Vale Pros see 800% spike in business

Palm Coast Observer
Business

Husband and wife Marvin and Devin Kolb started Vale Professionals in 2009. Since, it has recorded massive growth, expanded its space and tallied 30 employees.

Ask Marvin Kolb what he and his wife do for a living and he’ll tell you they’re divorce lawyers, except they work in timeshares.

“We help people dispose of their unwanted timeshares,” Kolb says. “The problem’s not owning them; it’s un-owning them.”

Deriving its name from the Latin term vale eternum, or “farewell forever,” Vale Professionals started in October 2009, in Bunnell, with 11 employees. Then, because of merchant account issues, it had to downsize in the spring of 2010.

Employment dropped to five. Almost all work was done from home. Times got tough.

“We could have just as easily thrown in the towel,” Kolb says. “But with every fiber of my being I knew: We’re doing the right thing. We’re helping people.”

He tells a story of an 84-year-old timeshare owner who broke her hip and had to use a wheelchair. She could no longer travel.

Over time, maintenance fees on her property rose — to $15,000 a year. Total, she was spending about 60% of her income, two pensions and Social Security, on the property.

When she stopped paying, her timeshare resort sued. That’s when Kolb and his wife stepped in. They claimed ownership of the property and flipped it to a third party “acceptance corporation,” or “disposal company,” which put it back into real estate circulation.

They also got the woman’s case thrown out and were able to reclaim $11,000 she paid to a listing company that promised to resell her timeshare but never did.

“That was one of our best feel-good moments,” he says.

But the woman’s story’s not uncommon.

Kolb says that, according to the Federal Trade Commission, only 3.3% of timeshare owners have been able to successfully resell their properties in the last 20 years. In most states, contracts won’t be dissolved even if an owner declares bankruptcy or dies.

After some startup hardship in 2010, Vale Professionals moved into a unit on Palm Coast Parkway in June of that year. Soon, they expanded, and soon after that, bought an entire building around the corner, in Sunrise Plaza — 3,000 square feet of office space, housing 29 staff members.

And growth hasn’t slowed.

In the last 30 days, seven new people have been hired.

The company’s revenue from January to May of this year, compared to that of the same term last year, grew about 800%.

“It’s a crazy business concept,” Kolb said. “If we just do what we said we were going to do, we’re like superheroes.”

Finding its clients through public directories, Vale sends agents across the country for consultations. According to Kolb, 40% to 70% of the people they meet agree to their services.

“As the financial piece started to come into place, it’s become a lot less important,” Kolb said. “We’re striving to be the leaders in our industry … We’re not looking at second place. We’re looking at first. No two ways about it.”