I think it's great that you came on here to ask these questions before anything is finalized. I'm going to take you at your word that you want honest advice and hope that I can deliver that in a nonpartisan, respectful manner.
In my opinion, without a doubt, you should cancel your contract. There are a ton of red flags in your post (which I will address individually). Keep in mind that my advice comes from a maximization of resources position. If you are super wealthy and don't really care about getting the most from your dollars and are more interested in owning, my advice might change a bit. But given the fact that you are financing, I would think that money is a bit of an issue in this purchase and will advise based on that assumption.
Hi everyone. First post here, so please pardon if this is the wrong spot.
We just purchased 160 pts at $150 a piece for the Villas at the Grand Floridian while on our recent
Disney Cruise.
Red flag number one. Purchasing on a cruise can be great, but more times than not, it's not a well informed decision based on your lack of access to information.
We are financing, but will most likely have the contract rate paid off within two years.
Red flag number two, sort of. The fact of the matter is that with the projected trajectory of VGF prices, you will probably pay the same now with financing as you would in two years, and you'd have the benefit of two year's worth of points. So that might not be awful. But this is a very, very expensive purchase and if anything changes and you don't pay it off in two years, the finance charges will quickly eliminate any of the value that could possibly be achieved by purchasing DVC. There are entire threads dedicated to this topic, but I'll sum them up in one sentence. Financing a timeshare purchase is an incredibly risky proposition that greatly alters the cost/benefit ratio of owning said timeshare.
I along with my wife and two children are disney fanatics. We have only stayed onsite once and that was at All-Star Music. We would never stay off-site again.
We plan on doing one or two 4-5 day trips to WDW each year.
Possible red flags here. I can totally understand your not wanting to stay offsite again. We stayed offsite for years until our desire to stay onsite led us to DVC. But we also had a track record of visiting Disney multiple times per year. There's a difference between doing it knowing that it is something you enjoy and "planning" on visiting once or twice a year. Only you can truly answer which best describes you. Also, if you are happy with staying at Values, that might be the way to go for you. It is highly unlikely that you can use DVC to stay at Disney for less than you would pay OOP for a Value resort.
Also, have you seen the points requirements at VGF as opposed to other resorts? If you are planning on staying there for 4-5 days twice a year then 160 points won't be nearly enough. And if you're planning on using your points to stay elsewhere, why are you paying the premium to own at VGF?
We've contemplated DVC for years, and I know about the resale options out there. VGF isn't available through resale yet and I am thinking when it does it may be more than the $150 a point I am paying for the contract.
Nothing is certain, but I sincerely doubt it. My projections based on following the resale market is that resales will pop up within the next 6 months somewhere in the $130-$140 range. I doubt that they will eclipse the $150 mark. That being said, VGF pricing is in uncharted waters, so nobody really knows what will happen. I will say that it's a big gamble you're taking if you're banking that resales will be more than what you paid for it.
Thoughts on this? I'm thinking the clout of the Grand Floridian Villas at the $150/point rate I paid will be good looking back in a few years.
Probably. But that's assuming that VGF is where you want to be. If you read the VGF purchasing threads they all have one thing in common...the buyers are absolutely blown away by either the rooms or the prospect of staying at the GF. Given that you bought on a cruise, I'm not sure if you saw a model room, and nothing you have said indicates the fact that you are a GF lover. I would love to stay at VGF, but I'm going to try to get in there at 7 months using my SSR points because it's somewhere I'll only want to stay once or twice and it's not that important to me. Unless you are madly in love with the GF, there are numerous ways for you to purchase DVC for much, much less money.
We still have a few days left before the contract is set in stone to back out, so I wanted to reach out to see what the community thought.
We want to own a piece of the mouse and am wondering if this seems like a smart move...
Super red flag here. If you want to own a piece of the mouse, buy one of those souvenir framed stock certificates. If you want to own a timeshare, buy DVC. But please don't kid yourself in thinking that you own a piece of Disney by buying DVC. What you own is an obligation to pay maintenance fees for the next 50 years. And to be a bit blunt, I don't think what you did is a smart move based on the lack of research you did prior to acting. I think your coming on here and posting your questions was a smart move.
Thanks for your replies.
-Dis79Tim
You mentioned that you are aware of resale, but I'm not sure how aware you are. Although not at the VGF, there are resale options that could have you owning 160 points for one third the cost of what you are paying now. I strongly urge you to consider canceling your contract and really examine the math behind resales. Nothing you have said here convinces me that it is worth the extra $16,000 it is costing you to buy the VGF as opposed to a loaded resale contract at SSR or AKV.
If you are truly interested in getting the best deal and the best fit, then you have a lot of research to do. If you just want to own and be done with it, then you really have no work to do. Just know that going that route is significantly more expensive and may not provide the ownership experience you are looking for. Good luck, and please come back and let us know what you decide!
Bill
