• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

First Time Buyer - What to Do ?

rcornwe

newbie
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Iowa
I've seen threads on how to sell a timeshare, but I haven't seen anything on first time purchase. I am looking to buy Wyndham points. I have seen different offers that include transfer fees, closing costs, maintenance fees, etc. What costs (and approximately how much) should a first time buyer expect to pay legitimately? Additionally, is it possible to 're-home' points purchased to another resort either because it is where I really want to go or it has a cheaper MF? Any other pointers for a first time buyer would be great !

Thanks
Ron
 

vacationhopeful

TUG Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2007
Messages
12,760
Reaction score
1,699
Points
498
Location
Northeast USA
Ron, I brought where I wanted ARP in booking. Where I wanted to go gets booked out very fast at the 13 month mark (from checkin date) .. and are MF ratio is higher than the suggested good ratio resorts.

Look and plan on HOW MANY points you need MOST years. So if your family needs a 2bdr ... buy enough for a 7 night stay at the resorts you would mainly want to go to. Renting points from Wyndham is limited to close in checkin dates. Owners can no longer transfer points between their accounts. So, if you need 203K, what would you do each year with extra points if you brought more.

Also ... Wyndham resorts plan/budget for 7 night stays. Short stays will have you paying extra fees to help cover the extra costs .. called Housekeeping Credits (HKs). Change your plans 10 times ... Wyndham has no problem as you will be paying Reservation Transactions (RTs). And if you buy more points than you will be regularly using ... sure, deposit them into RCI (exchange company) and PAID FEEs to book at other resorts (also using/paying RTs and HKs to deposit them into RCI).

I enjoy my resort stays at Wyndham. The resorts are generally nice. But over the years I have owned, the costs and fees have gone up as I get older and my other bills go up. So be careful to NOT over buy the number of points ... renting is always an option.
 

rcornwe

newbie
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Iowa
I have been looking to have a home resort of "Glacier Canyon" in the Wisconsin Dells, WI. I have rented but can only get a deluxe room when renting. The presidential rooms are never available. I have looked and again, never seen resale points with a home resort of Glacier Canyon. I went to the sales pitch last time we stayed there and I think it was $36K for enough points for 1 week in a 3Bed Presidential during peak season. My youngest is 6 years old, so I figure we have 10 years before he grows out of wanting to go there. However, I still liked 'The Dells' time my mid-20s.
 

sue1947

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
1,748
Reaction score
1,193
Points
523
Location
Seattle
Resorts Owned
Worldmark and VI

Ty1on

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
5,119
Reaction score
1,952
Points
348
Glacier Canyon maintenance fees are pretty high. I don't know what the ARP situation is there, maybe some regular visitors can share on that. If it's routinely possible to get peak times at 10 months, you would be better off finding a contract at a resort with lower maintenance fees. At the 10 month mark, there is no difference between points from different resorts when it comes to booking a reservation (except margaritaville and presidential reserve).

If you need ARP to get the weeks you want, you have to bite the bullet and pay the higher maintenance fees.
 

rcornwe

newbie
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Iowa
There's a whole section for newbies: http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?forums/new-to-timesharing-look-here.17/.
Then there's a whole section on Wyndham including several stickies on Wyndham information. You'll find the answers to many of your questions in those 2 forums.

Sue
Sue - Thank you for the link, I was looking here http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?forums/buying-selling-renting.13/, and only found general stuff; nothing specific about the offer, closing, costs, home re-assignment.

Thanks
Ron
 

Ty1on

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
5,119
Reaction score
1,952
Points
348
Costs are $299 Wyndham transfer fee, the closing company fee varies from $150 to some resellers hitting you with $500 for their own in-house close. If it's a high maintenance fee contract, seller will pay closing and transfer in many cases just to get out from under their contract. Lower maintenance fee resorts generally cost more upfront and are more likely to hit buyer with closing costs. Carefully read the terms of the offer to determine who your seller expects to pay closing and transfer.

There is a pinned thread in the Wyndham forum that provides the maintenance fee rates for most resorts. Consult that thread rather than trust that the seller hasn't made an error listing the rate. Do keep in mind that you need to add to that rate $0.55 per thousand points with a minimum of $128 for Club fees. This covers RCI membership and the costs of running the club and internal points exchange.

There is no such thing as home reassignment. You buy at a resort, you own at that resort. However, the points system offers such flexibility that home resort only matters if you need to reserve 13 to 10 months out for a very popular resort and week.
 

rcornwe

newbie
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Iowa
One last question. I havent found the current Wyndham points chart, but i did find this: https://www.worldmarktheclub.com/news/wbwwyndhamclubpasssupplement.pdf and it shows on page 36 that it only costs a max of 27K points for a week in a 4 Bed Presidential unit?? Am I reading that correctly? Weeks at other places can cost over 100K points, Im just skeptical that is the correct points cost.

Thanks
Ron
 

Ty1on

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
5,119
Reaction score
1,952
Points
348
Worldmark credits are a seperate economy than Wyndham points. A typical worldmark contract might be 10,000 credits. A similar Wyndham contract might be 156,000 points. 27,000 is a whole lot of Worldmark credits.

Club Pass is only applicable to retail owners.....those who pay the tens of thousands to buy from the salesmen.
 
Top