My Buy Essay

Archive for October, 2007

Buyers FAQS:

Q: Why should I buy a RESALE timeshare from you instead of buying it directly from the resort?

A: You can get the SAME timeshare on the resale market but at anywhere from 50% to 80% off the price you would pay if you bought it directly from the resort. And, because you will have paid so little for it by buying resale you will have an easier time getting most of your money back. Or, if you decide to keep it, you may will it to your kids or give it away. Click here for the TimeSharing Today Article “Let’s give it to the kids!”.

* Depending on resort and market conditions.

Q: Why should I buy a RESALE timeshare from a professional, licensed timeshare RESALE Broker? I have friends who want me to buy theirs.

A: GOOD QUESTION… BUT BE VERY CAREFUL !

When you buy from a private party you have no way of knowing if the previous owners have put it up for collateral, have a lien against it, or owe back dues or taxes. You could be liable for heavy duty fees that you know nothing about! When you buy from a private party you have no way of knowing if the previous owners put it up for collateral on a loan or it could have a lien against it. Even though they are the best people in the world, they might not know either. Or, did they use a quit-claim deed and give it to someone else? Have they paid all the annual maintenance fees and taxes? If not, you may be liable for heavy-duty past-due bills if you buy it from them.

And, you cannot use the timeshare until you have paid off those outstanding bills. We are a professional, licensed timeshare resale company and we have the same fiduciary responsibility to buyers and sellers as real estate agents who sell homes. We are successful because we offer sellers, as well as buyers, easy, fast and SAFE property transfers. Click here to see our TimeSharing Today magazine article on “Do you dare do it Yourself?”.

Q: How do I know that I am buying a RESALE Timeshare that is free and clear of all liens?

A: This is why it is important to buy your timeshare from an established company like Timeshare RESALE Alliance, and why we use a professional escrow company that gives you a Title Policy guaranteeing that the deeded property you receive is free and clear. The same checks are made on Right to Use or Club Membership types of property as well.

Buying a timeshare involves almost as much paperwork as buying a home. You want to make certain that all the paperwork is filled out and properly recorded, that you are buying a property that is free and clear, and that the transfer of title is accurately registered with the resort. Making sure you get what you pay for is how we earn our commission (which is paid for in most cases by the seller)—we’ve matched thousands of buyers with sellers and know how to get the job done for you.

Q: Will I get the same benefits the resort offers to those who buy directly from them?

A: Resorts often give you two free airline tickets, an inexpensive weekend at the resort or a comparable gift, when you come for a presentation by them. You do not get those when you buy on the resale market. On the other hand you don’t get the generally high powered sales pitch either. But, you get the same timeshare at a savings of $5,000 to $20,000! With these savings, you can afford to buy your own airline tickets and resort weekend and still pocket huge savings. Hence our slogan, “Never an Up-Front Fee. No Pressure. Just Great Values”.

You know about all that “free” stuff? It isn’t really free. The buyer not only pays for his own but everyone else’s that didn’t buy as well (about seven out of ten).

Resorts give away a lot of “fluff” to make it seem as though you are getting many free benefits. They sometimes also give you a “free” membership in their Travel Club or “bonus points” that give you access to discount airline tickets and “weekend getaways”. In reality, you get these same benefits from the Exchange Companies such as Resort Condominiums International or Interval International. Why spend thousands of dollars extra to buy directly from the resort so you get this “fluff” (we call it “airware”) from them, when you can get the same thing from your exchange company?

Q: How will the resort treat me if I buy a “Pre-Owned” Timeshare rather than a “New” one purchased directly from them?

A: During your escrow, the Escrow Company notifies the resort of the Transfer of Ownership. When you check in to your resort, the staff does not even know that you bought the timeshare on the RESALE market. Nor do they care. The resort’s only concern is to have enough owners to pay the annual maintenance fee and taxes so they can maintain the beauty, high quality and desirability of the resort.

Q: How do I know which RESALE Timeshare Resort is the best one for me?

