INTRODUCTION
It started as a simple idea based on the assumption that people don't need vacation lodging except for a week or two a year.
Take a house, cabin, condominium, or villa, and divide ownership into 52 weeks (in practice it's usually divided into 51 weeks with one week allowed for maintenance).
It allows you to purchase the time spent as vacation lodging, and 1/51 of the ownership of the home.
The next logical step in the development of timeshare was to be able to exchange time in these places between people who want to vacation in different areas each year.
So, the two entities you'll likely be dealing with are the resort lodging, or timeshare itself, and an exchange company.
The number of systems in use for buying timeshares has grown tremendously in recent years, but three systems are commonly in use: fee simple, leasehold, and right-to-use (RTU).
With fee simple you buy a portion of the property outright and own title to that portion. Under the leasehold system you own the property, but only for a specific length of time.
With a right-to-use system, you don't actually own the property, but are purchasing a right to use the property for a certain amount of time and for certain weeks of the year.
There are many reasons why you might want to sell your time share. One reason may be that the time share no longer fits into your lifestyle.
Perhaps you now have a family with young children and no longer want a time share in an adult resort area.
Or perhaps you have reached your retirement years and are looking for a time share that has more to offer you such as golfing or the ability to travel at any time of the year.
Another reason that you might want to sell your time share is because you can no longer afford to pay the taxes, maintenance fees, or mortgage on your time share.
No matter what reasons have led you to want to sell your time share you will want to make as much as you can while at the same time having a quick sale.
For most people who sell their time share it may be very hard for them to achieve both the top dollar and the quick sale.
The truth is that most people who sell their time share gain back very little of the original price that they paid for their time share to begin with.
There are many different types of time shares available these days. Your ownership of your own time share may be made up of a combination of plans. This includes the following:
• Fixed Week or Fixed Unit: With this type of time share you have a deed that gives you a specific amount of time at your condo, or other time share, at a specific time of the year.
• Floating Time Agreement: You will have some flexibility when you can use your time share. In many cases reservations will be taken on first come, first serve basis.
This means that you and all the other owners of the time share have the same options
• Right to Use: This time share is much like a lease. Once your time share lease
is over you will no longer have any rights to use the property.
• Vacation Club: This time share program allows you to plan your vacation around a variety of different destinations.
Every time that you stay somewhere you use up points which are deducted from your balance. The points needed for different locations will vary according to where they are located.
• Time Share Developers: A time share developer is someone who builds and sells new time shares. State laws in the United States control the building and sale of these time shares.
Before you buy a time share make sure that you are familiar with the laws where you are planning to buy your property.
You can do this by searching for information at the real estate commission that can be found
on the Internet.
You can also check out agent pages for even more information about the time share that you are considering buying.
You want to know as much as you can about the laws in the area where your time share is located before you make your final sale.
• Time Share Re-sales: You may be able to buy a pre-owned time share at much
less than the original cost.
