# Looking at buying Worldmark



## wilsonfamily4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Ok
I am very very new to looking at Worldmark.  We were all set to buy DVC, and am still thinking we will, but I keep thinking this may be better for us.  We live in Oregon and have stayed at both Depoe Bay and Whistler Worldmarks and LOVED them.  We usually go to the beach every summer and have more vacations in this part of the US planned over the next few years.  

My questions are 
1. Why have I seen people say buy 6000 credits and the rent as neeed?
2. Can I stay somehere for say 4 or 5 days and not a full week?  
3. how do the credits really work?

I just need as much starting advice as possible.    thank you so much in advance


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## RichM (Jan 2, 2008)

1) The theory is that since credits can be rented for anywhere from 6-8 cents each from other owners, that it makes more sense, financially, to rent extra credits than to buy them outright.  Maintenance fees are just a bit over 4 cents per credit, annually, depending on the size of your account so the remaining 2-4 cents each is your out-of-pocket versus buying them outright.  You'll find, if you run the numbers, that, depending on usage, it could take 20-30 years to "break even" on an outright purchase of 20,000 used per year versus owning 6,000 and renting additional credits.   Obviously it's hard to guess what rental prices might be years from now, but you can probably count on maintenance fees going up the max of 5% each year as has occurred over the last 2-3 years.  

The downside of this plan is finding rentable credits.  There are listings on the "official" forum, although the format is difficult to use and prices cannot be posted so you have to PM everyone that offers credits.  There are also listings on wmowners.com in the "Timeshares for Rent" section.   Some listings are on ebay although ebay has been changing policies regarding the ability to post points for rent by the average ebay user so most are from resalers or brokers that might charge more.  Some resellers also rent out credits.  Negotiating the prices and payment method and timing and then filing the paperwork with Owner Services is not difficult, but it's not as easy as just having the credits already in your account each year.

2) You may book less than 7 continuous days if any of the following are true: 
 a) Your stay takes place in off season (non-red season)
 b) Your stay takes place in red season but there are less than 7 contiguous days available at the resort in your desired unit type at the time of booking.  Contiguous days are counted in both directions from your desired check-in date. For example, if you want to book Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday is not available but the preceding Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday and Saturday are, you must still book 7 days.
 c) Your stay takes place in red season but you are booking 90 days or less from the date of check-in.  Even if there are contiguous days available, you can book partial weeks within 90 days.

Two additional cases fall under c) above since they can only be done within fewer than 90 days anyway: 
 d) You are booking an inventory special
 e) You are booking bonus time

A slight exception is a grouped reservation.  This is where you book a few days at one resort followed by additional days at another.  If the booking is within red season with a check-in date more than 90 days out, you must still book a minimum of 7 contiguous days, but you can break it up between multiple resorts and even different size units.  Some people use "throwaway" days where they book a cheap, off-season studio followed (or preceded) by days at their desired destination.   You could also use both parts of the reservation or let a family member/friend use the other portion.

..hope I didn't forget a case.. someone will probably correct me if I did..

3) You purchase X annual credits.  You get X credits each year in your anniversary month with which you can book vacations.  Credits expire after 24 months unless attached to a reservation.  You can borrow against next year's credits for booking purposes.  You can rent unlimited one-time-use credits from other owners for non-commercial use.  More info is available in the Owner Education handbook at http://www.worldmarktheclub.com/education/


___________________
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      - www.wmowners.com


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## rocketraj (Feb 13, 2008)

What is the optimal price per point when you initially purchase? i.e. is 13k points for $4500 a good deal? but only 8,000 credits are renewed every year for 525 mf.
the mf seems high... .065

also, is there a chart i can refer to that shows the break down between number of credits needed for what size unit per season?

the tug advice on wydham article seems outdated. it indicates 12k for 3 bed room in red season???

thanks,
raju.


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## Bill4728 (Feb 13, 2008)

rocketraj said:


> What is the optimal price per point when you initially purchase? i.e. is 13k points for $4500 a good deal? but only 8,000 credits are renewed every year for 525 mf.
> the mf seems high... .065
> 
> also, is there a chart i can refer to that shows the break down between number of credits needed for what size unit per season?
> ...



8K pts for $4500 (plus another 5k banked points) is a great deal.

The chart in the TUG advice article is still true but new WM resorts will cost you more points than the older resorts in the TUG advice article.

Remember Wyndham isn't Worldmark and the resorts in wyndham cost both 20 times more wyndham points than similar resorts in the WM system. ( but they also cost 1/5 the price)


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## rocketraj (Feb 13, 2008)

Bill4728 said:


> 8K pts for $4500 (plus another 5k banked points) is a great deal.
> 
> The chart in the TUG advice article is still true but new WM resorts will cost you more points than the older resorts in the TUG advice article.
> 
> Remember Wyndham isn't Worldmark and the resorts in wyndham cost both 20 times more wyndham points than similar resorts in the WM system. ( but they also cost 1/5 the price)


Bill,
newbee question:
can you explain wyndham cost both 20 times more wyndha points than similar resorts in the WM system? (but they also cost 1/5 the price)?

can you give me an example?

thank you,
raju.


