Points lease

[ctjuan]

A while back there was an advertisement in TUG to lease RCI points for 3 or 4 years at a time. Can someone direct me to that link please, or another similar offer if available.
Thanks,
Juan

 

[BocaBum99]

It's a good deal. Go for it.

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/classifieds/viewad-192.html

 

[ctjuan]

Yeppers

Thanks Boca ! Knew that link had to be hiding somewhere.
Juan

 

[timeos2]

A while back there was an advertisement in TUG to lease RCI points for 3 or 4 years at a time. Can someone direct me to that link please, or another similar offer if available.
Thanks,
Juan

Here's the one from TUG

 

[jasenj1]

The wife and I just went to our first points sales presentation. For the style of travel we do, I think it might be a better choice than fixed weeks. We're not the kind of travelers who go to the same place year after year; we like seeing new places.

The lowest price they offered us was $8400 for 63,000 RCI points every other year. MF of $460 (which is below the $0.01/pt others have said is a good benchmark). So other than the way too high purchase price, it looks not too bad.

I also just looked at the RCI Points lease offer and for a new person I did the math and it breaks down like this:

99 price
299 admin & closing costs
224 first year RCI fees
420 MF for 43,500 points
------
$1042 for the first year

420 MF
124 RCI Membership
------
$544 for years 2 and 3

$2130 total for 3 years
$710/yr

Do I need to add exchange fees to that math? If so, that adds another $164/yr (assuming one week vacations) making the total $874/yr.

That doesn't seem like such a good deal compared to renting someone's unit does it? Or is ~$900/yr what I should expect to pay to maintain the timeshare "hobby"?

- Jasen.

 

[Bill4728]

That doesn't seem like such a good deal compared to renting someone's unit does it? Or is ~$900/yr what I should expect to pay to maintain the timeshare "hobby"?

- Jasen.

For many people, renting someone else's TS is a good deal. It maybe a good deal for you too.

BUT, IMHO, ~$900 /year (for 3 years) isn't a bad amount of money to see if RCI points would work for your family. Most people buy a TS for >$10,000, then after a few years, find they don't want thier TS and sell at a huge loss.

 

[rsonc]

I just bought one of those lease... since I own several timeshares I went with the 15k points per year with a $147.00 yearly m/f and then I will use the PFD with some of my other timeshares, I have a bahamas timeshare that has low m/f but doesn't trade all that well but it gives me 49,500 points with the pfd program and a couple of my other ones will also give me a good amount of points too.

I plan on using this for the timeshares that I am not using or that I didn't rent out (I know I need to deposit them a min. of 3 months in advance).

I had RCI points once before and really liked it but the m/f were getting high and the resort is too far to travel to so we sold it a few years ago, we had used the 9k points a couple of times to go to Eagle Crest in March which worked out great.

Oh it took 3 weeks from the time that I told them I would purchase until my account was set up in RCI and I was able to use it.

Susan

 

[philsfan]

The wife and I just went to our first points sales presentation. For the style of travel we do, I think it might be a better choice than fixed weeks. We're not the kind of travelers who go to the same place year after year; we like seeing new places.

The lowest price they offered us was $8400 for 63,000 RCI points every other year. MF of $460 (which is below the $0.01/pt others have said is a good benchmark). So other than the way too high purchase price, it looks not too bad.

I also just looked at the RCI Points lease offer and for a new person I did the math and it breaks down like this:

99 price
299 admin & closing costs
224 first year RCI fees
420 MF for 43,500 points
------
$1042 for the first year

420 MF
124 RCI Membership
------
$544 for years 2 and 3

$2130 total for 3 years
$710/yr

Do I need to add exchange fees to that math? If so, that adds another $164/yr (assuming one week vacations) making the total $874/yr.

That doesn't seem like such a good deal compared to renting someone's unit does it? Or is ~$900/yr what I should expect to pay to maintain the timeshare "hobby"?

- Jasen.

Another thing to consider is that if you can take more than one vacation and you can travel at the last minute (45 days or less) you could take 4 or 5 weeks of vacation since those weeks only cost 9K pts or less.

Let's say you just take two. Now you're up to $1038 per year but that's only $519 each. If you take three, your up to $1200 and down to $400 per week.

That doesn't fit a lot of people's lifestyle but it works for some.

 

[JudyS]

Another thing to consider is that if you can take more than one vacation and you can travel at the last minute (45 days or less) you could take 4 or 5 weeks of vacation since those weeks only cost 9K pts or less.

Let's say you just take two. Now you're up to $1038 per year but that's only $519 each. If you take three, your up to $1200 and down to $400 per week.

That doesn't fit a lot of people's lifestyle but it works for some.

That's what I was going to say, too. A lot of the real deals in timesharing come when you can make multiple exchanges per year.

Also, you can get some fabulous deals by trading in to high end timeshares such as Marriotts; however, most of those trade in II, not RCI.

