the next Governor of Florida. His (only relatively recent) "interest" in this particular timeshare issue MAY well be sincere, but it is definitely also a public image "winner" (...like petting dogs or kissing babies).
In the final analysis, it will take FEDERAL legislation to drive EVERY upfront fee parasite in the U.S. out of business and out of existence and back into their holes in the ground. Until there is Federal jurisdiction and regulation, these parasites will simply move their operations out of Florida (...as some have already done, in fact).
================================================== UPDATE follows below: ================================================== Well, AG Bill McCollum has officially LOST in his bid to become the next Governor of Florida.
So, I guess we'll see just how much real "steam" and focus this recent "upfront fee timeshare lising company reform" (and associated court decisions) will have in Florida going forward, since AG McCollum will be GONE from the FL government as of January, 2011. Too bad, really, since he has been very much "pro consumer" while AG of Florida.