Does anyone rent some of their points every year to help offset dues?

[matt_in_nh]

Thoughts on this, anyone do it?
For anyone that owns, SSR in particular, how hard is it to rent your points?
Same question really for all resorts, do you always find you can rent your points?
What do people do with the left over points that are expiring? Do you offer them at a deep discount or just eat it?

 

[Chuck S]

Well, I just rented some of my OKW points last month...the first time in 30 years that I've rented points. So here is a recap.

I offered them at $17 per point, as OKW is not usually an in demand resort, and a lot of renters don't understand they are good at any resort 7 months or less from check-in date.. I offered 99 points, total. These were also current June 2023 use year points. I also posted 1/2 of the the total due through PayPal when they received the confirmation, and I did the booking while we were both online, so the confirmation was immediate, as soon as they entered the number into their MDE app. The other half was due 45 days prior to their travel dates or January 15th, whichever came first, so if I did need to cancel for non-payment, I could still bank those points. I got a lot of people looking for days that just were not available. I also got a lot of people looking for a day here or there to add to their existing trip. Some owners do not like to book such short stays, but I was willing to do so. I also had a guest that was staying at SSR, and wanted to add on a day, in a studio. I was able to secure a a preferred studio, which she accepted, and she made the 50% payment. A couple of days later, they saw a standard studio available, and asked if I could switch their reservation, so they would not have to move. I did so, and they said they would pay the original amount for the more expensive preferred. I told them no, I adjusted the final payment down to the lower standard view, as they were paying the full amount earlier than when due. In the end, I rented 98 points, and was able to bank the one remaining point My experience renting went smoothly, but it did take time checking everyones dates and so forth. Be sure you reply promptly to inquiries. I have reminders marked in my phone to contact people for their final payments. Never having used PayPal to receive funds, it went smoothly, and the funds were transferred into my credit union the next day. I did not charge the renters the 3% paypal fee.

If you have expiring points, that are not bankable, then yes, I'd likely go a dollar or so less per point to attract them to your points vs someone else's. And hope there is availability, depending upon when the points actually expire.

 

[eticketplease]

Well, I just rented some of my OKW points last month...the first time in 30 years that I've rented points. So here is a recap.

I offered them at $17 per point, as OKW is not usually an in demand resort, and a lot of renters don't understand they are good at any resort 7 months or less from check-in date.. I offered 99 points, total. These were also current June 2023 use year points. I also posted 1/2 of the the total due through PayPal when they received the confirmation, and I did the booking while we were both online, so the confirmation was immediate, as soon as they entered the number into their MDE app. The other half was due 45 days prior to their travel dates or January 15th, whichever came first, so if I did need to cancel for non-payment, I could still bank those points. I got a lot of people looking for days that just were not available. I also got a lot of people looking for a day here or there to add to their existing trip. Some owners do not like to book such short stays, but I was willing to do so. I also had a guest that was staying at SSR, and wanted to add on a day. in a studio. I was able to secure a a preferred studio, whuich she accepted, and she made the 50% payment. A couple of days later, they saw a standard studio available, and asked if I could switch their reservation, so they would not have to move. I did so, and they said they would pay the original amount for the more expensive preffered. I told them no, I adjusted the final payment down to the lower standard view, as they were paying the full amount earlierr than when due. In the end, I rented 98 points, and was able to bank the one remaining point My experience renting went smoothly, but it did take time checking everyones dates and so forth. Be sure you reply promptly to inquiries. I have reminders marked in my phone to contact people for their final payments. Never having used PayPal to receive funds, it went smoothly, and the funds were transferred into my credit union the next day. I did not charge the renters the 3% paypal fee.

If you have expiring points, that are not bankable, then yes, I'd likely go a dollar or so less per point to attract them to your points vs someone else's. And hope there is availability, depending upon when the points actually expire.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have never rented my points either and was curious about the process with doing myself when something comes up in the future that we won’t be able to bank or use our points.

