Jaialai,

I guess we can all look at the same thing and see it from different viewpoints.

In this particular situation, the timeshare property has long since been paid for in full and the actual timeshare entity -owner/developer/manager - continues to collect annual fees. Beyond this, many timeshares offered to act as reasonable agents should the need for a resale arise down the road, though in fairness, I don't know if this property made that assurance as part of their timeshare sales spiel or not.

As far as the owners having to sell the timeshares themselves, had so many of the St. Maarten properties in particular not made such a mess of the handling and treatment of their owners - ie Pelican and Caravanserai immediately come to mind - and the crazy AMFs so many have managed to inflate, it might not be so difficult to sell a unit as a resale and more would be able to do so. It's done but as often as not, people end up giving them away because most who have heard of timeshare in general, and in relation to ownership on St. Maarten in particular, few will buy there today unless the purchase is of particular value to them - like a back to back week to something they already have, or the price is so low, it feels like it's a gift.

IMHO, that's a lot different from people walking away from homes and mortgages they purchased and are unable to pay for and in the end, thanks to Freddie and Fannie - we end up paying for them. But again, that's just my opinion. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />