Alert Flag #1 - Collecting Advance Fees
MAKING THE WRONG DECISION
CAN COST YOU MONEY!
Collecting Up-Front or Advance Fees, are not necessary to a legitimate timeshare offer to sell.
First, a common resale scam from a telemarketing solicitor goes like this:
“We have a buyer who is waiting to buy your timeshare. Their offer is $20,000.00. We just need $699.00 to process this offer and to get information on the title and the deed.”
If you have not heard this before and don’t understand the truth of the timeshare resale market, this can sound like just what you’ve been waiting for. But let us tell you why it is really “too good to be true”.
Let’s think about what you were just told. The question to ask is; “If they already have a buyer, why not take the $699.00 after the sale? Why do they need to collect fees up-front?” There are no advertising expenses since they have a buyer. The title and deed fees are paid by the buyer not the seller (you). Why pay them in advance, before they do the actual closing? It’s just not good business sense.
Remember - timeshares are not real property so appraisals are not needed and can not be done. You can’t view timeshares being sold except by pictures or by going on a tour of the timeshare company itself.
Also remember that collecting such fees up-front before a sale may not be legal. (Check with your state laws.) Learn more about advance fee collecting from your local Department of Professional Regulation or at truth vs. myths.
First, a common resale scam from a telemarketing solicitor goes like this:
“We have a buyer who is waiting to buy your timeshare. Their offer is $20,000.00. We just need $699.00 to process this offer and to get information on the title and the deed.”
If you have not heard this before and don’t understand the truth of the timeshare resale market, this can sound like just what you’ve been waiting for. But let us tell you why it is really “too good to be true”.
Let’s think about what you were just told. The question to ask is; “If they already have a buyer, why not take the $699.00 after the sale? Why do they need to collect fees up-front?” There are no advertising expenses since they have a buyer. The title and deed fees are paid by the buyer not the seller (you). Why pay them in advance, before they do the actual closing? It’s just not good business sense.
Remember - timeshares are not real property so appraisals are not needed and can not be done. You can’t view timeshares being sold except by pictures or by going on a tour of the timeshare company itself.
Also remember that collecting such fees up-front before a sale may not be legal. (Check with your state laws.) Learn more about advance fee collecting from your local Department of Professional Regulation or at truth vs. myths.