Importance of home resort

I've been considering the possibility of purchasing Wyndham timeshare points resale. I originally started researching this a few months ago, then dropped the idea, then a few weeks ago as I was planning a trip for next year I thought, gosh, this would have been a nice time to own some Wyndham points, so here I am again! I've been reading on these boards, reading through the Wyndham members directory, looking at various sites for resales, thinking about how we would use a timeshare, and just doing as much research as possible. We've mainly done cruises for vacations over the past several years, which we do love, but I really wanted to start adding in some land vacations so I don't get sick of cruising. I am a big planner and like booking my vacations up to a year in advance, so the idea of a TS is really appealing to me.

The thing I keep coming back to is that if we choose to buy, how important is the home resort to us? So that got me thinking of how we would vacation. We're a family of 4 with 5 and 6 year old kids and live in NC, and some of the key places we'd visit would be Myrtle Beach, Orlando, and Washington DC. Possibly also some of the Florida beaches - the Daytona Beach one looks really nice - and Smoky Mountains, all of these are in decent driving distance. We could definitely travel to Orlando and DC in value seasons for no more than a week at a time (I wouldn't want my girls to miss more than a week of school a year) but for the beach we'd likely go during high to prime times from April to early August. I'm thinking about starting with either an annual contract in the 110-120K points range or biennial contract in the 220K-240K range, which would be enough to get is a week in a 2 bedroom at most resorts during prime season every other year. I'd be fine with more points, but would like to keep MFs in the $60-$80 month range. Like most people, we want to buy resale with as little upfront money as possible, but also with as low MFs as possible, I'm realistically thinking somewhere in the low $5 per 1000 points to low $6 per 1000 point range.

Given all of that, do you think it would be best to find a contract with a home resort at a Myrtle Beach resort, because of the regional ARP? From what I've read up here, it seems like it's hard to get some Myrtle Beach resorts in prime season without ARP, but what about for the other places we'd visit like Orlando (Bonnet Creek), DC (National Harbor) or Daytona (Ocean Walk)? We likely would only do 4 night trips to beaches, but likely week long trips to Orlando, so with the points I'm looking at I think I'd be fine if we had to book at a higher point resort like Ocean Blvd. DC trips could vary, but probably 4 nights as well. For places in decent driving distance to us I'd be fine with some short 3 to 4 night trips instead of needing a week at a time.

I've been looking at lots of resale listings, and it seems the cheapest ones upfront have the highest MFs, so it must take a bit of persistence to find one with a nice balance of cheap upfront fees with average MFs. I'm in no hurry, so I'm fine with stalking for as long as I can to find a good deal! One more thing: has anyone noticed a better time of the year to find good resale deals? Like are more people likely to look to sell their TS around when bills for yearly dues come in December, I assume? Thanks for your help.

The MF per 1K has really MOVED up to the low $6 per K.

Basicly, Wyndham does NOT change the points needed for a resort stay - as those UDI points TOTALS are deeded and limited to a total reflecting the points at a property. When we talk about POINT INFLATION on TUG, it reflects the NUMBER of points needed to book at a NEW resort (seasons and units size) increases very much.

So, discussing regional ARP at MB, people try to buy at the newest resort but book at the older properties (which book VERY fast as they are also the smaller resorts in number of units).

Yes, I own at OW but I general go further South to Pompano Beach - esp in the summer, as there is more availability and more & better neighborhood & restruants over Dayton Beach. Plus, I never had to listen the younger generation WHINE about going to "THE PARKS".

Now, here are some more to issues: short stays will have you paying both RT and HKs (reservation transactions and housekeeping credits). So, an RT is $49 each now and HKs are based on unit sizes. If you are only going on 1 or 2 trips planned far in advance (and YOU don't change them to used your points), YOU should be okay (and not paying those fees).

As for discounted vacations, you will on short notice be checking the RESORT SPECIALS section of the WEB site .. discount points stays up to 8 weeks before check in. BUT you should remember, VIP level owners get discounts of 25%-50% off (depending on their personal VIP level) PLUS if available, they can get a FREE unit UPGRADE (can go from a STUDIO unit to 2BDR+ or larger. You WOULD be better off, paying cash to a "mega-renter" for those stays ... you could NOT match the price. But many of those stays are for lesser seasons; and within the 15 day from check in stay, noncancellation with FULL PAYMENT required at booking.

