Although Sell My Timeshare NOW is a privately held company, and as such, does not report to stockholders, we do like to keep our timeshare buyers, timeshare sellers, and timeshare renters informed on a regular basis about the state of business in our company.

This week, we released our First Quarter 2008 Statistical Synopsis, as well as a statement to the media. Click here to read our media release and here to download the report in PDF format.

The good news of the report is that it is all good news. Sell My Timeshare NOW saw the number of offers to buy or rent timeshare increase in the first quarter of 2008 by 22 percent, compared to the first quarter of 2007. The dollar amount of the offers during this most recent business quarter was more than $90 million, also reflecting an increase over 2007 numbers.

Timeshare Rentals at Sell My Timeshare NOW

In 2007, Sell My Timeshare NOW started a new program, called Rental Assist. We are very proud of how that service helps timeshare owners who want to use their property as a timeshare rental connect with people who are interested in renting timeshare for their next vacation. Rental Assist is undoubtedly an effective tool for timeshare owners and timeshare renters, as evidenced by the fact that at Sell My Timeshare NOW, offers to rent timeshares rose 141 percent quarter-over-quarter 2007 to 2008.

The Obvious Solution When You Want to Sell Timeshare

When you look at our report, and I really hope you will, you will see that for timeshare owners who are ready to sell timeshare, there is no better choice than Sell My Timeshare NOW. In the first quarter of 2008 alone, offers to buy or rent timeshare totaled more than $90 million, while website traffic for the first quarter rose by 13 percent to nearly 7.4 million people.

In these days when the economy is shaky, I am proud to be able to report to our employees, our community, and all the customers who rely on us to help them with their timeshare resales transactions, that at least, in our little corner of the business world, business is booming!

There is a lot going on these days at Sell My Timeshare NOW. While we are always in growth mode around here, 2008 has brought an extensive increase in both the depth and the breadth of our timeshare resales and timeshare rentals advertising business.

And with such expansion comes the need for new faces, more helping hands, and experienced professionals. Which leads us to Sylvio Therault, Sell My Timeshare NOW’s new senior financial analyst.

Sylvio has over 20 years of experience in both publically held companies, and privately held corporations like Sell My Timeshare NOW. He understands that in less than 5 years we have grown to be a leader in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, and he “gets it” when he hears us talk about our vision for the future.

Sell My Timeshare NOW’s Vision for the Future

As Leslie Martin, the vp of operations at Sell My Timeshare NOW says, “We are pleased to have Sylvio Theriault as part of our team. His expertise in analyzing and implementing critical cash flow management plans, financial controls and well-structured financial statements will help lead to key financing solutions and will position our company well for business growth.”

Sylvio holds an MBA from Northeastern University and a BA from Merrimack College and he comes to Sell My Timeshare NOW from the VXI Corporation in Rollinsford, NH, where he was the CFO and vice president of finance.

Welcome Aboard, Sylvio!

To read the Sell My Timeshare NOW official press release, click here.

A Texas-based timeshare resales brokerage, that is a division of Stroman Realty, Inc., has released an interesting study on timeshare resales buying trends for transactions handled within their company. The study looked at timeshare sales based on the size of the timeshare unit, the location, and other factors that influence a consumer’s decision to buy timeshare. It also reported on trends that affect timeshare resales across the industry, such as why people resell timeshare or what marketing media best reaches potential timeshare buyers.

Like the research Sell My Timeshare NOW released earlier this year, both studies found that people don’t typically resell timeshare because they are unhappy with it, but more often because it no longer suits their lifestyle, needs, or the way they vacation.

One observation that came from this timeshare resales study is this, “As consumer internet usage has increased, the Timeshare Resale Industry has benefited significantly from the use of the Internet to advertise units for sale. This is because timeshare owners/sellers have never been able to use signage to help with their marketing due to resort restrictions. Since about 1995, the Internet has created an interactive growing conduit for timeshare property information utilized by buyers, wholesalers, brokers, and sellers. The Internet is the single largest factor that has improved the market for timeshare resales.”

