TS Today - Creating a Vision for the Future of Vacation Ownership Issue #142, Jul/Aug 2015 | Page 6

TimeSharing Today

Page 6

Jul/Aug, 2015

Letters to the Editor
FYI on Appraisals
A reader asked (in Issue #141 May/
Jun, 2015, pp 6-7) how to get an appraisal
for her timeshare. The reply sort of left her
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One doesn’t need an actual appraisal,
as that’s really geared more towards homes,
but the word is normally used in regard to
timeshares as well.
What one needs is an estimate of value
by someone who is deemed by the courts
to be able to do this. It’s called a Broker’s
Price Opinion (BPO).
We do these all the time for attorneys
and for individuals like your reader. It’s a
one-page document that gives our credentials and then an estimate of value for the
particular timeshare. We charge $75 to do
these. It’s a document they can take right
into court with them.
Tom Tubbs, Broker, R.N.G.
Island Consulting Realty
Sarasota, FL 34241
www.TimeSharesToGo.com
Senior Licensed Real Estate Specialist
Co-Founder: Licensed Timeshare
Resale Brokers Association

ADA Pros and Cons
I understand the point and purpose of
making the world accessible for everyone,
but I also understand that it’s a little different in the timeshare world—especially with
legacy resorts.
A resort with tiny units and Murphy
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huge rooms and regular beds. When units
are deeded, it’s even more of a problem, because then you have owners who are upset
because their units are different.
Or you have owners who are upset because their units aren’t different.
Or you have disabled guests who want
an accessible unit but all of them belong to
owners that week and you can’t accommodate them.
Or what about resorts that are built on
hills and can only be accessed by stairs?
Or older resorts that have no elevator?
There are so many different scenarios
that make these accommodations very dif¿FXOW,QDKRWHOWKDW¶VPDNLQJPRQH\IURP
the people who come to visit, I think it’s a
little different, but asking all the owners of
the resort to pay to make accessibility accommodations for a few disabled persons
who MIGHT visit and MIGHT need them
is, in my opinion, overkill. It’s an undue
burden on the owners.
A group of people out there who call
themselves “testers” go around to different
businesses (including timeshares) and—
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suit against it for not being compliant ݥѠ)ѡ