All Forum Posts by: Kevin Dickson

Eggshell also wipes down easily, but looks better than semi-gloss in general.  Flat gets messed up quickly.

I still have one that I want to get rid of.

My fear of walking away from the maintenance fees is that it will show up on my credit report.

I'd be willing to quit claim it to the HOA, but they typically don't make it that easy, because in this case, they are losing a guaranteed $480/year.

I know who the HOA's lawyer is, but I want to have a good strategy before starting negotiations.

Timeshares probably are the worst real estate investments around. At most timeshare resorts in Colorado, only the 2 weeks at Christmas can be reliably rented for more than the maintenance fee.

Almost twenty years ago, I got three of them for free because I thought I could trade them through RCI and save money on vacations. This strategy worked just OK, but over the years the maintenance fee went up enough to sour me on my "free" timeshares.

I got lucky a few years ago and got rid of two of them through a close friend who actually sells at new timeshare resorts. He didn't charge me a commission, though he earned it. But even a 10% commission would be zero.

ALL the ads you see when you google "sell my timeshare" are shady, ephemeral companies that will charge you $2k-$5k to take it off your hands. Apparently these outfits often don't actually complete the sale and you are still on the hook.

My sale was a win-win-win:

1. The buyer took over the maintenance fees of $360/year/unit.

2. The buyer donates these unrentable weeks with low trading power to his favorite charity, and gets a yearly tax deduction.

The use of the condo for the week isn't worth zero, because if you call up that resort and want to rent that week, they will quote about $1200. So my buyer gets a $1200 tax deduction, and the charity isn't stuck with the maintenance fee obligation.

Why were my weeks unrentable? There is zero demand for a ski condo in Colorado in May (mud season) or October (cold but no snow). So the only loser is the raffle winner or charity volunteer who receives the week. They have to pay their travel costs.

@Account Closed , Airbnb wants to set up an 11.5% tax in Portland, but I doubt it would ever apply to your 30 day rentals:

https://medium.com/life-learning/db9746750a3a

Well it looks like the money-taking will happen sooner than later.

Portland is teaming with Airbnb to encourage hosts to pay an 11.5% tax.

https://medium.com/life-learning/db9746750a3a

Sharing is the essence of a city and it's original raison d'etre. So prohibiting short term rentals is out of the question. The question is should the hosts be paying a city lodging tax.

Evict them and put it on VRBO yourself. Do the math and all the due diligence first, though.

@Evan R. , thanks for a great article. I think it's pretty obvious that the current "best practice" for this industry is stealth mode. Prevent parties, bad behavior, and work hard to keep neighbors happy. I guarantee the average city zoning enforcer isn't on the lookout for this stuff yet, and when they do get involved, it will be mainly to take money from the entrepreneurs.

Some of the biggest tourist destinations are just cities.

New York, San Francisco, and San Diego come to mind.

Oftentimes, a hotel room just doesn't cut it for certain visitors, so VRBO and Airbnb fill a real market need.

Unfortunately, many cities have laws on the books that prevent rentals of less than 30 days. The logic behind these laws is murky at best.

Hi Valerie, and welcome.

@Joe Fairless mentioned "caution" I believe because of the fact that some communities have outlawed vacation rentals. I'm sure you are aware of that.

I was talking to @Marc Littmann

@Marc Littmann

@Marc Littmann

I'll try to make it