I tried to sale my timeshare for over a year and did not have any luck, I had a friend tell me about Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge -- I was able to donate my timeshare to them and take a tax deduction on my upcoming 2007 taxes.

It took them about 47 days to have the entire thing transferred out of my name. I am so happy to not have to worry about it anymore or to be spending any more money on it and as a bonus I am helping the animals.

Sounds good if your willing to take a loss, but I still owe on my timeshare and I'm paying a 18% interest rate plus $600 annual maintenance fee's. So donating to any charity organization or similar organization sounds like a super idea for those who have the cash to spare or own their timeshare, but for me it's just not an option.

I'm going to give this company a shot. They seem to have their "ducks in a row" and I've researched a lot of similar companies and none offer a program identical to theirs.

Tink

Hi Timeshare Folks-

I have contacted many organizations just to inquire about the timeshare donation process. Some want the maintenance fees paid ahead for as many as three years, otherwise you're essentially handing them a bill and most maintenance fees I hear of range around $400 to $800 for an average timeshare. My understanding is that these organizations typically do not actually use the timeshare, but sell it and use the funds for their cause. So, they must be getting some kind of money for the timeshare and so can you. More likely than not, in my opinion, it's better to liquidate the timeshare for some ind of cash than to take a small tax-deduction.

And Tink, don't think you're alone in your situation. I post on many timeshare message boards and very few are able or willing to donate for similar reasons or the simple fact that they would rather get some cash rather than a minor tax deduction as I mentioned.

I have also read an interesting article at a financial advisement/money management site about donating(see link below). It simple states that the donation process is not without pitfalls and that it is not as simple as just mailing the deed to the organization/group/charity/etc.

Dumping a timeshare

Hello Everyone!

Donating to a charity is no matter what the type of donation is a noble and honorable venture. Timeshare Adventures participates in many Charities, Causes, and Events and we continue to explore more ways to invlove ourselves in our local community and global organizations. Click HERE to view Timeshare Adventures' Involvement in the Community, Organizations and Charities.

TIMESHARE ADVENTURES INVOLVEMENT IN THE COMMUNITY

The following is an excerpt from an article about donating timeshare. It's a bit "long-winded" but it contains some good information.

THE FINE PRINT

Donating tangible assets is not without pitfalls. If you're donating a timeshare and planning to take a deduction, you've got to be scrupulous about determining its value. If it's worth more than $5,000, you'll need a written appraisal to take the tax deduction. Even if the property is worth less than that, you need to be able to substantiate your value claim. That means researching what similar time shares in the same community are commanding.

"That's the hard part," says Rogers. "Some people take the deduction and hope."

Instead, contact the time share association to learn what similar properties in the community are bringing.

If the charity sells the time share before you do your returns, you can also use the sale price, says Norman Solomon, CPA and a recent officeholder in the tax division of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. "Fair market value would probably be measured by what they get for it."

But some organizations might not sell the property immediately. And some brokers don't mind selling the properties at bargain-basement prices. Most charities are not interested in owning the property, instead they want the proceeds from the sale, says James Tarpey, president and attorney for Donate for a Cause, a company that brokers time shares for charities. Since the charity or broker will "want to sell it fast, it'll be a distress sale," he says. "They won't sit around waiting for the average price, they'll just sell it."

That means if you're depending on the sale price to set the value, you could be in for a big disappointment. Best bet: Talk to your accountant or tax attorney to find out how to determine and substantiate the value.

If you make the donation, the Federal Trade Commission advises that you get a receipt detailing the amount of your donation and stating that it is tax-deductible. Be wary if anyone tells you to just make up a number. In the past few years, a lot of people decided that donating their old cars to charity was a great way to take a deduction for the full blue-book value, for clunkers in such bad shape they could never have gotten that price on the resale market. The Internal Revenue Service noticed and narrowed the rules for donating cars to charities.

"The government is very much concerned about valuation," says Solomon. "That's the hottest thing going right now."

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I'm not an expert in this industry, seems location is everything. My parents gave me a vacation property that seems to have lost it's popularity. I ended up having to pay for 2 years of maintenence fees to donate it. My other choice was to keep it and be at square one in two years of not using it... I took the tax deduction.

n2deep,

I have a couple questions. How much did you pay total in maintenance fees to donate and was it worth the tax-deduction? I mean, couldn't you have come someplace like this site, priced them really well and make a couple grand? Did you consider the option of selling reasonably cheap as opposed to a small tax deduction or was before companies like this were around? Just curious.

Regards,
J. Franzy

Hi Franzy,

I guess, I was less educated with timeshare's when I made that decision.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have read the follow-up replies to my post and I wanted to let everyone know that I did not have to pay maintenance fees for years in advance or any other fees to donate to the Wildlife charity.

They did require that my timeshare be mortgage free and my fees paid current but that seemed only fair to me. They also told me to speak with my tax professional about my tax deduction and when I did we determined the fair market value by making a couple of phone calls, one to the resort, one to a reseller. Fair market value is the average price that your timeshare sales for on the secondary market.

I tried to sale my timeshare myself and ended up just spending more money and way too much time and no buyer. This was a great alternative because I just did not want to spend any more money on ads or maintenance fees.

Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know my personal experience donating because this company was professional and honest in every way.

Again, you can google "Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge" to see the animals.

That's great Pamela. Wouldn't the refuge for those big cats rather have cash than a potential bill? Seems to me if your going to really do something special for a charity... take the few extra steps to turn the timeshare into actual money they can use. For instance, N2deep... you could have given your property back to the resort and have taken that $1,000 you spent in maintenece fees and donated cash to a good cause. Just a thought.

I am not able to sale my timeshare for 6 months.I contacted many organizations basing on this.But I failed.Can anybody help me?
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julie