A little help on understanding

[techtony]

Can anyone point me to a thread or a website that explains DVC better than Disney does?

This is what I get out of their site -

I pay 25K up front, then I pay somewhere like $850 a year in fees for the right to use basically a timeshare.

This does not sound like a deal to me at all, yet I see people talking about it all the time saying how great it is for their family. When you consider that example - it sounds very expensive - especially if you finance the initial 25K, which I would not do.

I hear it all the time from my real estate family members and friends - never buy a timeshare - bad investment. Is this just a timeshare?

Anyone have any thoughts or sites or links? I have so many questions, it would take up hundreds of posts just to list them all.

 

[sndral]

No timeshare should be considered an 'investment' IMO. DVC is a way to prepay some of your room costs at DVC resorts. DVC has held better resale value than many time shares from what I've read.
It is a timeshare system based on points. Not a savings unless you consistently visit WDW and stay at deluxe resorts and even then break even is several years in the future. $25,000 sounds like a direct purchase price from Disney - there is a flourishing resale market where half that price will get you the same number of points at all but the newest DVC resorts.

 

[com_op_2000]

You are doing the right thing by doing your research up-front.
Read these threads on the DIS and understand the following terms:
UY
MF
HR
11 month and 7 month booking windows
Concierge Collection
RCI
CM
MS
Direct vs resale
Once you have a full under standing of these terms.
Then read some more.

 

[disneynutz]

Can anyone point me to a thread or a website that explains DVC better than Disney does?

This is what I get out of their site -

I pay 25K up front, then I pay somewhere like $850 a year in fees for the right to use basically a timeshare.



This does not sound like a deal to me at all, yet I see people talking about it all the time saying how great it is for their family. When you consider that example - it sounds very expensive - especially if you finance the initial 25K, which I would not do.

I hear it all the time from my real estate family members and friends - never buy a timeshare - bad investment. Is this just a timeshare?

Anyone have any thoughts or sites or links? I have so many questions, it would take up hundreds of posts just to list them all.

You are correct, DVC is just a timeshare, a pre-paid hotel room. Depending on your vacation habits it may save you some money or it could end up costing you. Disney is in the business of making money, DVC is just another revenue stream.

Read through the purchase threads here first, then the other DVC threads and you will find that your questions are asked and answered often.

Bill

 

[chalee94]

Anyone have any thoughts or sites or links? I have so many questions, it would take up hundreds of posts just to list them all.

here is a thread with links for more research:

http://disboards.com/threads/im-overwhelmed-where-do-i-start.3371762/

I pay 25K up front, then I pay somewhere like $850 a year in fees for the right to use basically a timeshare.

I hear it all the time from my real estate family members and friends - never buy a timeshare - bad investment. Is this just a timeshare?

that's basically it, yes.

how much are you willing to pay to stay in a hotel at disney. the values are basically motel 6 rooms but people pay a lot more.

so if you wanted to stay in a 1BR villa or 2BR villa, yes, it does cost quite a bit, even at a discount (such as with DVC).

if you only want to stay in a hotel room onsite at wdw, you should be pricing a studio, which is considerably less than $25k, especially if you are smart enough to buy resale. (you can get a small DVC contract for less than $5k with maintenance fees of $20 or so per month - DVC is very scalable.)

timeshares have their place but you need to understand yourself. they are a good deal for some but a waste of money for many.

and at the end of the day, DVC is basically just a timeshare. a timeshare that has held it's value very well historically - it can be easily rented out if you don't use it yourself - but still just a timeshare nonetheless.

This does not sound like a deal to me at all, yet I see people talking about it all the time saying how great it is for their family. When you consider that example - it sounds very expensive - especially if you finance the initial 25K, which I would not do.

it is very smart to avoid financing a luxury asset. i agree.

 

[supersnoop]

Yes, it's just a timeshare. Where most timeshares lose 80%-99% of their value immediately, DVC holds it's value exceeding well. The value can be easily calculated, as well. With many timeshares, you can find rooms available for rent at prices less than the maintenance fees, effectively making the entire buy-in cost worthless. With DVC, you'll always have hotel rooms to compare against, and the rental market has consistently commanded over twice the maintenance fees. With DVC, you can calculate an ROI even if you assume the asset value depreciates to 0, which is won't actually do for many years.

 

[techtony]

Hmmmm...... I was not aware of the resale market, that may be an option so I could pay in cash. Sounds like I need to do A LOT more research. Thanks folks!

 

[cmrdgrs]

Hmmmm...... I was not aware of the resale market, that may be an option so I could pay in cash. Sounds like I need to do A LOT more research. Thanks folks!

My only comment techtony is that IMO if you can't afford to buy in to DVC outright, financing negates any potential cash savings. As others said, DVC is not an investment, it is a way of prepaying for your Disney vacations. There are lots of calculators to be found out on the web related to costs, savings, and comparing that vs rentals or hotel rooms. Happy researching!

 

[Dean]

Hmmmm...... I was not aware of the resale market, that may be an option so I could pay in cash. Sounds like I need to do A LOT more research. Thanks folks!

Spend enough time getting info, it usually takes about 6 months of active investigation to get enough info to make an informed decision and get by the emotions often involved. There are many variables based on personal situations and preferences. In general DVC only makes sense for those who can pay cash, values staying on property at a moderate or above, will use the points ONLY for DVC options, will go at least EOY, can plan ahead at least 7 months and who is OK with the inherent compromises involved.

 

[suebeelin]

We invited our wedding party to stay at BWV in std studios last year. We had 10 std studios and a std 1bd. That was 3-5days per room.

We stayed in the hotel/inn side a few years ago for $400 with tax. That was a conference rate.

Knowing we like deluxe hotels but not wanting to pay $400+ per night, and liking the idea of a 1bd with kitchen and washer/dryer, we looked into dvc.

We are glad we did. Our wedding party is glad we did. We calculated each room we used per day with our dvc points were worth $300, conservatively. Each room was for 3-5 nights, for a total of 40 hotel nights (44 to be exact). That's over 12k.

Our buy in was $12k for our points via resale. So it was a wash. So we figure that we only spent maintenance fees of $1200/yr over 3 yrs... So really we paid $3600 for these rooms. 44 hotel room nights for $3600!!

The reason I say we are only out our maintenance fees is for two reasons... First, the price we paid for the timeshare cancels out the calculated hotel costs. However, if you don't count that as canceling out the cost, then we can recoup our principal in the resale market.

In other words, we can turn around and sell our BWV timeshare for at least break even now. Actually, we probably would make a profit. We purchased three years ago during the market low.

We have liked our vacation so much we just bought BLT resale.

 

[bellablue2]

resale - the only way to go.