Points question

[jshaley Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jshaley]

Greetings,

We've vacationed at the same resort 5 times in the last 8 years - always paying cash. Finally getting around to saving up and investing in a timeshare. The Resort has a nice two bedroom summer (red) week for $7k and we can buy it directly from them.

But I am seeing some wild points deals on eBay. The resort in question does weeks or points. That same 2BR would go for 65K points. It looks like I can get well above that amount of points on eBay at other resorts for well under $1k, plus $500 for closing and a bit less than $250 to RCI for the points registration.

Maintenance for the resort week is $650, for the points is $750.

The only down side I see is we may not always get an exchange for that resort and I'd have to figure in the exchange fee from RCI or some other company. It looks like if we accept a little uncertainty in our plans we could save well over $5k on the initial investment.

What am I missing?

John

PS Related question: The resort has that 2 BR listed at $7k, is this like other real estate. Can I offer less? I do not see why not.

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Greetings,

We've vacationed at the same resort 5 times in the last 8 years - always paying cash. Finally getting around to saving up and investing in a timeshare. The Resort has a nice two bedroom summer (red) week for $7k and we can buy it directly from them.

But I am seeing some wild points deals on eBay. The resort in question does weeks or points. That same 2BR would go for 65K points. It looks like I can get well above that amount of points on eBay at other resorts for well under $1k, plus $500 for closing and a bit less than $250 to RCI for the points registration.

Maintenance for the resort week is $650, for the points is $750.

The only down side I see is we may not always get an exchange for that resort and I'd have to figure in the exchange fee from RCI or some other company. It looks like if we accept a little uncertainty in our plans we could save well over $5k on the initial investment.

What am I missing?

John

PS Related question: The resort has that 2 BR listed at $7k, is this like other real estate. Can I offer less? I do not see why not.

Of course you can and should offer less. Way less, probably. You definitely want to factor in exchange fees into the equation. Have you looked at other resale outlets besides ebay?

Not all points maintenance fees are the same. Not all points are RCI points. Read more, ask more questions. In this market, there is no rush, especially at 7K.

[jshaley Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jshaley]

Thanks

Alright, so we can offer less and see if the "weeks" option pans out.

But the points option still may be cheaper. I just wanted to make sure I was not missing any hidden cost. For the purchase via eBay (or other sites) there would be the:

Agreed sale price
Closing cost (I see these are sometimes waived)
+ Registration fee for RCI
--------------------------
Initial costs


I could expect on an ongoing basis:
Annual maintenance fee
Exchange fee if booking at resorts other than my own
Membership fee? to RCI for use if their web site
--------------------------
Annual costs

Is this accurate? Because if it is these points deals on eBay (and as you say elsewhere) look like the way to go. In my original scenario I really could save $6k up front but pay a bit more in annual costs because of exchange fees and a slightly higher maintenance fee.

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Alright, so we can offer less and see if the "weeks" option pans out.

But the points option still may be cheaper. I just wanted to make sure I was not missing any hidden cost. For the purchase via eBay (or other sites) there would be the:

Agreed sale price
Closing cost (I see these are sometimes waived)
+ Registration fee for RCI
--------------------------
Initial costs


I could expect on an ongoing basis:
Annual maintenance fee
Exchange fee if booking at resorts other than my own
Membership fee? to RCI for use if their web site
--------------------------
Annual costs

Is this accurate? Because if it is these points deals on eBay (and as you say elsewhere) look like the way to go. In my original scenario I really could save $6k up front but pay a bit more in annual costs because of exchange fees and a slightly higher maintenance fee.

Yes, that is accurate. Don't assume that $7K is the going rate for a weeks unit at this resort just because that is what the resort charges. If you don't want to publish the resort name send me a private message or email with the name and I might be able to give a better answer.

[jshaley Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jshaley]

Thanks. I PM'd you about the resort. The eBay listing that got me thinking is here. The current bid is $500 and this is for 92500 points! And the maintenance is $696. The resort charges 65000 points for a Summer week.

So the current math is:
$500 purchase
$500 closing
$225 RCI
------------------
$1225 instead of $7000, and 27500 points left over for a second vacation. Call me skeptical, but this is to good to be true. But the only other number to through in there is the exchange fee for scheduling.

