Buying 2500 points to enroll my resale - at what price?

[TheTimeTraveler]

Resale points are a more economical way to go whenever you can use them, HOWEVER, resale points have no influence or use in enrolling unenrolled weeks.

To enroll a week then you will need to specifically purchase your points thru Marriott when or if they offer the enrollment week option. Likely means spending somewhere north of $30,000.




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[rthib]

Great thoughts. I have considered this but what would points end up costing me? I’m not sure that it would net much difference and the maintenance fees would be higher on those points. If I could buy 2500 points at $10 I would end up with 6900 points at an average cost of $6 each, lower maintenance fees, a unit I still plan to use at times, and much less hassle. I know people come up with lower costs, but I am not interested in a bigger portfolio. I also own 2 weeks at Westin Maui which I am assuming will either be enrolled for free, or as part of any deal I do now. Please poke holes in my thoughts, and help me figure out how to negotiate a DP purchase of no more than 3,000 points down to $10!

You would have to find resale points at $3 to match that and have higher MF so you math is good there.
You probably want to get to 7,000 points as that gets you to executive and the 13 month windows for 1+ nights.
Are your Westin Maui resale or direct purchase? If resale you may have same issue and if direct purchase then you might see what kind of deal they will work.

 

[BreakingAway]

You would have to find resale points at $3 to match that and have higher MF so you math is good there.
You probably want to get to 7,000 points as that gets you to executive and the 13 month windows for 1+ nights.
Are your Westin Maui resale or direct purchase? If resale you may have same issue and if direct purchase then you might see what kind of deal they will work.

I see the math a little differently. 4400 of those points are coming from a week that has already been paid once. Therefore, I consider counting the potential converted points again in the total dollar per point is calculating the owned week twice.

 

[Dean]

I see the math a little differently. 4400 of those points are coming from a week that has already been paid once. Therefore, I consider counting the potential converted points again in the total dollar per point is calculating the owned week twice.

In terms of points and points costs, I'd look at it just like I would a bundle or if one bought a resale week now then enrolled it with a purchase. Personally I would look at any incentives as a bonus and would not deduct them from the price paid.

 

[MVCOwner]

When I did this a few years ago, it was 3000 minimum purchase required for 1 resale enrollment. When I was at the sales presentation, it was a required presentation as part of a Encore package. The price was around $14/point at that time. I ended up paying $9.99/point for the 3000 points, including closing costs. But also, that got me 6900 points, not just the 3000, since i was enrolling a week worth 3900 points.
The way it got down to the $9.99 is by them giving me a 20% discount, then they gave me some other discount related to a "special" offer they were running at the time, and also gave me all the money paid for the Encore towards the purchase. It's been a few years, so I don't recall all the specific numbers right now, other than the $9.99/point. We also financed to get an extra 3000 points as an incentive over a 2 year use period, after we paid 18 months of payments. Sure, we could have rented 3000 cheaper than the interest cost us, but it was just easier, and my wife was focusing on that as an incentive to buy, so we did it that way.

As for a recommendation, I would simply negotiate, if you don't like the price. I don't know how much they will move off of their current offerings and specials. But, during the presentation I mentioned above, I repeatedly told them we were not there to buy anything. I also referenced the ability to purchase resale points at a much cheaper rate. We did go into a discussion about how it would be advantageous if my resale week (3900 points) was also enrolled. I honestly think the sales guy just knew he was going to have to be at a price point that was more acceptable than anything close to their current retail price.

During our presentation in March at Crystal Shores, our guy “forgot” to include a 2500 point bonus for the 18 month financing and when I calculated the 10 year cost for buying and financing 2500 points it was $52000 vs $31000 paying cash. When I took out my phone and plugged in the numbers at 13.9% and found in those 18 months the interest was close to $6,000, so that 2500 point incentive (worth $1500) still hoses you for $4500 !!! When I told him this he called me very smart. I’d say lucky is a better term for not buying that day.

 

[Dean]

During our presentation in March at Crystal Shores, our guy “forgot” to include a 2500 point bonus for the 18 month financing and when I calculated the 10 year cost for buying and financing 2500 points it was $52000 vs $31000 paying cash. When I took out my phone and plugged in the numbers at 13.9% and found in those 18 months the interest was close to $6,000, so that 2500 point incentive (worth $1500) still hoses you for $4500 !!! When I told him this he called me very smart. I’d say lucky is a better term for not buying that day.

The interest rate is usually very high. IMO financing a timeshare at any rate is foolish but at over 10% it's absolutely nuts. That's why they have incentives that are higher if you finance and also why they've stretched out the time before you can pay it off. In 2010 I think it was one month, the last I heard anything (2019), it was 18 months.

 

[igopogo]

The interest rate is usually very high. IMO financing a timeshare at any rate is foolish but at over 10% it's absolutely nuts. That's why they have incentives that are higher if you finance and also why they've stretched out the time before you can pay it off. In 2010 I think it was one month, the last I heard anything (2019), it was 18 months.

Someone pointed out here that you could take the financing and then pay it down to near zero to avoid both interest and prepayment penalties. I haven’t seen the prepayment language, is that possible?

 

[Dean]

Someone pointed out here that you could take the financing and then pay it down to near zero to avoid both interest and prepayment penalties. I haven’t seen the prepayment language, is that possible?