Above all else, the study, like research developed for ARDA and research by timeshare developers, reinforces the idea that timeshare sales - both of new timeshare and timeshare resales - are on a very positive upward trend, and that consumer’s confidence in the timeshare or vacation ownership industry increases every year.

In other words, it is a good time to buy timeshare. And it is a good time to sell timeshare. Whatever your needs, at this point in your life, find a reliable, highly rated company to assist you and then move forward confidently with your timeshare transaction.

I am thrilled to be part of the 2008 ARDA Convention & Exposition. When this, the largest event for the timeshare and resort industry, meets in Las Vegas in April, I will be one of the presenters of a program titled: SEM, SEO, SMO & SOS! A Website Traffic Rescue.

Paul Savage of Savage Direct Marketing, Marc Saxe of Resort Opportunities, and Greg Anton of Avitech will be my fellow presenters. Together, we are spreading the message that if your business has a website, then you absolutely must know what these acronyms mean, and how to make them work for you.

One of the many exciting things about the ARDA convention is that it involves people from all areas of the timeshare and resort industry, including management, resort operations, development, and marketing. Every one of these people’s livelihoods is directly affected by the decisions their company makes, or fails to make, about maintaining a strong web presence. And search engine marketing, social media optimization, and search engine optimization, are only the beginning of the important internet marketing strategies businesses must utilize for reaching and serving clients via the world wide web.

What the Internet Can Mean for Timeshare Sales and Timeshare Resales

Sell My Timeshare NOW knows and understands just how critical the internet is to business today. It has been less than five years since we started our timeshare resales and timeshare rentals advertising and marketing company with three people working from home computers. Today, we employ over 100 people in our Dover, New Hampshire office and have satellite offices across the US. Our website, www.sellmytimesharenow.com, attracts more than 1.7 million visitors each month. These are people who are looking to buy timeshare, sell timeshare, or rent timeshare. In a very short time, our timeshare company has grown to be a leader in the industry today.

Some of our website visitors show up because they have entered our company’s web address in their web browser. Yet, thousands and thousands of other potential timeshare buyers or timeshare sellers come to us because they type terms such as, “buy timeshare,” or “Florida timeshare” into their search engine and consistently, the search engine lists Sell My Timeshare NOW, at or near the top of the list. In 2007, we presented our clients who want to sell timeshare or rent timeshare with more than $247 million in offers to buy or rent. The internet is a powerful tool, and it’s a message I never get tired of teaching; I can’t wait for the upcoming ARDA Convention & Exposition.

Links to Sell My Timeshare NOW’s most recent press release:

• Timeshare Internet Advertising Trailblazer to Speak at National Convention

The 2008 ARDA Convention & Exposition will be held next month, April 6-10, at the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. This is the top event in the resort and timeshare industry and it will draw some 5000 attendees from more than 40 countries worldwide.

Speakers at the ARDA Convention

Each year the ARDA Convention & Exposition offers resort and timeshare professionals the most up-to-date information on services and new directions within the industry. For the 2008 convention, Rick Barrera will be the keynote speaker. Barrera is a nationally recognized speaker, marketing consultant and acclaimed author. He is probably best known for his unique approach to brand building and holistic customer service. Barrera’s strategies can be seen in use today by such business giants as Google, Hummer, and Tivo.

In tomorrow’s Timeshare Owners Blog, I will be sharing information about a few of the ARDA Convention’s other speakers and panelists, including the panel on which I will be presenting. Here is also a link to Sell My Timeshare NOW’s most recent press release about the ARDA Convention.

Entertainment at the ARDA Convention

As if just being in Las Vegas isn’t entertaining enough, the ARDA Convention includes a performance by Terry Fator. If you are not familiar with this multi-talented entertainer, then the idea of watching a ventriloquist may not seem too exciting.

