TS Today - Creating a Vision for the Future of Vacation Ownership Issue #159 May/Jun 2018 | Page 27

Page 27 May/Jun, 2018 Resales: A Millennial perspective Seniors’ children By Courtney Jex My father-in-law was a timeshare resale broker in San Diego County for nearly 20 years. He introduced me to the business of brokering timeshare re- sales. My husband, Brent, and I started Weeks4Sale.com, and then moved to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in northern California in early 2016. We like to spend summer vacations on the beach in San Diego, and winter vacations on the slopes of Lake Tahoe’s ski resorts. We have a growing family of four, and a large extended family, so we cer- tainly appreciate how timesharing can help with the logistics of family vacations. Seniors and Millennials Many articles in industry publica- tions say Millennials won’t want to own timeshares as their parents did. I’m a member of the Millennial generation, and obviously don’t speak for my entire generation, but I just don’t think that is accurate at all. The two most common trends we see are seniors who can no longer use their timeshare and want to sell, and a new generation of timeshare buyers who prefer fl exible, user-friendly points programs such as Disney Vacation Club, Marriott’s Destination Points, and Welk’s Platinum Points program. Often our senior sellers tell us that letting go of their timeshare is diffi cult because they have such great memories of shared vacations over the years. Unfortunately, too many of our se- nior clients fi nd us only after they have already used an online website that charged them a hefty upfront “market- ing” fee, and did little more than add their timeshare to their existing list of expired and overpriced listings. Although they are understandably wary at fi rst, these end up being some of our friendliest and easiest clients with whom to work. Also, we often receive inquiries from adult children who are now man- aging their senior parents’ fi nancial af- fairs and are grateful for help with sell- ing their parents’ timeshare. Many of these clients fi nd us from the membership directories of the Li- censed Timeshare Resale Brokers Asso- ciation (LTRBA), and the American Re- sort Development Association (ARDA), two organizations in which we are proud to be members. Strategic opportunities Among our most dynamic clients are customers who want to buy very large points packages to book prime holiday ski weeks at Lake Tahoe resorts. I grew up skiing these resorts, and still get up to the Lake Tahoe area sev- eral times a year, so I love talking shop with our customers about skiing at North Shore and South Shore resorts. I put the fi nal touches on this article while staying at the Red Wolf Lodge in Squaw Valley, one of the resorts where we bro- ker resales—and where we also own. Although the new generation of buy- ers seems to prefer the user-friendly points programs, some tremendous value can be found for savvy owners who master the complexities of exchange strategies. Timeshare owners may have dif- fi culty in understanding the key differ- ences between DAE, GPX, Interval, Platinum Interchange, RCI, and other exchange companies, but for those who take the time to learn, valuable opportu- nities exist. vacation, and all three come with great day-use privileges for owners. Once you get to the resort, you can use the resort’s bathrooms, pool, and spa, and check out a beach cruiser or boogie board. It doesn’t matter whether you own a week three that you bought for $500, or a week 27 that you bought for $10,000. Either way, you get the same level of day-use benefi ts. About the author Courtney Jex of Weeks4Sale.com is based in Rocklin, CA. The fi rm brokers resales for all different types of time- shares, for resorts all over the country (including Hawaii) and in Mexico. Like most licensed timeshare re- sale brokers, it handles a lot of the big branded timeshares, particularly Mar- riott, but its specialty is really Califor- nia resorts—especially the Welk Resort Group and Grand Pacifi c Resorts. Contact information: Toll- free phone [phone], email [email protected], website www.weeks4sale.com. Day-use benefi ts Another area where we see a lot of missed opportunities is ownership of off-season weeks at resorts in San Diego County. The Lawrence Welk Resort, Carls- bad Inn, and Coronado Beach resorts are three of our favorite places for a summer TimeSharing Today Courtney Jex. www.tstodayjoin.com: Start or renew memberships, place ads, order document kits and more