How to Get Top Dollar When Selling Your Timeshare

Timeshare owners looking to sell all have the same goal in mind – how to get top dollar when selling your timeshare. So, what are the steps needed to put yourself in the best possible position to get the most money for your timeshare?

The first question you need to ask yourself is why you desire to sell in the first place. Are you selling out of a position of need or do you just want to move on from your ownership? Selling timeshare requires patience, so the owner who wants to sell, but doesn’t necessarily need to sell, will generally be in a solid position to field the best offers rather than just dumping their timeshare.

Let’s look at some of the areas you need to consider when selling your timeshare:

Know What You Own

It continues to astound us how many owners really don’t fully understand what they own. With the advent of points overlays onto week ownerships, many owners think they own one product when they really own another. As I’ve mentioned in earlier blog posts, we have owners come to us thinking they own an RCI timeshare, when RCI doesn’t own, sell or operate timeshare resorts.  But they do operate RCI points programs that can be used similar to timeshare points-based programs.

When you start the selling process, make sure you have your original documents and/or deeds for your ownership. Review them to ensure you understand exactly what it is that you are putting on the timeshare resale market.

If you can’t find your documents, contact your resort or management company and they should be able to produce them for you. If you have specific questions regarding your ownership, contact your resort directly for advice. They will probably send you to their customer service department, but don’t let them transfer you to the sales department since they will want to know why you want to sell and may try to sell you into a different program.

Some resorts have teams trained to receive such inquiries, and many an owner has walked away from such conversations owning more timeshare than they originally purchased. 

Get Good Photos

The adage “a picture paints a thousand words” is just as relevant with selling a timeshare as any other product sold on the secondary market. In this day of smartphones and the social media world that we live in, nearly everyone should have some photos of their vacations at their timeshare unit or resort to use when promoting their ownership.

Highlight the Benefits

This may seem obvious, but not all resorts and units are alike and you’d be surprised how many owners think one size fits all when it comes to describing their ownership.

Explain the benefits, especially the unit configuration and unit amenities. Does your resort offer free Wi-Fi in the units (yes, amazingly enough this is still an issue for some resorts). Has the unit or resort recently been renovated? Does it have a full kitchen where healthy meals can be prepared (even more important in the current COVID climate that we all live in)?

With the resort amenities, find out what all of the amenities are and list them. Chances are your resort has some amenities that you haven’t used or care much about. Don’t ignore them since, for example, a buyer may want to know that your resort has a state of the art fitness center even if you’ve never been in it.

Maybe you overlook the game room or the kid’s activities, but this is essential for families. Does the resort have a water park or even a water slide? Be as comprehensive as you can.

Don’t forget the activities in the area when selling your timeshare. Most people choose a vacation destination initially because of the attractions and activities in the area before they look at a resort. How close is your resort to the beach or the theme parks? Is that resort in Breckenridge or Park City a ski-in, ski-out resort? Inquiring minds want to know.

Delve into Details

If you are selling a fixed week timeshare, explain why that week is special and the benefits of that week. Week 30 on Cape Cod? Talk about the amazing summer a buyer will have and what special events may take place during that week. Does your week fall during a holiday? Even more reason to get away to the timeshare.

For points owners, specifics are even more important because different programs offer different point levels to book accommodation. You may be selling 5,000 Hilton timeshare points, but what does that actually mean and what potential accommodation does it get for the buyer? Don’t assume that everyone looking at your ad will understand how it works, since that inquiry may be from someone new to the program.    

Tell Your Story

Understand that you are your most effective advocate, so explain what your timeshare has meant to you over the years. This is where social media can benefit you, since social media is all about telling your story and sharing photos of your life experiences.

Talk about the reasons why you bought in the first place, the same reasons why someone else will want to purchase your timeshare. What is unique about your ownership, what did it mean to you to have an annual vacation with your family.

Define What Top Dollar Is for Your Resort

Top dollar will most likely mean different things to different people. This is where the patience comes into play that I mentioned earlier. With that said, each offer should be reviewed on its own merit and judged based on your specific reasons to sell.

Ask yourself what a realistic top dollar price would be for selling your timeshare. Because there is such a wide variety of timeshare resorts, units and destinations, it is nearly impossible to come up with a nationwide average for timeshare resale prices. The best way to assess this is to look at your specific resort and unit configuration and go from there.

For points owners, it would be comparing listings for the points amount and the resort where your points are deeded. Pure points programs such as WorldMark by Wyndham are a bit easier to assess, but again a lot depends on the reasons why an owner wants to sell when determining a price.

You can do a comparison of websites to see what other sellers are asking for their timeshare. Some owners want to start with what they originally paid for their timeshare. Remember, because 50-60 percent of the original sale price went to cover sales commissions and marketing costs at the resort, that amount can be removed when looking at a starting point for the resale price.

Another avenue is to see what the timeshares are actually selling for. Contact the local government county clerk’s office in the county in which your timeshare is located and see if you can do a records search. Property sales need to be recorded at the clerk’s office, so ask about recent sales for your resort and see what they come back with.  

One area you don’t need to look at is hiring an appraiser. Some companies claim that an appraiser can help you assess the value of your timeshare, for a fee of course. But you can have a licensed agent provide price advice at no cost to you.   

Keep in mind that what you sell for today will save you money in the future by not having to pay ongoing annual maintenance fees, so there is a future financial benefit as well.

Hire an Agent

As you can see, there is a lot that goes into evaluating and selling a timeshare. You can do this yourself, or you can use the services of a licensed timeshare resale brokerage firm to do the work for you.

Agents will consult with the seller and gather all of the necessary information to list the timeshare, including suggested pricing for the property. In states such as Florida, the only ones apart from the owner who can legally price a timeshare resale are licensed agents.

The best part for owners is that there are no upfront fees to sell, so the agents do all of this work for you at no cost to you. They work on commission, so payment is made only after a sale is completed, closed, and ownership is transferred to the new owner.

There is a lot here to digest, so if you would like more information about how the process works please call us on 877-624-6889 and speak to one of our agents.