John

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Thanks. I PM'd you about the resort. The eBay listing that got me thinking is here. The current bid is $500 and this is for 92500 points! And the maintenance is $696. The resort charges 65000 points for a Summer week.

So the current math is:
$500 purchase
$500 closing
$225 RCI
------------------
$1225 instead of $7000, and 27500 points left over for a second vacation. Call me skeptical, but this is to good to be true. But the only other number to through in there is the exchange fee for scheduling.

John

That is a good mf for that number of points and there are more than one of those on ebay so if you see one going higher than you want to pay, wait for the next one. Also, if you can travel at the last minute, those extra 27.5K could turn into 3 more weeks of vacation. I'll send a PM tonight.

[djyamyam Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close djyamyam]

Thanks. I PM'd you about the resort. The eBay listing that got me thinking is here. The current bid is $500 and this is for 92500 points! And the maintenance is $696. The resort charges 65000 points for a Summer week.

So the current math is:
$500 purchase
$500 closing
$225 RCI
------------------
$1225 instead of $7000, and 27500 points left over for a second vacation. Call me skeptical, but this is to good to be true. But the only other number to through in there is the exchange fee for scheduling.

John

Expect to pay $1200 - $2K for that particular resort/auction. That particular one comes available fairly regularly and that's the range it goes for. Nevertheless, a reasonable points deal.

[jshaley Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jshaley]

Wow, you are good. Just ended at $1,113. Good to know it will be back if we want it - still could be a bargain.


John

[djyamyam Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close djyamyam]

Just ended at $1,113. Good to know it will be back if we want it - still could be a bargain.


John

Here's another auction that just came up.

92,500 RCI Points Vacation Village at Parkway Timeshare - eBay (item 330381020152 end time Dec-03-09 10:00:12 PST)

[jshaley Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jshaley]

Thanks

Thanks. It is interesting that this resort comes up so often. As it stands:

• Resort says $7k is owners price and non-negotiable (if there is such a thing)
• The way I understand it, having points would provide a cheap way into the resort we want but would in no way guarantee a Summer vacation there. I have to do a little research into how exchangeable/available this resort is.
• I have more homework to do on how Points works. Looks like there is an RCI subscription fee involved, and I may need to 'deposit'(?) my points way in advance and then wait patiently for a good week at the resort we want to open up.
• If we wait until the last minute we may lose out with the possibility of booking elsewhere. Although the points would then roll over. And I think for 180k points you can get the Lincoln Bedroom in the WhiteHouse (non-political comment).

Thanks again.
John

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Thanks. It is interesting that this resort comes up so often. As it stands:

• Resort says $7k is owners price and non-negotiable (if there is such a thing)
• The way I understand it, having points would provide a cheap way into the resort we want but would in no way guarantee a Summer vacation there. I have to do a little research into how exchangeable/available this resort is.
• I have more homework to do on how Points works. Looks like there is an RCI subscription fee involved, and I may need to 'deposit'(?) my points way in advance and then wait patiently for a good week at the resort we want to open up.
• If we wait until the last minute we may lose out with the possibility of booking elsewhere. Although the points would then roll over. And I think for 180k points you can get the Lincoln Bedroom in the WhiteHouse (non-political comment).

Thanks again.
John

Whenever you exchange, you have to plan well in advance.

Your points will be automatically deposited every year unless you call to prevent that. The only reason to prevent your points from being deposited would be to use your week at your points resort.

If you are trying to reserve at a points resort, a standard reservation, you can only book that 10 months or less from check-in. There are exceptions to that. If your resort is part of a group, you get earlier access to that group. For this type of unit, you have to manually book the exchange online or call RCI. If your dates are set, you should be online at midnight when your check-in date is exactly 10 months away.

You can also book units out of the weeks pool up to two years in advance. For this type of unit you can set up a search to look for your date range and wait for a match.

If you wait for the 10 month mark to try to book a standard reservation and you find nothing that suits you, you could also discover that there is nothing on the weeks side either because the best weeks have been taken already.

Welcome to the world of RCI points and exchanging.