150 @ Vero, Feb use year for $9,000 through DISNEY- Good Deal?

[Tweety Pie]

No matter how often I tell him of this boards warning _BUY WHERE YOU WILL STAY, a friend who just returned from WDW is considering this DISNEY offer and knowing the experts who are out there I thought I'd run this by you for comments-

150 pts Vero Beach

can use this years points to help defray most of the cost of this most recent visit, therefore no points this year but 150 new available in Feb of '03 (instead of Magical Beginings, I guess, BUT....

They (DISNEY) are selling him at $60.00 per (anyone heard of this?) for total sale price of $9,000

Thoughts, comments, in my friends line of work he can not plan for vacations until at the most 2 mos. and he'll want to stay at WDW 90+% of the time so is he destined to a life of WAIT LISTS?

Is it so good that I should call his rep and ask for the same deal since I've been considering DVC for 2 years?

Friend wife, 3 kids, 17, 16, 12

Myself- DH, 2 kids 7 and 4

 

[Caskbill]

Looks like Disney is trying to finish selling out Vero. Not surprising.

The advice here is always buy where you want to stay the most. That said, if your friend can never really make ressies more than two months out anyway, an 11-month or even 7-month window does nothing for him. At two months, it makes absolutely no difference where your points are at.

Remember also I believe it's at two months when DVC starts selling unreserved DVC villas for cash ressies. So your friend would not only be in competition with all other DVC'ers looking for short lead-time ressies, but also with the general public.

Hate to say it, but DVC may not be the best choice for your friend's type of vacation schedule.

He could easily find himself in a bind not being able to get reservations at all, and having issues with points and banking deadlines.

Obviously the high seasons would be gone completely, and much of the low season also (because it's a low points season for DVC and therefore very popular). If he can vacation at the shoulder seasons then it might make more sense for him. If in the future he can start making plans 7 to 11 months out then DVC makes more sense yet. At that point of course the advise is to buy at a WDW property.

 

[CarolMN]

IMHO, the price is very good.

That said, I agree completely with everything Caskbill said in the above post.

 

[sgtdisney]

That sounds like a great price. It really depends on the time of year your friend tends to vacation. We have gotten rooms at 2 months out, but not always and it has always been at OKW. (Of course we haven't tried to stay anywhere else yet.) It really is hard to say if he will have a lot of luck on getting room, it is chance he would have to take, I suppose. The advice that everyone gives here is to buy at the resort you plan on staying the most and that is the best advice. If your friend is pretty flexible it may work for him but it really is hard to say.

 

[Cruelladeville]

Vero is a lovely resort, but only if you really want to stay there. Did you consider that Vero's dues are the highest of any DVC resort? If he bought for this price--which is a steal, I admit--eventually this could end up costing your friend more than he had bargained on.

 

[gscott8075]

Not to doubt anyone or anything which has been said...

1. Is he really buying it from Disney? I have never heard of Disney selling below their price. $60 would indicate $20 Magical Beginnings - When has it been over $15?

2. The comment "can use this year's points to defray the cost of this trip." DVC does not have a program to use points which have not yet been purchased.

The entire deal does not sound right -

 

[ncligs]

Tweety Pie,

Are you sure your friends are buying from DVC?We just added 50 pts at VB 1 month ago (MB's at $15 off= $65 per pt). It is a very good price......but if it is a re-sale they will have closing costs added on to it.


P.S. I see you are from San Antonio , we were there in July to visit our cousins. It is a "beautiful' city". We did the RiverWalk, IMAX Theater and the Alamo. My cousin owns the Holiday Inn North(Comfort Siutes) by the airport.We can't wait to go back next July

 

[GCM13]

This isn't about Vero Beach, but kind of a similar situation. My friend who already owns at HH just told me about a deal their guide offered them to add on more points at HH. They were told that if they paid cash for the 100 points, they could buy them at $70 per point. I asked if they would sell back this year's points. She said no. I thought that sounded strange. Has anyone ever heard of this? I just figured they misunderstood the guide or my friend just didn't know what she was talking about! Now that I hear about this Vero Beach deal, it makes me wonder if they did offer them a special deal.

 

[Tweety Pie]

"The entire deal does not sound right..."

I thought the same thing GSCOTT8075-

Yes, he really is buying through Disney's DVC directly, not only are they offering to sell him Vero at $60 a point (150 for $9,000) but once he does they are going to apply this years 150 points against his most recent visit (he stayed @ DVC via Cash) and give him a refund on what he just paid.

So he will have no 02 points and will get his 03 points in Feb. 03.

As I stated in my original post, the price seems good but for the fact its at VB.

P.S. can someone clarify the fees for VB vs. the WDW resorts, my friend was given the impression that VB has the lowest fees.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Tweety Pie
...(snip)....P.S. can someone clarify the fees for VB vs. the WDW resorts, my friend was given the impression that VB has the lowest fees.

Actually, the maintenance fees for VB are the HIGHEST of the DVC resorts. At least they have been for the past two years. Here are the dues (per point) for the 2002 & 2001:

2002 2001
VB 4.17 3.97

OKW 3.22 3.13
BWV 3.92 3.83
HHI 3.49 3.32
VWL 3.80 3.63
BCV 3.77 NA

At one time, the VB annual dues were subsidized by the developer. That is no longer the case. I would expect that the VB dues will continue to be higher than the other DVC resorts. I think that maintaining the boardwalk area over the dunes to the ocean can be expensive -

 

[Doctor P]

I agree with the others. Something does not seem right here. I would definitely proceed with caution. Too many things do not add up. Please keep us posted, because this sounds very interesting.

 

[luckytso]

I just checked with my guide and he told me that

for HH, the price is $80 with a credit of $10 if you sell back your points;

for VB, the price if $80 with a credit of $15 if you sell back the points.

However, in my case, I did get $60 for VB because I told him I would buy it before the price increase, therefore, it was $60 ($75 - $15).

Since I have a December use year, I was able to keep all my 2002 points after the Magical Beginning credit.

I am not quite sure how the MB works for other use years. But I just spoke to my guide and he confirmed the above.

 

[Doctor P]

I'm wondering if this might be a quick sale or bankruptcy situation where Disney has to sell a specific contract and then use the proceeds against a loan they made. I can think of a couple of scenarios that might come out the way described.

 

[Dean]

It is a good deal ONLY if they want to own at VB. Otherwise it's no real savings over buying resale. I doubt very much they will give him the $15 per point discount AND reimburse him for his recent trip, actually I'd bet that both won't happen. They're likely just pointing out to him the savings and how HE COULD THINK ABOUT IT. It may be that he had contacted them before the increase and they are giving the price of $75 minus $15 per point MB. It could also be a contract that was pending and fell through at the old price. It's not worth the meager savings if they want to stay mostly at WDW and with the higher dues, they will pay more every year for the rest of the contract and the VB dues are very likely to increase faster than those at WDW and HH over the years.