[B]If you were a newbie.....what would you do?[/B]

[CHOPR]

There is always good advice here from our mouse friends I personally liked the Disney direct route just for the ease of purchase and peace of mind.
Resale would really have to save me more than a few hundred to go that route,but that's me. SSR with the 12 more years can be a bonus for the kids as they get older. 15 or so years from now I may be a grandparent with 34 more years still left on my DVC Definitely worth the money in family time alone. Good luck whichever way you go!

 

[Man_Of_Leisure]

I understand where you are coming from. I have stayed at several of the Disney hotels, hotel plaza hotels, and other offsite hotels. I looked at becoming a DVC member around 1999/2000 right before it went to $70/pt. At the time I had not visited any of the DVC resorts except for staying at the BW for our honeymoon in '97 .

I was not excited about the 40 year membership, no discounts on theme park tickets, and maintenance fees. Then I tried the Fairfield resorts and although they were nice they aren't Disney. So after a few years and several more trips to see the mouse the DW and I decided that we should seriously consider DVC.

Our budget allowed us to travel to WDW two to three times a year and stay in one of the All-Star hotels or in a moderate hotel, especially when a special was available, and every once in a while we would splurge and stay at the BW or Coronodo because of a birthday or an anniversary. Because I work for a defense contractor at a military installation I could get my tickets at a discount. But since Disney restructured their pricing after the beginning of this year I didn't see any discounts for Disney hotels looming on the horizon. Also, the last couple of visits I would stop and speak with a DVC representative at one of their booths and what I continually heard was that the prices were increasing.

Finally, on our last visit we stayed at CBR and on one day the DS and I took in a Braves game at Cracker Jack Stadium in the Wide World of Sports Complex while the DW went to the spa at SSR for a facial and body massage. We arranged for meet with a guide and he went over the whole program with its incentives. At the same time I was looking at a resale through Ebay for the same number of points at SSR.

Although the resale was a better price, Disney still had the ROFR, I had to come up with financing and there were closing costs. With Disney, they provided financing and there were no closing costs. There were other incentives as well and the price was scheduled to increase in June , which it has. I also liked the membership till 2054 versus the 2042 with the other resorts and the lower maintenance fees. Being across from DTD appealed to me because we enjoy going during the Christmas holidays and DTD is always wonderfully decorated and bustling with holiday activity. And currently there is a very nice discount on annual passes for DVC members as well as other discounts.

In the future I plan to purchase more points but I am very happy with the decision I made to buy into SSR.

Hope this helps,
Man Of Leisure

 

[TinkABoutIt]

Helps a bunch! Thanks!

 

[CharlesTD]

I would go with Disney you may not get the best price going but you will have no worries with ROFR and the incentives can't be beat.

 

[BriansTinkerbell]

I'm not sure, I would probably do both though.

 

[Disney Doll]

We have done both, as we have 2 contracts. Let me explain the biggest differences, as I see them:

Buying through Disney- You can get up to a 10 year loan, which gives you a pretty cheap per month payment. The first contract DH & I bought, we bought through Disney. We took a 10 year loan, because it gave us the cheapest monthly payment. We figured we could always pay more each month if we had extra $$, and we'd therefore pay off the loan more quickly, but the most we would have to come up with was the cheap monthly payment. This is, in fact, what we did. I think we had the loan paid off in about 4-5 years, because most months, we put extra toward it, above and beyond what the required monthly payment was. The drawback of buying through Disney is that I think the monthly interest rate is higher.

Buying resale- The second contract we bought, we bought using Pat Spell at The Timeshare Store. We had the cash, and they had a contract that worked for us, and it was a good price, and the whole transaction took about 6 weeks start to finish and was completely painless. This was in the days before Disnmey was quite as strict abour ROFR as they are now though. The drawback of buying resale is the financing. There are some creative ways to do it. I know people who have used their Disney VISA, gotten the Rewards $$, and then the next month paid off the VISA with their home equity line of credit and then reaped the tax benefits of using their home equity line. I know people who have paid cash. I know people who have used a home equity loan. I know people who have remortgaged their house and built some extra $$ into that to pay for the DVC.

I guess it all comes down to your financial situation.

