# Worldmark newbie - not purchased any timeshare or points yet



## Mike154

Hi everyone,
Other than a bad experience that I had with a timeshare presentation that I attended at the Welk Resorts in Escondido, CA I have still always been curious about possibly owning a timeshare.  I did not buy that day at the Welk resort.  That was the first and the last timeshare presentation for me.  I have looked at the internet and the TUG boards since then and learned that resale purchases of timeshares or points are the way to go.  Lately I have become curious about Worldmark because it has locations that are desirable in southern California area where I live.  I have seen some positive comments and ratings about its timeshare resorts on TripAdvisor, etc.  Particularly I am interested in Solvang, San Diego, Big Bear, etc. with the location I am most interested in right now being Solvang since I have vacationed there frequently anyway.  

Since I am looking for the most bang for my dollars I am curious to either buy a Worldmark resale timeshare or resale points that give me the most value.  

I am not in a rush but would like help/advice from anyone who can give me any suggestions.  I have a family of four (two adults and two small children) and my vacation schedule is flexible.  I am considering the idea of being able to take mini vacations during the lower point cost weekdays (Sunday - Thursday?) when the point value is lower to maximize my value and vacation time.


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## presley

Worldmark is a good system. It will work well for the mini vacations you mentioned. You will need to pay for housekeeping on those types of stays if you use your points. However, Worldmark has a lot of discounted cash stays (that include the housekeeping). You would probably be able to book many of those if you are mainly interested in weekday stays. It is the weekends that tend to get full.


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## Marathoner

For alot of good info, check out the forums at http://www.wmowners.com and http://www.wmtsinfo.com

I think ebay is a reasonable place to buy WM memberships.  Just buy from a reputable seller. You can also buy at wmowners.com.

I would suggest buying a 6000 credit membership and renting additional points as needed.  There is a huge amount of flexibility and nuance to a WM membership.  You can book within the system and you have very good trading privileges in II.  The system is as simple or as complex as you need it to be.

I think the best way to learn the power of ownership is to buy the membership and start using it!


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## geist1223

*Worldmark*

Patti and I have been WM Owners for almost 13 years (12 years 11 months). I would suggest a minimum account of 10000 Points. This gives you flexibility without having to rent. Also because of the structure of WM Maintenance Fees you pay less per point with a larger account. The MF for 5001 to 7500 Points currently is $581.12 annually. The MF FOR 7501 to 10000 is $716.59 annually. So a 6000 point account = .09685 per point. A 7500 point account = .07748. A 10000 point account = .071659 per point.

A problem people have with WM is the ability to get the Resort you want when you want it. If you expect to call the VPC or go online and get Hawaii with 6 months notice forget it. If you are the type the wants to call the VPC and say what do you have available in 6 months and 
then go there it will work. Though the WM Wait List does work well. I 
once got a week on Maui with 8 weeks notice by using the Wait List.


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## nuwermj

Marathoner said:


> I would suggest buying a 6000 credit membership and renting additional points as needed.



I'm not a current owner, but I'm considering a purchase. 

Say I purchase 10,000 credits from the resale market, which I estimate are adequate for normal usage. But for a special vacation, I happen to need, say, 12,000 for a reservation. If I rent 2,000 credits can they be merged in my account along with the 10,000 credits I own? Would I rent from another another owner or from the club? And, is this option available to owners of resale credits? Other systems like Bluegreen and Diamond offer rental points that can be merged with owner points only to premium level  owners (i.e., owners with lots of points purchased directly from the developer). 

Thanks for your time,
Michael N


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## ecwinch

Yes - you can rent one-time use credits into your acct. All accts have that option - even resale. 10k is a good size acct. You also have the ability to borrow next years credits, and credits do not expire for two years. So a "fully loaded acct" will typically have access to three years of credits - last yrs, this yr, and next yrs .. Or 30k if you purchase a 10k resale acct that is fully loaded.

