Pros & Cons - buying FF points resale

[siki00 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close siki00]

Hello,

New here. I have been reading a lot about FF points program. I am new to this system. I own at the Marriott Surf Club and exchange using II. That is what I'm use to. The points system seems to be a good system if you understand it.

This is what my understanding is regarding buying FF points resale:

Pros:
1. Much lower cost for same amount of points
2. Lower maintanance fees
3. Can still exchange using RCI
4. Can still get ARP at home resort and 10 month reservations at all other FF resorts

Cons:
1. No VIP status
2. No Plus Partners membership, but could possibly purchase from FF
3. No bonus points

Are there any others I'm missing? Am I wrong about any of the above?

It seems to me that it basicly comes down to making up my mind if the extra perks offered through the resort are worth the extra money I would spend buying from the resort.

Thanks.
Michelle

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

You don't get lower maintenance fees by buying resale. They are the same.

Fairfield is the single worst value in all of timesharing in buying from the developer. You lose so much money doing it that there is no way that the VIP benefits and ever offset it.

I tried at least a half dozen times to justify it and I simply can't.

You are better off buying a bunch of Fairfield Points and making a deal with a Platinum VIP owner to book reservations for you and then pay them a fee for doing it.

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

Pros:
2. Lower maintanance fees

It seems to me that it basicly comes down to making up my mind if the extra perks offered through the resort are worth the extra money I would spend buying from the resort.

Thanks.
Michelle

MF is the same for the same resort. However, for newer resort, what FF usually does is there will be very min reservation, and very min HK cost (sometimes, since it is not build yet, sometime, the explaination is because the resort is not fully occupied like 20 room own by 1000 owners is cost less than 100 room own by 5000 owners, sometimes, since there is no activity facility need to be maintain). So it will last for few years. And since it is new resort, you will not see any (or very less) in the resell market.

The rest is correct. Except sometime they may give some resort realted perk. I saw one says it get water park ticket, I been offer to get boat club membership.

I did give you advice on tug. You should not need to figure out what each perk worth, when you don't know if you will actually like the product itself or not.

Only when you start use the system, you will realize if some perks mean anything to you or not.

If you try to figure out some perk, you may make a miscalculation. Say you think the discount is great, but you can only use it once in 5 trips after you become owner, but when you calculate, you put it 100% usable, then it will make all your decision bad one.

You will not be able to tell if you can use the perk or not until you play with it.

IMHO, You have 2 choices that will better than to try figure what each perk worth to you
1) buy cheap resell, play with it, if you decide retail is the way to go, sell these resell, use the money to pay the retail.
2) make arrange with a Plantinum VIP owner, see if you like the perk.


Jya-Ning

[acesneights Member Find all posts View Profile Close acesneights]

Lower MF in that you can buy resale at a low MF resort. The newest resorts where retail is based will have low MF until they sell out, then the sky's the limit.

Also low MF are frequently a prelude to a Special Assessment that wipes out the low MF or a sign of deferred maint that will result in higher MF later if no SA.

e.g. Atlantic City where was a 31% or so increase in MF.

If you buy in a high cost area, the low MF won't last forever.

However, the newest resorts where point costs per reservation are twice what they are at old resorts, 300K+ vs. 154K for 2BR prime, probably won't have twice the MF, so MF per point may stay low.

If a 2BR at a 154K Prime resort cost $500 to maintain, it's unlikely that a 2BR at a 300K Prime resort will cost $1000 to maintain.

Stan

[bsheets326 Member Find all posts View Profile Close bsheets326]

I have to agree with Stan. Be very wary of artificially low MF. A number of FF owners have been hit with special assessments the past few years to offset those low fees.
With that said, you can get some great deals on the resale market. Follow a couple of auctions on ebay, and figure out people are paying per point. Also, determine how many dollars per thousand they are paying in MF. Keeping in mind that the MFs can change, that is a good starting point.

[siki00 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close siki00]

make arrange with a Plantinum VIP owner, see if you like the perk.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this. How does this work?

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this. How does this work?

There are several FF Platinum VIP owners that rent out their points. You can join Yahoo FF group, or look at redweek, myresortnetwork eBay rent and find them. So, you can talk to them. Find someone willing to help you test your schedule. And you can try to get some in say 60 days (Platinum discount starting day), 10 month etc. Some of the perk you will not get it since only the owner can get it like unit upgrade, earily check in ..., but you can ask them if you become Platinum owner what is the chance you will get it. You will get to know the resort quality FF will provide. And by talking to/working with them, you can get a feel the inventory availability. Some owner may willing to try to hold special unit for you. Just don’t expect them to pass the discount to you. But some may give you cheap rent discount that you will not be able to get from regular owner.

Jya-Ning

[nursetanya1973 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close nursetanya1973]

As far as your comparison, as others have said, maintenance fees are not lower. I believe that some resorts have II as an exchange company, not RCI.


As far as Plus Partners, from everything that I have read, most people do not think it is much of a benefit. The perks that you can purchase with your points figure out to be a very bad deal. Better to rent your points and purchase what you need elsewhere (ie. rental cars).

VIP cannot be obtained with resale, but not everyone needs that many points. Depending on your vacation allotment, you could end up with more time than you can use. In that case, you might look at renting either the points, or units you have booked. Fine for some, but you may not be interested in a business.

Some people have done the math, and it may be better to just buy a whole lot more points resale, enough to equal the VIP discount, than to pay developer prices.

I bought resale and have never looked back, but everyone has to make their own decisions based on their individual circumstances.