5 Biggest Obstacles For Getting Out Of Your Timeshare
If you aren’t aware yet, getting out of your timeshare is not easy. There are several obstacles in place that will make this a difficult task to complete and the reason for that is because these companies want you to give up and keep paying them. Unfortunately, thousands of people every month sign up for these deals and within a year, many of them will try to get out of their agreement because they realize they were either tricked or not given the deal they were promised. It’s a very frustrating experience but something you’re motivated to take care of to give yourself financial freedom. While there really aren’t any DIY tricks to getting out of these contracts, it’s important to know the obstacles you will be facing as you get started.
1. Which Company Are You Fighting?
One of the first obstacles you will deal with as you decide that you’re ready to get out of your timeshare agreement is finding the company that actually owns the property. You will call the people you normally speak with and they will tell you that they don’t handle that. Then, you will call the company that you send payments to every month and they will tell you the same thing. This is a labyrinth, designed to frustrate and confuse you so that you give up.
2. What Do You Owe?
There is a big difference between what you owe and what the agreement is for. These resorts factor in your additional fees and will use that in their argument of why you cannot be released from the agreement.
3. What Were You Promised?
While things may have been said to you in person to get the agreement signed, it all comes down to what’s in the contract and did the property fulfill their side of the bargain?
4. You Can’t Foreclose
Because you do not own the actual property you cannot go the foreclosure route. This creates a real issue for people looking to break the contract as they are stuck with no equity or assets in the deal.
5.Getting The Right Help
You decide that you need professional assistance, and you head to Google to find someone who you can rely on. You see dozens of places that offer their help but you’re not sure which one to trust and go with. Believe it or not, there are a lot of scam companies in the exit-timeshare game as well and many are actually owned by people who own the resorts also.
The best way to find a reliable consumer advocate to help you get out of your contract is to break it down by credibility, content, commitment and experience. If a group has been posting content and information to assist you in this process, they probably are trustworthy. If they have hundreds of reviews of people thanking them for their help and getting them out of the deal, they probably are trustworthy as well. If you do not see any of that, then it’s best to stay away from them and look for a team that you can work with beginning with a free consultation.
Why Timeshares Are Not A Good Investment
Investing is something we all have a different idea about. Some of us love the idea of investing in the stock market because we naturally understand it and know how to research it and see positive results. Others like to invest in real estate, but they do not have hundreds of thousands to invest. That’s where the timeshare options come into play. You take a property that’s in a desirable travel destination like Las Vegas, Orlando, Key West, San Francisco or something like that. You grab as many weeks or weekends as you can, especially during prime tourist seasons and you rent out the property for as much as possible.
In many cases, investors see a solid profit, especially if they get the perfect times of the year to rent out the property and they would argue that timeshares are in fact a great investment. However, look at the situation they are in, they have a property that is available during the prime time of the year for tourists, meaning hotels are charging far more for a room and that gives these investors a real advantage. Your problem is that you are unable to get that type of a location at that particular time. Some areas may have a longer stretch where you can rent out the location, but peak seasons or especially times revolving around major events are still limited in availability for you to have a chance to capitalize and make money.
The issue isn’t that these timeshares are a bad investment, the problem is that you are not given reliable information on how to invest in them wisely. For example, you meet with a company offering times for Key West. They explain that you can get times down there for January, March, August and September. That seems ideal and you sign up, thinking you can easily rent out the unit and turn a major profit. The problem is that January isn’t peak season, your time in March is before spring break hits, August is slow where as the end of July is extremely popular and September is also slow where October and November are very popular. You were sold the wrong times and cannot get a return on your investment.
See the problem and how your fortune isn’t as lucky as someone else who is investing in these timeshare options? Yes, you can make money investing in these properties and many people do. However, the biggest mistake people make is that they sign up for times that are not desirable for tourists and then it’s nearly impossible to rent out the property, especially for something that could generate enough profit to make it worth your time and money.