RCI Points is flexible and has probably the best "inventory" (i.e., the widest number of resorts and dates) of any exchange company; however, it is not necessarily the cheapest route for exchanging.

If you'll tell us when, where, and how often you plan to travel, we can give you an idea of what you might expect to pay per week, and whether renting would work better than trading for you.

 

[jasenj1]

If you'll tell us when, where, and how often you plan to travel, we can give you an idea of what you might expect to pay per week, and whether renting would work better than trading for you.

Well this is probably more suitable for the Newbies board, but since you asked...

We are a married couple in our mid & late 30s with one 4 year-old daughter, and another child on the way. We live in VA near Williamsburg. As I mentioned before, I have family scattered across the US (CA, FL, MA, OR). We budget about ~$2k/yr for vacation - including airfare. Historically, our "vacations" mostly consist of visiting family - gotta let the great-grandparents see the little one(s).

In the next few years, our family will be too big to stay with relatives comfortably, so I'd like to start thinking of providing our own accommodations for those trips. Also, we'd like to start carving out "family" vacations where we DON'T visit relatives but instead expose the kiddos to lots of nifty things. And start planning for some Mom & Dad getaways where we send the kids to Grandma's.

Going forward I'd like to take 2 weeklong vacations each year. One for visiting relatives and one for just our family. Historically we don't do many 3 day long-weekend type trips because we're active in our church and usually have obligations there. We do ski and like to take one or two weekend ski trips to nearby resorts.

Part of what we're dealing with, I believe, is defining our family - which is rather new for us. We find ourselves having conversations like, "In two years the kids will be X old, so let's go to Y. Our 10th anniversary is A years away, lets think about doing B." Really long term planning stuff that's never been part of our lives before.

That enough info?

- Jasen.

 

[gorevs9]

The wife and I just went to our first points sales presentation. For the style of travel we do, I think it might be a better choice than fixed weeks. We're not the kind of travelers who go to the same place year after year; we like seeing new places.

The lowest price they offered us was $8400 for 63,000 RCI points every other year. MF of $460 (which is below the $0.01/pt others have said is a good benchmark). So other than the way too high purchase price, it looks not too bad.

I also just looked at the RCI Points lease offer and for a new person I did the math and it breaks down like this:

99 price
299 admin & closing costs
224 first year RCI fees
420 MF for 43,500 points
------
$1042 for the first year

420 MF
124 RCI Membership
------
$544 for years 2 and 3

$2130 total for 3 years
$710/yr

Do I need to add exchange fees to that math? If so, that adds another $164/yr (assuming one week vacations) making the total $874/yr.

That doesn't seem like such a good deal compared to renting someone's unit does it? Or is ~$900/yr what I should expect to pay to maintain the timeshare "hobby"?

- Jasen.

Unless you like to stay at the Marriotts, DVCs, etc, $900 is a reasonable cost for your "hobby". Especially since you did not have to pay out thousands of dollars to get started.

You're final figure will be actually closer to $800 than $900. Pay years 2-3 of the RCI membership at one time ($229 vs $248). Points exchange fees are only $124 for 7 days (vs $164 for a "weeks" exchange), but I guess I'm nickel and diming it.
Assuming RCI fee and MF stays stable, if you continue for an additional three years, it will only be $99 + $319 (3 yrs RCI) + $420 for $560/yr.

Based on your family description you may want to opt for more points. 43,000 points might limit you mostly to one bedrooms or two bedroom units in lower quality resorts. If you plan a vacation during a peak period you may need more than 43,000 to get where you want to go.

Leasing 63,000 or 83,000 will only cost you an additional $156 or $296 respectively. The 83,000 points will give you a lot more flexibility when you want to book that 2 bedroom unit so you don't have to put the children in the bedroom while Mom and Dad sleep on the sofa bed or when you want to bring the grandparents along. If you plan it right, 83,000 points can get you two, three, or even more vacations.

 

[JudyS]

.....I have family scattered across the US (CA, FL, MA, OR). We budget about ~$2k/yr for vacation - including airfare. Historically, our "vacations" mostly consist of visiting family - gotta let the great-grandparents see the little one(s).

In the next few years, our family will be too big to stay with relatives comfortably, so I'd like to start thinking of providing our own accommodations for those trips. Also, we'd like to start carving out "family" vacations where we DON'T visit relatives but instead expose the kiddos to lots of nifty things. And start planning for some Mom & Dad getaways where we send the kids to Grandma's.

Going forward I'd like to take 2 weeklong vacations each year. One for visiting relatives and one for just our family. Historically we don't do many 3 day long-weekend type trips because we're active in our church and usually have obligations there. We do ski and like to take one or two weekend ski trips to nearby resorts......