Think again. Terry Fator, winner of last year’s American’s Got Talent competition on NBC, is one of the single most entertaining, genuinely talented performers today.

I have attached a YouTube video of Fator during his first televised appearance on the, America’s Got Talent competition. Once you watch this first video, you may want to go back and view the many others available on Fator’s website or on YouTube - he is guaranteed to brighten your day.

Most people understand the concept of timeshares, even if they don’t know all the fine points. They realize that you can either jointly own a timeshare condo with many other owners or own the privilege of vacationing for a specific number of weeks in that timeshare condo. Some timeshares are deeded property ownership while other timeshares are based on the sharing of time at the vacation resort rather than the sharing of the real estate itself. Either way, the product qualifies as a timeshare, even when it is called a vacation club or vacation ownership.

What Makes a Timeshare A Timeshare?

Timeshares can be found in a range of sizes, from efficiency or studio rooms to 3 and even 4-bedroom timeshare units. Locations vary; some of them are great getaway retreats, some are urban timeshares, and others put you in the heart of a high-demand tourist destination.

Looking at Fractionals

While these qualities are all (typically) true of fractionals, as RCI explains, “The major difference between timeshare and fractional ownerships is money.” Fractionals - for good reason - cost more to purchase than do timeshares.

A fractional may be a condominium, or it may be a detached home. And the perks that come with fractionals can be amazing. Benefits like the use of a luxury car, the services of a private chef, or storage for your personal possessions between visits, may come as part of your fractional ownership.

Another important distinction of fractional properties is that they typically are built in locations that are so high-demand, only the uber-wealthy can afford to own them as sole owners. Fractionals can be found at the top ski resorts and on beachside property that is simply too valuable to be sold to a single owner.

Timeshare typically is owned in one-week intervals, although one owner may own multiple weeks. Fractionals, however, usually involve owning at least a month and can be up to 3 or 4 months of time, although not necessarily consecutive weeks or months.

RCI’s list of similarities between timeshare ownership and fractionals is not conclusive, but it does identify some of the commonalities of the two.

Timeshare and fractional can both be:

• Bought as deeded properties.
• Rented out to others during periods of non-use.
• Shared among family and friends.
• Resold at any time.
• Willed to kin. (Or I might add, willed to anyone else to whom you would like to leave it.)

At this time, someone who is trying to sell you a multi-million dollar fractional is unlikely to refer to it as a “timeshare”, but the fact is, the concept is basically the same. Right now, it is typically difficult to find fractional ownership properties under $100,000, with many being priced into the millions. But remember that the lines between timeshares and fractionals are already blurry, and they are only likely to become more so in the future.

To learn more about timeshare ownership, timeshare resales, and fractionals contact the timeshare specialists at Sell My Timeshare NOW. And watch the Timeshare Owners Blog this week for more posts on the topic of fractionals.

USA Today ran a question and answer this week in their “Personal Finance” segment that was intended to deal with an IRS tax issue. Instead, it sounded more like a ‘criminal’ matter to me.

A reader posed the following question to tax expert, Andy Mattson of Mohler, Nixon, Willams and Campbell:

“I sold my timeshare for a gross gain of $3,000. However, because of the huge commission I paid to the timeshare company for selling it, my net was a loss of $6,000. Do I have to pay capital gains on $3,000 or do I consider it a loss and not report anything?”

Wait! Set aside the matter of capital gains and taxes owed for a minute. Is this reader really saying that he or she paid a $9000 commission to sell a timeshare unit for $3000? If this was the case, then I say that the terms of this timeshare sale are a lot bigger problem than the matter of paying capital gains taxes.

Selling Timeshare through a Timeshare Broker

There are times when a timeshare owner who wants to sell timeshare needs or prefers to work with a licensed timeshare broker. The broker earns a commission when the timeshare unit or weeks sell. People who are considering selling timeshare with the assistance of a broker, should understand from the beginning what the commission rate is and of course, the rate should be clearly defined in the written agreement between the seller and the timeshare broker.

