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New at this and trying to get more information

kachook

TUG Member
Joined
May 11, 2022
Messages
8
Reaction score
2
Points
53
Location
Texas
Hi, there. Wifey and I sat through an HGVC presentation a few weeks ago in Orlando and we said no (mostly). Ultimately, we agreed to a VIP purchase, which we paid $1,695 for 11,000 points that we can use for a week stay or break into two stays at two properties. We can also bank those points if we agree to the “sales“ price of $25k and change for an Orlando HGVC for 8,000 annual points plus a bonus of 16,000 points (to be used within 4 years) plus the aforementioned 11,000 points with a current maintenance fee of $1,791. The VIP things was probably not the wisest decision, but we wanted to try it out and would have probably spent close to $1,000 anyway for a week somewhere. We are a family of four with two young kids. We have been weighing DVC also and are not opposed to MVC. It seems like on the resale market, there are HGVC properties with similar points (at least annual anyway) for less than $5k. I had a few questions if someone has time:

1) Why would I not just buy somewhere with the lowest cost for the most HGVC points? I know we need to factor in maintenance. What else am I missing?
2) If I buy resale points (plus frankly I can’t tell if I am buying points or a deeded week), what is the negative of not using it at the home property?
3) How do I know if a resale is not readily convertible to points? I am trying to read up, but it looks like some entities will charge to convert to points I.e. if I want to book at a different location.
4) I cannot really find a reason to choose MVC over HGVC or vice-versa. We really don’t know much about the other ones and rarely stay at a non-Marriott or Hilton hotel in general. So, interested in thoughts knowing it is subjective.
5) I can plan 9 months to a year in advance since our kids are starting first grade.
6) We don’t have a preference where we travel as we go to CA because of family in Sonoma and we’ve now been to FL three times since the kids have been born. We also would like to travel internationally once the pandemic has reached a baseline level.
7) Is there any benefit to buying direct initially and then adding more points via resale?
8) As a newbie, which is the safest resale site to buy?

Thank you in advance.
 

Janann

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2006
Messages
1,363
Reaction score
780
Points
473
Resorts Owned
HGVC on the Boulevard, Las Vegas;
Disney's Saratoga Springs
I've owned HGVC for 15+ years and DVC four years, but I can't answer all your questions. Hopefully some other people will chime in.

1. Yes, you can buy HGVC at a different location. Where you own gives you priority for booking your "home week" at something like 12 months out. If you don't care about top priority for HGVC Orlando, then just buy wherever is cheapest. I was lucky (because I didn't research enough) that I bought HGVC on the Boulevard in Las Vegas. I've never stayed at this resort, but it often has the best value for purchase price and maintenance fees. There are some charts somewhere on TUG that show the best maintenance fee pricing.

2. The only thing you lose, whether retail or resale, is access to the home week booking.

3. I'm not aware of any HGVC resorts that only sell weeks without any option to use that week as HGVC points. Maybe there are some small acquisition resorts that have this situation? All of the huge, purpose-built resorts are only selling deeds that are used as HGVC points.

4. I'm not familiar with Marriott, but I can tell you that HGVC trades with RCI, and Marriott trades with II. Some people feel that the resort quality is better with II. But I've noticed recently that there are a handful of resorts that are in both systems. If you want access to on-property Disney resorts, then you'll need Marriott. Disney switched from RCI to II several months ago, and it appears likely that the availability with RCI will disappear at the end of this year.

7. There may be some benefit to buying direct due to the new HGV Max program. This will get you access to the old Diamond resorts that are being merged into HGVC. Personally, I don't care about being able to book the old Diamond resorts with HGVC. They can be booked instead with an ordinary RCI exchange. The price right now for me to "upgrade" to HGVC Max is $7,000, or I can purchase a small HGVC unit at retail.

8. There are resellers posted somewhere on TUG, and a few of them get good reviews. There are people on TUG who routinely buy on Ebay, but I would approach this with caution for a first time buyer.
 

Nowaker

TUG Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2021
Messages
1,127
Reaction score
894
Points
173
Location
Wilson County, Texas
Resorts Owned
HGVC: 41,520 points - Coylumbridge, Flamingo, Elara, Trump, 2x Boulevard
The VIP things was probably not the wisest decision, but we wanted to try it out and would have probably spent close to $1,000 anyway for a week somewhere.
It's actually a pretty good deal, if you can book smaller units for twice as long, as you said. I personally don't know if it's actually true, since I heard people say this 11k-something package is good for 8 nights max.


1) Why would I not just buy somewhere with the lowest cost for the most HGVC points? I know we need to factor in maintenance. What else am I missing?
Nothing.


2) If I buy resale points (plus frankly I can’t tell if I am buying points or a deeded week), what is the negative of not using it at the home property?
$59 fee per each club booking. Irrelevant in the grand scheme of things since you will (hopefully) own at a location with a favorable MFpp.



3) How do I know if a resale is not readily convertible to points? I am trying to read up, but it looks like some entities will charge to convert to points I.e. if I want to book at a different location.
Not a case. Beware though - some Elara deeds don't come with points at all. This is because these shitty deeds originate from Westgate. Avoid.


4) I cannot really find a reason to choose MVC over HGVC or vice-versa. We really don’t know much about the other ones and rarely stay at a non-Marriott or Hilton hotel in general. So, interested in thoughts knowing it is subjective.
HGVC is cheaper in terms of price per night when MF, club fee and booking fee is factored in. HGVC is cheaper to acquire.


7) Is there any benefit to buying direct initially and then adding more points via resale?
No.

8) As a newbie, which is the safest resale site to buy?
As a newbie, I bought directly from a seller and used LT Transfers.

I then acquired two more deeds for free from people on Facebook and used LT Transfers as well.

If you're smart and learn fast, LT Transfers is more than enough.

If you need help or don't mind paying extra for safety, www.sellingtimeshares.net is good, also Judi Koz has a lot of followers (though I'm not a fan because her website listings are most often crazy overpriced). Honestly, eBay is fine, as long as you use a credit card for your own protection and make sure that the contract has a deadline before your chargeback period.
 
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