Strictly speaking - credit rentals have to be from owners (i.e. credits that are deposited into your acct), but WM has numerous ways to make reservations for cash - which is like renting credits to fill a particular reservation. Bonus Time is a program that allows you to make a reservation 14 days in advance on any available inventory for 0.058 cents per credit. Off-season resorts can be booked as Inventory Specials at that same price. Inventory Specials typically can be reserved 1-4 months in advance, and WM determines which resorts are on Inventory Special. And periodically they will have a program like "Monday Madness" that allows cash reservations at 0.07 credits per credit for certain resorts up to 11 months out. Sounds confusing but the bottom line is that there are numerous ways to book reservations without using your credits. Lots of owners use the programs above to book shorter vacations because these programs do not require a housekeeping token to book. When you use your credits each reservation requires a housekeeping token, and you only get 1 token for ea. 10k in credits. If you dont' have one to make a reservation, then you have buy one from the Club and they range from $54 (hotel) to $149 (4BR) based on unit size. A 2BR is $90.


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## rhonda

Mike154,

Welcome!  Congrats on dodging a bullet on the first presentation and taking action to seek "best fit."  Our first "tour" was DVC -- which intrigued us but didn't convince us, at that time.  Instead, our research led us to buy Worldmark as our first timeshare.  Now 15+ years later -- it is still our favorite and most versatile timeshare.

A couple posts in this thread mentioned Worldmark's in-house rental options.  Here are links to help you navigate:
*Inventory Specials*:  A list properties with low demand (higher inventory) for the current month, next month and one month beyond (3 month window).  Read the Guidelines at the bottom of the page for rental rate ($0.058/credit), nightly minimum ($50/night), housekeeping (included!), exclusions, etc.  The list is updated each month and generally offers a good handful of destinations.  
*Monday Madness*: My favorite thing about Mondays   A weekly list of limited designations (typically 2-5) one may book on cash rates ($0.07/credit) with housekeeping included up to 11 months out.  Again, review Guidelines posted at the bottom of the page.
*Bonus Time* and *Exotic Bonus Time*: No special inventory lists required -- these are true "last minute rentals."  Bonus time is a 14-day window for owner's use; 5-day window for guest use; and offers "anything you see available."  Exotic Bonus time is a 30-day window but only applies to specific destinations.  
*FAX Time*: Another internal rental program with rates set higher than Bonus time -- but with a longer reservation window.  Can be used as often as you wish for low demand seasons (White/Blue) but limited for High (Red) season reservations.  (I think Red is "once every 5 years?")
Each of these are also described in detail in the Owner's Education materials -- but I think an Owner's login is required to access the content.

Good luck in your decisions!  Worldmark has been a great product for this San Diego household!


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## nuwermj

ecwinch said:


> Yes - ...



Thanks, Eric, for your reply. I've been looking into different points systems and Worldmark appears among the best from the point of view of making reservations.


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## Mike154

*Do you save money on your vacations?*



rhonda said:


> Mike154,
> 
> Welcome!  Congrats on dodging a bullet on the first presentation and taking action to seek "best fit."  Our first "tour" was DVC -- which intrigued us but didn't convince us, at that time.  Instead, our research led us to buy Worldmark as our first timeshare.  Now 15+ years later -- it is still our favorite and most versatile timeshare.
> 
> A couple posts in this thread mentioned Worldmark's in-house rental options.  Here are links to help you navigate:
> *Inventory Specials*:  A list properties with low demand (higher inventory) for the current month, next month and one month beyond (3 month window).  Read the Guidelines at the bottom of the page for rental rate ($0.058/credit), nightly minimum ($50/night), housekeeping (included!), exclusions, etc.  The list is updated each month and generally offers a good handful of destinations.
> *Monday Madness*: My favorite thing about Mondays   A weekly list of limited designations (typically 2-5) one may book on cash rates ($0.07/credit) with housekeeping included up to 11 months out.  Again, review Guidelines posted at the bottom of the page.
> *Bonus Time* and *Exotic Bonus Time*: No special inventory lists required -- these are true "last minute rentals."  Bonus time is a 14-day window for owner's use; 5-day window for guest use; and offers "anything you see available."  Exotic Bonus time is a 30-day window but only applies to specific destinations.
> *FAX Time*: Another internal rental program with rates set higher than Bonus time -- but with a longer reservation window.  Can be used as often as you wish for low demand seasons (White/Blue) but limited for High (Red) season reservations.  (I think Red is "once every 5 years?")
> Each of these are also described in detail in the Owner's Education materials -- but I think an Owner's login is required to access the content.
> 
> Good luck in your decisions!  Worldmark has been a great product for this San Diego household!