But there is simply no way that you should ever have to pay a $9000 commission on a $3000 timeshare sale - that’s why I called it ‘criminal’. If you are facing this scenario, why wouldn’t you donate your timeshare, save the sales commission, and perhaps gain a tax deduction in the process? Or consider using Sell My Timeshare NOW to help you advertise and market your timeshare resale, and handle the sales transaction yourself. Either option makes far more sense than paying 3 times more in commission than you are grossing in your timeshare sale.

Answering the Question of Capital Gains on Timeshare Sales

Now back to the matter of the capital gains owed. Mattson, the tax expert, must have interpreted the timeshare seller’s question the same way I did, because his answer was this:

“It sounds like you had to pay a commission of $9,000 on gross proceeds of $3,000.

What a shame this timeshare owner didn’t contact Sell My Timeshare NOW.

At Sell My Timeshare NOW, we recently completed a study on the reasons motivating people to sell timeshare they currently own. Looking closely at the key indicators, we concluded that the slow US economy does not figure as prominently among the reasons people sell timeshare as you might expect.

Our research involved nearly 1000 timeshare owners, all of whom had expressed a desire to sell timeshare they currently own as deeded property, right to use property, or vacation club membership weeks. We ran the survey for more than four months, and our demographic included a cross section of timeshare owners.

Why Timeshare Owners Decide to Sell Timeshare

On March 5, Sell My Timeshare NOW issued a press release on the findings of our timeshare owner survey. Our research revealed that 28.5 percent of the timeshare owners surveyed say: they just don’t use their timeshare anymore. Another 21.4 percent say they have experienced a change in their family situation, such as a divorce or their children no longer vacation with them, which motivates them to sell timeshare. In other words, lifestyle changes account for the reason almost half of all timeshare sellers decide to sell timeshare weeks or vacation club memberships.

Happy Timeshare Owners

While we all hear the grumblings of unhappy timeshare owners, maybe that’s a case of the “squeaky wheel” getting the attention…the majority of timeshare owners seem to just be busy planning and enjoying timeshare vacations.

Statistics from ARDA (the American Resort Development Association) have consistently shown a high rate of satisfaction among timeshare owners. Nearly 85 percent of all timeshare owners ARDA surveyed say they are satisfied with their timeshare purchase. Our study, at Sell My Timeshare NOW, expands on this information, showing that among people who are ready to sell timeshare, less than one percent are doing so because they do not like the resort or the amenities. Additionally only 4.6 percent sell timeshare because they feel it is too difficult to exchange timeshare for other dates or other locations.

Click here, to read the media release on the Sell My Timeshare NOW study or here to go to the Sell My Timeshare website and learn more about the opportunities in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals.

Would you be surprised to learn that 15 percent of all households in Finland are considering the purchase of timeshare weeks or timeshare condos? Finland based, Holiday Club Resorts Oy, is not surprised; they have recognized the opportunity to grow their hotel and spa business through the development of new Nordic timeshare resorts.

With 5.3 million people in 2.4 million households, (according to Timeshare Perspective Magazine) Finland has some 800,000 people who currently have the potential to buy timeshare. Neighboring Sweden offers another 1.5 million potential timeshare owners—and these numbers only reflect people who can afford to buy timeshare from the developer. Imagine how these figures increase if you include all the people who can afford to buy timeshare at the fantastic discounts available in timeshare resales.

Holiday Club Resorts is Thinking Big about European Timeshare

Holiday Club Resorts Oy is the oldest timeshare company in the Nordic countries. They are part of the RCI timeshare exchange, and they offer Holiday Club timeshare resorts in high-demand ski destinations, as well as numerous spa resort hotels. Currently Holiday Club timeshare, which has timeshare resorts in Sweden, Finland, and Russia, projects they may be on their way to becoming the largest European timeshare company.