 

[Chuck S]

Also, check with friends and service providers to see if they are interested. Several years ago,, I worked with my dentist, who I'd known for years, to get him and his family a two bedroom at OKW for a week in exchange for some dental work. Bartering with someone you know is an option.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We bought extra points with renting in mind to cover dues. We’ve been owners 12 years now. The only points we’ve ever managed to rent were during the recent Covid years when we just had too many! So be wary, it’s hard to stick to the renting strategy when they are just so fun to use yourself.

Instead of rent our SSR points as points I find it easier to make a reservation at another resort at the seven month mark and rent those. Summer weeks and spring break weeks have worked well for me to rent. I used David’s.

 

[matt_in_nh]

Well, I just rented some of my OKW points last month...the first time in 30 years that I've rented points. So here is a recap.

I offered them at $17 per point, as OKW is not usually an in demand resort, and a lot of renters don't understand they are good at any resort 7 months or less from check-in date.. I offered 99 points, total. These were also current June 2023 use year points. I also posted 1/2 of the the total due through PayPal when they received the confirmation, and I did the booking while we were both online, so the confirmation was immediate, as soon as they entered the number into their MDE app. The other half was due 45 days prior to their travel dates or January 15th, whichever came first, so if I did need to cancel for non-payment, I could still bank those points. I got a lot of people looking for days that just were not available. I also got a lot of people looking for a day here or there to add to their existing trip. Some owners do not like to book such short stays, but I was willing to do so. I also had a guest that was staying at SSR, and wanted to add on a day, in a studio. I was able to secure a a preferred studio, which she accepted, and she made the 50% payment. A couple of days later, they saw a standard studio available, and asked if I could switch their reservation, so they would not have to move. I did so, and they said they would pay the original amount for the more expensive preferred. I told them no, I adjusted the final payment down to the lower standard view, as they were paying the full amount earlier than when due. In the end, I rented 98 points, and was able to bank the one remaining point My experience renting went smoothly, but it did take time checking everyones dates and so forth. Be sure you reply promptly to inquiries. I have reminders marked in my phone to contact people for their final payments. Never having used PayPal to receive funds, it went smoothly, and the funds were transferred into my credit union the next day. I did not charge the renters the 3% paypal fee.

If you have expiring points, that are not bankable, then yes, I'd likely go a dollar or so less per point to attract them to your points vs someone else's. And hope there is availability, depending upon when the points actually expire.

This all makes sense and thanks for sharing. It is work to rent the points but good to know you did withOKW. I assume you got the &17PP? Great that you gave a refund in the drop down from preferred to standard.


I aM renting for the first time next Feb so I have gone through that process to book and will see how that works.

 

[Chuck S]

This all makes sense and thanks for sharing. It is work to rent the points but good to know you did withOKW. I assume you got the &17PP? Great that you gave a refund in the drop down from preferred to standard.


I aM renting for the first time next Feb so I have gone through that process to book and will see how that works.

Yes, I got the $17 per point. I did have someone offer less to do a transfer, but I told them no, and that I'd rather rent than transfer. Of course, if your points are expiring and were banked from a previous year, you can't transfer those points anyway.

 

[Brian Noble]

Thoughts on this, anyone do it?

Every time I look, the ROI for point rentals on buying current resale points is comparable to (and often slightly worse than) the long-term expected return from a low-fee diversified stock index fund. Part of that is the difference in tax treatments--the former is treated as regular income, the latter benefits from long-term capital gains treatment.

Add in the fact that renting is work, and buying an index fund is set-it-and-forget-it, and I'd park extra capital in one of those index funds rather than buying points for rental.

 

[Her Dotness]

Nope.

We decided we'd rather buy only as many points as we need for an annual VGF 1br stay at the time we prefer to go.

We can't go more than once annually and calculated carefully to be certain we weren't getting over our heads with the monthly dues deduction when we added on a couple of resales.

No reason for us to mess with buying points just to rent out, nor do we care for doing that much work as Brian Noble so aptly stated.

