If you really want to get away from it all:

Photo of Hacienda del Mar, Cabo San Lucas Mexico Timeshare Resort

The stress will start to melt away as soon as you arrive in Cabo San Lucas Mexico.  There's just something about palm trees, ocean breeze, the sounds of surf, the pleasing colors of the sky and ocean, and being out of cell phone/blackberry/internet range!  And, the best way to do it in style, comfort and within a budget is via timeshares. I am sure that there are accommodations for those who want to take their work with them, but why would you want to?  Parasailing, jet skis, deep sea fishing, surfing, the beach, or just relaxing by the pool is a great break from the "work-a-day" world. You will have many great choices when deciding on a Cabo san Lucas timeshare. Hacienda del Mar, Pueblo Bonito Rose, Club Regina Los Cabos, Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach, Villa del Palmar Cabo, Playa Grande, and more! Check out this comprehensive list of timeshares in Cabo san Lucas Mexico for sale. Or if you have a timeshare in Cabo that you want to sell, check out the services of these timeshare professionals at www.rpmls.com.

In a recent timeshare study by Stroman Realty, Inc they listed their top ten best selling timeshare resorts from over a five year period.  Here they are:

1. Sheraton Vistana Orlando, FL
2. The Manhattan Club, NY, NY
3. Orange Lake Country Club, Orlando, FL
4. Marriott’s Desert Springs Villas Palm Desert, CA
5. Hilton Grand Vacation Club Flamingo Las Vegas, NV
6. Hilton Grand Vacation Club Sea World Orlando, FL
7. Worldmark by Wyndham Resorts
8. Marriott’s Cypress Harbour, Orlando, FL
9. Marriott’s Desert Spring Villas II Palm Desert, CA
10. Marriott’s Grande Ocean Resort, Hilton Head, SC

It was no surprise that five of the top ten best selling timeshares were in Orlando Florida.  Orlando has the highest concentration of timeshare condos and markets them profusely.  In addition, Walt Disney World attracts millions of visitors to Orlando Florida.

Marriott timeshares also accounted for four of the top ten timeshares sold.  The quality and name of Marriott drives their sales year after year.  They have also had a large role in "dressing up" the timeshare industry's reputation. Over the next few weeks we will be looking at each resort from an owner and buyer's points of view.

If you are ready to buy or sell timeshare properties, now is the time to do it.  If your circumstances have changed since you first bought your timeshare and you can no longer use it every year, it may be time to sell.  Having to pay timeshare maintenance fees for something you do not use is, at the least, frustrating.

There is a wealth of information about buying and selling timeshare available at www.rpmls.com. 

Great photo of Venice Beach, courtesy of www.pdphoto.org

If you are thinking of buying or selling your Wyndham timeshare, here's some valuable information! Over the years, Wyndham resorts have done well on the resales market.  Stroman Realty, Inc has published a list of their best selling Wyndham resorts.  Generally, these resorts are considered a great value and fine quality! The top selling Wyndham resorts include the Cypress Palm, Kingsgate, Westwinds, Fairfield Glade, Pagosa, Ocean Ridge, Star Island Resort, Sea Gardens, Branson, and Sapphire Valley.  In addition, these Wyndham timeshare resorts have shown great sales success: Royal Vista, Kona Hawaiian, Sedona, and Skyline Tower.

Many other Wyndham timeshare properties have been sold, but these have had the most activity in the resales market.  If you are ready to sell your Wyndham timeshare, go with someone who has had proven success.  See what the professionals at www.rpmls.com can do for you.  They will take the hassle out of selling - taking care of all the details.

Wyndham Star Island Resort, Kissimmee Florida

There's a brand new guide for timeshare owners that will prove to be quite valuable: "Selling Timeshares Property Owners' Guide". There is a huge amount of well organized information that anyone who is contemplating selling their timeshare should take the time to read.

In the guide you will find detailed information about how to set the sales price, your options for selling your timeshare, timeshares "For Sale By Owner", Realtors who specialize in selling timeshares, advertising companies, fees, commissions, escrow, and lots more.

In the section entitled "Understanding Timeshares and Being Prepared to Sell" the guide advises the timeshare owner: "Considering the many options and varying degrees of methodology between a FSBO method and utilizing a Licensed REALTOR, you should be able to find a method of selling timeshare that suits your needs."

