Buying WM on Ebay?

I'm a newbie, but I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on the WM system, at least from the 30,000 foot level. Thanks to this website!!

I'm interested in buying 5,000-7,000 points annually so that I can get a 2br in peak season most anywhere EOY…or in other years use the points for shorter trips, trades with II and RCI...etc.

I just want to make sure I understand that when buying a resale on eBay, I really don't need to pay attention to Home Resort or MF's because they are truly irrelevant. There are no true Home Resorts and MF's are all the same and based on a sliding scale relevant to the amount of points you own.

The only variables appear to be the credibility of the seller and the closing costs that are charged. Any transfer fees are standard with WM. After that, I'm just looking at the annual points that come with the purchase, what date they are issued annually and that everything is paid up to date. Simply, I would just try to find the most points for the lowest investment. I’m assuming that all properties that are listed as part of WM on eBay are created equal and can enjoy all of the same benefits.

Please correct me if my assumptions are not accurate and also...could someone PLEASE explain what it means when you see extra points as part of the sale and typically how long a person would have to use them?

Lastly, can anyone suggested a general Points to Purchase Price ratio that is considered a good deal….or is that had to quantify?

THANKS!!!!

Scott

Good luck! Getting 2 BR, peak season with only 7000 credits is difficult. IMHO you need at least 10,000.

I have booked 2 Bedrooms in the summer for the last three years on a with a 6000 point membership.

• 13 Months in advance
• Renting the additional 4,000 on an owner to owner basis

The cost of renting owner to owner 4000 @.06 = $ 240

The difference between a 10,000 point and 6-7,000 point membership annual maintenance fee contract (678.40-570.54) $ 107.86



Additional cost to rent to the 10,000 level $240.00 - $107.86 = $132.14
Break even point of the incremental 4,000 points to reach the 10,000 needed to book a 2 bedroomIn 2004-2005 WM Accounts were trading in the high 70's low 80's
Today you will see then ranging in the 40's, (much more difficult to pin an average since as the price drops, what used to be included is now tacked on to the sale price as fees to bring the net revenue to the seller up, while maintiaining a low ebay price. > $ 600 in add on fees on average including the only real cost which is the $ 150 WM fee).

You should assume in any timeshare purchase that the initial purchase price needs to be spread over 10 years (some say five) , if the purchase price/10 + plus annual maintenance costs (assume 5 % increase per year) isn't less than the cost of renting similar accommodations then the purchase price is too high. In my example you would add the incremental rent expense of the points to the annual maintenance fees

Two other factors

The newer resorts will cost WAY more than 10,000 points for a two bedroom, but they generated a ton of new owners expecting to be able to get a 3 bedroom Penthouse for 6,000 points creating additional demand on the legacy resorts with the standard point values

In the time I have owned WM my primary vacation needs have changed froma three bedroom being desireable (booked one in 2008 on a 6 K account with 6000 rented) to now being able to look at one bedrooms, the Murphy bed is a much better solution than a fold out couch.

Cathyb said:

Good luck! Getting 2 BR, peak season with only 7000 credits is difficult. IMHO you need at least 10,000.

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Thanks for the input!

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I stated that I would like to have the ability to get a Peak Season 2BR EOY, meaning that in those years I would pull points forward from the following year.

longboarder39 said:

I just want to make sure I understand that when buying a resale on eBay, I really don't need to pay attention to Home Resort or MF's because they are truly irrelevant. There are no true Home Resorts and MF's are all the same and based on a sliding scale relevant to the amount of points you own.

Click to expand...

Correct, there are no home resorts, and MFs are all the same.
Worldmark Maintenance Fee Schedule

longboarder39 said:

Please correct me if my assumptions are not accurate and also...could someone PLEASE explain what it means when you see extra points as part of the sale and typically how long a person would have to use them?

Click to expand...