 

[Noodlez]

We never intended to do this, but so far we have paid all of our dues with rented points! We bought at BCV in 2018 and had banked points that we rented via an agency. Over the next couple of years we continued to rent out the excess points, and had more than expected in 2020! Although we have a stay booked in a couple of months I decided to rent out all of the remaining points via facebook this time, as the brokers hadn't increased what they were paying to what I considered to be a reasonable level. They all sold extremely easily, so we now have enough to cover our 2024 and 2025 dues.

As long as there are no unexpected global pandemics/catastrophes ruining our next trips they will feel like free stays to us! I wouldn't have bought with this as the plan though.

 

[Sandisw]

No. We have thought about buying more to do it, but I know me...I'd have them and want to use...

 

[matt_in_nh]

Every time I look, the ROI for point rentals on buying current resale points is comparable to (and often slightly worse than) the long-term expected return from a low-fee diversified stock index fund. Part of that is the difference in tax treatments--the former is treated as regular income, the latter benefits from long-term capital gains treatment.

Add in the fact that renting is work, and buying an index fund is set-it-and-forget-it, and I'd park extra capital in one of those index funds rather than buying points for rental.

this makes total sense, opportunity cost wise the money is better off I. The market. But more points tmeans you can flex one year and constrict the next. Of course you can do that with bank and borrow also. I created a matrix of the resorts and rooms I would be interested in. It will take many years to burn through that and may never.

I guess it’s just a trade off in a resale contract to find a number of points, use year and price per point that works. I guess I am willing to compromise on more points if the other factors are in my favor. While I get the opportunity cost argument. This will be cash and a small percentage of net worth. It won’t move the needle much in the big picture. Up til now I have been very conservative but life is a trade off. If you never get out of the save save save mentality life will pass you by. I would get DVC for the memories and good times….it’s a splurge. Still gotta figure out the resort and number of points.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

I know a lot of people do it, I don’t think the math is favorable enough to be worth it, but if you ever have points you can’t use or need a few bucks, by all means, rent out some points.

Others clearly disagree on the “favorable enough” and I guess that’s just a tolerance thing.

 

[Brian Noble]

But

Gotcha. You want to buy more points and are trying to justify it.

But you don’t have to justify it. As I’ve said before: it’s a toy. If you want it and can afford it, buy it.

 

[gisele2]

I did not buy to rent, but with Covid did on this board and it was easy.

 

[Sammie]

No, we bought to use them, not rent them. If I end up with any extra I give them to friends. I would rather do that than deal with rentals and no way I am doing speculative as to me that messes up the system if you cancel at 31 days out.

 

[RoseGold]

I didn't end up doing it, but I had a couple spec reservations with my SSR, in case I didn't need as much as I planned. Really good reservations I knew I'd be able to rent out on social media.

Ended up needing more, LOL

 

[DL1WDW2]

I think I recall reading online advice about using DVC to rent points and the tax ramifications if and whenever you sell . Basically it was not recommended . It seems like it puts that into a different tax bracket maybe ?
Can anybody explain this for future Good to Know ?

 

[CarolynFH]

I think I recall reading online advice about using DVC to rent points and the tax ramifications if and whenever you sell . Basically it was not recommended . It seems like it puts that into a different tax bracket maybe ?
Can anybody explain this for future Good to Know ?

The rental income (minus certain costs such as advertising and dues) must be reported as income on your Federal tax return (and possibly state, if you have state income tax). It could push some into a different tax bracket.

DVC won't assist with renting, but there are online brokers who will.

 

[Brian Noble]

I think I recall reading online advice about using DVC to rent points and the tax ramifications if and whenever you sell .

IIRC, this is only if you use depreciation as part of your cost basis for the rental; not everyone does that. You do still have to report the receipts less expenses as income. If you do depreciate, then that reduces your cost basis when you sell, which may or may not be a good thing for you. Probably it is, because the sale will be treated as long-term capital gains.

I don't think crossing a bracket line matters because (at least at the Federal level) they are all marginal rates. If you think of your rental income as the "last", you don't end up paying a higher rate on any of your other non-rental income than you would have otherwise.