Questions from a prospective buyer!!

[stacy~**]

Add us to the list of DVC prospective owners but I have a few questions:

I have found historic information of the maintenance fee increase but I would like information of the point value increase. I am trying hard to anticipate the increased need of points without over buying.

If we would need to add on in the future what is the minimum add on amount?

Will it be possible to book Grand Californian for the summer (probably June) at 7 months? We hope to visit every few years.

Thank you!!!!

 

[Dean]

Add us to the list of DVC prospective owners but I have a few questions:

I have found historic information of the maintenance fee increase but I would like information of the point value increase. I am trying hard to anticipate the increased need of points without over buying.

If we would need to add on in the future what is the minimum add on amount?

Will it be possible to book Grand Californian for the summer (probably June) at 7 months? We hope to visit every few years.

Thank you!!!!

Historically DVC hasn't used point creep but they have charged more for something with more value. One might argue that's changed with VGF but I don't think so. The best number of points for you depends on many factors. As a rule I'd suggest you underbuy rather than overbuy. The exception would be not to go too small or too large in a single contract. Basically take your group and usual trip and look at the points charts. Whether you need a cushion or can survive on a deficit is dependent on your choices and situation. To keep it clean, I'll assume a week every year in a studio and contrast that somewhat to a 2 BR. If you're looking at a studio and Adventure season you might come up with a need as low as 90-100 or as much as 150 for higher cost resorts/options. In that case I'd go with 150-170 depending on budget and the best value contract. OTOH for a 2 BR Magic season you might think you need 300 to 350. Again I'd look for the best contract but likely go more in the mid 200's up to about 300. Worst case scenario is you need to buy a second contract, that'd give you the opportunity to pick a different home resort.

VGC will be tough any time of the year but with planning and use of the wait list, you should be able to get something most tries. The minimum add on direct is 25 for cash, 50 if financed. Resale contracts that size are very expensive due to closing cost and premium pricing and often have poor availability.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Make sure to buy where you want to stay the most. VGC is tough to book at 7 months out on school vacation days.

 

[Spork24]

DVC can not change the total number of points per year of a resort. They can only move the points around to different nights/seasons. So at any existing resorts don't expect big changes in points for the nights you plan to stay.

You will see the newer resorts have more and more points per night to make it more "expensive" for the 7 month people trying to stay at the new resorts.

 

[stacy~**]

Make sure to buy where you want to stay the most. VGC is tough to book at 7 months out on school vacation days.

That is something we are looking at closely. I actually love to experience all resorts so it is a tough choice! Plus with the increase of cost per point Grand Californian is hard to stomach since we would only be visiting every 2-4 years.

Thanks for the input!

 

[stacy~**]

Historically DVC hasn't used point creep but they have charged more for something with more value. One might argue that's changed with VGF but I don't think so. The best number of points for you depends on many factors. As a rule I'd suggest you underbuy rather than overbuy. The exception would be not to go too small or too large in a single contract. Basically take your group and usual trip and look at the points charts. Whether you need a cushion or can survive on a deficit is dependent on your choices and situation. To keep it clean, I'll assume a week every year in a studio and contrast that somewhat to a 2 BR. If you're looking at a studio and Adventure season you might come up with a need as low as 90-100 or as much as 150 for higher cost resorts/options. In that case I'd go with 150-170 depending on budget and the best value contract. OTOH for a 2 BR Magic season you might think you need 300 to 350. Again I'd look for the best contract but likely go more in the mid 200's up to about 300. Worst case scenario is you need to buy a second contract, that'd give you the opportunity to pick a different home resort.

VGC will be tough any time of the year but with planning and use of the wait list, you should be able to get something most tries. The minimum add on direct is 25 for cash, 50 if financed. Resale contracts that size are very expensive due to closing cost and premium pricing and often have poor availability.

Very helpful post! Thank you! Thinking of an initial purchase of around 200 points. Looking to be able to do a week trip and then a shorter 2-4 day trip each year.

DVC can not change the total number of points per year of a resort. They can only move the points around to different nights/seasons. So at any existing resorts don't expect big changes in points for the nights you plan to stay.

You will see the newer resorts have more and more points per night to make it more "expensive" for the 7 month people trying to stay at the new resorts.

Thank you...this is something I hadn't seen yet.

 

[Dean]

Very helpful post! Thank you! Thinking of an initial purchase of around 200 points. Looking to be able to do a week trip and then a shorter 2-4 day trip each year.

I'm very glad to try to help. Just spend a few months gathering information and getting comfortable with the options/systems. It usually takes about 6 months of active investigation to get to the point to make a reasonable decision for those fairly new to DVC. Every situation is different, all we can do is offer information and make suggestions. Ultimately you'll need to make decisions. For example, VGC at every other year is likely enough to justify buying there IF DVC makes sense otherwise but not every 4 yrs.