Extra points have a general market price of 6 cents per point. Their life depends on their expiration date - each credit has an expiration date defined by month and year. They expire 25 months after they are issued. It's a book-by date, not a travel-by date, and you can book up to 13 months in advance. That means their life is actually 25 + 13 months. There is also a trick to keep expired credits alive for a limited time.


You can learn all about how to best use a Worldmark ownership at the following places:

http://www.worldmarktheclub.com/education/pdfs/basic_owner_ed_handbook.pdf
(especially study Exhibit 4, Club Guidelines)
www.wmowners.com


Welcome to Worldmark, Scott!

Rent_Share said:

The newer resorts will cost WAY more than 10,000 points for a two bedroom, but they generated a ton of new owners expecting to be able to get a 3 bedroom Penthouse for 6,000 points creating additional demand on the legacy resorts with the standard point values

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Until someone can show some data to support that claim I will put it in the WorldMark Myth category. At the Owners Meeting a couple of weeks ago Anaheim was reported to be operating at 95.1% occupancy. That's pretty high demand for one of those new resorts that costs "WAY more than 10,000 points for a two bedroom".

You can can get the high demand legacy resorts if you plan ahead. For example, I tracked the availability of Depoe Bay for next summer. The results showed that a week at Depoe Bay could have been booked on the first day of the 13 month booking window without using throw away days for 25 different arrival dates next summer. There were only 9 check in dates for next summer that would have required using more than one throw away day.

Fred: Did those nine unavailable check-in days at Depoe Bay have anything in common with each other; i.e., weekend dates; certain summer month, etc.?

Interesting survey you took -- is there anything published on your website about this Depoe Bay analyses? Have you done research on other WM properties?

Rentshare: May I ask what three WM timeshares you were able to get summer two bedrooms three years in a row with minimal credits?

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Cathyb said:

Rentshare: May I ask what three WM timeshares you were able to get summer two bedrooms three years in a row with minimal credits?

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IMHO they are desireable locations

2008 Southshore 3 BD, 12,000
2009 Southshore 2 BD 10,000 (4th of July Week)
2010 Southshore 2 BD 10,000 (4th of July Week)
2010 2 Nights Windsor 2 BD, 3 Nights SFO 1 BD, 2 Nights Marina Dunes 2bd August 10,500 + 2 extra HK Tokens and TOT (1)

Technically that's four weeks in three years July and August - It's all bout the 13 month calendar, did have to resort to a grouped reservation for Marina Dunes, but IMHO it's a desireable grouping and does not involve any throw away days

I will copy and paste the reservation detail once the WM site is back up

My point was between borrowed points and owner to ower rented points you can book alot of vacation time once you buy the minimum amount to be able to get in the game

2010 Summer reservations 20,500 points (2 full weeks) with a 6,000 point membership

Anaheim should be a non-issue for me, since it's 15.8 miles from my front door

Thanks for the all of the great input!!!

I look forward to purchasing my first WM TS very soon!! :whoopie:

Scott

Cathyb said:

Fred: Did those nine unavailable check-in days at Depoe Bay have anything in common with each other; i.e., weekend dates; certain summer month, etc.?

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I didn't looked at it in that detail. If time permits it might be interesting to go back and do that.

Cathyb said:

Interesting survey you took -- is there anything published on your website about this Depoe Bay analyses? Have you done research on other WM properties?

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I did a similar study last year for the Seaside Penthouses over the July 4th weekend. I check other resorts from time but nothing as detailed as I did for the Depoe Bay study. The description of the Depoe Bay study is at the link I provided in my earlier post, as are results of most of the others. There is some similar info in the Owner Ed section of my main site.

7000 credit 2 bedroom

Cathyb said:

Good luck! Getting 2 BR, peak season with only 7000 credits is difficult. IMHO you need at least 10,000.

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He said every other year so that would give him 14000 credits to play with. I don't see a problem getting a 2-bedroom red season EOY with 7000 credits