A: First, determine where and how you want to use your travel time. Where do you enjoy spending vacations? Do you love the beach, the mountains, the big cities or the desert? You have many choices. For example…

If getting back to nature in the Southern California mountains is for you, you can become a lifetime “pardner” in a “Members Only” 750 acre Private Ranch located 26 miles inside the Sequoia National Forest with free RV hook-ups, cabins, horseback riding, fishing, shooting ranges and more. And, you can go there as many times a year as you wish at no additional charge. After you use it for your lifetime, you can resell it or will the membership to your kids. This is most suitable for those living from Fresno to Paso Robles to Ventura to Los Angeles, California.

Is taking the family and grandparents for an annual family reunion during winter vacation in the warm desert high on your list? You can have a Palm Springs retreat that Tracy and Hepburn would have envied. And, if you’re in the neighborhood, you can even have day use!

How about a weeklong romantic rendezvous for you and your Special One in Paris one year, and on a Caribbean beach the next? Then you want to buy a top-trading, high-demand California coastal resort at a dramatically reduced price from what you would pay if you bought directly from the resort—and then trade it for anywhere in the world you want to go.

Q: After I speak with your Consultant and determine which Resort is the best for me, what’s the next step?

A: This is the easy part—we do all the work for you and lead you through the process step by step.

After you decide on the resort and price, our personal Timeshare Resale Travel Consultant will FAX or mail a Purchase Agreement to you for your signature. The agreement contains the entire dollar amount of your purchase, including all fees and escrow charges—there are no surprises down the line. Simultaneously, she or he will take your credit card number and charge your Deposit of $500 (sometimes more on more expensive RESALES &ndash You will know in advance what it will be) and alert the Seller. As soon as she receives your signed Purchase Agreement, she presents the offer and if accepted instructs our Escrow Coordination Department to open your escrow at a major national Title Escrow Company. They credit your escrow account for $500. The balance is due back to the independent Escrow Company along with your signed Escrow Instructions. When your escrow closes, the Escrow Company then sends the monies due to the Sellers to them and the Grant Deed to you and you are now the proud new Owner of a wonderful future full of fabulous vacations.

Sellers FAQS:

Q: Do you charge an upfront (“Listing”, “Appraisal” or “Marketing”) Fee to list my timeshare?

A: NO! NEVER, EVER PAY AN UPFRONT FEE! We have Sellers who, after paying even $800 – $1,500 in upfront fees that never resulted in a sale of their timeshares, come to us and we sell their timeshares for them and NEVER charge them an upfront fee.

Q: Why should I list my timeshare with you?

A: 1. Because we spend thousands of dollars monthly to market YOUR listing.

2. Because our sales agents are more than salespeople. They are experts in the specialized field of timeshare resale. They know YOUR listing is in our inventory and present it to buyers who are interested in California resorts. Even if a buyer wants a resort in another state, we show them why YOUR resort may be better for them. Our licensed agents know all the strategies for getting the most from timeshare travel and act as Timeshare Travel Consultants to help your buyer understand all the reasons why they should buy YOUR timeshare.

3. Because we’ve been doing this successfully for years and have matched thousands of sellers with buyers.

4. Because we use a professional escrow company that handles all the money and delivers a Title Policy on all deeded transactions so the it can never come back to bite you.

Q: How much can I get for my timeshare?

A: How quickly do you want to sell it?

We do not set the prices; Sellers set the prices. There are many reasons for selling a timeshare: death of a spouse, divorce, illness, and financial setbacks. Some Sellers just want to give it away and place a very low price on it – they are your competition. We research the prices in the resale market to help you determine a fair price.

The timeshare resale market is very much like the automobile market. You will pay a dealer a large sum for a new car. The second you drive it off the lot, it’s worth much less on the resale market.

Prices are also influenced by the quality of your resort location, size, season of use, and its trading power in addition to comparable sales of similar units. Resale timeshares normally sell for 50%-70% off the price paid when purchased new. You paid a fair price to the developer who bought expensive land and paid the construction costs to develop a beautiful resort. Also their marketing costs to sell it are extremely high (on the order of 50% of your price). But like a car, there are a lot of Sellers who drive the prices down by selling at low prices. It is to our advantage to get the most we can for your timeshare and we make every effort to get top dollar for you. But if we ignore the realities of the marketplace we simply won’t be able to sell it for you. What good does that do you?

