For my money, having tracked several options, paying $1000 for 154k points is paying too much....just wait for one to come along that no one bids and you can have it with your one bid for $1 to $99. As I mentioned on another thread, for my 84k points, I paid $10.50 with $299 total costs...total cost $310.
Personally.....I don't think at "free" you need to do too much math anymore. Just buy a small package....at 84k points I don't really care if I'm paying an extra $1.50/1,000 in maintenance fees...what is that....$126/year? And that's billed monthly so we're not even talking two Big Mac combos a month difference. If $126/year is going to make a difference to me, no offense but I don't have any business buying right now.
Once you're in, rent the additional points you need at that $4-5/1000 level.
Others can chime in as they have a lot more experience than I do....everything I learned about timeshares I didn't learn in kindergarten. I learned it here. Just thought I'd throw out the thought process on my recent purchase.
Instead of worrying about maintenance fee ratios, at the current price of "free" I was more interested in finding the right resort, exchange system, number of points, etc. Is there a resort you want/need the priority reservation window? Do you have a preference of II or RCI for exchanges? For my money, those questions far outweigh the relatively small difference in maintenance fees, especially at the 84k point level.
I don't want to say that maintenance fees aren't important, and if all things are equal than obviously take the one with less. But I found that once I decided to "lock myself in" for less points (and therefore lower maintenance fees) and rent the difference, I was much more comfortable with the situation, stopped worrying about all the math, and moved forward.
I don't want to start an argument here but I couldn't disagree more with this line of thinking.
Let me present my case by example:
Even if you get a small package of lets say 77-84K points for even $1 you still are going top pay $500 in closing costs ($399 closing fee and $100 Wyndham transfer fee). So that is a total of $500 upfront for an 84 K package with lets say $6 / K of dues per year = $504 / year in MF. This 84 K points will only get you several days in a 2 bedroom or a week in a 1 bedroom per year. You are paying $500 up front and over $500 per year in MF's for 84 K pts.
As opposed to - I just bought 154K pts for a total up front cost of $1000 and yearly dues of $630. This averages out to $4.09 per K in dues per year. I am paying $130 more per year for almost double the points.
You want as many points as possible for the least up front fee and you definitely want the lowest MF's possible.
You want to avoid the thinking that because the dues are less then it is better for me. Always, Always think average dollars / 1K points for MF's.
If you buy a smaller package in the beginning and have a high MF ratio you are stuck with those MF's and if you ever wanted to upgrade to a bigger point package no one will take them from you because the MF ratio is very high.
You should always look at the bigger picture in things and look down the road as well. 88K pts will not get you much in the way of a stay at any of the resorts and you will most likely want a bigger package so you can stay in a larger unit for at least a week or possibly longer in a smaller unit.
Wait, Wait , Wait until a bigger pts package comes up (154K) and only bid up to the amount that you think is a great deal. Keep doing that until you win one.
Also, if you buy a small package and want to add on later you will pay $500 in closing costs every time you buy another pts package.
You can rent from people but you will have to try to find the owners , negotiate , and work through their time frames as you want to rent. Also, you can only rent as many points per year as you own which will limit you.
Remember as well, Wyndham is charging a $129 guest certificate fee for owners who rent their points. SO unless you rent from a VIP owner the person renting to you may want you to cover this fee.
Just make sure you think long and hard about the entire Wyndham experience.
1) How much will you realistically be traveling per year?
2) Decide how many points that you want
3) Pay only what you want and don't go over that amount
4) Decide if you want to rent from people or not on a regular basis
5) Buy a package that if and when you go to sell it in the future (and no one knows exactly how long they will ever hold on to their points) will be worth something.
Scott