With a beautiful, peaceful location in the Ozarks in Missouri, Branson has been a popular tourist destination for generations. The attractions found in Branson are unlikely anything you’ll find elsewhere – it’s a blend of exciting amusement parks, outdoor adventures, museums, live entertainment, and much more.
Branson is also home to many timeshare properties. If you are a Branson timeshare owner and would now like to explore the options for getting out of that timeshare and moving on with your life, this article should be helpful. Let’s take a look at some of your options and how you might be able to proceed successfully.
Did You Just Buy This Timeshare?
If you are just getting back from purchasing a timeshare and suddenly have second thoughts about the purchase and what it means for your future, we have some good news – it might not be too late to get out of it. In the state of Missouri, you generally have five days to cancel the purchase of a timeshare, so if that window is not yet closed, act immediately to back out and reverse the purchase.
To do so, get in touch with the timeshare developer that you were working with immediately. Even if you think you have another couple of days to get it done, you don’t want to take any chances – call right now and tell them that you would like to cancel your purchase. They may try to talk you out of that decision, but it’s your right to cancel the sale as long as too many days have not passed. As you will see in the sections below, it’s often not easy to get out of a timeshare, so canceling it before your ownership experience really gets started is the best course of action.
Of course, there is the financial side of canceling your Branson timeshare purchase to consider, so be sure to get details from the developer on how you will be getting your money back. You don’t want to let small details get in the way of successfully canceling and securing a refund, so ask as many questions as you need to in order to know exactly how this process is going to work and what you should expect to happen next.
Ask About Offers from the Developer
In all likelihood, you aren’t fortunate enough to be reading this page within a few days of having signed your contract. More likely, you have been a timeshare owner for years, and you are now getting tired of the reality of the experience. For many people, it’s a gradual progression to wind up at a point where they are fed up with everything that timeshares mean, and they are just ready to be done.
If that sounds like the situation you are in, it’s still worth reaching out to your developer or resort owner first before taking any other action. No, you won’t be able to automatically cancel the contract under the law like you can during the cooling-off period, but that doesn’t mean you are entirely out of luck. In some cases, the developer will have a program available where owners can give back their ownership, or even pay a fee to get out.
To be clear, there is no guarantee that any of these kinds of programs will be available, and you might find that nothing is currently being offered that will help you get out. But it doesn’t hurt to ask. It would be a shame to miss out on something that could have significantly improved your financial future just because you failed to turn every stone and see what possibilities await. If the developer tells you that no options are available and there is nothing they can do to help you get out of the timeshare, then you can move on to other ideas.
Selling is One Path to Explore
While it won’t necessarily be easy, one potential option you can look into with your timeshare is selling your ownership stake to another individual. Obviously, the big advantage here is that you are able to get out from under the responsibilities that owning a timeshare comes with. Once the sale is completed and someone else legally owns the timeshare, you will no longer have to pay maintenance fees, assessments, etc. You’ll be giving up your right to access the vacation properties that you had been using previously, but that will likely be an easy trade to make if you can free yourself from the chains of a timeshare in Branson.
If you decide to try selling your timeshare, look for places online that give you the opportunity to list what you own for others to contact you, much like a classified ad. Be warned, however, that your timeshare is almost certainly not going to be worth what you paid for it originally. Timeshares don’t accumulate value over time like houses tend to do. On the contrary, timeshares are typically worth barely a fraction of what you paid when sold on the open market, if they are worth anything at all. It’s entirely possible that you could list the timeshare for sale for as little as a dollar only to find that no one at all is interested in making a purchase.
Should be fortunate enough to find a buyer, be sure to follow the process to legally sell a timeshare and keep all documentation of the sale. You need to confirm with the timeshare that your ownership has been transferred to a new individual and that you will no longer be responsible for the account. The last thing you want is to receive a letter later on that is asking you to make payments on things like maintenance fees or assessments when you haven’t been an owner for years.
Do Your Best to Keep Records
Speaking of keeping records, that’s also an important part of the process if you are communicating with your developer about getting out of the timeshare in one way or another. The timeshare company might offer you some type of deal to get out of your ownership, only to later claim that the offer was not made. It’s not always the case that everyone in the company knows what everyone else is doing, and timeshares have been known to be less than forthright with owners.
For this reason, you want to use forms of communication where at least some kind of record-keeping is possible. If you only have phone conversations, it will be tough to prove what was said or what was offered. It’s fine to start out on the phone, but if they are going to offer you anything, make sure to request it in writing so you can save that document and have proof later on, just in case you need it. Given how much of your financial future is at stake in this matter, you can’t be too safe.
Look for Professional Assistance
To put it simply, timeshares are a major problem for countless people. It’s all too common for people to feel stuck in a timeshare that they wished they never purchased, whether that property is in Branson or elsewhere across the country or around the world. With so many people unhappy about their situation and what they have been stuck with, more and more companies are popping up to help those owners find a way out.
These are known as timeshare exit companies and they use a variety of tactics to find options for timeshare owners to move on. Teaming up with such a company can be a good idea, especially if you have explored some of your alternatives and just can’t seem to find a good resolution. Getting professional help from people who do this kind of thing day after day and have ideas and techniques that you may not have explored can only get you closer to your goal.
Of course, such a service isn’t free, but it could prove to be well worth the cost if it is able to save you from years of maintenance fees and assessments ahead. When paying for the services of a timeshare exit company, always work with one that uses an escrow account to hold your funds while they are helping you with your ownership situation. You want that money to stay in escrow until results are achieved – paying upfront with no recourse in case the exit company doesn’t produce results would leave to exposed to losing that money for nothing in return. Just like when dealing with the timeshare developer itself, you also want to be smart when working with exit companies.
Branson is Great – Without a Timeshare
If you purchased a timeshare in Branson because you love the area and want to spend as much time there as possible, don’t let the realities of timeshare ownership ruin the experience of the place for you. If you are able to get out of your timeshare – which you can take a step towards by calling us today at 833-416-8796 – you can go back to traveling to Branson on a trip-by-trip basis, and you’ll have a great time doing so. The time is now to move on!