Q: How much is your commission?

A: Here is some background on how timeshare resale commissions work:

In the residential real estate market, commissions are usually 6%. They are so low, because the price of a house is so substantial. Six percent of a $400,000 house (the median price in California now) is $24,000 in commission. A timeshare sale involves almost as much work as selling a house, sometimes more! Yet, in timeshare resales, the commission dollars are so low that most real estate agents won’t even consider selling a timeshare. Note that the 3% Selling Broker’s commission is still $12,000.00 (more than the selling price of most resale timeshares).

Because of this disparity in commission dollar amounts, the normal commission throughout the timeshare resale industry is 30% so that the resale company can get enough to advertise it, sell it and oversee the transaction for both the Buyer and the Seller and still stay in business. Occasionally a company will state a 20% commission but with a $1,500 minimum. That is still a 30% commission on a $5,000 resale.

In exchange for this, what we do for you is maintain numerous sales locations, advertise in newspapers, magazines, resorts, yellow pages and on our website. In addition, we have highly trained, experienced sales agents answering our 800 toll-free telephone lines to sell your timeshare to interested buyers who call us. When your unit sells, we prepare all the paperwork and open an escrow for the transaction. We then follow through on the details of the Escrow activity to make certain it closes in a timely fashion.

Q: How long does the listing last?

A: Because we spend so much money to advertise our listings, we take the usual industry-wide listing period of one year. Some timeshares sell very quickly. Others can take 6 months to a year to sell depending how many are on the market.

Q: Can I sell my timeshare if it is not paid for (there is a loan balance)?

A: We cannot sell a timeshare if more money is owed on it than what you would receive for it after closing costs and commissions are paid without you coming up with the cash difference (usually a bad idea). How much did you pay for it? How much do you owe?

One thing you can do, if your timeshare is not paid for, is pay down the loan so that what you owe on it is what you would receive for it when it sells. If you cannot do that, you can pay off the balance on a no/low interest credit card. Or, if you qualify, we can help you get a home equity line of credit to pay it off – you can save a lot on the interest and deduct from your taxes whatever interest you pay on it. Or, you can send cash for the amount needed to pay off your loan at close of escrow.

Q: Who handles my money?

A: When we sell your timeshare, everything is handled for you by a professional escrow company, just like the ones used for buying and selling homes. We use well-known national title companies that have a fiduciary duty not only to you, but to your Buyer, as well. They efficiently prepare the legal documents for you and your Buyer to sign. They receive the money from the Buyer. They distribute any dues owed to the resort. They pay us our commission and they subtract any other closing costs. They then send you the balance – that is what they are legally required to do at the same time they send us our commission. We never handle your money.

Q: Yes, I want to list my timeshare for sale. What’s the next step?

A: IT’S EASY!! Call us and we walk you through it, step by step. One of our professional, licensed timeshare RESALE consultants will ask you some questions regarding the resort you own and help you determine a price. Then we will send you a Listing Agreement that shows, usually to the penny, what you can expect to receive. You sign it and send it back to us with a copy of your deed and loan payoff documents (if it is paid for). We do the rest. As soon as we receive your signed listing agreement, all of our sales agents are made aware of your property so they can begin offering it to buyers who call us daily.

The design industry in general is very sensitive to outside influences all the time, usually termed as “modern”, “innovative” or “trend-setting” etc. However, thankfully these influences affect the design areas outside the purview of web design, where the designers and artists tend to change their style, direction and outlook. In the web design world, we look towards objects, resources and content resulting in profitability as motivating factors for changes in design.

The path breaking truth about websites is that there are no rules for web design, there are only guidelines. Following them or not is up to the web designer, but following certain guidelines to design a money making site would certainly help in the long term.

The main objective of a business website is representation of the company and describing the products and services offered by it on the internet. The website must make sure that enough information in this regard is available. Transparency is another factor while designing a business website. This can be achieved through the “About Us” page which should provide enough information about the management, the objectives, the history and the philosophy of the company represented. Photographs on this page enhance credibility, since they present a crystal clear transparent picture to the visitor which says “we have nothing to hide”.

