203,000 annual points at Wyndham Kingsgate for $400 total. Maintenance fees are $103/month. No other fees or costs. Is this a good deal?
I think a fair question to ask is "What are your goals with Time Share?" or likely "Where do you want to go and WHEN?" as that can make all the difference. Are you specifically looking for low maintenance fees contracts and are cool with where you want to go 10 months out? Do you need ARP anywhere for specific times of the year?
I'm still the new kid here but clearly remember someone somewhere saying buy where you want to go and that stuck with me. I own at Clearwater for ARP and just the ability to go when I want to go and at a point level staying in Presidential Suites and I paid dearly for that contract retail (before I knew about this forum). That said there is not much clearwater on the resale market yet as it is new. I imagine the 10 year loans they typically in the sales office will roll off in time and folks will dump them on the resale market and I'll be waiting...ha ha. It just so happens that maintenance fees are not that bad on Clearwater, but i want clearwater and so I bought there and that was my primary motivator.
Once I stumbled upon this forum and got schooled by the knowledgable and listened all opinions on whether VIP was worth it or not and looked at WHERE I want to go and WHEN. i realized that where I want to go and when many times required ARP to get what I wanted on peak times...for now Spring Break week at Clearwater and Mid Summer at Myrtle Beach in Ocean Front Rooms Ocean Blvd...and soon multi room presidential suites at Bonnett Creek.
I see my family (wife, two boys 11 and 9) taking 3 week'ish vacations per year and maybe wifey and I taking a long weekend in Vegas:
1. Spring Break at Clearwater as it's further south in Florida and warmer than Panama City (popular for us Georgia Folk)
2. Mid Summer at Myrtle Beach because Florida is a hell hole in the summer and I don't go to Florida in the Summer...lol
3. Thanksgiving/Christmas in Orlando at Bonnet Creek as we love the location, amenities, and the ROOMS, and we escape the cold for a week!!
This spreads my vacations out almost evenly throughout the year and keeps my sanity and I have found I'm a much happier person enjoying life going on these trips.
I did spend a lot of time in the forums looking at low maintenance fees cost and made that chart that you see people posting above. I wanted to see how many points I could get per $1000 spend in maintenance fees. That list is no where near a comprehensive list but what seemed to be more of the popular low maintenance fee contracts.
You can see Clearwater on that list and Panama City Beach and Ocean Blvd (or one of the lower fees). I live in Georgia and Panama City Beach, Clearwater Beach, and Myrtle Beach are very drivable distances and attractive to me and just so happen to have reasonable maintenance fees and I let that drive my decision making as now I knew what to look for.
I just had to be patient to see the right contract come out for sale and at the number of points I wanted and I already had these points charts saved. I knew about how many I would need to make a worthwhile family vacation for the type of room I would want. I got lucky on RedWeek seeing the Ocean Blvd (the lower maintenance fee contract) come out for enough points for 4 nights. I may add another Myrtle Beach Contract soon as we LOVED myrtle beach and you can get ARP at other Wyndham Resorts in Myrtle if you own at any which is just a nice bonus to have and that helped my decision making in picking up my first resale contract.
I also have no desire to rent at this time, but if that was goal of mine, and I also had no desire to get to VIP, then I'd look hard at the lowest maintenance fees possible or own at resorts that are easy to rent.
Funny how now I'm looking at one of the higher maintenance fees contract Bonnett Creek as now I want Thanksgiving or Christmas week and multiple room Presidential Suites. I have family in Florida and I would love to have us all together at holiday seasons.
We all equate value differently and I get it. Sometimes it helps to have a perspective or a point of reference. While Bonnett Creek is expensive compared to other Wyndham resorts it's cheap compared to Disney DVC and Deluxe resorts for what you can get for cost of maintenance...ESPECIALLY at Thanksgiving.
So I guess the value comes down to "Where do you want to go and WHEN?" If where you want to go and when is easy to book within the ten month window maybe go for the lower maintenance cost contracts.
I wouldn't spend a ton of energy over $500 spent here or there like whether you pay for the Wyndham Transfer or the seller does or closing costs. After paying what I paid for Clearwater Retail and learning about TUG I could give two flying shits about who pays for the Wyndham Transfer as I'm getting the contract resale on pennies on the dollar compared to retail. Some would say I might have over paid for my low maintenance fee Ocean Blvd Contract (220.5k points at $1500) but for what I'm getting and what I equate value to I was happy to pay that.
Getting feel for where you want to go and when and saving those point charts and studying them and seeing what's bookable in the 10 month window is the best advice I could give you to let that drive your decision making. The kind users here have certainly given me tips on what is typically bookable 10 months out.
Its not all about me or you. OP needs answers and going off topic is nothing but a big distraction to helping a newbie trying to learn the system.