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## cotraveller (Feb 13, 2008)

rocketraj said:


> What is the optimal price per point when you initially purchase? i.e. is 13k points for $4500 a good deal? but only 8,000 credits are renewed every year for 525 mf.
> the mf seems high... .065
> 
> also, is there a chart i can refer to that shows the break down between number of credits needed for what size unit per season?
> ...



The maintenance fees are dependent on the number of credits you own.  If you increased the account size from 8,000 credits to 10,000 the maintenance fee would be the same, $525.  The fees go up as you add more credits to the account, in 2,500 credit steps (7,500; 10,000; 12,500; 15,000; etc.).  The increase is approximately $100 for each step of 2,500 credits.  Even though the fees increase at 2,500 credit levels, you can only purchase in 1,000 credit increments.

On the WorldMark web site, http://www.worldmarktheclub.com/, you can find the credit values needed for the various size units at each WorldMark resort.  Click on the Resort Gallery link on the left side and then select the resort you want to view from the map.  The Owners Education manual is also available at the WorldMark site, in the Owner Education section.  It will help explain how the WorldMark system works.


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## bookworm (Feb 13, 2008)

rocketraj said:


> Bill,
> newbee question:
> can you explain wyndham cost both 20 times more wyndha points than similar resorts in the WM system? (but they also cost 1/5 the price)?
> 
> ...



Bill will be able to offer more on this, but I will add something by saying that they are not nearly all the same resorts. A handful of resorts from the Fairfield/Wyndham system have a few units available to Worldmark owners and vice versa. These units are often hard to get since they are so limited. There are also a small few of the very newest resorts that have shared space and owners from both groups can book reservations. Overall though, these are a different grouping of resorts with a completely different timeshare structure. Some on this forum report favoring the Fairfield/Wyndham as a little nicer with a few more amenities but I don't have a background with Worldmark so I can't speak to that. Often the advice is given to buy into Fairfield/Wyndham if you are in the east and Worldmark if you are in the west. It would be best to look up info on this website for both types of ownerships and then determine which suits you best.


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## Bill4728 (Feb 13, 2008)

rocketraj said:


> Bill,
> newbee question:
> can you explain wyndham cost both 20 times more wyndha points than similar resorts in the WM system? (but they also cost 1/5 the price)?
> 
> ...



WM and Wyndham/FF are different TS companies with signifcantly different point requirements to stay a one of their resorts.  



> Example:
> 
> a typical WM resort may charge 7000 WM points and WM points may cost about $0.70/pt. So if you wanted 7000 annual WM pts, it would cost you about $5000
> 
> A typical FF resort may cost about 150,000 FF pts but cost only $0.01 /pts. So if you wanted 150,000 FF pts it might cost you only $1,500.


So in this example a week at a  FF resort cost 20 times more points but the $ /pt is 1/4 the cost of WM points. 

Please be aware that there are a handfull of resorts which have both WM and FF units but most WM and FF resorts do not share significant inventory with each other. So if you want to stay mostly in WM resorts buy WM and if you mostly want to stay in FF resorts buy FF. DO NOT count on being able to use your WM points to stay in FF resorts.


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## Bill4728 (Feb 13, 2008)

> Example:
> 
> a typical WM resort may charge 7000 WM points and WM points may cost about $0.70/pt. So if you wanted 7000 annual WM pts, it would cost you about $5000
> 
> A typical FF resort may cost about 150,000 FF pts but cost only $0.01 /pts. So if you wanted 150,000 FF pts it might cost you only $1,500.



To make this a little more solid
Dolphin's cove at Disneyland CA has both pt values for WM and FF pts

a 2 bedroom unit cost :
10,000 WM pts  VS. 154,000 FF pts ( 175,000 during the summer)  
So an owner of FF points would have to spend ~154K points to spend a week at Dolphin Cove ( which might cost him $1,500- $3000)  And a WM owner would spend 10,000 WM points (which would cost him about $7000) 

Please note the resale price for WM is much better established than for FF because with WM "points are points"  But in FF, points are tied to the resorts and therefore the price of FF points vary greatly.


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## rocketraj (Feb 13, 2008)

But, with ebay you can buy 6k for 3200 and the rest of the 4k can be rented for 320 which would bring the total of 12k credits for 3200. 
i dont know how the mfs measure up though.


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## Bill4728 (Feb 13, 2008)

rocketraj said:


> But, with ebay you can buy 6k for 3200 .




Wow 6k for $3200. That only $0.54 /pt!!

 I didn't know you could buy for that little. The best I'd heard before was about $0.60/pt but mostly people were paying closer to $0.70/pt


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