Many of the misconceptions and myths surrounding a timeshare sale are addressed. As with all things, "fear may be overcome with knowledge".

This is not a "mashed up" rehash of old news. You'll find advice from timeshare experts who have hundreds of years of accumulated timeshare resales experience.

If you are thinking of selling your timeshare, read this guide. You will save yourself a lot of time, money, and aggravation.

A recent study by Hawaii's state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism showed a 21.3% growth in the number of timeshare units: from 6,592 to 7,997.  Oahu claims the largest total number of visitor accommodations, with Maui in second place.  The big island and Kauai  came in third and fourth.  Some of the best known Oahu timeshares include Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club, Royal Aloha Vacation Club, Hawaiian Sun Holidays at the Waikiki Banyan, and Hawaiian Princess at Makaha Beach.

Top shelf luxury timeshare is the recurring theme on Maui.  Consider these: Marriott's Maui Ocean Club, Maui Schooner, Maui Beach Vacation Club, Kahana Beach Vacation Club, and Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas to name a few.  Nearby you will find some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world.  The PGA tour came through there a few months ago. It would be hard to go wrong with a Maui timeshare. If you think you may want to buy a timeshare in Maui, you have several well known timeshare resort names to choose from: Marriott, Westin, and Consolidated Resorts.

If you think you may want to sell Maui timeshare, you have several options.  The best would be to use a professional service like what you will find at www.rpmls.com.  There you will find a great deal of information about selling or buying timeshare.

In this story from Fox News more details are emerging about Ritz Carlton and Marriott's plans for timeshare and fractional development on this beautiful Hawaiian island.  The Ritz is "breaking ground on two developments at Kaua'i Lagoons, a spectacular 520-acre oceanfront resort."  Kaua'i Lagoon will offer 72 one-eighteenth (1/18) fractional ownerships starting at $300,000.

Marriott's plans include 74 properties similar to the project started by Ritz-Carlton.  They plan to build 78 private ownership residences with starting prices of a mere $1.6 million.

A friend of mine recently visited the islands of Hawaii and commented on the "wall to wall" resorts along the main streets on the coast.  There is a limited amount of Hawaii coastline available and at some point the development will come to a conclusion.  The residents of Hawaii who work in these upscale resorts will no longer be able to afford to live on their own island.  The are in fact being pushed to the mainland - slowly but surely.

Now would be the time to buy a Hawaii timeshare on the resale market. Owning a timeshare in Hawaii is easier that you might think.  You'd pay a fraction of the cost of a whole ownership, and be able to enjoy the tropical environment in Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, or Hawaii.

Buy timeshare - buy resale - not retail!

If you are thinking of selling your timeshare and have used internet search engines to ask the question "Where do I go to sell my timeshare?" you were more than likely swamped with too much information. It may have even left you with more questions than answers.  For example if you own Hilton Grand Vacation Club Flamingo Las Vegas and the buyer asks you if they can use the HGV Club points to book a week at HGVClub at South Beach the answer would be yes. But if they ask if they could use the HGV Club points to book a week at The Surf Club of Marco, Sanibel Cottages Resort, or Club Regency of Marco Island the answer might not be as simple.  Those resorts are managed by Hilton Grand Vacations but may or may not offer the same type of interchange as the HGV Club resorts.

Explaining the details of your timeshare to a potential buyer would be best left to a timeshare resales broker.  So if you want to sell your Hilton Grand Vacation Club Flamingo Las Vegas timeshare it would be well worth your time to examine the professional services of www.rpmls.com.  Having been in the timeshare resales business for nearly 30 years brings the type of experience that will give you, the owner, peace of mind.  Hilton timeshares are some of the best timeshare resorts in the industry and would be worth checking out if you want to buy a Las Vegas timeshare.

Will my resort help me sell my Orlando timeshare?  Many owners have asked that question.  Eventually, timeshare owners come to the point of deciding to sell. Changes in family circumstances or just lack of usage lead many people to that selling decision. If you ask your timeshare resort to help you sell, you may not get much help.  For example the president of Westgate Resorts in Orlando said "Westgate doesn't offer a formal resale program. It's a conflict for developers, because they have their own inventory to sell. We tell people we won't sell it for you and we won't rent it for you. But if they have to sell, we say go to friends or neighbors or advertise it in the paper." (source) That certainly does not sound like much help.  The Orlando timeshare market has an aggressive sales and development climate.  That's a lot of competition. If you want to sell your Orlando timeshare, you will need a timeshare resales broker's help.  They can appeal to a wide buyers market and compete better with the developers with targeted advertising.

