Newbie Here: Wierd WorldMark Question?

[Piscesqueen]

I'm new to timesharing but I do know that we have finally decided on Worldmark. My question is: I see eBay listings for Eagle Crest with the option to exchange into Worldmark for points and they state that this can be done on a yearly basis; is this information correct? Can someone please tell me any of the "fine" details that I should know about before purchasing at Eagle Crest with the intention on trading for Worldmark points?! Also, if this is in fact true than are the points the same within the Worldmark system or will they be treated differently? Thank you in advance to anyone with the answers; I appreciate any advice/feedback .

 

[cotraveller]

I'm new to timesharing but I do know that we have finally decided on Worldmark. My question is: I see eBay listings for Eagle Crest with the option to exchange into Worldmark for points and they state that this can be done on a yearly basis; is this information correct? Can someone please tell me any of the "fine" details that I should know about before purchasing at Eagle Crest with the intention on trading for Worldmark points?! Also, if this is in fact true than are the points the same within the Worldmark system or will they be treated differently? Thank you in advance to anyone with the answers; I appreciate any advice/feedback .

If you are a WorldMark owner and aso own a non-WorldMark week at Eagle Crest you can deposit that week and receive WorldMark points added to your account in exchange. There is a fee for the exchange but I am not sure what it currently is.

You do need to be a WorldMark owner. You cannot just purchase the Eagle Crest week and trade it for WorldMark points without also owning a WorldMark account.

Hope this helps. Maybe someone who owns both Eagle Crest and WorldMark can provide more details if you need them.

 

[Piscesqueen]

We are a family of 6 and live in North Idaho and plan to vacation at least 3 or 4 weeks a year. We love Central Oregon and the Oregon Coast so we would use Eagle Crest for sure but would also like to explore other places within driving distance to our home; that's why I was wondering about trading for points. What I was going to do was just buy 50K Worldmark points until I seen Eagle Crest selling for cheaper (trying to save a few bucks). Looks like what we should do is buy a Worldmark account and have an Eagle Crest also. By the way, do you think 50K points will be enough; we mostly have to stick to Spring Breaks and Summer months due to kids' school schedule but as mentioned we'll be traveling 3/4 weeks a year?

 

[Steve]

I think buying a small WorldMark account and an Eagle Crest week sounds like a good plan based on where you live and where you like to vacation. Of course, you can also "rent" additional one-time-use credits from other WorldMark owners rather than purchase at Eagle Crest. Or do both.

50,000 WorldMark credits would be a ton. Do you mean 5,000? (The smallest account you can purchase independently is 5,000.) I think that buying 5,000 or 6,000 to start makes a lot of sense. In contrast, I think 50,000 would be way too many.

Steve

 

[loosefeet]

Is there a fee to trade in your week for credits? And, what are the MF for Eagle Crest? Take these into consideration. We stayed at Eagle Crest once and liked.

 

[Piscesqueen]

Is 50K Really Too Many Points?

50,000 WorldMark credits would be a ton. Do you mean 5,000? (The smallest account you can purchase independently is 5,000.) I think that buying 5,000 or 6,000 to start makes a lot of sense. In contrast, I think 50,000 would be way too many.

Steve

Yeah, I mean 50,000 because I was looking at the points charts and it looks like that's how many points we would need to vacation...please help me if I'm wrong , like I mentioned, I'm very new to this . We will be vacationing to Central Oregon and the Oregon Coast for 1 week each and will also try and do Yellowstone for 2 weeks a year; totaling 4 weeks/yearly . I am also into getaways for 3 night weekends on a regular basis (our kids are in a 4 day a week school schedule) and I love my short trips with just the hubby and I. Please Help me decide how many points to buy...I would hate to "overbuy!" I know I probably look like a total rookie here:hysterical: !!!

 

[Piscesqueen]

Is there a fee to trade in your week for credits? And, what are the MF for Eagle Crest? Take these into consideration. We stayed at Eagle Crest once and liked.

We've never stayed at Eagle Crest (this will be our first timeshare purchase) but we absolutely love not only Oregon, but the entire Northwest . We think we live in the best area for "drive to" vacations because it's so fun and beautiful! We are so excited to buy into WorldMark and look forward to all of the wonderful family vacactions ! Oh and, I believe the MF are around $600 for 2bd at EC and I've been told that the fee is $39 to transfer to credits; we will strongly consider this when deciding whether or not to invest into EC or just entirely Worldmark, Thanks for all of the info!

 

[rhonda]

50,000 WM credits does sound huge ... until one thinks about a family of 6 (needing 2 or 3 BR units) trying to travel 3 to 4 weeks each year. Going a bit smaller (30k?) and adding the Eagle Crest "Exchange Plus" option might not be a bad idea. Tips on Exchange Plus, last time I looked at it:

• Determine in advance how many points you'll get from the Exchange Plus transaction. Generally, points received are about 80% of points you'd pay for an outbound exchange of similar size/season. Select properties receive 100% exchange value and I'm pretty sure Eagle Crest is on that list. If so, you should expect 10,000 WM trade credits for each 2BR RED week deposited from Eagle Crest.
• Trade Credits are maintained separately from normal WM credits. They have a few special characteristics: Trade Credits expire 12 months from your deposited week's check-in date and cannot be transfered to other WM owner accounts.
• The Exchange Plus fee is $135 (?) for most properties. I believe Eagle Crest, as one of the special properties, is only $35 (?).
• The Exchange Plus paperwork must be completed each year you wish to trade your Eagle Crest for WM points. (A single page application faxed to WM's exchange department). This needs to be done at least 45 days (?) from your Eagle Crest check-in date in order to receive WM credits.

I'm rusty on the details -- I'm sure someone will come by later with better/current description of the program.