 

[stacy~**]

I'm very glad to try to help. Just spend a few months gathering information and getting comfortable with the options/systems. It usually takes about 6 months of active investigation to get to the point to make a reasonable decision for those fairly new to DVC. Every situation is different, all we can do is offer information and make suggestions. Ultimately you'll need to make decisions. For example, VGC at every other year is likely enough to justify buying there IF DVC makes sense otherwise but not every 4 yrs.

Thank you! Definitely not going to rush to a decision.

As far as VGC....since we are in Ohio it isn't as viable as WDW. Our previous visits to DLR were in 2007 and 2013. We all agree we want to visit more often but unfortunately WDW is so much easier that it really trumps DLR for frequent visiting.

That does lead me to another question....if we buy 200(ish) pts at a WDW resort and then add (25-50 pts.) at VGC in the future would we able to book at GCV at 11 months out with ONLY the GCV pts or as long as we own the 25-50 pts can we make a reservation with all pts we own?

 

[ELMC]

That does lead me to another question....if we buy 200(ish) pts at a WDW resort and then add (25-50 pts.) at VGC in the future would we able to book at GCV at 11 months out with ONLY the GCV pts or as long as we own the 25-50 pts can we make a reservation with all pts we own?

The points have the home resort booking advantage, not the owner. If it were the other way around, we would all own 25 points at VGC, 25 points at VGF and 500 points at SSR.

 

[ziravan]

I've been researching DVC for months. I'm going to buy first part of next year. In the meantime, we're going to WDW in Sept and we will take the tour, but also, we're staying at YC (close to BCV and a chance to try out Stormalong Bay), SSR 1br, BLT, and AKV. We're going to room hop almost as much as park hop, but after, I think we will have a much better idea of where we want to buy.

 

[Dean]

Thank you! Definitely not going to rush to a decision.

As far as VGC....since we are in Ohio it isn't as viable as WDW. Our previous visits to DLR were in 2007 and 2013. We all agree we want to visit more often but unfortunately WDW is so much easier that it really trumps DLR for frequent visiting.

That does lead me to another question....if we buy 200(ish) pts at a WDW resort and then add (25-50 pts.) at VGC in the future would we able to book at GCV at 11 months out with ONLY the GCV pts or as long as we own the 25-50 pts can we make a reservation with all pts we own?

As noted, you get the home resort advantage ONLY with those points from that resort. Given your location and these statements it appears that WDW alone would be the better purchase location for you, esp if going resale. I'd suggest you plan the next 5-6 years out in your mind, then on paper, including how many points you'd need and how the points you bought are likely to work for that. Then once you have that info and enough background, you can make decisions. It sounds like you're unlikely to go to DLR ever other year (EOY) thus I'd recommend only buying at WDW. In that case you realize that for any given trip or year you may not be able to get VGC OR you might not be able to get it early enough to arrange air reasonably. For an every 3-4 yr potential trip to DLR, I'd ignore the points costs there and just plan the points for all trips to WDW. Then if you get VGC here and there AND it leaves you a few points short, there are many easy ways to get ahead on points. One advantage of underbuying (assuming you don't overpay going to small, say under 150-170) is that you have more options later. The disadvantage is that it might increase your costs slightly but I'd look at it as insurance for many situations.

 

[stacy~**]

The points have the home resort booking advantage, not the owner. If it were the other way around, we would all own 25 points at VGC, 25 points at VGF and 500 points at SSR.

Makes sense when you put it like that!

I've been researching DVC for months. I'm going to buy first part of next year. In the meantime, we're going to WDW in Sept and we will take the tour, but also, we're staying at YC (close to BCV and a chance to try out Stormalong Bay), SSR 1br, BLT, and AKV. We're going to room hop almost as much as park hop, but after, I think we will have a much better idea of where we want to buy.

How fun! We did the tour a few years ago. I wish I could get DH to do a room hopping tour but he is a check in and out once kinda guy. We did just recently (March and May) stay at SSR and BC (not villas) and visited all other DVC resort locations so I feel like I have my WDW locations narrowed down to SSR/OKW/BCV/WLV.

As noted, you get the home resort advantage ONLY with those points from that resort. Given your location and these statements it appears that WDW alone would be the better purchase location for you, esp if going resale. I'd suggest you plan the next 5-6 years out in your mind, then on paper, including how many points you'd need and how the points you bought are likely to work for that. Then once you have that info and enough background, you can make decisions. It sounds like you're unlikely to go to DLR ever other year (EOY) thus I'd recommend only buying at WDW. In that case you realize that for any given trip or year you may not be able to get VGC OR you might not be able to get it early enough to arrange air reasonably. For an every 3-4 yr potential trip to DLR, I'd ignore the points costs there and just plan the points for all trips to WDW. Then if you get VGC here and there AND it leaves you a few points short, there are many easy ways to get ahead on points. One advantage of underbuying (assuming you don't overpay going to small, say under 150-170) is that you have more options later. The disadvantage is that it might increase your costs slightly but I'd look at it as insurance for many situations.

