Selling Diamond Resorts Timeshare

yes Joseph, I am well aware that I'm a relative lightweight on the scale of "screwees", but 11grand is not chump change to me. If I had just put that in a cd 21yrs ago and kept rolling it over it would be about 4 times that now. And yes I am somewhat fortunate that my TS is a 4 hr drive from home, but I'm not happy about being obligated to go there every year or blow off a grand in maint fees. Also, I mostly travel alone and prefer eating out when I'm on vacation. I throw enough eggs on the pan and do my own dishes at home. Sorry for the insult. I get carried away if I sense someone might be defending the TS industry, even indirectly.

I also hate and got totally screwed by DRI, but charless345 you are right in the sense that the hotels we are paying for are worth more than the maintenance fees. I just went to Cabo Azul in San Jose Los Cabos and it was a great resort. My maintenance fees are $1000/year and after reading your post I just went to booking.com to see that same 2 bedroom vila for the week is $4000. CRAZY!!! I aslo stayed at Kaanapali Beach Club Hawaii, Polo Towers Vegas and Sedona Summit Arizona. All where beautiful hotels. But these guys are compulsive blood lusting liars and told me nothing but BS to get me to sign on the dotted line. Do I regret the purchase? YES!! But seeing as how im stuck with it and I only bought in March 2013 I'm trying to make the best of it before loosing all that I paid for it.

David, You have it a little better then me about going to your maintenance timeshare. My timeshare is 1,500 miles away I live in Rhode Island. You still didn't tell me where your resort is. Is it in a popular area? Being only four hours away you can rent it on Tub or here if you didn't bank your week. See I can only rent to family and friends because if I rent on here or Tug and get an animal that smashes the place or even if they leave it clean like I do when they leave who to say that management won't lie and say they damaged the place and you need to pay for damages (wouldn't put it past them). At least you can check them in or at least check them out so you can have proof that they didn't damaged the room. I wish I was four hours away. Just one way of trying to help you out. You were single when you bought your timeshare? Timeshare only works for family. Boy you really did get suckered. Your thinking CD. How about if you did this check out Wyn (Wyndham worldwide) stock prices in 2009 and look at it in today prices. If you did this you wouldn't be paying for any vacation. Like you I am in the woulda, coulda, shoulda club too. Don't want to depressed you more giving you the actual numbers if you can't figure that one out on your own your probably better off. I get sick thinking about it to this day. And that not counting the dividend they pay too which is very good. They are would class legal crooks.

my TS is in Sedona. Got it when I was married, but couldn't get her to take it in the settlement. Am a deeded owner of a floating week. I resisted original developers attempt to convert me from deeded to "vacation club" and rejected DRI attempts to sell me points. Have seen units identical to mine selling for effectively nothing here on RW. Resort was neglected by prev developer, which went bankrupt. DRI has made minimal improvements since taking over, but drastically raised maintenance fees.

My main issues are misleading/lying/high pressure sales and no way out.

How this is legal is a disgrace.

We sold our Diamond Flamingo resort for next to nothing rather than paying $1200 in Maint. fees for a studio unit. We had used it over a period of 20+ years and felt we got our money's worth out of it.

We still own a week at Diamond Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort. We normally book this and then rent it out for New Year's week. Have ignored their requests for an "Owner update" as we know it's a pitch to convert the unit to points.

We bought this week before DRI took over and when it becomes too much of a hassle, we will sell the week.

meatsss

That the only way to get your money worth you have to use it. Although I feel stupid buying retail twice. I love being force to take Vacations because of my stupidity. 19 weekly vacation since 2009 since my first purchase. Need 31 to go to average $500.00 a week per vacation that included original stupidity money plus yearly maintenance fees and RCI exchange fees and future RCI member fees not sure if I am going to Renew with RCI might try Dial Exchange or Red week. Didn't bank 2014 week yet. I don't really need to bank my week because its always on RCI as an Extended or last minute deal. Joe

How did you sell it---even for next to nothing? We are finding no help at all...MF now over 1300/yr. Rather pay for extra weeks through RCI than pay and not get trade value for it.

meatsss wrote:

We sold our Diamond Flamingo resort for next to nothing rather than paying $1200 in Maint. fees for a studio unit. We had used it over a period of 20+ years and felt we got our money's worth out of it.

We still own a week at Diamond Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort. We normally book this and then rent it out for New Year's week. Have ignored their requests for an "Owner update" as we know it's a pitch to convert the unit to points.

We bought this week before DRI took over and when it becomes too much of a hassle, we will sell the week.

linda671 wrote:

How did you sell it---even for next to nothing? We are finding no help at all...MF now over 1300/yr. Rather pay for extra weeks through RCI than pay and not get trade value for it.

Those people were VERY lucky to find someone to buy it, even at a nominal price. The most common scenario is that you can't even give it away for free (I've tried several times).

We listed on a site that was all about the island of St. Maarten. I figured it had a large following and many people would jump at the chance for a cheap fixed unit, fixed week. I was right. I had over a dozen requests the first half hour it was listed. It depends upon where your unit is located. Find some sites that focus on those cities or communities. Maybe we just got lucky. But we saved $1200 and used that for our next trip to Hawaii.

