My hubby and I are tossing around the idea of adding on points. Is there anything I should know before calling our guide? I'd like to be informed as possible. I know that you have to purchase at least 50 points in order to finance it, but does anyone know how long they will finance it for? Anything else I need to be aware of? Thanks a bunch!
It's great that you're coming on here to ask these questions. This isn't meant to disparage direct purchases or financing, but I did want to answer the questions I have bolded above to the best of my knowledge. I hope you find it helpful.
First off, I personally don't care for the word "guide" when being used to describe DVC salespeople because I don't feel it's an accurate representation of what they do. They are salespeople and their job is to sell you DVC points (and more specifically, the DVC points that they want to sell you and not necessarily the points you want to buy). I'm sure you're aware of this, but it bears repeating.
As far as your potential purchase, I feel that there are two things you should be aware of. First, when purchasing a small amount of points, you are not able to capitalize on the breakpoint discounts that DVD offers for larger purchases. So in essence you will be paying the most per point that you can possibly pay. I'm not saying this is a reason to buy more, just letting you know. That being said, if you buy resale, the premium that small contracts command along with closing costs being amortized over a smaller amount of points means that the gap between direct and resale will be pretty narrow. So in your case the way to get the lowest price per point possible would be to look at a larger contract through resale. A 100 point contract resale would most likely cost you less than a 50 point contract direct. Plus, you could always rent out any unwanted points to cover the maintenance fees on all of the points. Yes, it requires a little more work, but in my opinion it's well worth it.
The second thing you should realize is exactly what financing does to the price of a contract. If you were to finance at the rate of 13.99% over the full 10 years, it would add almost half of the purchase price in interest charges. So there is a distinct possibility that you might end up paying
three times as much per point buying direct and financing as you would paying cash for a resale. To me, this is lost money and I would not do it. But only you know what you are comfortable with. Good luck making your decision.
