Selling a Timeshare: What the Resort Never Told You It Is Worth

Start with the number the sales team left out

Your timeshare is probably worth a small fraction of what you paid for it. It may be worth nothing. In some cases it is worth less than nothing, because whoever takes it inherits the maintenance fee.

That comes straight from the federal government’s consumer guidance. The FTC’s page on the subject says the market is overcrowded and that it might be hard, if not impossible, to sell a timeshare, and that anyone who guarantees a sale or big returns is a scammer.

Set against that, the industry’s own trade group study puts the average new purchase price at $23,160 in 2024. The resorts publish that figure with pride. The gap between it and what a resale clears is the entire economics of this category, and it is why so many owners want out.

Read the rest of this page with that gap in mind. You are selling into a market with almost no buyers, and the developer that sold you the week has no interest in helping you find one.

Make the developer answer first

If the developer will take the interest back at no cost, that beats selling.

Owners still get this backwards, because selling feels like recovering something and a deed-back feels like giving up. A sale that never happens recovers nothing while the fees keep arriving. Push the deed-back route until the developer gives you a definite answer, in writing, before you list.

Resale is the route for owners the developer turned down, or owners holding a genuinely desirable interest at a resort with real demand. Those exist. They are rarer than the listing companies suggest.

The one rule: never pay a large fee up front

If you remember nothing else from this page, remember this.

The FTC’s guidance is that it is better to do business with a reseller that takes its fee after the timeshare is sold, and that if you do have to pay in advance, you should get the refund policy in writing. Advance-fee resale is the oldest scam in the category, and the mechanism is simple: the company collects the fee and has no reason to ever sell anything.

The agency lists the claims that come with it, and each one is worth recognizing in the wild:

• “The market is hot, so we will sell your unit fast.” The FTC calls this a lie.
• “Your timeshare will sell quickly,” or “it will sell in months.” Unlikely.
• “We have buyers ready to purchase your timeshare.” Doubtful.
• “We guarantee big returns on your resale.” Also a lie.

If a company opens with any of these, end the call.

The two legitimate routes

A licensed real estate broker. A timeshare interest is real property in most cases, and selling real property is licensed work. The FTC’s instruction is to deal only with licensed agents and brokers, and to verify the license with the real estate licensing agency in the state where the timeshare is located. Note that carefully: check the state where the resort sits, which may differ from the state the company calls from. Ask for references from clients who actually closed.

Owner-to-owner marketplaces. Redweek and the Timeshare Users Group are the two long-running owner communities where people list and discuss intervals directly. You pay a small, known listing fee, you write the listing, and you deal with the buyer. That is a very different transaction from handing a company thousands of dollars and waiting.

Either way, the FTC’s checklist applies. Check the seller with the state attorney general and local consumer protection agencies where the reseller is located, and search the company name with the words complaint or scam. Ask exactly how they will advertise it and whether you get progress reports. A company that only adds your week to a list is doing nothing you could not do yourself.

Price it against reality

Look at what comparable intervals at your resort have actually sold for. Asking prices on listings are wishful. Completed sales are the data.

If you want a formal number, the FTC suggests a timeshare appraisal service, with the same licensing check: make sure the appraiser is licensed in the state where the timeshare is located and that the license is current.

Then decide what you are optimizing for. If the goal is to stop the fee, the winning price is often far lower than feels fair, including one dollar. A week sold at a loss still ends the bill that would otherwise rise every year, and ending that bill is the actual objective. Owners who hold out for a dignified price frequently pay several more years of maintenance fees to protect the feeling, which costs more than the discount would have. The resort collects those fees either way.

Watch for the scam that finds you

The FTC warns that scammers use public records to identify owners and make unsolicited contact, offering to help you sell or get out and sometimes suggesting you will make money.

You did not go looking for them. They found your name in the county recorder’s file. Treat any unsolicited call, text, or letter about selling your timeshare as a sales pitch from someone who knows you are stuck.

Report the ones that cross the line, at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general.

This is general information, not legal advice. A resale is a real property transfer, the tax treatment of a loss on personal-use property is counterintuitive, and transfer requirements vary by state and by resort. Have an attorney licensed where the resort sits review the contract before you sign, and talk to a tax professional before you assume a loss is deductible.