You need to consider also if you will need MORE points or learning about Credit Pooling points.

Join Tug! Best investment in Timesharing,lot of advice from people who enjoy Timesharing and no hidden agendas!
TerryC

You only need to own a specific resort if you need ARP. So you could own bonnet Creek or Panama City Beach (low MF) and never go to those resorts. Myrtle Beach in the summer (JUN-AUG) would need ARP to get into the cheaper credit resorts. Non-spring break APR and MAY do not need ARP.

120k points is not enough to get a 2 BR in most of your locations, so it appears you are banking on 1 BRs. I'd rent a 1 BR at some of your preferred destinations to see if they are large enough for you. The kids will only get bigger. A 2BR would rate 184-231k in many newer resorts.

If you were thinking of stretching your points by pooling them, doing so loses ARP, thus defeating the reason for buying MB.

As for seasonality of TS sales, I think the "price dip" is a holdover from the days of fixed weeks when one had to pay a full year's MF around December. A points-based ownership pays monthly, so there really isn't as big a difference anymore. You may, however, find that you'll be asked to reimburse some amount of MF. This is because you'll have use of the current year points in many cases. At this late point in the year, however, it will be very difficult to get a Wyndham transfer complete before the end of December, so I would only look for deals in which MF are paid by seller.

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Minerva said:

Given all of that, do you think it would be best to find a contract with a home resort at a Myrtle Beach resort, because of the regional ARP? From what I've read up here, it seems like it's hard to get some Myrtle Beach resorts in prime season without ARP, but what about for the other places we'd visit like Orlando (Bonnet Creek), DC (National Harbor) or Daytona (Ocean Walk)? We likely would only do 4 night trips to beaches, but likely week long trips to Orlando, so with the points I'm looking at I think I'd be fine if we had to book at a higher point resort like Ocean Blvd. DC trips could vary, but probably 4 nights as well. For places in decent driving distance to us I'd be fine with some short 3 to 4 night trips instead of needing a week at a time.

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Of the ones you mentioned, Myrtle Beach is the only one that you need ARP in the Summer. If you look at availability right now for July 19, 2015. The only Myrtle Beach resorts that have any availability are Ocean Boulevard and Towers on the Grove, and Towers has only 1BR available. Staying at Ocean Boulevard takes a lot of points, as you probably know if you have read the directory. At OB there is plenty of availability for at July 19th checkin, but since you mentioned 2BR, here is whats available.
7 Nights 2BR Ocean View Upper 350,000 points
7 Nights 2BR Ocean View Lower 300,000 points
7 Nights 2BR (no view) 224,000

4 nights (sun- thur) 2BR Ocean view upper 168,000
4 nights (sun - thur) 2 BR (no view) 108,000

If you owned at OB you could then book as say SeaWatch at 13 months and probably get a 2BR Deluxe for 7 nights for 203,000 points or 4 nights Sunday - Thursday for 96,000

Daytona Beach doesn't have this problem. you can book right now for July 19th with the same point cost at Sea Watch.

And Orlando is also pretty available at 10 months
At Bonnet Creek you can get a 2BR Dlx for 7 nights for 224,000 or even a 2BR presidential or 3BR dlx for 308,000

If you need Myrtle Beach in the summer I would buy there. As your girls get older it might get more difficult to pull them out of school for a week.
If you decide you don't need Myrtle in the summer. Then you could look for lower MF. Though as you mentioned Lower MF means higher initial cost.

You might consider CWA (Club Wyndham Access). With CWA you get ARP at about 70 Wyndham Resorts including Sea Watch. However, during ARP, you can only book into the units that are in the CWA Trust. I have never tried to book into Myrtle Beach with my CWA, so I don't know how much availability there is. CWA is an average MF since it is made up of many Wyndham Resorts, currently the MF is $4.90/k plus the program fee, which is $.55/k with a minimum of $118.00 per year.

If you shop for low MF, among the lowest are Panama City Beach FL, South Shore NV, Canterbury SF,CA, Bali Hai, HI. I own Panama City Beach which is $3.66/k plus the program fee.

