3 strikes and I'm in!!!!!!!!!!!!

[karebear1]

My husband and I are very close to buying into the DVC. I have 3 questions. First- we will be moving from Michigan to Portland Oregon by the end of the summer. Would there be any advantage to waiting to buy after we've moved versus before? (There is no sales tax in Oregon) Second- I'm still not sure where to make my home. What's the best way to determine this? I like the lower maintanence fee for OKW, but I really like BWV's due to their closeness to EPCOT. AND third- We're gonna buy resale- is it really necessary to buy something that has the exact month you would prefer to make as your renewal month if that month is in the off season???? We most likely would go during early November, early December or sometime in January. Thanks!!

 

[WDWfantasy]

Congratulations on your plans to purchase DVC!! Here are 3 answers to your 3 questions. Hope this helps;

1) No advantage to waiting other than it would save an address change after the final paperwork has been done. Sales tax doesn't come into play when purchasing DVC.

2) Determine your purchase location based upon where you want to stay. The maintenance fees are higher (slightly) at BWV but if that is where you like to stay...look for a BWV resale not OKW. Booking at BWV at the 7 mo. window is not that easy.

3) Use year comes into play especially if you need to bank points. If you travel in Nov., Dec. or Jan. your best use year choices would be August, Sept. or Oct. If you have a change of plans and can't vacation in a particular year you can bank 100% of your points up to 6 mo. from the start of your use year. 6-9 mo. 50% of your points, 9-10 mo. 25%, and 0% in the last two months of your use year. So for August, you would have until Jan. 31 to bank all of your points into the next use year, for Sept. you would have until Feb. 28 (or 29), and for October you would have until March 31st. Good luck!!

 

[msdis]

Since there is no sales tax on real estate that is a non-issue. As far as which resort to buy at, you will hear it a million times....buy where you want to stay the most. Eleven months out will not always be necessary but the rule generally is to book at your home resort when you think you want to go and then cancel out if your plans change. If you try to reserve later, chances are you may be locked out and be left with nothing, not only little choice of resort. We too like off season but off season with DVC is different. Less points actually is most popular with DVC. If you are VERY flexible then you will have less trouble getting ANY ressie as opposed to a specific ressie. Let's say you will go any time in Oct. or Nov. and you don't care about PV vs. Sv at BWV and you plan 3 months out. Chances are you will get something. But if you say I want SV BWV the first 2 weeks of Dec. in a studio and plan any time after 7 mos. you will not get it. Same with school breaks, x-mas, and summer months. You may get a day here and there, but never a nice stretch. As far as which month to try and pick, I would plan on what time frame you will most likely want to go; ie: we have a June use year and generally plan the earliest at late Sept. and the latest early Dec. , with plans for the occasional spring trip. By having a June use year we have till the end of Nov. for 100% banking and by the end of Mar. the last 25% of banking. This makes for great make it or break it plans for the fall, but we need to be a lot more sure for spring plans. At times I wish we had a use year that was for Sept. because June , July, and Aug are the 3 months we have no desire to visit in and therefore the clock ticks for 3+1/2 months before we ever plan to vacation. For most people with kids who vacation during these months this is their ideal use year month. Hope this helps!

 

[DeeP]

I honestly can't remember if I paid sales tax on my DVC membership or not, I don't think so but even if there is sales tax it would be based on FL sales tax not you home state since that is where the DVC real estate is located.
Do not buy OKW just because it is cheaper. Buy where you want to stay. If you like staying at BWV or BCV for the fantastic location buy there. It is often very hard to get into BWV at the 7 month window in Nov and Dec, so having a membership at OKW will not help you very much trying to get into BWV during these times. OKW is very easy to get into even a couple of months ahead of a trip so if you ever wanted to stay there with a BWV home you certainly would not have a problem. BWV, VWL and I am sure soon BCV are the hard resorts to get reservations at in a smaller timeframe so if you want to stay at these resorts then buy there. Currently the dues between OKW and BWV are 70 cents higher at BWV that is only a difference of $105.00 more per year for a 150 pt contract, if you have trouble getting a reservation at the resort where you prefer to stay the $105.00 savings is not worth it. Good luck!

 

[wdwendyd]

That is so exciting! As you can see, we live in Portland. We love it here.
We bought three resales: 2 at BWV and 1 at OKW and did not pay sales tax. I don't know if this was because we live in Oregon or just because sales tax is not charged on real estate purchases of this kind.
As far as where to buy, people have many strong opinions on this. We would rather stay at BWV because we love the location. We have stayed at OKW and it is beautiful and the rooms are bigger but we don't rent a car and prefer being able to walk to EPCOT and MGM. We also bought at BWV so that we could be sure of getting standard view and save some points that way.
We think it is good to have our use year start shortly before our trips so that if we have to cancel or rearrange our trip, we still have time to bank or use the points.
Hope this helps. Good luck with your move. If you want any information about Portland, feel free to write to us!

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by msdis
As far as which resort to buy at, you will hear it a million times....buy where you want to stay the most.

