About to buy into DVC, a few questions:

[wbcincy]

I've been doing some reading on here the past few days and have found this site to be invaluable in helping us make a decision on what we wanted to do. I do still have a few questions I was hoping I could get some help on:

1) We were going to buy in BWV for $78/point, and then I saw someone say Disney ROFR'd someone this week on $78/point there even though a week ago a couple others went through fine at that price. Should I be concerned now that it isnt going to go through at this price?

2) Are add-ons less expensive through Disney once you're a member? If so, how much are they per point currently at BWV if available, or at SSR if thats the only place you can add-on right now?

3) Do the point charts change every year, or do they lock-in based on the year you join DVC? I'm just wondering if I'm going to need to buy more points in future years if it will continually cost more points for the same 2 BR stay we'll be doing every time.

I thought sure I had more questions left than this, but its all I could come up with for now, so I'll post more later here as I think of them. Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Caskbill]

I've been doing some reading on here the past few days and have found this site to be invaluable in helping us make a decision on what we wanted to do. I do still have a few questions I was hoping I could get some help on:

1) We were going to buy in BWV for $78/point, and then I saw someone say Disney ROFR'd someone this week on $78/point there even though a week ago a couple others went through fine at that price. Should I be concerned now that it isnt going to go through at this price?

2) Are add-ons less expensive through Disney once you're a member? If so, how much are they per point currently at BWV if available, or at SSR if thats the only place you can add-on right now?

3) Do the point charts change every year, or do they lock-in based on the year you join DVC? I'm just wondering if I'm going to need to buy more points in future years if it will continually cost more points for the same 2 BR stay we'll be doing every time.

I thought sure I had more questions left than this, but its all I could come up with for now, so I'll post more later here as I think of them. Thanks in advance for any help

Hi Neighbor! (We're 35 miles outside of Cincy)

1. ROFR seems to vary all the time. Sometimes things will go through you wouldn't expect, and other times not. You won't know for sure until it happens.

2. SSR is the resort being currently sold. However add-on's sometimes are available at the other resorts. Often there is a wait list for members to purchase add-on's when they become available. Sold out resorts become available for add-on's when Disney exercises a ROFR on a sale, or even if they have to foreclose on a mortgage.

2B. The prices do not change for add-on's but sometimes there are incentives. For example right now there is a 100 point bonus (one time) if you do a 125 point add-on at SSR. Also there may be other incentives that are resort specific. For example, VB has never sold well historically so there have been many price incentives to purchase there. Price incentives usually amount to giving back your first year's worth of points and get $x.xx off the the price per point.

3. Point requirements do not change. However, that means the TOTAL points for the resort cannot change. They can reallocate points if there is an imbalance. For example they might raise points one place, for a season, or villa type, but then they must reduce points somewhere else so that the total points do not change. That said, there has only been one reallocation in the history of DVC, and that was in 1996 when a slight point adjustment was made at OKW where the points for a couple of rooms went up a few points, and other rooms had their points go down a few points. Although not technically a reallocation, they did split BWV up into Preferred and Standard views before they offically opened and thus created two point systems for that resort.

Also, feel free to download my DVC-Planner program. It has built in point charts and will help you understand the point system a little better for planning purposes. The DVC-Chart program is also a fun little program which has projected point charts, based on Disney patterns for moving points around the holiday periods, through the year 2054. Originally developed in 2001, the projected charts have been 100% accurate all the way so far as Disney has released their 'official' charts.

 

[JimMIA]

1) We were going to buy in BWV for $78/point, and then I saw someone say Disney ROFR'd someone this week on $78/point there even though a week ago a couple others went through fine at that price. Should I be concerned now that it isnt going to go through at this price?

Yes, I'd be concerned. Three deals that we know of went through last week at 78, but then one got ROFR'd this week at 78.

On the other hand, there is a lot of Boardwalk inventory out there and several deals in ROFR now at considerably below 78. If there is any logic to the system, they will certainly get ROFR'd before you will. And if you do...there is always more out there.

So, if you have a contract you really love - lots of banked points, no 'distressed points,' not a stripped contract, etc, you might want to up the ante a buck a point if you can. If it's an average contract, there is more out there for the taking for a dollar or two more per point.

2) Are add-ons less expensive through Disney once you're a member? If so, how much are they per point currently at BWV if available, or at SSR if thats the only place you can add-on right now?

