Is older expensive timeshare unsellable?

[jerrry94087 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jerrry94087]

My friend owns one fixed week in Minnesota resort. 2BR unsplittable, RCI silver crown, MF is $500+, purchased ~25 years ago.

I saw several offers of this same resort on EBay recently with zero bids.
And I understand why: there are some gold crown RCI resorts with better trading power that have $580 MF with 2BR that can be unlocked and used as 2 1BR weeks.

Why would anyone buy 2BR silver crown unsplittable? It's just not as good deal no matter what.

So how such owner as my friend can get rid of his timeshare? Is he just stuck with it forever? He will ruin his credit history if he stops paying MF, and yet he has no interest in using it any more.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Have him ask the resort if they will accept a deed-back. Other than that or finding someone who will take it off his hands, the only alternative is to walk away and let them foreclose. You say he bought it 25 years ago and if he is anywhere near retirement, why the worry about credit status- defaulting on a timeshare may not be that bad a thing.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

I think much depends on what weeks he owns. If he owns fixed week in July or August it probably has value. Traditionally, Minnesota summer weeks on the lake at places such as Brainerd are in extremely high demand. Or if it's near the start of deer season.

If it's not a peak summer or hunting week, it may have little value.

****

Resort rating (Gold Crown, Silver, R.I.D.) have little bearing on value. What is important is location and time of year. There are many unrated or low-rated resorts that are much more valuable than GC resorts, simply because they are well-maintained older facilities located in areas of high demand and low supply.

[klynn Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close klynn]

I think much depends on what weeks he owns. If he owns fixed week in July or August it probably has value. Traditionally, Minnesota summer weeks on the lake at places such as Brainerd are in extremely high demand. Or if it's near the start of deer season.

If it's not a peak summer or hunting week, it may have little value.

****

Resort rating (Gold Crown, Silver, R.I.D.) have little bearing on value. What is important is location and time of year. There are many unrated or low-rated resorts that are much more valuable than GC resorts, simply because they are well-maintained older facilities located in areas of high demand and low supply.

I just saw an Ebay auction close last week for a week 29 at Breezy Point (silver crown in MN), 2BR. It sold for only $132.50.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

As already stated - the week will impact the value as much or more than the place itself. For a prime week, there should be little difference in a silver crown or gold crown, and some people don't care about lock-offs.

If comparable weeks are selling,even for anything at all, that's not a bad way to get out from under your maintenance fees.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

Silver Crown, gold crown, or standard, and lock-off or not are only marginal factors in timeshare value. The real factors are the desirability and supply / demand situation as to the resort and even more importantly the particular week at that resort. A studio in the summer at a standard resort on the Southern California coast, for example, will always be worth much more than a 3BR lockoff, gold crown in a resort and time period that has more supply than demand.