Some designers tend to provide contact information in the “About Us” page, although it is not incorrect, a better and organized method would be the usage of “Contact Us” page. Please make sure the contact us page is simple and short. Many websites have long forms to fill with departmental details and other formalities. Keeping this short would help in two ways &ndash it will not be an irritant to the visitor, the other, the company can avoid getting spurious and incomplete information.

The categories explaining the products and services offered by the company should be complete including pictures of the products if any. Use pictures sparingly lest they distract the user from reading the content. Always keep the content regarding products and services up-to-date thru “news” or the “latest” pages. The news page can be supported by writing relevant press releases rich in keyword content and distributing them to the important press release sites. This will help bring in more traffic to your site at the same time building credibility.

Use the “testimonials” page to put up comments from old customers. This would not only help in pushing your products and services but also in making the customers re visit and make further purchases. This page should convey user concern and should not be a sales pitch.

These are but a few tips to designing a professional business website.

An important tool in organizing and presenting the plethora of websites available on the internet is the use of Directories &ndash an alternative to Search Engines that links and categorizes sites on the web. The main advantage to Directories as opposed to Search Engines is that directories are edited by humans, whereas search engines simply return automated results based on keywords which may not always be the most effective way to quickly find a website that is apropos to the topic being searched for. Websites are submitted to directories by the webmaster, where they are reviewed by neutral editors, evaluated, sorted into categories, and ranked within category according to relevance. They are then listed in a directory form that is simple to read and navigate for the average browser. For a website to create and maintain high web visibility &ndash and therefore attract a high number of visitors &ndash it is essential to be listed in a number of quality Directories.

The best known directories are Yahoo, Dmoz and Google, but it is worth being aware of the quality of the directory before submitting a site. The average browser will not explore beyond the second or, at most, third page of directory results for their searched for topic, but if the Directory is not of quality some websites listed in those all-important first few pages may not deserve to be there. The usefulness of Directories to return appropriate search results to be valuable to a site is under debate.

If links are being sold across the entire site, that may be indication of a lower quality Directory. Google is one of the worst culprits for targeting sites that sell links, and sites that appear to promote the Google page rank of their pages. This may not be indicative of how relevant a site is to the topic searched for &ndash it is all too easy for crafty webmasters to manipulate keyword SEO to gain a higher Google page rank than their site deserves. This is time-wasting and frustrating for browsers, and may result in them losing patience with the Directory all together. Another common problem with Directories to be avoided is that pages within the site may be linked only internally and not to other, relevant, quality, external pages. Search Engines will not find such pages if they are low on keyword content and they will be skipped over entirely.

Dmoz, the Open Directory Project (ODP,) editors are volunteers &ndash they are naturally third-party neutral and will review and consider each submitted website on its own merits. Each editor applicant is screened for any conflict of interest, so any search results returned by Dmoz Directories can generally be trusted. The main downside to submitting a website to Dmoz is that the submission process can be interminable &ndash although ultimately worth it in terms of relevant traffic directed to any website included in their directory. The Yahoo! Directory rivals Dmoz for size and comprehensiveness, and was in fact Yahoo’s initial reason for existence. It has since evolved away from the fundamental classic human edited format of Directories, by instituting crawler-based listings in 2002, but remains a quality Directory that can be trusted. The Yahoo! Directory is very clearly displayed on its homepage. LookSmart, and Zeal &ndash LookSmart’s non commercial arm &ndash are other famous examples of quality directories.

For a website to be listed in a trustworthy Directory such as Dmoz or Yahoo! can be one of the most important quality-assurance seals of approval and can be the essential difference between focused and relevant traffic to the site and random hits by frustrated browsers.

The invention of the printing press didn’t start the advertising game. It just made it quicker and easier to find

and inform business clients. And technology rolled on. Moving steadily from telegraph, telephone, fax machine, direct mail

marketing, right up to today’s internet. And all along the way entrepreneurs’ took advantage of the changes to engage in

their business endeavors. And nothing has changed. Taking the ever popular blogging phenomenon and changing it from

a home spun communications medium to a business promotion wonderland. Enter the blog the poor man’s website.