I have searched for someone to take over my 2 timeshares, one fully paid for and the other with a balance. I found a business called ALL REAL ESTATE OWNERSHIP INC, the owner Stuart Vener says he can take these from me through a deed transfer and he would be responsible for anything owed from date of transfer. And he would only charge me 1600.00 to do this, I wonder if anyone has heard of this company and if it is real or another scam, and is this transfer legal so hey cant come back on me for anything after transfer?

NEVER pay anyone money upfront to take your timeshare off your hands. All they want is your upfront money and then they disappear and you still own your property. These scammers have been using this ruse for years. It's one of the oldest cons in the business.

mildredt9 wrote:

I have searched for someone to take over my 2 timeshares, one fully paid for and the other with a balance. I found a business called ALL REAL ESTATE OWNERSHIP INC, the owner Stuart Vener says he can take these from me through a deed transfer and he would be responsible for anything owed from date of transfer. And he would only charge me 1600.00 to do this, I wonder if anyone has heard of this company and if it is real or another scam, and is this transfer legal so hey cant come back on me for anything after transfer?

It looks like Stuart Vener also owned Timeshare Assistance, Inc. which has some complaints online. All Real Estate Ownership, Inc. isn't a registered corporation it just shows up on the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as a DBA/other name.

It looks like Stuart Vener does have an inactive real estate Broker's license in Nevada.

His website states the following: "Stuart Vener is one of America's most knowledgeable real estate investors/consultants. He provides expert information as a guest on radio shows throughout the Country, and regularly appears on Fox News.

Former President and CEO of the Richmond Corporation and Former Director and CFO of Transcontinental Development Corp., Mr. Vener is a paid consultant available to many Fortune 500 Companies."

My question would be why is such a self-proclaimed uber successful businessman making cold calls to transfer timeshare deeds?

Anyone charging you upfront fees like that should generally be avoided. Especially if there are complaints online already from other people who paid them. The decision is yours, but if someone asks me for $1,600.00 I want their record to be exemplary.

Diamond is no different than any other high pressure sales gimmick, I fell for it and am now stuck with 2 in Orlando , can't get rid of them, I also did not take their offer to go to points, why pay more for what I already have. I have even tryed to give one away with purchase of the other but no help out there.

As far as StuArt V, I checked around about him and when he called me back I told him I wasn't interested anymore at the advise of an attorney, he got really rude with me and told me that I was irritating him, All I did was ask some basic questions about his pitch, like what about the balance on the timeshare when he takes over, so he wrote on a quit claim deed that he would take that over, after checking with DRI I was told I would still be legally responsible for the balance. I'm tired of scams. What creeps will do for money is bs, we worked and paid for our things, so if you want to buy it....pay the little that people are offering to sell for and stop getting rich off the backs of honest people who are in need of getting rid of there property

Mildred and the rest of you: you should realize that there are no, Zero, none, zilch, people connected in any way with the timeshare/vacation ownership "industry" who are not lowlife liars and scammers. They are all sociopaths lacking any vestige of a conscience.

As for those people who claim to love their timeshares, they are just deluded fools who have rationalized their bad judgement to save face.

I've had my timeshare for 10 + years. I just don't use it often. I'm interested in selling. Where do you advertise? Can you actually sell it? I paid a company about 7 years ago $800 and never heard back. Could not get my money back from them either.

What paperwork do you need to sell your deed?

Thank you Kat

Most timeshares have little or no value on the resale market. You can try calling you home resort and ask them to take it back through a deed back. That is the quickest and least expensive way to go if they agree. You can always advertise it at Redweek or other sites for $ 1.00 and maybe pay closing costs as an incentive. Good luck.

kathrynh118 wrote:

I paid a company about 7 years ago $800 and never heard back. Could not get my money back from them either.

Needless to say, you got scammed by this company. This is a very common scam in the timeshare industry. Fortunately for you, you only paid one company one time. Usually they'll put you and your phone number on a sucker list and call you many times under different names.

Never ever pay anyone a large, upfront fee to sell, rent out, market, or "cancel" your timeshare. Anyone who sells or rents your timeshare would get his commission out of the proceeds of the sale.

If you find someone who wants to buy (or just take for free) your timeshare, you can use a reputable closing company for documents. Some good ones are Legal Timeshare Transfers and JRA Services. LTT charges about $150 to do a transfer if no escrow is involved and a little more if you do need escrow service.

Oh I did and do get phone calls. But I ignore them. Just trying to figure out how to sell. The dues and membership are over $2400 and $400. It's ridiculous.

When Diamond took over Flamingo on St. Maarten, we saw maint. fees FOR A STUDIO increase to over $1200 per year. We had owned since 1990 and felt we got our money's worth out of it. We sold our week for a song in order to save $1200 that was due the next month. St. Maarten has other problems with a lack of consumer protection laws for timeshare owners. I feel we got out at the right time. That may apply to other resorts too. Unless you're getting value for your time and money, it's better to take a quick loss and sell cheap rather than pouring money down a hole. We have found better resorts to own in that treat us with respect and are a good value. IMHO