We've rented twice through a 3rd party broker (David's). The second vacation is coming up. Both times have been great so far. We rented two studios rather than a 2 bedroom and we had to contact David's to have them contact the DVC owner so that the DVC owner could request that the rooms be as close together as possible. Rooms near each other aren't guaranteed, etc. - I'm just explaining this to illustrate how any requests like this can complicate things when renting points. I was able to do online check in and link magic bands and tickets with no problem.
David's has pre-reserved listings - I think that those are listings that were made in another person's name, and then they transfer the listing to you if you decide to rent one of those listings. You might have a chance at getting a desirable date like that if someone can't use the DVC reservation they made.