Well, if you plan to do mostly week-long trips, I don't see a big advantage to owning points. The #1 thing RCI Points (and most other points-based systems) give you is the ability to book in increments other than 7 days. You generally pay a big premium for this added flexibility. If you plan to do full weeks and are trying to keep the cost per week down, I would suggest buying a week-based trader instead. Whether you need a strong trader or not depends on when and where you want to go.

Ski vacations in the Southeast US are a pretty easy trade, I believe, although perhaps someone with more experience can chime in here. As for your other destinations, I would need to know more details. If you plan to visit Florida, would Orlando be your destination? Orlando has tons of inventory, but inventory in SW Florida is very limited. Similarly, the coast of Southern California is an extremely tough trade except during the winter, whereas inland Southern California is an easy trade almost anytime of year except Christmas.

Once your oldest child is in school, will you be tied to the standard school schedule? If so, that calls for a stronger trader.

I generally pay no more than $600 total for a week's stay, by the way. The average I spend is probably about $500. I think the average on TUG is about $700 a week, but I specialize in finding cheap ways to trade! Everything I've ever stayed in has been Gold Crown/5-star; typically, it's been a DVC or Marriott. However, I do a lot of Orlando stays, and that's a very easy trade. Trading allows you to stay in high-end timeshares such as Marriotts for far less than renting. However, if you are just looking for the cheapest possible condo, rentals may work better.

 

[philsfan]

Well, if you plan to do mostly week-long trips, I don't see a big advantage to owning points. The #1 thing RCI Points (and most other points-based systems) give you is the ability to book in increments other than 7 days. You generally pay a big premium for this added flexibility. If you plan to do full weeks and are trying to keep the cost per week down, I would suggest buying a week-based trader instead. Whether you need a strong trader or not depends on when and where you want to go.

Along the lines of a weeks based trader, if you can find a lockout unit, that would get two trips for one maintenance fee. I once owned a 3 bdr lockout in Duck, NC. RCI let me bank it as a 1 bdr and a 2 bdr so I got two trades for my $450 mf fee.

 

[rsonc]

Have you looked into Vacation Internationale (www.vacationinternationale.com)

They have resorts in OR, CA, MA, FL, and CO. They are mostly on the west coast but they have instant exchanges with several companies and one is Powhatan Platation in VA and it looks like they have added some new ones too, the instant exchanges are for 7 nights but the Worldmar and VI resorts can be as little as 3 day.

You can't see these on there website but I could put one month in a pdf format and email it to you if you wanted to see it.

They also have access to 15 of the worldmark resorts with very limited inventory most only show 1-3 units per day.

The m/f have gone up some in the last year and some destinations you have to pay an exchange fee but we use them for long weekends at the Oregon Coast, sunriver and Hawaii, it works well for us since we like the short weekends and we can extend our points out by doing long weekends we just have to pay an additonal maid fee if we split our points into long weekends.

They will also allow you to deposit (fee) your other timeshares into your account and use them for other resorts that they have inventory at or the instant exchanges. I have done this a few times and it works out great.

Susan

 

[TheFlush]

Would it make sense to lease the minimum number of points and then buy cheap low MF weeks resorts for PFD? How would that compare to leaseing a larger points package?

 

[gorevs9]

Would it make sense to lease the minimum number of points and then buy cheap low MF weeks resorts for PFD? How would that compare to leaseing a larger points package?

The 83K points lease is $565/yr more than the 13K points lease. All the other initial costs are the same.

To get the additional 70,000 points from a PFD, you would need to buy either a 3 BR Gold Crown unit or a 2 BR GC in Hawaii, Caribbean, or Europe. I can't imagine you can do that for a MF of less than $600/yr (not to mention the initial purchase).

The 63K points lease is a bit cheaper at $425/yr more than the 13K points lease. But you still have to buy a 2BR Gold Crown or 2 BR Silver Crown w/LO to get the 50K points with PFD.

If the resort you purchased for PFD, converts to an RCI Points resort, you would no longer be able to do the PFD.

Furthermore, if you decide you no longer want to be involved, with the lease all you need to do is not renew the lease.

 

[AwayWeGo]

No Up-Front Fees For Not Renewing.

Furthermore, if you decide you no longer want to be involved, with the lease all you need to do is not renew the lease.

That free & easy timeshare exit strategy is 1 more appealing feature of the 3-year renewable RTU points-timeshare lease.

That's what we'd have gone with instead of buying a dinky points timeshare if we had known about the lease possibility at the time.

Live & learn, eh ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[RLG]

Does this guy still exist?

I sent him and email and a PM and haven't heard anything back.

I'm not sure why someone would bother paying for an ad if they're not going to respond to inquiry.

 

[philsfan]

Does this guy still exist?

I sent him and email and a PM and haven't heard anything back.

I'm not sure why someone would bother paying for an ad if they're not going to respond to inquiry.

He could be on vacation.

 

[allenh91801]

I called him and talked to him this week. He gave me a lot of good info. However he will not have any points until the end of the year.

Allen