Thank you for your reply Rhonda.  Overall, do you feel that you save money on your vacations by being a Worldmark member?  Or are there other features or reasons that make Worldmark worth the extra money if you are paying more for vacations?


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## Marathoner

I absolutely believe that Worldmark has saved me money in order to get the vacations that I've been looking for.  I know what I want via II exchange and Worldmark has the trading power and flexibility which I am looking for. Specifically, II allows you to put in multiple ongoing searches for resorts for just the exchange fee until the match actually occurs. For flex exchanges under 60 days, it only requires 4000 credits, no matter what the size of villa you exchange into. 

The maintenance fee for the credits I've bought is quite reasonable and I can always rent more if I want an extra vacation.

Worldmark is highly recommended and I see that a lot of power traders on TUG have purchased credits for the trading capabilities that Worldmark enables.


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## rhonda

Mike154 said:


> Thank you for your reply Rhonda.  Overall, do you feel that you save money on your vacations by being a Worldmark member?  Or are there other features or reasons that make Worldmark worth the extra money if you are paying more for vacations?


I've found that WM stays save me both time and money.  Every now and again I get the urge to do serious comparison shopping for various stays:  discount hotel websites, RCI, II, GPX/ResorTime, etc.  I'm looking for 'best bang for the buck' and often enough, WM was either the ticket _directly_ or an important link towards the best deal (my RCI and II memberships both tie back to WM).  Comfortable with this position, I've ceased spending so much time 'shopping' the trip and simply book WM.

We use WM from 1-night stays at WM Balboa as our "airport hotel" (~$70/n for a studio, mid-week -- clean, safe, comfortable, "known entity") to multiple unit reservations for family holiday gatherings.  I dare not think how much a 4BR Presidential + multiple 2BR units might cost outside of having/using timeshare!

As for other features -- yes, I'm completely spoiled by WM and how it has opened our lives to timeshare travel. 
I *love* having a kitchen and laundry in the unit; we use both often through each stay.
I love having a living area that is separate from the bedroom (I'm an early bird married to a night owl) -- everyone is happy!
We love the number of drive-to destinations and have enjoyed stringing them together for road trips: one San Diego/Vancouver up and back with only one repeat resort; one San Diego > Zion NP > Yellowstone > Mt Rushmore (outside of WM) > Rocky Mountain NP > Heber Hotsprings > Las Vegas > Palm Springs > San Diego loop.  
We love having a "home away from home" in places we visit often:  New Orleans (family), Pagosa Springs (conference), Anaheim (Disney, obviously), etc.
I love the consistency of knowing 'what is in the kitchen' (tool set) so I can pack less.
etc, etc, etc.
Happy WM camper, indeed.


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## taterhed

Geez Rhonda.

 If you keep selling it so hard, there won't be any left for us new owners!

 JK.

 It's a great deal.  Best part: Try it.  You don't like it, sell it.  It's trading like cash right now and it's appreciating. Buy small, rent points.  

 Can wait to start trading--just gotta get my deed back from mother Wyndham--hopefully it's not on the slow boat to Fiji.


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## rocksteadyserg

What is a good price for 10 k points on the resale market. Any idea how hard to book a weekend in San Francisco on any given weekend. How much in advance does need to have a shot.


