jeffrey
03-21-2007, 08:34 PM
This is an email I received from a person who was able to successfully get rid of their time share by giving it to charity. It is also a good look at what you may expect from the entire process:
It's been almost a year to the date since our last email exchange,
but after many months, my wife and I are finally FREE of our
timeshare!!!
My wife and I looked into the Quit Claim Deed process and after
further investigation, we decided we knew much too little about real
estate law so, we agreed donating our timeshare was the best process
for us to relieve ourselves of it! At the suggestion of your website
I contacted Gifts For Sight. I received an email back and eventually
everything they said in their emails and on their website
(www.giftsforsight.org/timeshare) happened just as they said it
would. (FYI, Gifts for Sight also has another website www.itsdonated.com).
In May 2006, I submitted all the paperwork as they requested on the
website and received prompt acknowledgment of my submittal. A month
later, about mid June, I received notice that they had "begun the
selling process" of my timeshare. The second of July, I received
another email saying my timeshare had been sold and my information
would be sent to their closing company, JRA Services in Sunrise
Florida. They gave me contact information for that company. About a
week later JRA Services sent me additional forms to complete and they
also requested a copy of my recorded deed which I faxed to them.
About a month later (second week of August), they sent me new deed to
be sign and notarized. My wife and I filled that out and returned it.
Then came the waiting...
I contacted either the Gifts For Sight and JRA Services once a month
until December when I thought it was going to fall through. The
problem was with the buyers failing to return the paperwork. Gifts
for Sight had to get involved again to "light a fire" under the
buyers in late December and then on Jan. 5, I received an email from
JRA Services; they had received the paperwork from the buyers and
were waiting on their funds to be received before recording the new
deed!! Then on January 24, we received the good news we had waited
on for so long!! Emails arrived from both Gifts for Sight AND JRA
Services informing us the sale transaction was complete with attached
documentation we would need for our tax records.
I contacted Fairfield who indicated it may take four to six weeks to
complete the transaction on their end, transferring the deed
information in their files. Before I told you my story, I wanted to
make sure there were no more automatic withdrawals for monthly
maintenance fees, the last of which was in January. None have
happened since then.
OBSERVATIONS:
What exactly does someone else need to do? EXACTLY what they ask.
It's really pretty painless (except for the waiting!). From my end,
the process was extremely simple!! Fill out the initial paperwork as
requested on their website, sign and return any additional documents
as needed from the closing company. Pray it will sell quickly, but
be prepared with patience; legal wheels turn slowly.
I was a little concerned when the tax receipt finally came (since it
was in January) if it would be for '06 or '07 tax year, but that was
clearly laid out in the text....2006. The official "taxing" name of
the organization is "Eye Birth Defects Research Foundation"
Fairfield sent out a notice around Jan. 14 advising of a one-time
capital improvement fee (or something like that) of $184 and some
change. So close to the end of this transaction, I really hated to
risk messing things up by trying to get out of that fee. Especially
since the "final word" had not yet come on the sale/new deed. So, we
paid it. If Fairfield finds the fee should have been paid by the new
owners, then Fairfield can worry about that, but I seriously doubt
that will happen.
Aside from the buyers delaying their paperwork, the only snag in the
process came in December came when the closing company asked Gifts
for Sight to contact the buyers to see what the hold up was, Gifts
for Sight sent the email to ME requesting I turn in the paperwork.
After a return email explaining it wasn't I holding up the process,
everything else went smoothly from there.
Somewhere in the process, either by email or phone (oh yes, I spoke
to both representatives at Gifts For Sight and JRA Services...very
nice people, by the way) I remember someone saying something about
the timeshare being sold on an Ebay Auction. I remember thinking,
"After all this...so THAT'S the way they sell it. Huh, I could have
done that!" Well, maybe; maybe not. We'll never know for sure now,
will we?
It's been almost a year to the date since our last email exchange,
but after many months, my wife and I are finally FREE of our
timeshare!!!
My wife and I looked into the Quit Claim Deed process and after
further investigation, we decided we knew much too little about real
estate law so, we agreed donating our timeshare was the best process
for us to relieve ourselves of it! At the suggestion of your website
I contacted Gifts For Sight. I received an email back and eventually
everything they said in their emails and on their website
(www.giftsforsight.org/timeshare) happened just as they said it
would. (FYI, Gifts for Sight also has another website www.itsdonated.com).
In May 2006, I submitted all the paperwork as they requested on the
website and received prompt acknowledgment of my submittal. A month
later, about mid June, I received notice that they had "begun the
selling process" of my timeshare. The second of July, I received
another email saying my timeshare had been sold and my information
would be sent to their closing company, JRA Services in Sunrise
Florida. They gave me contact information for that company. About a
week later JRA Services sent me additional forms to complete and they
also requested a copy of my recorded deed which I faxed to them.
About a month later (second week of August), they sent me new deed to
be sign and notarized. My wife and I filled that out and returned it.
Then came the waiting...
I contacted either the Gifts For Sight and JRA Services once a month
until December when I thought it was going to fall through. The
problem was with the buyers failing to return the paperwork. Gifts
for Sight had to get involved again to "light a fire" under the
buyers in late December and then on Jan. 5, I received an email from
JRA Services; they had received the paperwork from the buyers and
were waiting on their funds to be received before recording the new
deed!! Then on January 24, we received the good news we had waited
on for so long!! Emails arrived from both Gifts for Sight AND JRA
Services informing us the sale transaction was complete with attached
documentation we would need for our tax records.
I contacted Fairfield who indicated it may take four to six weeks to
complete the transaction on their end, transferring the deed
information in their files. Before I told you my story, I wanted to
make sure there were no more automatic withdrawals for monthly
maintenance fees, the last of which was in January. None have
happened since then.
OBSERVATIONS:
What exactly does someone else need to do? EXACTLY what they ask.
It's really pretty painless (except for the waiting!). From my end,
the process was extremely simple!! Fill out the initial paperwork as
requested on their website, sign and return any additional documents
as needed from the closing company. Pray it will sell quickly, but
be prepared with patience; legal wheels turn slowly.
I was a little concerned when the tax receipt finally came (since it
was in January) if it would be for '06 or '07 tax year, but that was
clearly laid out in the text....2006. The official "taxing" name of
the organization is "Eye Birth Defects Research Foundation"
Fairfield sent out a notice around Jan. 14 advising of a one-time
capital improvement fee (or something like that) of $184 and some
change. So close to the end of this transaction, I really hated to
risk messing things up by trying to get out of that fee. Especially
since the "final word" had not yet come on the sale/new deed. So, we
paid it. If Fairfield finds the fee should have been paid by the new
owners, then Fairfield can worry about that, but I seriously doubt
that will happen.
Aside from the buyers delaying their paperwork, the only snag in the
process came in December came when the closing company asked Gifts
for Sight to contact the buyers to see what the hold up was, Gifts
for Sight sent the email to ME requesting I turn in the paperwork.
After a return email explaining it wasn't I holding up the process,
everything else went smoothly from there.
Somewhere in the process, either by email or phone (oh yes, I spoke
to both representatives at Gifts For Sight and JRA Services...very
nice people, by the way) I remember someone saying something about
the timeshare being sold on an Ebay Auction. I remember thinking,
"After all this...so THAT'S the way they sell it. Huh, I could have
done that!" Well, maybe; maybe not. We'll never know for sure now,
will we?