Holiday Club Resorts Oy is seriously going after new timeshare owners. They have set up some of their timeshare condos in line with the concepts of the Stress Free Area®. Stress Free is a registered design of the Conbalance company, that specializes in interior space planning. In Stress Free designs, attention is given to planning lighting, color selections, fabrics, and furnishing to enhance a sense of calmness and wellbeing for the occupants.

Timeshare Resales, the Nordic Opportunity

Listening to the media tell you about the surfeit of home foreclosures and the spiraling increase in the costs of energy and durable goods, you may feel that this is an impossible time to sell timeshare. But these statistics from Finland and Sweden are just one more reminder that the person who buys your timeshare resale could be from anywhere in the world, provided you advertise your timeshare resales through a company that uses the world wide web to create a broad base of global marketing.

And as an interesting post script, I have to compliment the people at Holiday Club for the timeshare advertising slogan they pose to their market, “Why buy a cow when you need a litre (liter) of milk?”

…I couldn’t have said it better myself.

With a late-season surge in the flu going on in many parts of the US, it is easy to assume that most travel-related illnesses are airborne, but according to a recent health edition article on Forbes.com, experts estimate that up to 50 percent of travel related illnesses are contracted from contaminated water or food.

Many people today find it difficult to work more than one vacation into their schedules and budgets each year; for others, those treasured vacation days roll around even less frequently. So what could possibly be worse than saving dollars and vacation days for months, even years, only to plan a trip and spend any part of it feeling ill?

The Forbes online article quotes Dr. Susan McLellan, director of the Tulane University Travel Clinic and associate professor of medicine in infectious disease at Tulane University School of Medicine as saying, “Traveling without taking some precautions is like driving without your seatbelt. You’re probably going to be fine-unless something bad happens.”

Here are some worthwhile tips about staying healthy on vacation, and a few thoughts on how owning a timeshare or timeshare resale makes guarding your health when you travel even easier.

Playing it Safe with a Timeshare Condo

Everyone knows that they should drink only bottled water when traveling abroad. And most people even remember that rules applies to the water they use when they brush their teeth, or wash a piece of fruit. But here’s something many travelers don’t know: play it safe with bottled water and drink only from bottles that you open personally.

Restaurants have been known to serve bottled water to guests, but to “graciously” remove the bottle cap first. While you may think they are being accommodating, (and maybe they are) they may, in fact be serving you tap water that has been poured into the bottled water container as a cost saving measure.

And here’s another food-handling tip that could make the difference in a great vacation and a week spent tethered to the bathroom: the fewer times food is handled, the lower the risk of it making you ill. As Forbes writer Allison Van Dusen points out, “You might be better off eating something straight from a street vendor’s boiling pot than off a swanky hotel buffet that’s been sitting around for a while.”

A week in an exotic location may be just the recharge your brain and body needs. Even a not-so-exotic location, like Mexico timeshares, can offer you the sun, sand, and the climate change your body craves, without traveling halfway around the world. But wherever you go, vacationing in a timeshare condo with kitchen facilities might turn out to be the difference between a fabulous holiday and a miserable experience.

You don’t have to bypass dining in restaurants when you go on a timeshare vacation; new and diverse cuisines are part of the fun of travel. But the truth is: you dramatically improve your odds of avoiding travelers’ illness by limiting the number of times you eat food prepared by others. An in-suite kitchen and dining area is a rarity in most hotels, and not available in every timeshare resort. But there are plenty of timeshare resorts in the US and abroad that do offer kitchen and in-room dining areas. Selecting a timeshare condo that provides a kitchen means you personally have control of the food handling and safety of the meals you and your family eat. Like the experts say, you’ll be fine, unless something bad happens…so when you plan a vacation, make it a timeshare vacation. You will be improving your odds of staying healthy as well as enjoying wonderful accommodations and amenities.

To learn more about the opportunities in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.