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## taterhed

rocksteadyserg said:


> What is a good price for 10 k points on the resale market. Any idea how hard to book a weekend in San Francisco on any given weekend. How much in advance does need to have a shot.



40 cents a point--all in-- is a good price.  Tough to get that from resellers....they are probably at least 40 cents plus the $299.

I'll look up san fran in a minute...it's had a lot of availability lately.  RCi adds a few exchanges as well.

Weekends are tight right now thru Oct.  Of course, the waitlist and bonus kick in to help fill in holes.

Asking 'can I get weekends in Seattle?  SanFran?'  etc..  is a bit unfair.  If you're looking to rent hotel rooms in SanFran on weekends...you'll be far better off renting. 

IMHO.

I love Worldmark, it's full of options and has trading power.  But, you need to know what you want and how you want to use it.  Deciding to go somewhere next weekend is great.  Deciding you want a room for Sat-Sun in two weeks in location XX is pretty hard--unless you're patient and flexible.


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## philemer

nuwermj said:


> Thanks, Eric, for your reply. I've been looking into different points systems and Worldmark appears among the best from the point of view of making reservations.



Looks like you live in NY. Most of the WM resorts are out West. Just saying


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## simon.fisher.2

Are there any disadvantages to having a WM resale contract?

Can you book all the the Wyndham properties or just the WM properties?

Any good articles that sum up the differences?

TIA


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## Passepartout

simon.fisher.2 said:


> Are there any disadvantages to having a WM resale contract?
> 
> Can you book all the the Wyndham properties or just the WM properties?
> 
> Any good articles that sum up the differences?
> 
> TIA



You might pose that question at www.owners.com/ for answers ' from the horse's mouth'

Jim.


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## sue1947

Passepartout said:


> You might pose that question at www.owners.com/ for answers ' from the horse's mouth'
> 
> Jim.



I suspect you mean wmowners.com/forum?  

Sue


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## geist1223

When you buy WM Points resale you can only directly book into the current and future WM Resorts. You can not book directly into WYN Resorts or Worldmark South Pacific Resorts (WMSP). You can book into WYN Resorts and WMSP Resorts through RCI or II.


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## chexchy

*maintenance fee*

I got dri from Gmv and i bought wyndham resale.  Now i want to give dri bak my gmv because the mf keeps gooing up unbelievely.  
Reading through all of your threads, wm sounds great but what about mf?  How much is the mf rate?  I am thinking of buying wm resale for a small package.  How much can 10k accomodate for say 1 bedroom?  Where do i buy wm resale?  I saw deals from ebay.  what tricks do i look for  when i consider these deals
thanks


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## rhonda

chexchy said:


> Reading through all of your threads, wm sounds great but what about mf?  How much is the mf rate?  I am thinking of buying wm resale for a small package.  How much can 10k accomodate for say 1 bedroom?  Where do i buy wm resale?  I saw deals from ebay.  what tricks do i look for  when i consider these deals
> thanks


Link to WM Dues history for 2015/2014/2013:  http://www.wmtsinfo.com/item/81 ; use the column "Basic Dues" which is the annual rate.

10k annual credits will book a 2BR in high season at many of the WM properties.  You can browse through the resort directory and see the credit values at the bottom of each resort's info page:  http://www.worldmarktheclub.com/resorts

I purchased resale through RedSeason and had a great experience.


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## ronparise

Passepartout said:


> Originally Posted by simon.fisher.2  View Post
> Are there any disadvantages to having a WM resale contract?
> 
> Can you book all the the Wyndham properties or just the WM properties?
> 
> Any good articles that sum up the differences?
> 
> TIA
> 
> 
> 
> You might pose that question at www.owners.com/ for answers ' from the horse's mouth'
> 
> Jim.