Good suggestion to try and look into the future for prospective point usage. Thankfully we can and intend to be pretty flexible and I am actually hoping that we will have extra points here and there to take a quick weekend, etc.

 

[com_op_2000]

Good suggestion to try and look into the future for prospective point usage. Thankfully we can and intend to be pretty flexible and I am actually hoping that we will have extra points here and there to take a quick weekend, etc.

Historically in my case:
When I bought in at OKW I had enough points to go 27 nights per year in a studio, Sun through Thurs nights, at the cheapest point usage times of the year. Over the course of @20 year, DVC has adjusted the points requirements 3 major times, taking and increase the Sun through Thurs nights and decreasing them on the Fri and Sat night stays. These adjustments have reduced the number of night per year that I could stay to 22 nights per year, going at the same time of year and staying in the same studios.
DVC has the option of adjusting points requirements to ensure that 98% of all villas in a resort are booked every day of the year. By adjusting the points requirements, DVC can effect how often a room is booked.

 

[Dean]

By adjusting the points requirements, DVC can effect how often a room is booked.

Not only should they but they really are required to. While the reallocations affected you (and me) negatively, they helped others. Ultimately the reallocations combined with my other options have affected my use of points significantly. Historically I was a Sun-Thursday user but now when I use points it's almost always weekends.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Not only should they but they really are required to. While the reallocations affected you (and me) negatively, they helped others. Ultimately the reallocations combined with my other options have affected my use of points significantly. Historically I was a Sun-Thursday user but now when I use points it's almost always weekends.

When I first joined DVC I almost never stayed Friday and Saturday nights. Now with the point change I almost always stay over the weekend.

 

[chalee94]

I've been researching DVC for months. I'm going to buy first part of next year. In the meantime, we're going to WDW in Sept and we will take the tour...

make sure you have done enough research here so that the tour guides don't confuse or mislead you...

 

[chalee94]

I have found historic information of the maintenance fee increase but I would like information of the point value increase.

as stated, total points for the resort (for all the villas for every day of the whole year) is fixed. those pts can be reallocated (and have been a couple of times) but pt costs in general cannot increase through the life of the contract.

here is more detail for fun. you can see some of the reallocations in the links below:

2015 point chart for OKW

original pt charts for OKW (thanks to webmasterdoc).

here are some numbers:

if you wanted a 1BR at OKW for 7 nights in may 1994, it would have cost 200 pts. if you wanted a 1BR at OKW for 7 nights in may 2015, it would cost 199 pts.

OTOH, if you wanted a studio for 5 nights sun-thurs in early december, your 35 pt stay cost in 1994 has now increased by 43% to 50 pts. weeknight stays have taken a hit...but if you just stayed 2 nights on a weekend in early december at OKW, your 34 pt stay in 1994 dropped a bit to 26 pts.

so when some numbers go up, others have to go down. or if everything goes up (as at BLT a couple of years back), then they have reclassified some rooms in the underlying room categories (i.e. there are fewer expensive "theme park view" villas at BLT now than a few years ago - and the extra pts from the formerly expensive villas got spread across the point chart.)

if you typically stay for 7 nights, i doubt you'll see any big changes (although early dec is popular enough that it won't surprise me if they move it to a different season.)

timesharing definitely involves a risk of change, so take that into account.

 

[skier_pete]

VGC is a very small resort and very popular with West Coast residences, so demand is very high. I would not recommend buying a contract there to use mostly at WDW.

One possible suggestion. Buy a 150 point contract for your trips to WDW. Once you've bought in, then buy a 50-point contract for VGC. Bank and borrow that VGC contract so that every three years you have 150 points for a VGC stay. Then you can take advantage of the 11-month booking window without being all in on VGC.

 

[JimMIA]

We did just recently (March and May) stay at SSR and BC (not villas) and visited all other DVC resort locations so I feel like I have my WDW locations narrowed down to SSR/OKW/BCV/WLV.

I was going to assume that you know about the resale market, but then I remembered what happens when we ASSUME -- so I won't.

There is a very active resale marketplace for DVC contracts, and for your choices, resale will offer you substantial savings. I believe DVD charges $130 per point for "sold-out" resorts; following are sample prices your resorts have recently sold for (different from "listed for") and have cleared ROFR:

OKW - $65-$70
SSR - $65-$75
VWL - $70-$80
BCV - $83- $85

Of course, annual dues comprise most of the cost of ownership, so you should also research those in the DVC Resources stickie at the top of this page.

The one notable difference between your four preferred resorts that you may not know is that the villas at OKW are WAY bigger than other DVC resorts. Our first-ever DVC trip was to OKW with Grandma and Great Auntie. We opened the door to our two bedroom and both elderly ladies looked at each other and said, "Oh my GAWD!!!"