Add-ons are possible anywhere...subject to availability. You may wait a while - maybe quite a while - but you can add on to any property through Disney, in quantities as small as 25 points. If you look at the add-on thread, you will see that some have gotten their add-ons in as little as 4 days, while others have been waiting almost a year.

To the degree that we can fathom any rationale for the higher ROFR prices they seem to be paying in the last week, most people seem to think it is an effort to reduce the waitlist times for existing owners, and some of us have been told that by our guides.

I believe all add-ons are priced at $89 pp, but there is a special add-on deal at SSR right now.

3) Do the point charts change every year, or do they lock-in based on the year you join DVC? I'm just wondering if I'm going to need to buy more points in future years if it will continually cost more points for the same 2 BR stay we'll be doing every time.

As I understand it, Disney has the ability to adjust the points per night somewhat, but cannot change the overall number of points they charge per resort. So that means that if they raised weeknight rates (for example) they would have to make an offsetting reduction in weekend rates. Frankly, I think they have it just about right and we're not likely to see any major changes in point structures. One of the largest benefits of DVC is that we are locking in vacation costs, and if they start tinkering with that, they run the risk of destroying their market.

That doesn't mean they can't or won't, but I think it is not likely.

 

[wbcincy]

Thanks for the info. I thought of one more question I had. When they quote a weekly points rate, how many nights is that considered and what nights out of the week.

 

[wbcincy]

Also, a 100 point bonus to add-on 125 points at SSR??! I'm tempted to just buy 150 somewhere, become a member, buy the 125 point add-on, get 100 bonus, and then sell my original purchase. Seems almost too good to be true.

By the way Caskbill, how long does it take you to drive from Batesville to DW. I just did it 2 weeks ago and it took about 14 1/2 hours (from just north of 275 above cincy), and that was with a stopover and some traffic where they had some rock slides. I've heard from others that they've made it there in more like 12 1/2, wondered what your times were like if you happen to drive it rather than fly.

 

[JimMIA]

Thanks for the info. I thought of one more question I had. When they quote a weekly points rate, how many nights is that considered and what nights out of the week.

Um...seven. Makes no difference when you arrive and depart. It's not a special rate, it's just two weekend nights plus five weekday nights. Friday and Saturday are weekend and are 2-2 1/2 times more points than the rest of the week.

 

[wbcincy]

Hah, sorry, I hadnt added it up, didnt realize they were just putting the cost of 5 weeknights w/ 2 weekend nights. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[JimMIA]

Also, a 100 point bonus to add-on 125 points at SSR??! I'm tempted to just buy 150 somewhere, become a member, buy the 125 point add-on, get 100 bonus, and then sell my original purchase. Seems almost too good to be true.

I could be wrong about this, but I thought the deal was 100 one-time points with a 120 point add on at SSR only.

The problem with selling your original purchase is you have closing costs going in and sales commission of 10-12% going out [EDIT - AND a DVC transfer fee, which I think is $200]. You'd have to make a heckuva gross profit to overcome that.

But...if you get ROFR'd...

 

[wbcincy]

Ok, its a 1-time 100 point bonus, makes much more sense. I didnt read what he had said carefully enough. Well, as soon as the Timeshare store gets back to me, we'll be sending the check and then waiting on Disney to see if we get through. If someone has the info, I'd be interested in being kept updated on whether the current resales waiting for ROFR that are even less than $78/point go through.

 

[JimMIA]

If someone has the info, I'd be interested in being kept updated on whether the current resales waiting for ROFR that are even less than $78/point go through.

Go here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=720134

Go to the last page and look for posts by Beca - she's the one who keeps a running tally. That gets to be a pretty supportive community, so you'll see a lot of exultation and "OH NO's," but there is a wealth of info there.

The true bottom line on ROFR is that none of us know, but the info and speculation is helpful and interesting. The TTS people are probably a more accurate indicator of ROFR, because they see many more deals than are listed on Beca's thread - but they have to represent both sides so they are going to be a little limited in what they can tell you.

 

[JimMIA]

Go here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=720134

Go to the last page and look for posts by Beca - she's the one who keeps a running tally. That gets to be a pretty supportive community, so you'll see a lot of exultation and "OH NO's," but there is a wealth of info there.

The true bottom line on ROFR is that none of us know, but the info and speculation is helpful and interesting. The TTS people are probably a more accurate indicator of ROFR, because they see many more deals than are listed on Beca's thread - but they have to represent both sides so they are going to be a little limited in what they can tell you.

And the other thing you can do is look in TTS' listings above. Anything you see marked "Sale Pending" is either in ROFR or headed there soon.