And once I find it, how do I go about closing this deal and get the correct paperwork done?

The good news is that most Aruba timeshare closings are straightforward and move along relatively fast.  The closing costs are affordable and you would probably buying into a 99 year "right to use" or lease.

Sellers of Aruba timeshares are scattered all over the place, so you won't have much luck just looking in the local real estate section of the newspaper.  You will be more successful in using a timeshare broker who has a large selection of Aruba timeshares for sale and can guide you through all the necessary closing documents, escrow, and transfer.  Aruba Marriott timeshare resales are a hot market.  For example, Marriott's Aruba Ocean Club is described by RCI as being "Separated from the magnificent Caribbean Sea by a lovely white, sandy beach, this Five Star property offers the ultimate in luxury vacations."  If you can buy one at a significant discount through a timeshare resales broker like www.rpmls.com you will save thousands.

Additional Aruba Timeshares for Sale:  Costa Linda Beach Resort, La Cabana Beach Resort, Renaissance Aruba Resort, Playa Linda Beach Resort, Marriott's Aruba Surf Club, Casa Del Mar Beach Resort, Paradise Beach Villas, Caribbean Palm Village, and Divi Village Golf & Beach Resort.

The Village at Steamboat Springs, a Wyndham timeshare development in Colorado, is loaded with the amenities that any family would crave for their ski vacation!  With 144 new condos at the timeshare ski resort, Wyndham owners will have several new choices: "Wyndham Vacation Resorts Steamboat Springs is assigned 71 units, as is the WorldMark Steamboat Springs. In addition to their standard one-, two- and three-bedroom condos, each has a couple of presidential units that feature higher finishes such as granite counters and wood floors in a two-story townhome configuration." (source)

In addition to the Wyndham ski timeshare, Intrawest has Copper Mountain, Winter Park, and Steamboat Springs timeshare resorts right in Steamboat Springs. Steamboat, also known as Ski Town USA, gets it's name from springs that are located near the town's library. There are also two hot springs in town that are open to the public featuring pools and slides. Even though Steamboat Springs is a small town (about 10,000 population 2001) it has quite a name among skiing enthusiasts. Steamboat Springs also hosted the 1989 and 1990 Alpine Skiing World cup.

There may still be lodging ready for booking. As always, renting a timeshare, or owning a timeshare there would be the most cost efficient way to do it. Especially if you buy a timeshare on the secondary market from an owner. You can save a huge amount of money that way and get the same benefits. Look as some Colorado timeshare deals here.

For many, Christmas of 2008 will be like no other Christmas they have ever seen. Especially if you are one of those recently laid off by Wyndham, Marriott, or Blue Green. WFTV.com ran a story today announcing layoffs in the Orange County FL area. Wyndham laid off 300 more from their corporate office in Orange County and "168 people were laid off at the Marriott Vacation Club International ... and the Blue Green Time Share Corporation laid off 182 people in Orlando last month." (source)

A growing array of industries are feeling the impact of this economy. The vacation industry, travel and tourism, and entertainment seemed to trail manufacturing and retail in the timing of their slowdown. The timeshare industry has long been a very consistent part of many of the big hoteliers' portfolio. Sales of vacation ownerships have kept a strong interest because of the perceived (and real) value of their product. The ability to pay for years of vacations with today's dollars still makes sense - and probably always will.

This resilient industry will bounce back when optimism returns to the nation's economy. Until then, there are still some great deals to be found among the "top shelf" timeshare resorts when you buy them on the resale market.

Timeshare rentals are available at the finest vacation resort condos worldwide. Rii® Stroman is a full service timeshare rental broker. They offer timeshares for rent on behalf of individual timeshare owners. Timeshare rentals at vacation resorts typically offer more amenities than a hotel room. Check out the differences between typical Hotel vs. Timeshare Resort.

Timeshare rentals generally have one, two, or three bedrooms, a kitchen, den, washer and dryer, making them far less expensive than hotels. Many resorts have access to golf, tennis, athletic facilities, marinas, scuba diving, ski lifts and many other recreational activities. Whether this is your first time renting a timeshare or you're a seasoned professional, Rii® Stroman can help you rent timeshare!