Blogs started out being a place where the common person had somewhere to express themselves. A place to open up their

diary’s and let the whole world know their hereto before private thoughts or an opportunity to express their political views.

Truly this was a quagmire of unprofitable information though interesting as heck. The blog wasn’t made popular because of financial gain

initially. Regardless of why blogs became so popular they did achieve a phenomenal growth. And with that explosion of

popularity the greedy blew in with it. A Blog as a retail marketing medium was a certain destiny.

One of the advantages of blogs for business is that it’s easy to get access and use of one for free. Free in a

sense. Usually the free ones require one to advertise the company providing the free blog. Because blogs

are user friendly, and designed to be easy to customize, it’s a real cost effective tool for the internet marketer. Even if you

choose to pay for your own the cost is usually a under $10 a month. Most important is the fact that hundreds of thousands

of blogs are in use. Statistics show there are currently close to 14 million blogs posted on the internet with an estimated

80,000 additional blogs signing up daily. Couple those facts with the reality that there are over 50 million internet users and

that 30% of them are reading a blog. It becomes a no brainer why for the online marketer it’s a mind boggling, ready made,

opportunity to be exploited for profit.

One of the common formats that are used on blogs is the mini forum. This has great advantages for the serious

online marketer. It provides real input as to how the public thinks and feels about the product or services being

promoted. It always helps to know exactly what you need to change to keep things moving upward. A popular technique

used with blogs is to treat them as a stepping stone to another website. For example let’s say you might have a website selling

sports tennis shoes. So now you create a blog called, ” Freddie the Sneaker Tweaker”. A site where folks come to get Freddie’s

latest complaint or praise about different sneaker brands being sold on the internet. However most conveniently there happens to be a URL for the sports tennis shoe website clearly

seen on the blogs review page which , “bingo”, directs more traffic it. Doing this of course feeds more traffic to the real money maker.

If you’re new to the internet don’t expect like so many unfortunately do that your simply having a website will guarantee that here comes

the money. Even blogs being used for business reasons require good SEO practices. It would be advantageous for the newbie

to join a SEO blogging community along with having their blog indexed by the larger search engines. They also should take a serious peek at their

competition. The best business blogs are those owned by people who only started out sharing something they had passion over

and that passion caught on to all those others with a common interest. This is a win-win situation. Good blogs are those

which truly provide the public with meaningful information.

For those folks that were the charter members of blogging what’s happened to the blog is discouraging. Yet change is

a natural part of life. And sense behind all those two dimensional blogs is a human director it was only a matter of time

before the business blog appeared and with its success it grew and grew. Yet, there is a bright side. Because of the

blogging explosion thousands of good people overnight found themselves suddenly wanted and financially bettered. May the blog live long

and prosper.

Your website is an important part of your business. Not only for your online but also for many offline business. Your online presence means that you can tap into the huge and growing market of the Internet. Many people think that having your own website and setting it up is complicated and expensive but it is not necessarily so. Here are some tips to have you up and running with ease.

1. Planning your website

1. Analyzing your desired visitors

2. How to attract them and warm them to the sale

3. Writing good content

4. Your sales letter

5. Your domain name

6. Optimizing content

Before you build a website you will need to put some thought and planning into it. Your first step will be to decide who are your most wanted visitors. Analyze them carefully, who are they? What interests them? Where do they go? Make a thumbnail sketch and write it down for reference.

Then list all the ways you will attract them and make them stay at your site. What info content are they looking for? What sort of newsletter will interest them? Most important of all find out their needs and wants, so that you can build your product/service to fulfill these needs. List all these and keep record of them.

Make a list of all the info articles that will interest them and warm potential buyers for the sale. Put a couple on your website and keep the rest for future newsletter material.

Your sales letter: This is the heart of your business and should be done right. If you are an experienced copywriter then go ahead and write a warm persuasive personal sales letter. If you do not have experience then it is worth hiring a professional to write one for you. You can hire professional writers at Elance.com for a reasonable price. You should place your sales letter on your home page and have your info articles link into it.

Your domain name: Should have at least 1-2 keywords or even be made up of your key phrase for your business. This will help with Search engine placement and will help to brand your business in your visitors minds.

