The definition of a timeshare was at the heart of a legal dispute between Pacaso and the town of St. Helena. [Shutterstock]
No takers, market flooded with similar poor investments, difficult to even determine a price. So I just quit—claimed it to my ex. I don’t know what she managed to do with it,” Flower said. Flower’s experiences are not atypical, according to the FTC: “The truth is, the timeshare market is overcrowded, and it might be hard, if not impossible, to sell a timeshare.” The FTC page devoted to the subject is titled, “Timeshares, vacation clubs and related scams.” Forever timeshares An Internet search reveals an entire cottage industry of companies and attorneys promising to “get you out of your timeshare” and charging thousands for the service. But to add insult to injury, the very companies that purport to help beleaguered timeshare owners can be shifty themselves, according to the FTC. “You’ll see or hear lots of ads from companies claiming to be experts at selling timeshares—they’re online, on the radio and on social media. But sometimes these companies exaggerate or flat-out lie about what they offer you. They take your money and then do little to nothing to help you,” according to the FTC website. Tim Elsmore of Novato had a different experience with his timeshare, which he purchased from Marriott in 2006. Elsmore actually has two timeshares in two locations, Hawaii and South Lake Tahoe. “We use the Hawaii one almost every year,” Elsmore says. When his children were younger, he and his wife would visit Hawaii for a week every year in June because it jibed with the kids’ schedules. There were two or three other families with children the same age who vacationed
there at the same time, and the children got to be friends over the years, Elsmore says. Hawaii has no off-season, but the seasons aren’t as important to him, Elsmore says, because “they have a really helpful system that allows you to put the week into a points bag” that can be traded for vacations at different times and places. “I would avoid the no-name timeshare companies. Those are the ones that people seem to have trouble with,” Elsmore says.
Pacaso meets the
neighborhood While the FTC is focused on the dangers to owners of conventional timeshares, the controversies over Pacaso focus on the impacts to neighbors of the single- family dwellings managed by Pacaso.
One of Pacaso’s
first North Bay residences was located on Old Winery Court near
Old Winery Court became the center of a Wine Country neighborhood dispute with Pacaso.
April 2024
NorthBaybiz 31
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