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8/6/2007
For several years, the HAR MLS has not had a way to properly list these types of property. Most timeshares are condominiums and you could list them in that property Class but they would be mixed in with all the other units at very different prices.
In the early 1980s, I placed a few timeshare properties in the HAR MLS Condominium Class to see if any MLS agents had buyer clientele that were interested. Most of my calls came from concerned agents trying to help inform me that I had left off a zero on the listed price. At that time, consumers and agents heard all the negatives about the timeshare new sale developer marketing tactics and were “turned off” by that image. I sold a few units but results were below my expectations.
A recent survey by the NAR titled the "2007 NAR Profile of International Home Buying Activity was touted as "the most comprehensive research that NAR has ever conducted to explore the characteristics of second-home purchases in the United States made by international clients". In the survey it noted the percentage of buyers purchasing timeshare property was statistically zero. More likely it said the REALTORs surveyed – "who generally assist clients in buying and selling of homes – may not consider timeshares as part of their normal residential brokerage business".
According to the study "State of the Vacation Timeshare Industry" US 2007, the market last year reached $10 billion in new developer sales of US timeshares which is an 81% increase in sale volume from $5.5 billion in 2002. Also tens of thousands of units were resold by owners and brokers. From my experience meeting resale agents I can say that most of the brokers that resell timeshares are not REALTORs. This is a fact not discussed in the NAR survey.
Things have changed for timeshares since the 1980s. Many large developers have entered into the market because of the demand and resulting profits. They improved their marketing efforts and adopted ethics. Wyndham is the largest timeshare developer and until recently was owned by Cendant. Marriott Vacation Ownership is second and Bluegreen that also develops land around Houston is a favorite. Everyone is also familiar with the rest of the biggest multi-site developers: Hilton; Sheraton; Disney; Ritz Carlton; Hyatt; and Westin Timeshares. They generate a few billion dollars in new sales volume themselves.
Slowly but surely the boundaries are coming down for timeshare resale marketing which is truly a service that benefits from the Internet and cross regulatory boundary solicitation. The lower sales price of a timeshare means smaller commissions and fewer brokers that are interested. This lack of participation means we have to primarily go directly to the buyers of this discretionary vacation product. This is true globally for efficient timeshare resale marketing. The buyers of a Florida timeshare for instance are located everywhere, primarily out of state according to industry studies.
There are only a few MLSs that have a provision for listing and searching timeshares and they all handle it differently.
Recently several of our HAR MLS subscriber agents have approached the HAR MLS Committee to solve the problem of how to be able to search for Timeshare and Fractional Exclusive Listings. The demand for timeshares recognized by some of our members has grown to this point and they needed our MLS to accommodate these vacation real estate properties. “The solution” was to add a button that defaults to Traditional property in the applicable Classes or allows listings to be categorized as a Timeshare or Fractional property as well. So there will be a search in Tempo that allows for only timeshares or fractionals as the result.
One factor that will make them easier to find is that we have in the last few years created several new Areas including Areas 80, 81 and International 82. Areas 1 through 79 represent all of South East Texas or the Houston MLS “ETJ”. We have Area 80 added for the balance of Texas, Area 81 is for the balance of the US and Area 82 is for all other countries. These new Areas along with several others for specific counties around Houston replace the old Area 27 where we previously put listings that didn’t fit anywhere else. So the recently created 3 new Areas better regionalize the search for listings outside the local Houston MLS area.
The Timeshare and Fractional changes in the MLS are due to be available in late September. This includes the ability to search for them from HAR.com on the Find a Home searches and from the International page.
After the Tempo modifications, inputs of Timeshare and Fractional listings will not affect the HAR monthly statistics for the different classes. Timeshares and Fractionals will be reported separately. Without the new filtering the existing traditional statistics would have been skewed. This is because the average price of a new timeshare is about $18,500 which is far from the average price of a condominium in Houston.
Since 1985 my company Stroman Realty has organized nearly 100 timeshare auctions. At our first auction one sale was a Timeshare at The Aruba Beach Club. I had to attract that prospect by extensive and costly marketing. Soon we can list Timeshares and Fractionals in the HAR MLS. The efficiency of the Internet and with help from co-operating brokers can help change the way timeshares are resold for the individual owners.