 

[Piscesqueen]

50,000 WM credits does sound huge ... until one thinks about a family of 6 (needing 2 or 3 BR units) trying to travel 3 to 4 weeks each year. Going a bit smaller (30k?) and adding the Eagle Crest "Exchange Plus" option might not be a bad idea. Tips on Exchange Plus, last time I looked at it:

• Determine in advance how many points you'll get from the Exchange Plus transaction. Generally, points received are about 80% of points you'd pay for an outbound exchange of similar size/season. Select properties receive 100% exchange value and I'm pretty sure Eagle Crest is on that list. If so, you should expect 10,000 WM trade credits for each 2BR RED week deposited from Eagle Crest.
• Trade Credits are maintained separately from normal WM credits. They have a few special characteristics: Trade Credits expire 12 months from your deposited week's check-in date and cannot be transfered to other WM owner accounts.
• The Exchange Plus fee is $135 (?) for most properties. I believe Eagle Crest, as one of the special properties, is only $35 (?).
• The Exchange Plus paperwork must be completed each year you wish to trade your Eagle Crest for WM points. (A single page application faxed to WM's exchange department). This needs to be done at least 45 days (?) from your Eagle Crest check-in date in order to receive WM points.

I'm rusty on the details -- I'm sure someone will come by later with better/current description of the program.

Thank you so much for this info; it is very helpful! We do love to spend as much time with our children as possible and that's why we are looking at such a high point range; by the way, is there a limit to how much WorldMark will let you buy? I am so new to this that I don't know of "shortcuts" and such, therefore I am very open to absolutely any information that is provided. Trust me, I'm very thankful that I've stumbled across this forum!

 

[rhonda]

We think we live in the best area for "drive to" vacations because it's so fun and beautiful! We are so excited to buy into WorldMark and look forward to all of the wonderful family vacactions !

Certainly! Click >HERE< for a glimpse of how we used our WM credits for a great roadtrip through western states.

 

[rhonda]

More info on Exchange Plus from recent discussion.

Don't off hand know the limit -- but 50k won't be any worry.

 

[Robert D]

I've never seen a 50K membership for sale on Ebay. How much would one that big cost and how much would the annual M&T's be?

 

[rhonda]

Schedule of 2008 Maintenance Fees posted on WMOwners.com.

If you can't find a single "ready to go" account of 50k you could always bundle several accounts together.

 

[larry_WM]

I've never seen a 50K membership for sale on Ebay. How much would one that big cost and how much would the annual M&T's be?

You can bundle a 50,000 WM membership for less than 30K, The MF fee is $2208. You rarely see any 50,000 membership for sale because only those who love WM buy such big membership and they rarely sell it.

There was one TS equivalence to 46000 credit for sale yesterday for just $8826 on Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=270301971782
I almost want to bid more than 10K, but I am not really confident on the seller
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85547

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77900&page=3


This TS can be bought somewhere around $25K

 

[Bill4728]

I've never seen a 50K membership for sale on Ebay. How much would one that big cost and how much would the annual M&T's be?

The poster isn't buying a 50K WM account but a fractional that was built and sold by TrendWest. Part of the deal was that you could use your weeks at the fractional condo in the WM system. And if you traded all your fractional weeks, you'd get 50K WM points.

 

[BocaBum99]

The only way I would purchase the fractional is if you were going to go to Eagle Crest for multiple weeks per year. Buy it if you want to use it.

If you want to get into WorldMark and use WorldMark resorts, your much better strategy is to buy a small WorldMark package and rent the credits you need whenever you need them.

That fractional will become a boat anchor if you aren't using it a lot. And, when you compare the overall annual fees of your fractional vs. the credits you will get, you will see that renting may yield a better result. And, you won't be required to use 50000 credit every single year for the rest of your life.

 

[Piscesqueen]

You all have been VERY helpful and I'm thankful for all of your advice. We still aren't 100% on how many credits we want to buy but we are going to do our homework before we jump in right away and you all have been a wonderful start! Renting makes sense but I'm extremely nervous about the whole renting process and trust issues and I'm wondering if it's something that we should avoid (and just buy the extra credits).

 

[rhonda]

Renting makes sense but I'm extremely nervous about the whole renting process and trust issues and I'm wondering if it's something that we should avoid (and just buy the extra credits).

Renting/transferring credits across WM owner accounts is a fairly simple process. Once the rented credits have been transferred into your WM account you have total control over their use and the reservations booked on those credits.

 

[BocaBum99]

You all have been VERY helpful and I'm thankful for all of your advice. We still aren't 100% on how many credits we want to buy but we are going to do our homework before we jump in right away and you all have been a wonderful start! Renting makes sense but I'm extremely nervous about the whole renting process and trust issues and I'm wondering if it's something that we should avoid (and just buy the extra credits).

Renting is very safe if you use a reputable vendor. There are many of them today.

 

[larry_WM]

The only way I would purchase the fractional is if you were going to go to Eagle Crest for multiple weeks per year. Buy it if you want to use it.

If you want to get into WorldMark and use WorldMark resorts, your much better strategy is to buy a small WorldMark package and rent the credits you need whenever you need them.

That fractional will become a boat anchor if you aren't using it a lot. And, when you compare the overall annual fees of your fractional vs. the credits you will get, you will see that renting may yield a better result. And, you won't be required to use 50000 credit every single year for the rest of your life.

The TS sold in Ebay is not Eagle Crest ( there are plenty of them and MF fee is very high). This is Southshore Trendwest Residence Club, a favorite location, manage by wyndham, have a favorable trading point (12K point for 2 bedroom). There are only 40 members sold at this location, so it's hard to buy.
Check out this
http://uno.us/SouthShore1BR/Fractional1BR/FractionalSouthShore1BR.htm