Tips for Renting Your Timeshare

Many timeshare owners know how difficult it is to sell a timeshare. But not many timeshare owners know how difficult it is to let your timeshare for rent. The truth is many owners do not take a right approach to rent their timeshares to interested people. A wrong approach can not only increase your net loss on renting but also in some cases your unit may remain unoccupied without being rented. But if you adopt a right strategy and approach you can minimize this liability to a great extent. Basically there are two approaches which are discussed in the following paragraphs.

One approach is to go to your timeshare resort and tell them to let your unit for rent. Although it looks like an easy option which saves us from the hassle of advertising. But timeshare resorts typically charge a fee for renting out the unit. The resort pools the rental income with other timeshare owners. The resort then splits the income if the unit was not rented for a whole week. This is the reality and timeshare resorts tell its owners before hand not to expect the unit to go for whole week of rental. It can be either 2or 3 days or 3or 4 days or rarely may be a week. And worst thing about renting through the resort is its whopping 30-40% commission which is a great loss for the timeshare owner. Let us do a quick calculation of numbers. If you rent out the unit for $150 per night and assume that someone is renting it for 3 days. So three day total rent should be $450. If the resort charges a commission of $150 then you are only left with $300, which is your net rent. Now if you pay $400 in annual maintenance your net loss will be $100. Now you got to question yourself is this really worth it? Obviously the answer will be no. Let us forget for a moment that you want to make a profit on your rental but at least you don’t want a loss also or to be practical, a minimum loss.

Now let us look at other option of going through a broker to rent your timeshare unit. When I say broker beware, like any other industry timeshare industry is also susceptible to scammers and frauds. Make sure that the broker is a licensed broker and specializes in timeshare rentals and sales. A reputed name will be a safe bet in this regard. Ok now, you went to a licensed broker and he charges twenty five percent commission which is little better than your resort company. There was a huge rush of people to rent their units. You wait for a week, for two weeks and now months have gone by and still there is one to rent your timeshare. Now you have to pay your annual maintenance fee, you feel that you have not done enough to manage your rental property properly. You now consider other options.

The other option is to market your timeshare property by yourself which is the best and most reliable option. What are the available options? You can either put an advertisement for rent in classifieds of newspapers or through the classifieds run by Timeshare Resort which targets the right people i.e. those who are willing to rent a timeshare. The other option is to put your unit on auction sites such as eBay and bidshare.com. And keep in mind that your timeshare will be listed in travel section but not real estate. You have to be preapproved by square trade which can take up to five days. The square trade will also need a proof of the ownership of the timeshare unit preferable deed or the maintenance bill. After this the unit is placed on auction on the website. Remember to be cooperative to the bidders and answer all their queries and give them the complete information about the unit. Your timeshare unit could go as close as your maintenance fee and thus less loss. The bottom line of renting your timeshare is to never to expect a profit on the rent but only less loss.

What is a Timeshare?

A time share is a name given to a piece of property shared among number of owners. This involves use and cost of maintaining the property. Although the majority of the timeshare properties are condominiums resorts but it will not be a surprise if you find a hotel timeshare or a motor home timeshare or a cruise timeshare or a campground. The choices are increasing by the day. The idea of a timeshare property originated in Europe in 1960s when the property rates were skyrocketing and it was impossible for people to afford a full time vacation house. But by sharing the ownership the burden of maintenance and other costs on single person were greatly reduced. These also boosted the fortune of real estate developers as they were able to successfully market and sell the properties to a greater number of people. But a key point to remember in timeshare properties is that a timeshare is owned by a number of people who have no relation to one another like a standard home ownership.

A technical definition of timeshare property is that an owner has specific time to share you own in a property. But as more and more properties are being converted into timeshare, flexible timeshare options cannot be ruled out. The flexible timeshare offers owners the option of choosing more than one timeshare destination and also more than one specific time of a year.

Timeshare properties are usually found in warm destinations like Florida where people like to vacation a lot. They can also be found in cold weather areas near ski resorts. The timeshare properties are typically furnished in full and usually have one to three bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. It may not come as a surprise if you find timeshare properties with indoor or outdoor pools. They have become a common feature of most timeshare properties nowadays.

The typical duration of a timeshare ownership unit is one week. Depending on what time of the year you own the timeshare the price may vary. For example, a timeshare property in the month of April in Florida will be much higher than in August. So the rates may vary with varying season and demand. Some resorts give color coding to different seasons depending on the demand. For example some resorts term high demand season as red season meaning the prices of the timeshare will be highest in that season.

Timeshares can usually be inherited to your children like any other real estate property. Timeshare offers not only a great vacation but also great investment. Most people rent their timeshare to others when they do not use their timeshare. This has a double advantage. You earn rent also along with appreciation of the property with passage of time. Timeshare properties are exchangeable and tradable with other properties in most of the cases. While it may be easy for the owners of the red season timeshares to exchange their unit with other owners in any season it might be impossible for owners of low season timeshare owners to get a high season timeshare unit in exchange.

Timeshares can be purchased through financing also but mostly the resale properties purchased from individuals are paid in cash. The cost of maintenance, management and cost to maintain common areas like pools and tennis courts are paid by timeshare owners. Fees may vary and always make sure to find it out before buying a timeshare.

There are many types of timeshare properties. A fixed unit, fixed week, deeded timeshare allows you to own a specific timeshare at a specific time each year. A floating time agreement allows you to be flexible about the dates that you can use your timeshare. But reservations may be only first come first serve as many owners would like to go for that option. Right to use timeshare is a leased timeshare. You no longer have rights to the property after the lease expires.