Expert: Andreas Rossler - 11/1/2007

Question
I have a Monarch Grand Timeshare with 177 points bi-anually. The balance is $7592. I am looking to sell it and wonder what I could get for it realistically and what time of year is the best time to sell it.

Answer
You are going to have problems.  Number one, Monarch Grand Vacations will not allow a transfer of ownership unless the ownership is paid off in full (a new owner cannot assume the loan).  This means one of two things:

1.  You pay it off and sell it.
2.  The buyer pays you enough to pay off the loan.

To give you an idea of prices... I will, right this very minute, sell you a 310 Point MGV for $3,500.  I will sell you a 111 for $1,400. You would be lucky to get $2,200 for your 177 Points.

Put yourself in the buyer's shoes - how would you go about finding a MGV to buy?  As you know, outside the Internet, there is no such thing as a resale market.  A prospective buyer will do a search on Yahoo! or Google.  Eventually, they will be led to resellers and eBay ads (go to eBay and see what some of the listed prices are - and many of those won't sell).  Go to eBay.com and do a search on the term "Monarch Grand".

DO NOT PAY AN UP FRONT FEE TO SELL.  The psychological trick is to tell you your timeshare is worth more than it really is worth.  Here is the test.  Right now, I am telling you that in no way will you get even $3,000 for this ownership.  If you call a broker and they tell you that you can get... say, $8,000 - if you only pay them $500 up front - then respond like so; "Well, since you know you can get $8,000, why don't you waive the up front fee and when you sell it, keep $5,000 and just give me $3,000?"  They will respond that they can't do that.

During the very best of times, our company was willing to buy Monarch for $10 per point, and then resell for a profit of $500 - $1,000.  We then had to move toward charging $600 no matter what price we get.  At this point, we prefer not to sell Monarch at all.

According to our web statistics and eBay statistics, we had a 310 Point program listed and viewed by well over 2,000 browsers.  We listed it at various prices ranging from $3,800 to $5,000.  During that 3 month period, we received one offer for $3,300.

I wish I had better news - but I am being brutally honest for one reason:  roughly 60 percent of our clients have gone down the route of paying an up front fee to sell.  They got ZERO results and were simply scammed.