Ideally your content should be optimized so that you can be placed well with the search engines.

2. Choosing an HTML editor.

1. Which one is right for you?

2. How to get a free one with hosting

3. Do it yourself VS having a website designed

There are 2 major HTML editors that are used commonly, Front Page and Dreamweaver. They can run you about $300-$400 but if you want to work on your site yourself will be worth it. Front page is a basic HTML editor but if your site requires PHP scripting is a little hard to work with. Dreamweaver does allow PHP scripts and is also easy to use. Do a comparison check and see which one will work for you.

If you have Yahoo hosting they provide a free HTML editor, which is quite easy to use.

If you have the funds you may want to have your site designed, especially if you have a service, where credibility is very important. Making your own website can be quite time consuming and although rewarding is not for everyone.

3. Designing your website

1. Your content-Preselling points

2. Free give a ways

3. Layout/Presentation

4. Use of graphics

5. Forms instead of email

6. Basic web promotion

7. Newsletter

When you write your web content you can use a couple of your best articles about your subject. Visitors will enjoy this and see you as an expert in your field. This boosts your credibility, wins trust and warms your potential buyer for the sale.Product reviews are also good selling points. Landing pages for direct advertising is always good; these can and should be optimized for search engine traffic.

Free info can be offered in the form of reports and e-courses. These can be given as a bonus for subscribing to your newsletter.

Your layout is important. Navigation should be simple and easy for your visitors, usually on the left hand side. Keep your layout professional and businesslike with normal font (Times Roman, Ariel or Veranda in normal size font). Black on white background is good for a business site. Try to use just 2 colors at the most to keep it looking businesslike. A simple template looks good for a business website. Try to find one that matches your topic.

Use graphics sparingly. Business websites should always look sober and professional. Small graphics are good to emphasize a point and book covers help to sell e-books and software.

Use forms instead of email addresses on your website for the contact us and about us section. This will cut down Spammers harvesting your email address.

Basic web promotion includes search engine submission, Pay-per-clicks, Google ad campaigns, and linking to related sites. Article distribution is also a powerful way to get targeted traffic to your site.

A free newsletter is a must for capturing visitors email addresses and building your business list.

Building your website can be a fun and rewarding task. However it does take time and good planning. With these few points you will be able to build a profit pulling website, that will continue to make you money for years to come.

Yesterday I was sitting on a train going into London when I thought I’d take a look around the carriage just to see what everyone was doing. I wanted to make a mental note because my five year old son always asks me ‘what happened at your work today Daddy?’ So I put my newspaper down and took a look around me.

The chap beside me was reading a book about selling, the woman on the other side of the aisle was using her computer and the two men opposite me were discussing a presentation they had seen. Then it struck me – everyone around me was an ‘information consumer’. Everything they were doing involved the consumption of information that somebody else had provided.

Now that shouldn’t have surprised me too much. After all, that’s what I do – I sell information to people. But it was the train journey that reminded me how much information people are buying. They are getting it from books, online, in meetings, via reports – all sorts of ways. We live in an information society nowadays.

That means there is an opportunity for you. Whatever business you are in, you deal with information – and people will pay you for what you know and what you have experienced.

Just six months ago my main business was speaking at seminars, conferences and running workshops. Now I’ve changed the way I earn my money by selling the information I used to give at talks and meetings directly to people who would otherwise be in my audience. And I am doing that online. People can download my talks, or they can buy ‘ebooks’ I have written about the subjects I specialise in (business psychology, if you must know). And it’s working.

In the past year, the Internet has gone from being just a source of referrals to my business, to being the prime source of my business. Last year about 2% of my income came from the Internet; now it’s 95%. And the switch has been because I deliver information online.

Many businesses, however, do not take advantage of the huge consumer thirst for information. Instead, they just provide brochures and catalogues online. But what Internet users want is the information and the knowledge that exists within businesses.

So, to enhance your business and to ensure that your company succeeds online, make sure you provide information and knowledge-based products, such as ebooks and audio files. That way you’ll be tapping into the consumer demand for information. You will be able to make money out of selling the information you normally keep only for your customers. With the Internet you can now sell that information to anyone.