Once you get the letter and figure out your account you can do as much or as little as you like to enjoy your points.
Some folks seem hyper...trading and renting and staying multiple places each visit. Sounds like work to me
. We are more laid back ....book 1 BR for hubby and I a couple of times a year and 3BR for us, kids, grands every few years. We've used a significant portion of our points on cruises....a use folks on here will tell you is NOT worth it but we don't care. We've also used points on the concierge collection and RCI when weddings, football games, etc. have us somewhere else.
The points needed for DVC stays depend on (1) size of unit, (2) location, (3) season and the variations can be significant. Studios, the cheapest stay, are often hard to come by.
Basically, YOU can book at SSR 11 months out, all others 7 months out - possible exception of Riviera which has new rules. The 11 and 7 months include the starting date of a reservation up to 7 days so on say June 1 you can book May 1-7. If you want to book at a high time, you need to be online as early as possible. Also, for trips that need higher points, you can skip a year and "bank" those points forward and can also borrow points from the following year. (This is currently capped at 50%). So your 166 points could become 166+166+83= 415 for a bigger stay or 498 once the cap is removed. There are banking deadlines (4 months) so pay attention to that so you don't lose points you can't use in a given year.
If you want to use points on anything other than DVC you unfortunately have to call which has become difficult and time consuming.
Enjoy...we are early purchasers and with our children and now grands have enjoyed every point!