If you own a timeshare and are considering canceling your contract, you should learn about timeshare cancellation dos and donts. Timeshare companies may not readily disclose that there are legal ways to cancel a timeshare. Most timeshare contracts provide a period when buyers can exit the contract without legal consequences. People with timeshares who want to cancel their contract can rent it to others to meet their payments.
According to The Ascent, if you stop paying for your timeshare, you could face legal fees or damage to your credit. Check the rules on your timeshare contract. Some timeshare sales companies offer a timeshare buy back program to repurchase the timeshare.
Don’t jeopardize your financial future by discovering what happens if you stop paying timeshare fees. Although you may be frustrated by the financial obligations, asking, “What happens if I stop paying my timeshare?” will not yield satisfying answers.
If you don’t want to continue these short-term measures, you can place your timeshare on the market. However, according to USA News, most timeshare resales result in a financial loss. According to Time Share Exit Companies, the average cost to get out of a timeshare ranges from $50 to $15,000.
As with signing any contract, anyone buying a timeshare should take the time to read the fine print. That’s because there may be all kinds of costs and high maintenance fees that are be obvious to begin with, but which can quickly spiral out of control. The vast majority of timeshare buyers come to regret their purchase, but there are no easy options for cancelling a timeshare contract. There are plenty of timeshare resale scams out there, including on timeshare blogs, that people should beware of, to avoid getting duped once again. The best option is to find an attorney who specializes in timeshare laws to help cancel the contract.
What could go wrong with buying a timeshare?
The answer is, plenty. Many people who have bought time shares quickly start to feel trapped. At first it’s difficult to resist the high pressure salesmanship, or the idea of having your own little foothold in a tropical paradise or a ski resort. It’s the appeal of a holiday destination and the lure of ownership that draws people in. Altogether about 3% of all households own timeshares.
Timeshare blogs with beautiful pictures of tropical vacations and poetic descriptions of ski slopes may tempt unwary buyers, who then discover that they’re stuck with a money sink. A significant number of those owners, as many as 85%, come to regret their decision. The reasons given for regretting the purchase range from financial difficulties to fear, confusion, intimidation, and distrust of the timeshare developers. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to get out of a timeshare contract or to resell a timeshare. In many cases, timeshare owners have signed a contact in perpetuity, which is binding on their heirs as well. High pressure sales tactics include adhesion contracts, or non-negotiable verbal agreements made in front of a notary.
Time share seller beware
Over time, many people who have bought timeshares may come to realize that they have been duped. Or they may find out that they have incurred high maintenance fees that keep increasing, or that their financial circumstances have changed. They also discover quickly that selling a time share is not easy.
They should however beware of being duped a second time, by companies that promise to help them sell their timeshare. They may pretend to be real estate professionals and charge a hefty fee, but never find a buyer. In fact, sometimes people are so desperate to avoid the high and recurring monthly fees that they will even advertise their timeshares on sites like eBay and timeshare blogs, offering them for sale at ridiculous prices like one dollar.
Getting help to end a timeshare contract
In order to avoid timeshare resale scams, anyone who is trying to get out of a timeshare agreement should contact a licensed attorney, ideally one who specializes in timeshare law. Selling a timeshare can be very difficult but it may be possible to cancel a timeshare contract, with the right kind of legal help.
High pressure sales tactics and pictures of blue seas on timeshare blogs often tempt buyers. However, a vast majority of timeshare buyers soon discover that they have been trapped into paying increasingly higher maintenance fees. It’s difficult to resell a timeshare, but an experienced attorney can help to cancel a timeshare contract.