Original Message:
Re: Current info on walking away from a timeshare (by Steve M.):
While your post about the IRS audit is quite scary to many I am sure - it has no bearing on my post. You are assuming that a person would try to take a false deduction for a charitable donation on their taxes. If they do that, they deserve to be audited.
I suggested they try to get a charity, such as those selling on eBay, to take the time share and list it. They would be giving the time share to the charity with a value of zero - so there is no deduction to take.
While there are certainly some scammers involved in this, I know that there are some real charities, as I have purchased two time shares through such auctions, and both were transferred to me quickly with no issues to speak of. In both cases I paid the closing costs and transfer fees, via an escrow account at a closing service that I had checked out thoroughly with both the BBB and on Red Week postings. The seller had to pay any back fees, and the mortgage was paid in full. The charity got a fee at closing, taken from the closing fee, which was about $500.
As I said, you can not expect to do any better than simply getting free of the time share and the ongoing annual fees - but isn't that what you are really after in the first place?