I would disagree with that advice. The folks on wmowners are for the most part Worldmark owners. As a group they know very little about Club Wyndham and are therefore not equipped to "sum up the difference"


Comparing Wyndham and Worldmark is a lot like comparing apples and oranges.. They are both fruit, but thats pretty much all they have in common

Worldmark and Wyndham are both points based timeshare systems and they do have the same manager and developer, and they share some resorts. but pretty much everything else is different


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## ronparise

chexchy said:


> I got dri from Gmv and i bought wyndham resale.  Now i want to give dri bak my gmv because the mf keeps gooing up unbelievely.
> Reading through all of your threads, wm sounds great but what about mf?  How much is the mf rate?  I am thinking of buying wm resale for a small package.  How much can 10k accomodate for say 1 bedroom?  Where do i buy wm resale?  I saw deals from ebay.  what tricks do i look for  when i consider these deals
> thanks



There are no tricks

But be aware that worldmark credits are good for 2 years and you can borrow next years credits so it is possible that a contract you are looking at is "fully loaded, with this years credits and last years credits available and with next years credits available to borrow. And it is also possible that a contract may be for sale completely stripped of credits, none available and none to borrow

That means a fully loaded contract for sale at 40 cents a credit is a better deal than a stripped contract at 30 cents

one of the things that some owners love about Worldmark is that the governing documents limit annual mf increases to 5% . just know that thats a lot and we expect fees to go up that much every year for the foreseeable future.. Thats a double every 14 years

Having said that Worldmark mf is really cheap. a  10000 credit account is $750 a year so a 2 bedroom ocean front condo in the summer on the Oregon coast is just a little more than $100 a night and in Hawaii just a little more. There are more expensive properties, but overall Worldmark offers good value for the money... 

heres a link to the fee schedule I have saved in my dropbox account
https://www.dropbox.com/s/my5z8evh53d29ts/wmfees.pdf?dl=0


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## chexchy

*how much should I pay for resale?*



ronparise said:


> There are no tricks
> 
> But be aware that worldmark credits are good for 2 years and you can borrow next years credits so it is possible that a contract you are looking at is "fully loaded, with this years credits and last years credits available and with next years credits available to borrow. And it is also possible that a contract may be for sale completely stripped of credits, none available and none to borrow
> 
> That means a fully loaded contract for sale at 40 cents a credit is a better deal than a stripped contract at 30 cents
> 
> one of the things that some owners love about Worldmark is that the governing documents limit annual mf increases to 5% . just know that thats a lot and we expect fees to go up that much every year for the foreseeable future.. Thats a double every 14 years
> 
> Having said that Worldmark mf is really cheap. a  10000 credit account is $750 a year so a 2 bedroom ocean front condo in the summer on the Oregon coast is just a little more than $100 a night and in Hawaii just a little more. There are more expensive properties, but overall Worldmark offers good value for the money...
> 
> heres a link to the fee schedule I have saved in my dropbox account
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/my5z8evh53d29ts/wmfees.pdf?dl=0



If 10K is for 2br anual, it is too much for us.  I don't have that much of vacation from work.  If I buy 5K which should be around 1 br/year, how much should I look into resale.  
How do i know about loaded contract and the stripped contract?
Thanks


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## uscav8r

chexchy said:


> If 10K is for 2br anual, it is too much for us.  I don't have that much of vacation from work.  If I buy 5K which should be around 1 br/year, how much should I look into resale.
> 
> How do i know about loaded contract and the stripped contract?
> 
> Thanks




A 1 BR in Prime season is 8k points. Don't think of 5k as 1BR/year, but a 2BR every two years. In an oddity of how WorldMark tiers MF, an 8k account has the same MF as a 10k account. 

How many people do you intend to travel with at the same time? If it is 5 or more, then you cannot downsize to a 1BR in most instances. 

You can also rent out extra credits you don't need to other people to offset the annual account costs. 

It seems as though you need to get rid of your DRI before making any further purchases. Get too small of a WorldMark account and you may not be happy. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## PearlCity

wrong thread.


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