 

[Man_Of_Leisure]

As I had previously mentioned I had considered a resale. The biggest problem I had at the time was not which resort (they all appeal to me) but the financing. I investigated various sources and the best rates I could find with companies that financed resales was 11.9% with a $10,000 minimum although the minimum was not a problem because I was looking at a larger purchase (the minimum may have actually been higher, I don't remember). I was told that was because a timeshare was something that did not have any tangiable value.

Because of the size of my anticipated purchase, cash was not an option. I could open a home equity line of credit; however, I just recently purchased my home a year and half ago and wasn't certain I had that much in it. Also, I had to pay for an appraisal fee. And then there still would have been closing costs and transfer fees on the resale.

There was also the time issue. I was ready to make the purchase and I still would have to wait for the loan approval and the ROFR process. When I looked at Disney in March and the incentives they were offering I probably paid about $5.00 per point ($1500) more then if I had purchased a resale. But if you take into account the home appraisal fee ($300), closing costs($500) and transfer fee ($100) and the 2005 maintenance fees that Disney waived, which would have been at least another $400.00 (my UY starts in Sept '05), I probably just about broke even. Of course, I do have a higher interest rate than with a home equity line of credit, but I plan to pay my loan off early.

So all in all, at the time, purchasing through Disney was the way to go for me. I am still interested in purchasing more points in the future and will probably go for a resale at the BW or BCV because I like those resorts, I may be able to save some money, and I would like to have the eleven month reservation window.


Man_Of_Leisure

 

[JimMIA]

You have received a lot of good advice from others. First of all, here is a link that discusses many of the issues you are grappling with. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=778634

I started that thread several months ago to try to put a bunch of info in one place to make it easier to find. A number of DVC vets have added great insights throughout the thread, so at least skim it all. You'll see that it wanders off occasionally, as most of these threads do, but there is good information sprinkled throughout the thread.

Like tjkraz above, I think your first decision needs to be where you want to own, and tj has given you the most accurate way of differentiating between the resorts.

The second part of the question of where is...do you care? You may not -- we did not. We just wanted to get in DVC, and were more interested in the lowest overall cost (initial cost + maintenance), so we bought OKW resale.

A lot of people will tell you to "buy where you want to stay," and that is great advice for many people. However, it's one of those issues which is not really as simple as the cliche would lead you to believe -- and in fact, it's something a lot of people don't really think through. The leadoff post on the thread above discusses that in depth, and hopefully will help you decide whether that advice is relevent for your family.

If you don't feel a need to "buy where you want to stay," and you don't feel a need to own at either HHI or Vero, I would look at either OKW resale or SSR direct from Disney. Both methods are workable, and both have their pros and cons, and the thread above discusses some of those.

Good luck!

 

[TinkABoutIt]

We have done both, as we have 2 contracts. Let me explain the biggest differences, as I see them:

Buying through Disney- You can get up to a 10 year loan, which gives you a pretty cheap per month payment. The first contract DH & I bought, we bought through Disney. We took a 10 year loan, because it gave us the cheapest monthly payment. We figured we could always pay more each month if we had extra $$, and we'd therefore pay off the loan more quickly, but the most we would have to come up with was the cheap monthly payment. This is, in fact, what we did. I think we had the loan paid off in about 4-5 years, because most months, we put extra toward it, above and beyond what the required monthly payment was. The drawback of buying through Disney is that I think the monthly interest rate is higher.

Buying resale- The second contract we bought, we bought using Pat Spell at The Timeshare Store. We had the cash, and they had a contract that worked for us, and it was a good price, and the whole transaction took about 6 weeks start to finish and was completely painless. This was in the days before Disnmey was quite as strict abour ROFR as they are now though. The drawback of buying resale is the financing. There are some creative ways to do it. I know people who have used their Disney VISA, gotten the Rewards $$, and then the next month paid off the VISA with their home equity line of credit and then reaped the tax benefits of using their home equity line. I know people who have paid cash. I know people who have used a home equity loan. I know people who have remortgaged their house and built some extra $$ into that to pay for the DVC.

I guess it all comes down to your financial situation.

THanks so much...that is helpful!

 

[TinkABoutIt]

THanks...so helpful!

 

[CarolA]

I voted resale, but... a few things to consider

Are the extra 12 years important to you? If so, then go with Disney
Are you in love with BCV, BWV, OKW, VWL? If so, then go resale and buy your home resort. While in lots of cases you can stay someplace other then where you buy why risk it.. If you will only be happy vacationing every summer at VWL then buy there and book 11 months in advance to ensure your happiness.