Good luck on your decision.

There are only two reasons to buy one Wyndham points contract over another, Maintenance Fees and Advanced Reservation Priority. You already understand that the lowest maintenance fees will cost you the most to buy. and I think you realize that having ARP at one resort doesnt give you ARP at any others (except Myrtle Beach).

In my opinion and experience Myrtle Beach in the summer is the toughest reservation of the places you mentioned, Id look for something in Myrtle Beach, but I have been able to make July 4th reservations there at 10 months. so thats probably not really necessary, Id go with the cheapest maintenance fees I can find at a reasonable price. (Unless of course you expect to be invited to an Inaugural Ball one year, National Harbor should be your choice)

Some low mf resorts are National Harbor, Panama City Beach, Bali Hai and San Francisco.

Good luck.

I was thinking I would be pooling points, but you brought up something else I had a question about that I now have an answer to. In the directory it said that you could only use regular points for ARP, which confused me because I had read about being able to pool points. But it sounds like if I wanted to use ARP I would have to have that number of regular, non-pooled points allotted to me for the year. It's not until I get to the 10 month point that I could use pooled points then, is that correct? I was thinking I could pool one years worth of 120K points then the next year use the 120K pooled plus 120K regular points to make a reservation - which it sounds like I can do at 10 months but not at 13 months. So if I'm thinking about this correctly I'm gong need to rethink the number of points I would need or get a larger every other year contract, which I don't seem to find as often.

That's good to know about the different resorts, especially the availability now, it gives me a good perspective. I have to remember this needs to be something that will work for us over time, and as my girls get older I won't be pulling them out of school very much, in fact I'll probably only do it for another few years or so. So if we decide to do this, I need to base things off of what we could do in prime season.

Minerva said:

I was thinking I would be pooling points, but you brought up something else I had a question about that I now have an answer to. In the directory it said that you could only use regular points for ARP, which confused me because I had read about being able to pool points. But it sounds like if I wanted to use ARP I would have to have that number of regular, non-pooled points allotted to me for the year. It's not until I get to the 10 month point that I could use pooled points then, is that correct? I was thinking I could pool one years worth of 120K points then the next year use the 120K pooled plus 120K regular points to make a reservation - which it sounds like I can do at 10 months but not at 13 months. So if I'm thinking about this correctly I'm gong need to rethink the number of points I would need or get a larger every other year contract, which I don't seem to find as often.

That's good to know about the different resorts, especially the availability now, it gives me a good perspective. I have to remember this needs to be something that will work for us over time, and as my girls get older I won't be pulling them out of school very much, in fact I'll probably only do it for another few years or so. So if we decide to do this, I need to base things off of what we could do in prime season.

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You are correct. If you want to use ARP you can't put your points in the Credit pool. I always put any points I don't need for ARP in the credit pool.

I think there is a sort of sweet spot for a relatively small contract. I think that is 231k annual points. The reason for that is that 231 is 3 times 77 and you get 1 free RT (reservation transaction) per 77k. Also 231 gets you above the minimum program fee of $118.00.
To give you an idea of monthly cost for 231k points.
CWA 231k points monthly cost would be $104.91
Panama City Beach Monthly Cost would be 81.04

I agree with Mark that multiples of 77 are the most advantageous contracts. It is better to go slightly over than slightly under. So rather than your 120k points I would go up to 154k or 168k. Both are common contract sizes. If you want the newer resorts, you will definitely need a larger contract or will need to pool points.

Good luck! You are going about this in the right way!

Congratulations on all the research you have already done... you are definitely going about it the right way. Good luck - don't forget once you've decided that a snipe is your friend on ebay. Takes the emotion out of it... make sure you pay your price or less.

I do think there is more seasonality to Wyndham pricing than many others, and I'm not quite sure what accounts for it. Worldmark pricing, for example, is pretty stable around $.30/credit. But Wyndham pricing is all over the place and time of year does seem to make a difference. Early this year I got some very attractive resorts for around $2/K. You can't touch them now for $5/K. But early next year - you might see them there again. (or not!) The key takeaway from this is to be patient.