Rather than choosing a timeshare broker in Orlando, choose one that has national and international exposure and experience. The buyer for your Orlando timeshare will not be coming from Orlando. Take a look at the services this timeshare resales broker has to offer.  Don't wait for the resort to come and bail you out of a bad situation.

Over the years, that has been one of the questions asked most often, and remains one of the hardest to answer.  Most timeshare owners approach their first selling experience as if they were selling a residential home.  So the expectation is that there will be a large amount of sales data available from a local Realtor.  Residential homes are most often sold through Realtors and the sales information is recorded in their local MLS database.  A comparable market analysis can then be performed to determine what the "going rate" will be - with a high degree of certainty and a prediction of average days on market.  The problem is that timeshare resales have not been sold through a traditional Multiple Listing Service (MLS) so there is no track record of sales prices. In addition, timeshare appraisals are not worth the paper they are written on.  They can be produced, but are going to be based on scant information.

Some time ago, the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) provided general guidance that said timeshares sold on the resales market would typically bring anywhere from 50-75% of a retail price.  While that is painting with a very broad brush, it is at least some guidance for a timeshare seller. Yet, the first problem encountered with that advise is that it is an average:  All resorts, all locations, unrated, Gold Crown, Five Star, both bad locations and good. The "retail price" is also a moving target.  On the same day two timeshare buyers at the resort could pay drastically different prices for the same vacation ownership.

It has been my experience that every timeshare seller has a different "threshold of pain" when it comes to losing money when they sell.  Some are willing to sell for only the costs involved so they can just walk away from being an owner.  Other owners expect, and can make, more money at closing.  As always it is a matter of supply and demand.  Timeshare condos that are in short supply and high demand will command a better sales price.  Timeshare resales prices have even been climbing in certain areas like Hawaii and the Caribbean.

The value of a timeshare is in its usage.  If you are not using your timeshare it quickly becomes a liability, not an asset.  The best way to deal with that liability is to sell it - without losing your shirt.  The absolute worst way to sell your timeshare is through a venue like Ebay.  Timeshare vacations sold in that manner go for pennies on the dollar, if they ever close at all.  Use a timeshare resales broker to get the best value for your timeshare vacation ownership. 

For specific timeshare sales information - average resales prices, price trends, seller tips - check out this report from Stroman Realty, Inc. 

Chances are, when you first bought your timeshare, you never considered the licensing and regulatory issues surrounding your purchase.  At that time, emotions were probably high, there was a lot of excitement and hoopla.  Now that the "honeymoon" is over and you want to sell, these questions start to rise: Who will handle the sale?  How do I locate someone trustworthy to advertise and negotiate for me?  What about escrow?  A title company, recording of deeds, title insurance, attorneys, next rights to use?  Now throw in the logistics of overcoming the issues of state to state regulation.  For example, in Stroman Realty, Inc's latest study, they show that 41% of their timeshare sales over a five year period involved four states and 48% involved 3 states.  The buyer, seller, property, broker, and closing company could all be in different states.  So, whose forms do you use?  What is the jurisdiction if there are legal issues?

Good question.  In Texas Realtor's May 2008 issue, they address a similar question:  Can I list a Colorado property for sale?  That was a fairly simple question, but the answer was not as simple.

The simplest answer is to use a Timeshare Resales Broker.  They will be adhering to the laws of the state in which they conduct business, practicing a code of ethics, and participating in mandatory continuing education.  They will likely have the experience needed to wade through the pile of questions that will come along.

Stroman Realty, Inc is such a broker.  Having nearly 3 decades of experience in timeshare resales including every state in which there is a timeshare and many foreign countries, they have the experience to get the job done.

Take a look at the details of their timeshare resales study.  There you will find average sales prices for states like Florida, California, and Hawaii. You will also find out about all the options available to a timeshare owner when they are preparing to sell.