Aye, aye, aye! Need help with some numbers here from some vets (purchasing).

[SwirlTheCitrus]

The important thing to remember is Use Year and Booking Window are two completely independent and different things. "Booking window" is the 11 month mark before your trip for your home resort - or 7 month mark if you want to try a different resort. So a December 28th, 2020 trip start would have it's booking window open on January 28th, 2020 for your home resort.

"Use Year" is the window in which your points can be used. So in the example above - if you have a December use year, you would be using points from your 2020 use year to book a trip Dec 28th, 2020 to Jan 3rd, 2021, OR as others have said, you can bank points from 2019 or borrow from 2021.

We also have a December UY, and the key is to think of it as a year later. So my December 2019 UY points are mostly good for the 2020 (in actuality Dec 1st, 2019 to Nov 30th, 2020, but 11 of those 12 months are in 2020.)

One other comment though- if you are just entering ROFR window now, you probably should NOT plan on being able to book a 12/28/19 - 1/3/20 trip with these points regardless. By the time the points load in your account, you are probably looking at late-August or early-September, which will be < 4 months until your planned trip. Unlikely to find availability over New Year's at that late a date. In fact, I did a quick search, and those dates are already fully booked in both studios and 1-bedrooms all across the property. So, unless you get lucky with a waitlist, you may be better off looking at cash rooms.

Nope! NOT expecting THAT to work out! I would be going 12/28/20 - 1/3/21.
So, not having access to the website-- it is an option to book without having any points to my name yet? I could book this vacation this coming Jan. 28 with the coming 2020 points?

 

[skier_pete]

Nope! NOT expecting THAT to work out! I would be going 12/28/20 - 1/3/21.
So, not having access to the website-- it is an option to book without having any points to my name yet? I could book this vacation this coming Jan. 28 with the coming 2020 points?

So when you get your account active - your account will show that you have zero 2019 points, 150 2020 points, and 150 2021 points - so when you go to book you will have the 2020 points available for booking a 12/28/20 - 1/3/21 trip.

One of the more frustrating pieces of buying DVC is that often you don't get to use your new purchase for 9-18 months. (It took us 16 months to first use our BWV contract we bought in May 2017 and didn't use until October 2018.) I contract I'm buying right now is also an December UY contract with no 2019 point. I really hate borrowing points, so I am not sure that we will be using those points until 2020, so maybe as much as two years after the purchase before we get to use it.

 

[SwirlTheCitrus]

So when you get your account active - your account will show that you have zero 2019 points, 150 2020 points, and 150 2021 points - so when you go to book you will have the 2020 points available for booking a 12/28/20 - 1/3/21 trip.

One of the more frustrating pieces of buying DVC is that often you don't get to use your new purchase for 9-18 months. (It took us 16 months to first use our BWV contract we bought in May 2017 and didn't use until October 2018.) I contract I'm buying right now is also an December UY contract with no 2019 point. I really hate borrowing points, so I am not sure that we will be using those points until 2020, so maybe as much as two years after the purchase before we get to use it.

Yikes, that is a long time to wait-- I guess for me the earliest that I would use them is next October, and more than likely December, so hopefully this will work out! Do you hate borrowing points because of the finality of the reservation?

 

[skier_pete]

Yikes, that is a long time to wait-- I guess for me the earliest that I would use them is next October, and more than likely December, so hopefully this will work out! Do you hate borrowing points because of the finality of the reservation?

Yes, the finality of borrowing is not my favorite position to put my points into, I would prefer to use my points within the current use year, or if then I don't need them I bank them into the next use year. It took us almost 4 years to get to the point we weren't borrowing, mostly because this UY (Dec 2018 - Nov 2019) we didn't go to WDW. So I banked some points and next February have a trip booked with just banked and in-UY points (well, one borrowed point). It's really not BAD to have to borrow your points, but it's more of a mental thing for me. But I'm buying a contract with no Dec 2019 points but I don't think i'll need them until Dec 2020. I actually don't really NEED more points, but I have started to get very paranoid about what other benefit Disney might take away from resale next, so i would rather have the contract in hand with the current restrictions then see what happens next. This contract will bring me to my "ideal" point level (395 total) and I will not need to worry about any future changes.

 

[suemom2kay]

I made this little spreadsheet when I was trying to decide which resort to buy 75 direct at. It is pure cost per point divided by number of years left in the contract. I did not consider or include commissions or maintenance fees.

Property	Deed Expiration	Current Year	Cost Per Point	Total Cost	Years Left	Cost per Year
AKV	2057​	2019​	176​	13200​	38​	$347.37​
AUL	2062​	2019​	188​	14100​	43​	$327.91​
CCV	2068​	2019​	188​	14100​	49​	$287.76​
OKW	2057​	2019​	156​	11700​	38​	$307.89​
SSR	2054​	2019​	160​	12000​	35​	$342.86​
BCV	2042​	2019​	225​	16875​	23​	$733.70​

 

[Deb & Bill]

I made this little spreadsheet when I was trying to decide which resort to buy 75 direct at. It is pure cost per point divided by number of years left in the contract. I did not consider or include commissions or maintenance fees.

