Has anyone ever helped a client/friend get out of a timeshare?

I have a client that got duped into a Holiday Inn timeshare and they owe about 8k at 15% interest plus the lifetime of maintenance fees each year.

We called one of the timeshare exit companies and they said for 5 or 6 grand they can make it go away. The basic idea is they are encouraging the client to just simply not make the payments on the loan or anything else and then when they get dinged on their credit report they will go in and fix the report for them.

That just seems a little bit sleazy to me. But maybe that's how you do it.

I am just wondering if we call the company and pay off the 8k they owe and then ask to cancel is that an option?

How does one get out of this?

Stop paying the hoa and it will usually go away. Probably in the contract that they'll take it back from you if you do this.

Ocean Of Funk said:

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Please please please let someone make some pro-TS posts. The mental gymnastics people to do convince themselves timeshares are a good thing are out-of-this-world awesome.

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What are the "pros"? Seems like airbnb should kill timeshares.

One would think so! Between that and VRBO what's the point.

I love how pissed off they get when you say nah.

Long ago my Dad bought into a timeshare. He decided he wanted out of it and went down to have a meeting with them. It apparently went well, as they let him out of it without any issue.

Of course he was a big, scary man that was not fully over his experiences as a Marine in Vietnam. I'm not sure if any of that played a part, but you might try doing that in order to get out of your timeshare.

gig em 02 said:

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Ocean Of Funk said:

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Please please please let someone make some pro-TS posts. The mental gymnastics people to do convince themselves timeshares are a good thing are out-of-this-world awesome.

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What are the "pros"? Seems like airbnb should kill timeshares.

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There aren't any. But there was a guy on here (I think it was the B&I board, but maybe it was somewhere else) who was just relentlessly defending his time share as the greatest investment ever.

It was pretty great. He was convinced that timeshares had gotten a bad name when they first started but the industry has changed and now they rock. In fact, we were all idiots for not recognizing how wonderful they are.

hypeiv said:

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Ocean Of Funk said:

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Please please please let someone make some pro-TS posts. The mental gymnastics people to do convince themselves timeshares are a good thing are out-of-this-world awesome.

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I believe the one pro-TS person who posts on these types of threads uses his as a country club since he lives close to it and can use the resort even when not staying in the room. I would guess that is a use case that less than 1% of "owners" can take advantage of for most timeshares.

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I am pro-TS, but realize I have a unique situation. Our home resort is in breckenridge 90 minutes away, and we can use it any day of the year. The ski lockers (it's ski in/ski out), the pools/hot tubs, the underground parking garage. It makes ski day a dream. And we can get rooms for about 1/4 published rate if they have them available. Spring/fall that's like $59. Summer it's about $89 and winter it's $109.

Very unique case for sure. I would not be happy if we didn't have this available to us.

nactownag said:

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We called one of the timeshare exit companies and they said for 5 or 6 grand they can make it go away. The basic idea is they are encouraging the client to just simply not make the payments on the loan or anything else and then when they get dinged on their credit report they will go in and fix the report for them.

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If you are going to do this, couldn't you just offer some sucker $5k in cash to takeover the timeshare and not chance messing up your credit score? Or are these things so toxic that there is simply no market even with a financial incentive?

Not quite as good as 62, but my parents have a had a Las Vegas timeshare for about 45 years now. I think my grandparents bought it for them with cash. It's still an easy 1/4 mile walk to the strip now that they're old and it's a 2 bedroom that sleeps 6. Similar room in the hotel next door would be $200-300/night, and they get it for about $40/night after they've paid all their taxes and fees. Also good that they can invite friends and family to stay with them. I'd never call it an "investment" and I'd never recommend a timeshare for what they're trying to charge today, but it's been good for them for almost half a century now.

62strat said:

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hypeiv said:

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Ocean Of Funk said:

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Please please please let someone make some pro-TS posts. The mental gymnastics people to do convince themselves timeshares are a good thing are out-of-this-world awesome.

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I believe the one pro-TS person who posts on these types of threads uses his as a country club since he lives close to it and can use the resort even when not staying in the room. I would guess that is a use case that less than 1% of "owners" can take advantage of for most timeshares.

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I am pro-TS, but realize I have a unique situation. Our home resort is in breckenridge 90 minutes away, and we can use it any day of the year. The ski lockers (it's ski in/ski out), the pools/hot tubs, the underground parking garage. It makes ski day a dream. And we can get rooms for about 1/4 published rate if they have them available. Spring/fall that's like $59. Summer it's about $89 and winter it's $109.

Very unique case for sure. I would not be happy if we didn't have this available to us.

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It is less than 1%. We have developed a few that had to have a timeshare disclosure but were more like shared ownership. 8 people owned the home, shared the expenses, and shared the full decision-making ability. Having been on the development side:

I wouldn't do anything that would not allow the following:

1. Put it in an LLC or our entity that allows it to be a house of cards if needed. They want the personal guarantee that comes with requiring you to purchase it in your name.
2. Allows the management company to change their fee without the owner's approval
3. Allows the management company to realize the income from selling reservations. The Chirsty Club in Steamboat Springs was awesome. You got two weeks in the winter, two weeks in the summer, and unlimited usage when available two weeks in advance. People would go up there for a month in the summer because almost everyone bought it for the winter weeks. They changed the management company and now they sell the unused time and will never let anything be available two weeks out.

Have your client go to Timeshare User Group. It is a active TS user group forum that can give good advise on how to dispose of timeshares. NEVER pay someone upfront to dispose a timeshare. It's a scam. Also, your client could call the timeshare company and see if they will take it back. There are a few companies that will do that if the timeshare is in a good area. My FIL did that with his Marriott timeshare.

We own from buying and being gifted about 4 weeks timeshares and they work for us and our family. But , we have told our kids if they don't want them they can just tell the timeshare companies that we are dead and they don't want them and there is nothing the timeshare companies can do.

One that we own, Disney Vacation Club, we could actually sell for more than double what we paid for it! Disney has what is call "right of first refusal" and with this plus the demand it keeps the value high.