Resorts Royalty phoned me in mid- November with an offer to sell my high-priced residence club property at a 5-star Mexican resort within 4 months. They claimed to be much different from a timeshare resales company because, as a "licensed mortgage brokerage firm, " they make their main profit from interest on buyer mortgages rather than from fees to sellers. They even claimed to be making in-person presentations of available properties at my well-known resort that very evening. They offered to reduce their usual $995 fee to cover "buyer incentives" to $695, if I would promise to recommend them to other potential clients after the sale of my property.
After asking many questions about the company's "in-person" sales presentations and business practices, I paid the smaller fee in hope that there was some business integrity here.By the end of February, the company's "support" phone numbers were no longer in service and my "personal agent" no longer returned my messages to her cell phone—a sure sign that this venture was just another criminal ripoff.
Beware that timeshare resales firms, to dodge widespread reputation as scammers, are now disguising themselves as financial institutions, legal firms, and other seemingly more legitimate businesses.
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