Property	Deed Expiration	Current Year	Cost Per Point	Total Cost	Years Left	Cost per Year
AKV	2057​	2019​	176​	13200​	38​	$347.37​
AUL	2062​	2019​	188​	14100​	43​	$327.91​
CCV	2068​	2019​	188​	14100​	49​	$287.76​
OKW	2057​	2019​	156​	11700​	38​	$307.89​
SSR	2054​	2019​	160​	12000​	35​	$342.86​
BCV	2042​	2019​	225​	16875​	23​	$733.70​

Buy the one you love the best. Buy the one you don't mind staying at if you can't ever change to a different resort. If you want to visit WDW most of the time, don't buy any offsite resort. If you want to visit DLR most of the time, blow the bank and buy GCV. You can do math as much as you want, but if you buy somewhere you really don't want to stay at because you can't get that BCV or CCV studio at seven months out or the AKV or OKW grand villa at seven months out, it really doesn't matter. It's just getting harder and harder to book many times of the year at seven months out.

 

[suemom2kay]

Buy the one you love the best. Buy the one you don't mind staying at if you can't ever change to a different resort. If you want to visit WDW most of the time, don't buy any offsite resort. If you want to visit DLR most of the time, blow the bank and buy GCV. You can do math as much as you want, but if you buy somewhere you really don't want to stay at because you can't get that BCV or CCV studio at seven months out or the AKV or OKW grand villa at seven months out, it really doesn't matter. It's just getting harder and harder to book many times of the year at seven months out.

This is true, but just purchasing blindly without crunching numbers, one may buy at SSR thinking it is cheaper when in the long run it is not. I was definitely surprised at the value of CCV. People always say SSR or OKW, but due to the length of contract left at CCV it is actually a better deal. AKV is not bad either. Which is where I plan to buy direct if no significant price changes.

Again, caveat, I did not consider maintenance fees nor points needed to stay at a particular resort in my little sheet. I was going strictly by cost of contract divided by length of years left in contract.

 

[SwirlTheCitrus]

I was definitely surprised at the value of CCV. People always say SSR or OKW, but due to the length of contract left at CCV it is actually a better deal.

If you ever stay in studios, I have heard that it is nearly impossible to book them at CCV, even at the 11 month mark...

Thanks for the sheet!!

 

[CanadaDisney05]

This is true, but just purchasing blindly without crunching numbers, one may buy at SSR thinking it is cheaper when in the long run it is not. I was definitely surprised at the value of CCV. People always say SSR or OKW, but due to the length of contract left at CCV it is actually a better deal. AKV is not bad either. Which is where I plan to buy direct if no significant price changes.

Again, caveat, I did not consider maintenance fees nor points needed to stay at a particular resort in my little sheet. I was going strictly by cost of contract divided by length of years left in contract.

Not including maintenance fees will have a dramatic effect on your calculations. If maintenance fees keep outpacing US inflation, those later years of the contract become exponentially more expensive in today's dollars.

 

[suemom2kay]

Not including maintenance fees will have a dramatic effect on your calculations. If maintenance fees keep outpacing US inflation, those later years of the contract become exponentially more expensive in today's dollars.

Considering I don't have a crystal ball, not sure how I would incorporate them.

 

[SwirlTheCitrus]

LOL!
You can look at the current dues per point and track the price increase per point over the last couple of years.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

Considering I don't have a crystal ball, not sure how I would incorporate them.

Nobody has a crystal ball, but there's enough history there to give you a general idea. Maintenance fees have increased on average around 4% annually since inception. US inflation averages around 2%.

So doing some quick present value formulas:

SSR

Maintenance Fees = 235.85/PP in today's dollars
Purchase Price = 160 in today's dollars
Years Remaining = 35

Total Cost per point = 395.85

Cost Per Point Per Year = 11.31

CCV

Maintenance Fees = 410.38/PP in today's dollars
Purchase Price = 188 in today's dollars
Years Remaining = 49

Total Cost per point = 598.38

Cost Per Points Per Year = 12.21

 

[suemom2kay]

Nobody has a crystal ball, but there's enough history there to give you a general idea. Maintenance fees have increased on average around 4% annually since inception. US inflation averages around 2%.

So doing some quick present value formulas:

SSR

Maintenance Fees = 235.85/PP in today's dollars
Purchase Price = 160 in today's dollars
Years Remaining = 35

Total Cost per point = 395.85

Cost Per Point Per Year = 11.31

CCV

Maintenance Fees = 410.38/PP in today's dollars
Purchase Price = 188 in today's dollars
Years Remaining = 49

Total Cost per point = 598.38

Cost Per Points Per Year = 12.21

I'm very confused by $410 or $385 per point. Are you saying over 20 years? Cause I/m not ashamed to admit, I don't know how to compound interest in Excel. And to go back to my desire for a direct contract... I am looking at CCV vs AKV only. Both have maintenance fees in the same neighborhood so it really doesn't matter. If I wanted the cheapest resort considering only maintenance fees and purchase price, there are cheaper resorts, but I actually want to stay at the resort I purchase.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

I'm very confused by $410 or $385 per point. Are you saying over 20 years? Cause Y

Over the remaining length of the contract... I then average out over the years remaining to give you an cost per year

 

[suemom2kay]

Over the remaining length of the contract... I then average out over the years remaining to give you an cost per year

I meant over remainder of the contract, not 20 years.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Ultimately, you will spend more on maintenance fees than you spend on purchasing the contract over the life of the contract. Unless you get rid of it in five years. Then you are going to lose money on the sale of the points.

 

[suemom2kay]

Ultimately, you will spend more on maintenance fees than you spend on purchasing the contract over the life of the contract. Unless you get rid of it in five years. Then you are going to lose money on the sale of the points.

True but you pay maintenance fees on all properties with not HUGE differences for the on site resorts. Differences yes, but none that would sway me to buy one onsite resort over another. But, others may find maintenance fees more important than me.