Let's make it a million and one times.....Buy Where You Want to Stay Most!!

We have a lot of diverse opinions on this board, but we all agree on that axiom!!

We just don't want to see anyone frustrated about not staying where they really would prefer to stay because it's not their "home" resort. DVC is for another 40 years, and you don't want 40 years of wishing you had done it otherwise.

Good luck in your decision. We are very happy with our decision to join last year, and hope you are able to realize this same vacation exhiliration we all feel!

 

[all4fun]

Hi Karebear1! Welcome to DVC!

The only advantage I can see to buying now as opposed to after you move is that, since you're buying resale, you might find that perfect contract: right place, price, & use year (month). Since it's resale, you might even happen across a contract that has unused banked points, which is an added bonus. As you can see, we live in Vancouver WA, just across the river from Portland. We'll practically be neighbors! As stated before, there is no sales tax on real estate.

Buy where you want to stay most. We own at BWV and have a June use year. This year we wanted to make ressies for BWV during the first two weeks of DEC and were unable to because it's such a popular time, so if that's where you like to stay and the time of year you like you definately want to consider that in your purchasing plans.

Congratulations on your "pending" purchase. Once you've used it once or twice you'll be hooked like the rest of us and want to go back again and again!



Edit: oops, I forgot to mention that the reason we didn't get our preference of BWV for Dec. was because we waited to long past the 11 month mark. That's a popular time for DVC'ers to visit so we learned the hard way that it's an important time to plan as far in advance as possible for.

 

[Laurabearz]

I would contact a resale broker ASAP. We have used Jaki and www.timeshare.com (1-888-345-2622) for three resale purchases (2 OKW, 1 BWV) For our BWV resale I emailed her what we were looking for... IE August, September UY, 210-300 points @ x amount per point. We didnt care about banked or borrowed points... just the bottom dollar amount per point.

It took over a month but our perfect resale came across her desk. The best part is even before it was placed up on the web, she called us and offered it to us.... A lot of resales never make it to general public....

I would hook up with her.... and then wait it out. The perfect resale could come next week, or at the end of the summer

If ya emai her (japetz@attglobal.net) tell her Laura from LaGrange says hi! (no kickbacks given to us for recomending her.... we just love her!!!)

 

[Mickmse2002]

I must be in the minority on this one. I think you should buy based on use year or total cost. From my experience the "buy where you want to stay' argument really isn't that big an issue. I see tons of posts of people being "waitlisted" or not getting their preference even when it is their home resort. Our "home" resort is BWV and we've never stayed there and haven't had any problem in getting the accommodations or dates at either OKW or BCV. Maybe we're lucky or maybe it really isn't all that big a deal after all?

 

[wdeversole]

OKW is easier to get into given the vastly greater number of rooms, and BCV will be harder once the resort is sold out.
If you can use the 11 month window at your home resort, you shouldn't have to waitlist.

 

[Mickmse2002]

I understand the basic premise of the 11 month vs. 7 month window. I am just curious as to why so many people get waitlisted for BWV when it is there home resort. That seems to negate the argument of "buy where you're going to stay"?

 

[karebear1]

OK- I get that I should make my resort the one I really want to spend the most time at, so we'll buy BWV- What I don't get is the banking points thing. It's probably the heat in Michigan today, but my brain is NOT computing the info on that- could you explain a little better? just pretend you're explaining it to someone who has no brain- that should do it for me!!!! Let's say I decide to bank my 2002 points for the next year- 2003.... would that prevent me from using them at all in 2002 if I decide to take a quick or last minute trip? I'm sure it's all pretty simple, but it seems complicated to me for some reason.
Also- Why is it advantageous to make my use year in July, Aug, or September if I want to be down there most the time in say- November???? Again- I read what you wrote 3 times and my math skills are on strike as well! Is there a simple way to describe that??? Sorry to be so dahhhhhhhhhh- but that's plain and simply what I am today!

Laurabearz- thanks for the name- It's good to have a contact person when you're starting on a new path.

 

[Granny]

karebear1....here's a little on the banking and borrowing.

If you bank all your 2002 points into 2003, you cannot move them back into 2002 for an unexpected reservation. But don't dispair, because what you could do in that scenario is borrow the number of 2003 points necessary to make the unexpected trip in 2002. Make sense?


I'll let someone else explain the reason for the use year...it has to do with cancelled trips and the time and flexibility to use those points.

 

[RLevy29]

I am also in the minority with the "buy where you want to stay" philosophy. The only advantage given to you at your home resort is that you can make reservations 8- 11 months in advance. If your situation is such that you can't book this far in advance, then there is no advantage to which resort you buy. If you plan on using points for vacations other than WDW (like a cruise) it doesn't matter where you buy. This is the beauty of DVC- CHOICE!
We own at OKW and so far have stayed there, at HH, and used points at the Grand Californian in Disneyland. We have requested a search with II for an August stay in Maine next summer (2003) and plan to go to OKW and Vero Beach in the same summer.
Good luck with your decision. I don't think that you can go wrong wherever you buy!