It used to be workable doing but the information I received in 2019 suggested it was not possible or at least less so. At the time of my enrollment I asked about this and could never get a solid answer. IIRC the best you could do would have been to pay it down some but I believe you had to make 18 months worth of payments. When I bought a retail week about 20 years ago the only requirement was to keep it a month and that's what I did, paid it off at 31 days. When I idd my enrollment 3 years ago I decided it was not worth it based on the information I was receiving. Remember they do this to make money so even when people know the angles and intend to take advantage, statistically they usually don't.

 

[Bill4728]

Someone pointed out here that you could take the financing and then pay it down to near zero to avoid both interest and prepayment penalties. I haven’t seen the prepayment language, is that possible?

No that isn't possible.

To get the bonus for financing, you can only put 20% down and can't make a payment more than the minimum payment for at least 18 months.
So if you make a bigger down payment or pay more than the minimum payment, you lose the finance bonus. BUT since they don't consider losing the finance bonus a "prepayment penalty" the paperwork says there is no prepayment penalty.

 

[remowidget]

I believe OP is trying to "qualify"/enroll an existing resale week. You can only do so by buying 2500 DC points in current promo. If you buy resale points, the resale points are fully "enrolled" by paying for junk fees, but it does not enroll an unenrolled resale week.

The suggestion was maybe it would be better to sell the week and purchase resale points.

 

[Wanderlustgrl]

The week I would like to enroll is worth 4400 points. I have been waiting for years for the enrollment requirements to come down, and while they finally have come down to 2500 points, the retail price of points has increased. This leaves me in a frustrating predicament of not knowing when to pull the trigger. I have no need for additional points/resales beyond what I own, so I don’t see purchasing additional units as something that makes sense simply to get the best enrollment deal. I could use an additional 2500 or 3000 points but not much more. I also was told that my Westin Maui units would only be enrolled with the purchase of 1,000 DP’s, while that was only from sales, I would be sure to get something in writing confirming that 2500 purchase would also count towards the Westin properties, when the time comes. $9.99 a point seems like something I would be interested in if I can figure out how to get them there.

Id buy 2750 to get to executive with your week at the 4400 and 2500 leaves you at 6900.We enrolled a week last year which was a great week but required 3000 pts but it jumped us to presidential. The 13 month window for less than a week became a benefit we have used frequently and when we go last minute we like the pts discount. Both things that you get at executive. We are trying to get a week transfer from my aunt which won’t come enrolled and have looked into buying a week in Aruba thanks to a recommendation from Dean, we have also spoken to our rep who we have worked with several times and she said the pricing increases April 30th. Unfortunately I don’t think the transfer has any chance of happening that fast and know that going to then cost us more

 

[igopogo]

Id buy 2750 to get to executive with your week at the 4400 and 2500 leaves you at 6900.We enrolled a week last year which was a great week but required 3000 pts but it jumped us to presidential. The 13 month window for less than a week became a benefit we have used frequently and when we go last minute we like the pts discount. Both things that you get at executive. We are trying to get a week transfer from my aunt which won’t come enrolled and have looked into buying a week in Aruba thanks to a recommendation from Dean, we have also spoken to our rep who we have worked with several times and she said the pricing increases April 30th. Unfortunately I don’t think the transfer has any chance of happening that fast and know that going to then cost us more

You can make a deposit at Aruba at the current price and put off the purchase for up to 120 days, and even that can possibly be extended. Any idea how much the price increase will be?

 

[Dean]

You can make a deposit at Aruba at the current price and put off the purchase for up to 120 days, and even that can possibly be extended. Any idea how much the price increase will be?

I've been told you can actually delay closing for up to 150 days. That way if you're in the process of buying say resale, you can lock in the price and get the enrollment commitment. Technically the enrollment amnesty program tends to state the the resale unit needs to be in your account at the start of that program but I am not aware to anyone denied enrollment for this reason in some time.

 

[Wanderlustgrl]

You can make a deposit at Aruba at the current price and put off the purchase for up to 120 days, and even that can possibly be extended. Any idea how much the price increase will be?

I asked and she said they didn’t know until the day of or a day or 2 before. She didn’t suspect anything significant till June

 

[Wanderlustgrl]

You can make a deposit at Aruba at the current price and put off the purchase for up to 120 days, and even that can possibly be extended. Any idea how much the price increase will be?

I called and asked about this. She said it just has to close by the end of December. That I could take the chance but rules say it has to be in your ownership before the start of the promotion but didn’t think it would be a problem. They offered to do no money down and delay the close so on the off chance it couldn’t be done we just don’t close And don’t lose anything

 

[Dean]

I called and asked about this. She said it just has to close by the end of December. That I could take the chance but rules say it has to be in your ownership before the start of the promotion but didn’t think it would be a problem. They offered to do no money down and delay the close so on the off chance it couldn’t be done we just don’t close And don’t lose anything

I've seen a couple of people actually do this while they were buying a resale week and running the retail enrollment at the same time anticipating the resale week to be listed. I've discussed this exactly issue with my contact in Aruba and this is what he's told me. Technically I'm told the rules are the week is supposed to be in your account but he tells me this has routinely been waived. It also locks in the price and incentives.

 

[VacationForever]

In an owners update a couple of years ago when they ran he enrollment promo for enrolling a resale week, the sales rep suggested that we bought 3000 DC points and they would put in legal language that it wouldn't close for 6 months and that any resale week that bought and close during that period would be enrolled into DC. We had no need for 3000 points, let alone another week.