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Scams and Scalawags |
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Our company president, Cliff Hagberg, has been actively involved in exposing timeshare resale scams for years. He's been involved as an expert witness in Ohio, Florida and Texas so far. If you know of a situation that looks like a scam, let us know and we'll publish it for other timeshare owners to learn from. We've already been sued by one company so what's the worst that can happen? By the way, the owners of that company are currently in jail . . . Scam # 1 "Hi. We want to buy your week and we'll pay cash. In order to know how much we should pay, we need to have a current appraisal for your week. If you don't have one, we can refer you to a company that will do an appraisal for you. We'll pay you 70% of the appraised value in cash." Scam # 2 "Hi. We have a customer who wants to buy your week. They will pay $X for your week but first, we need you to put down some money in order to start the title search, get the paperwork done, etc., etc." Do these sound familiar? There are more creative approaches to separate you from your money every week. All of them have one thing in common. They want you to send them money before anything happens. Typically, they want you to send them money by Fed Ex or something other than the post office in order to avoid mail fraud charges. We're sure there are legitimate reasons why a company might want to charge you a fee prior to their selling your week but you still need to be careful. For example, We've been selling real estate for over thirty years. Until we got involved with timeshare, we had never seen any broker require an appraisal as a condition of accepting a listing. There's nothing wrong or illegal about a broker requiring an appraisal before you list a week but think about it for a minute. Why do they need one? If they know what they're doing, they should already have a pretty good idea of what your week is worth. If they don't know about what your week is worth, why would you do business with them. If they say they need it for a buyer, I can tell you that in 17 years selling timeshare, I have never had a buyer ask if there was an appraisal on a week they were considering buying. On the other hand, if you wanted to pay me $400 to $500 for a piece of paper that says your week is worth X amount of dollars, I'll gladly take your money! Just make the check out to IVS Realty and send it on in. No, really, just send me a check. Please, I could use the money. Just write payable to IVS Realty, put it in an envelope and mail it right away. You know, I'll bet I don't get a single check and I wouldn't send anyone a check to do an appraisal on a timeshare week either. How the heck is an appraiser in Florida going to appraise a week in Maine without actually visiting the resort? Further, if they're going to do a real appraisal, there's no way they can do it for $500. So, seriously, instead of sending them a check, just send it on to me and I promise you I'll make good use of it! Scam #3 Recently, we heard of a new scam making the circuit. A company calls you and says that they have a buyer for your week. They need you to send them a copy of your deed and, in order to pay you quickly, they need your bank account and routing number! Now I don't know for sure why they need your routing number and bank account, but I can't believe that people would give them that information, but they do! Don't you do it though, it's just asking for trouble.
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More Links |
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To see information about some of the resorts we represent, just click on the link to visit that resort's web site. |
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Briarwood Resort |
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Welcome to Briarwood Resort, located in Falmouth, at the southwestern end of the Cape. More>> |
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Brewster Green Resort |
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Nestled on 17 acres of manicured property, Brewster Green Resort offers owners and guests the ideal setting for a wonderful vacation experience. More>> |
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Cape Cod Holiday Estates |
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Located on the southern coast of Cape Cod, just a short distance from Nantucket Sound and South Cape Beach, Cape Cod Holiday Estates boasts both privacy and luxury. More>> |
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