Why Stay in a Vacation Rental?

So why stay at a hotel when more cost effective options are available at most major vacation destinations? The majority of timeshare rentals have amenities not available in many hotels. Plus the complete kitchen facilities found in most vacation condos for rent can save on the expense of eating every meal in a restaurant.

Vacation rentals are realistically priced with some last minute deals! Click here to Search Last Minute Timeshare Resort Rental Deals!

Timeshare rentals are also a good idea for owners to consider when personal matters prevent them from using their allotted time interval. Timeshare rentals provide owners with a means to offset some of the costs associated with vacation property ownership and renting a timeshare is only one of the options available for owners who are unable to utilize their vacation interval.

Here are a few great timeshare deals currently available for rent: Consolidated Club de Soleil timeshare for rent in Las Vegas, Westgate Miami Beach & Newport Beachside Resort timeshare for rent, Royal Sands timeshare for rent in Cancun Mexico, Marriott's Mountain Valley Lodge timeshare for rent in Breckenridge Colorado, Hanalei Bay Resort timeshare for rent in Kauai Hawaii, Westin St John Resort Villas timeshare for rent, Mystic Dunes Resort timeshare for rent in Kissimmee Florida, Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas timeshare for rent in Hawaii, The Manhattan Club timeshare for rent in New York NY, Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club timeshare for rent in Hawaii, Sheraton's Vistana Orlando timeshare for rent in Orlando Florida, Marriott's Grand Chateau timeshare for rent in Las Vegas, Playa Linda Beach Resort timeshare for rent in Aruba, Marriott's Grande Ocean Resort timeshare for rent in Hilton Head SC, and hundreds of others.

If you are considering selling your timeshare, there are several options available to you.  Hopefully this blog article will answer many of those questions you may have if you need to sell your timeshare.

First, you may have thought of asking your home resort to assist you in selling your timeshare.  Unfortunately, most (about 58%) timeshare resorts offer no help in selling your timeshare for you. And if they do, often they will charge severe sales commissions - up to 40%!  For the resort developers, the greatest profit margin is when they sell the timeshare the first time.  Timeshares on the resales market offer the resort developers very little profit - thus, very little attention.

Second, you could advertise it yourself.  Placing your own ads in the resort's local newspaper will not reach your target buyers. The advertising should be nationwide and international to generate a worthy response.  Advertising in USA Today, for example, can cost you over $1,300 for a minimum 4 line classified ad for one week. Not only would that be costly, you would be responsible to qualify the buyers, search out the closing options, and close the deal. Also, online auctions of timeshares often generate excessively low offers - a "give it away" price.

Next, an option many choose, you could use a licensed brokerage that specializes in timeshare and fractional resales.  You will usually be charged a commission, but they would do all the legwork for you.

Finally, you could use www.rpmls.com. They take the hassle out of the selling and buying experience using the largest database of buyers and timeshare properties offered for sale in the secondary market. They have no appraisal fees, offer a "no commission" plan, professional timeshare specialists with a no pressure approach.  You can find out more about timeshare resales options for sellers at www.rpmls.com.

A Timeshare Sellers' Options - Plus a Slide Show of Wyndham Resorts!

With a population of 37.7 million, California is the most populous state in the union.  And, according to the California Travel and Tourism Commission "California is currently the number one travel destination in the country. Travel and tourism expenditures total $93.8 billion annually in California, support jobs for nearly 930,000 Californians and generate $5.6 billion in state and local tax revenues." No doubt about it, the demand for timeshare resort properties is huge in California.  In northern California the largest concentration of timeshare resort destinations is around Lake Tahoe.  In southern California, the timeshare properties are located in a triangle between Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and San Diego. When you first look at the list of resorts in California, it seems large.  But when you take into account the resident population and add tourism, the demand far exceeds the supply.

What conclusion could you draw from this?  More quality timeshare resorts could be built in California with high expectations for success.

