Annual dues heading up?

[Granny]

I was talking to a timeshare broker today who specializes in DVC (that narrows it a bit ), and was told that all DVC resorts would be seeing approximately an 8% increase in maintenance fees for 2003.

Now, keep in mind, this is just what I heard from one person. That person explained that this increase would be primarily driven by tremendous increases in insurance due to the frequent storms that have been hitting Florida, and the insurance companies are raising their rates to compensate for many claims.

Just food for thought...grist for the mill. One of the things I worried about with DVC was the potential for large maintenance increases...but history had indicated otherwise. Hopefully, this rumor is not true, or at least this is a one year aberration.

Just tossing this out there for comment.


Granny

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Granny,
I would be very surprised if this time share person had an inside track to Disney's business. Disney sees very few storms, so, I cannot imagine what claims they have had.
This will be interesting to watch.
BTW, they can raise annual fees up to 13%. 8% sounds like a lot, however, when you take it on a membership with say 230 points, the increase is approx. 5.00 per month ( I rounded up). Hardly something to loose sleep over.

 

[chris1gill]

This info COULD be correct (or not)... I wouldn't really count on it happening until it actually does Even so, we've owned for like 4 years now & I don't think we've really seen an increase over that timeframe... partly because one year the dues went DOWN... Regardless 8% would equate to about 80.00 for the year, so I figure we'll have to cut out a character breakfast to pay the difference!!!

 

[HorizonsFan]

I figure we'll have to cut out a character breakfast to pay the difference!!!

No WAY I'm losing a character breakfast!
I'll just brown bag it a couple of times a week...

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

No WAY I'm losing a character breakfast!

LOL, well you know that 6.66666666666666666667 per month will kill you.

 

[queenof4hearts]

We could not cut our a character breakfast either. They are tooo fun!!!

 

[EROS]

What, me worry????

HOOKAIRS!!!!!!!

 

[DebbieB]

There was a thread earlier this week:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=287708

 

[Granny]

DebbieB...thanks for the link...probably the same broker.

I'm not overly concerned about the rumor....just thought I'd toss it out there. My usual stance on rumors is to just wait and see.

Gail...I know Disney doesn't get hit by many storms, but if they have an insurer who has had a lot of claims elsewhere, it's not unusual to spread those losses over all clients via rate increases rather than try to get it all out of the affected ones.

And I thought the cap on annual dues increases was 15%.

In any event, the only thing that I'd find disturbing is if dues start increasing at a higher rate than the rates to stay at resorts. If that happens, the break even starts taking a lot longer on DVC.


Not that I really bought DVC to break even...I wanted to come out ahead of the room accommodations I otherwise would have stayed in!

 

[msdis]

Here's where the change is being seen

http://www.atimeshare.com/cgi-local/listd.cgi?disy

Anyone got the info on VWL? We own at BWV and VWL.

 

[chris1gill]

Does anyone have the old figures? I only pay the bills, I don't keep the details

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by chris1gill
Does anyone have the old figures? I only pay the bills, I don't keep the details

Rounding to the nearest penny, here are the dues for 2000/2001/2002 by each resort.

OKW - $3.16/$3.13/$3.22
BWV - $4.02/$3.83/$3.92
HHI - $3.26/$3.32/$3.49
Vero - $4.08/$3.98/$4.17
WVL - NA/$3.63/$3.80
BCV -- opening at $3.77

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Property and Casualty insurers were hit somewhat hard the last couple of years. Its easier to raise rates (and get away with it) in vulnerable areas than in tranquil ones. The state of Florida is a vulnerable area...never mind that Orlando is almost never impacted. In fact one of the reasons this line of insurance is looking like a profitable place to invest now is because p&c was hit hard in the last couple of years its easier for them to justify rate increases...especially with the possibility of war looming. Over the last decade the industry has been taking a beating so they are looking for every opportunity they can find to raise rates.

That said 8% seems to be a steep unless Disney has been undercharging on maintenance.

 

[Granny]

The one thing that put my mind at ease about maintenance fees is that Disney, by law, cannot make a profit on them. Time shares are pretty heavily regulated (for good reason) and I'm sure there's no hanky-panky in the numbers.

And over time, the dues increases will bounce a little, I'm sure. Even go down sometime (still waiting for that at VWL!!).

In any event, it's interesting discussion.


Does anyone know when they announce the dues for 2003?

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

VWL had a 5% jump this year and now a rumored 8% for next year I hope this trend stops soon. I sure would hate to see rate of increase in annual dues parallel the rate of increase in points for the DC , or points for the DCL .

 

[DebbieB]

The meeting notices and budget announcement should be mailed to members in the next couple weeks. It includes information on where & when the meetings will be held and I believe they are scheduled for the first week of December, so the notices have to be mailed before then. They give a number to call to RSVP to attend the meeting. The budget announcement itemizes the dues by categories so we can see where the dues changed.

 

[JudithM]

In addition to Debbie's comments, any DVC member who has questions &/or concerns about dues, about how DVC spends "our" money, etc., please contact Member Services. They will forward your questions/concerns to the appropriate CMs. Having attended several annual meetings & having spoken to several management CMs over the years, I know the CMs sharpen those pencils & do everything they can to keep things favorable for the members.

 

[PamOKW]

While this increase is not impossible, it would be the largest ever at OKW. A quick percentage increase history:

Starting in 1993 when dues were $2.5629...the increases have been

1993-94: 5.3%
1994-95: 5.2%
1995-96: 5.3%
1996-97: 5.2%
1997-98: .94%
1998-99: -.32%
1999-00: -.38%
2000-01: -1.16%
2001-02: 1.65%

Current dues are $3.2163 or a 25% increase since 1993. It will be interesting to see what the budget numbers really are.

 

[vernon]

I think it would be hard to justify an 8% overall rise on just the insurance increase. Even if insurance rates doubled, I can't see insurance rates making up 10% of the total budget for DVC. With the number of cutbacks and drop in numbers I'd have thought transportation should be a lower cost as should labour and services.

 

[DebbieB]

Last year insurance was .0609 per point at BWV, so it isn't a big item. Looking at 2001 & 2002 budgets, utilities had a big increase last year, from .1281 per point to .1878.