Advice for newb

I have been reading on here a few days and realized there's a lot more to this than I first realized. I at least wanted to post and get some feedback on a coule things.

1.) I live in the Southeast and have small kids so we would want to buy from a company that has numerous properties located in our area. Who would you recommend we buy from?

2) Is it at all possible to purchase enough points to rent out a week and have a week or two available to use? Using the rentos income to offset MF's?

Thanks!!

Adam

Find a couple of rentals at resorts you think look good before you but. Then buy resale. Bruce

Start by renting, not buying.

Take your time.

Prices aren't going up.

Definitely buy resale.

Heckhelm said:

I have been reading on here a few days and realized there's a lot more to this than I first realized. I at least wanted to post and get some feedback on a coule things.

1.) I live in the Southeast and have small kids so we would want to buy from a company that has numerous properties located in our area. Who would you recommend we buy from?

2) Is it at all possible to purchase enough points to rent out a week and have a week or two available to use? Using the rentos income to offset MF's?

Thanks!!

Adam

Click to expand...

Wyndham has lots or resorts in the SouthEast. And yes it is possible to buy enough points that you can rent some and use some. But I would suggest the ratio is different than what you are hoping for.. Id figure on renting 2 to pay for 3, and the 2 better be good. Its not as easy as it sounds, and more have failed trying to do it than have succeeded.

I started with 385000 wyndham points with mf of about $2500. I made 3 reservations; rented 2 to pay my mf and used 1 myself. So I know it can work...The problem is that there are just not that weeks you can get for that few points and rent for that much money

Thank you all for the info. We will definitely follow the renting before buying advice. I haven't looked into how to find rentals. Is it safe to rent from users on this forum??

Ron, thanks for the info on Wyndham. I had been liking into them and bluegreen as possibilities. It seemed like bg took away perks from buyers that bought resale. I will look into how Wyndham works and their point system. I didn't realize the ratio would be that bad. Rent 2, use 1 instead of 1:1. But that's ok. I own a property management company so I'm used to renting.

You said there are not many weeks to get for so few points and rent for enough money. So, buying a large inexpensive point package at a not so popular resort and trying to use the points at a popular resort to maximize my rental income will not work very well?

There is a sticky that explains all the ins and outs of renting from an owner. i have done this numerous times and have had no problems. Just follow the advice on the sticky.

So...with a floating Wyndham points package, I do not have any week that I am contracted to? I only have a "home resort"?

And at this home resort I have ARP that starts 13 months out and ends at the last day of 11 months out that I can book my vacations at said home resort before everyone else that isn't at my home resort books theirs?

If this is true, then I would want my home resort to be somewhere that is popular to most OTHER vacationers, and not so much to myself because I would want ARP at a popular resort and have ARP to book the points in a prime week that would bring the most amount of money to cover my MF's. We are overall flexible in our travel times, so there isn't a certain week that we would need to travel.

If all of the above is correct, what's a ballpark figure on what is left at a resort starting 10 months out? That question may to be too general and have too many variables to answer.

Do people sit at their computers and wait at the 10 month mark to grab the best reservations? Or do most people not maximize the value of planning out their vacations in advance?

Going to eBay to check out prices...

Thanks,
Adam

some handy articles about renting

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/tug_timeshare_advice.shtml#renting

Welcome to Tug. You are on the right foot by reading this web site. Read this web site board called "Advice section" about timeshare and its history. TRY TO BUY RESELL. First, rent several time shares CLOSE TO YOU, Second do not Buy from a Developer.

Good Luck

Wyndham is a very complex system --- rules and history of TS'ing varies the rules. They regularly add new programs to all "select" features for only the NEW PROGRAM ... which can change the rules for THAT program from other/prior select features.

Do NOT BUY ANYTHING Wyndham until you know HOW your family will be vacationing in the next 10+ years. Easy to buy, harder to sell -- esp the odd ball week or the BAD selection (like the high cost of MFs at a resort).

Some Wyndham resorts have multiple layers of ownership"
Fixed Weeks
Floating Weeks
Split Weeks in the FW system
Seasons which make no sense until you realize THAT is Race Week or Mardi Grais or was Race Week. Or that Thanksgiving is either 46 or 47, but both cost more in points forever, maybe only at 67% of the resorts.

Some resorts for a PRIME season you MUST have ARP; some have no ARP available as everything was SOLD as a FW originally but some owners converted to points, but the ARP goes with the converted fixed week's points.

So, if it seems confusing --- it is. And then Wyndham brought several independent operating timeshare systems - like Shell Vacation Resorts. Dang, it was easier to just buy several Shell Vacation points packages to get the stays I wanted at their resorts. And a DVC package. And come Fixed Weeks at the Wyndham resorts (off eBay for sure).

And that is how a timeshare junkie evolves ....