If you want to buy a timeshare in California, here are a few featured properties from www.rpmls.com:  Marriott's Newport Villas, Marriott's Desert Springs Villas I, Lawrence Welk Resort Villas, Four Seasons Resort Aviara, Vista Mirage Resort, and Desert Springs Villas II.

If you are ready to say "Sell my California timeshare!" take a look a the professional services of this timeshare resales broker: www.rpmls.com.

An interactive wolf sanctuary from Elite Land Tours www.elitelandtours.com in Palm Springs California:

In addition to "ocean view", some timeshare buyers are looking for high speed internet connections, WIFI, 42" plasma HD televisions, IP phones and more.

What's a timeshare developer to do? At the first glance, investing in fiber optic cables, HD televisions, and internet access seem too expensive to install, support, maintain, and upgrade. If you look a little deeper into the process of a buyer's decision, you'll find that they are looking for amenities that imply luxury, attention to detail, and the "wow" factor. In addition, the cost of fiber optic systems continues to drop while the cost of copper cables skyrockets. For example, a General Electric press release describes one of their new fiber optic systems: "GE Digital Energy announces the Multilin HardFiber System which eliminates the need for thousands of copper wires in a substation and replaces them with a few fiber optic cables. By eliminating the need to install and maintain thousands of copper wires, used for signaling and monitoring in electrical substations, utilities can save up to 50% of protection and control installation and maintenance costs, while at the same time increasing worker safety and power system reliability." (source) This product may be for power or industrial use, but the basic theory is the same: fiber optics are cheaper to maintain, can carry far more data than copper, and are now the same cost or less than copper.

Having said all that, if a timeshare buyer is impressed with the high tech amenities of their resort they will more likely recommend it to their peers.

In a previous blog article I talked about the timeshare resorts that have wireless internet access. The timeshares who have WIFI also have timeshare owners that are very pleased with that service and likely recommend their resort to others.

What about those 42" plasma HD televisions? The entertainment factor of a timeshare condo will make an impression on a timeshare buyer. While it may not be feasible to place High Definition hardware in place, it would be wise to build out the project so that when costs come down, the infrastructure will be in place to upgrade it quickly.

Yes we want the ocean view, palm trees, or mountains. But more and more, buyers are looking for a forward thinking resort - and the amenities that come with it.

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

Here's a new online platform for timeshare or fractional properties that works somewhat like a MLS - Timeshare Information Exchange (TIE). Many organizations have attempted to pull something like this together, but with little success. This be good for both the small local Realtor office near a timeshare resort for their listings and for the large brokers who may be turning away dozens of buyers a day because they do not have the inventory.

I took the program for a test run and it is very simple. For example, there are drop down menus with every location and every resort. Simple search forms and straightforward help instructions make it easy and hassle free. I could see a timeshare resort Homeowners Association using it to sell their extra units that owners have abandoned. I could also see the advantage of a large development having the ability to add in hundreds of unit/weeks at a time.  Here's a link to the front page: www.timeshare-information-exchange.com and here's a press release about the new service.

Wherever you may find yourself in the timeshare business, this may give you a simple solution to a tough problem.

San Luis Bay Inn, Timeshare in Avila Beach California

On November 14 ABC News ran a 8 minute video raising warnings to anyone interested in buying a timeshare. They highlighted all the stereotypical issues involving timeshares - declining values, rising maintenance fees, lack of true flexibility.  They made the whole industry sound either shady or worthless. They only told half of the story.

Owning and using a timeshare will work for you if you go into the experience with your eyes open. Especially at the beginning. Never pay retail prices for what many owners would be willing to sell you for a serious discount. Buy a timeshare at a location you really like and plan to frequent. Don't make your decision about buying a timeshare based on exchanging it every year for your favorite destinations. That seldom works out. Finally, use your timeshare. that's where the true value is. Over time, you really will save a bundle and enjoy much nicer accommodations.

When you get ready to sell your timeshare, use a timeshare resales specialist. A company with a lot of years of experience like www.rpmls.com. And be reasonable about what you intend to get out of it - What is my timeshare worth? The bottom line is . . .

Buy timeshare resale - don't pay retail.

Playa Grande Resort Timeshare - Cabo San Lucas Mexico