best time of year to buy?

[reyn74]

We have been mulling over buying DVC for 3 years now, lol! At the time we first took our tour, I was waiting for BLT to open, and then when it did we were having recession issues. Anyhow, we still really want Bay Lake Towers and of course the rep who just talked to me says they will be sold out by spring. But we are in no hurry as of right now, so I'm wondering if there is a better time of the year to buy into DVC.

A second question, if we need to finance any portion of our purchase, is there any reason why financing through Disney would be a better idea than using a pre-existing equity line on our house? Our current APR is much lower than Disney's.

 

[lark]

Can't think of a reason why you should pay 10.25 percent if you have access to cheaper money. Unless you think you might need those HELOC funds for something else. If you don't need to finance through disney, you might want to look at resales, which could save you a bit of money but take longer to close. We got a great incentive when we bought, and pro rated dues despite getting banked points, which was a good deal. But if I were buying now and didn't need an immediate reservation, I'd buy resale if I could find the use year and points I needed. Looks like you can get a loaded contract for about $100/point.

As for when to buy if you buy direct, I'm not sure there's rhyme or reason for incentives, and BLT seems to be selling pretty well. Some of the vets here would know, but my guess is there are times of the year when, depending on your use year, you can get the current year's points and have the ability to bank them late, without fully paying dues for the year or the points. Any time you can get bankable points but not have dues responsibilities for them, it's a good thing. But I'm not entirely sure how that works. You might want to do a search on it.

 

[JimMIA]

Anyhow, we still really want Bay Lake Towers and of course the rep who just talked to me says they will be sold out by spring.

Well of course they did!

Actually, though, the most recent numbers I've seen indicate BLT is only abou 60% sold out, and the fact that they have recently started letting people buy in for as few as 50 points for an initial purchase tells me sales are pretty slow. DVC timeshare sales personnel will tell you that BLT is more than 80% "declared," but declared does not mean sold -- it means available for sale in the points inventory.

You should also be aware that there is a very active resale market, and there are quite a few BLT contracts for sale. The best direct price I've seen recently is $110 if you buy 200 or more points, but the resale contracts have listing prices of around $100, so you could probably buy them for a couple of bucks a point lower than that. If you would be buying enough points to qualify for the $110 direct price, a $10-12 difference per point would be $2,000 or more. If you're only looking at a 50-point buy-in, the resale closing costs would greatly lessen the advantage of purchasing resale.

You probably already know this, but once you're in, it makes no difference whether you bought direct or resale.

A second question, if we need to finance any portion of our purchase, is there any reason why financing through Disney would be a better idea than using a pre-existing equity line on our house? Our current APR is much lower than Disney's.

You home equity line will be much better, for two reasons. One is the lower interest rate -- Disney's rates are very high. The other is, if you finance with Disney, there could be circumstances where the interest would NOT be deductible on your taxes. It depends on your personal circumstances and you'd have to get advice on that from your tax professional. With the home equity, the interest is on your home so it's clearly deductible.

 

[sweetdana]

.. I work in a mortgage enviroment.. I watch HELOCs every day taken for credit cards, vacation homes, down payments, car loans.. .. additionally .. I see homes sold and borrowers left behind too. Where if seperate, you could pay your 1st, and default on your DVC, in a HELOC this is not an option. Do you want your home on the line for this? (a luxury)

Next ... APR is only relevent at closing. As your payments will be based on your interest rate (not your APR).APR = annual percentage rate, (based on intial closing costs you paid, or the cost of the money.) Also due to most oftem HELCOS adjust with prime; the interest rate is only relevent on a monthly bases.. as FEDs fund rate will increase at a pace of 1/2 sometimes 1% each month once it starts.. (maybe months or years away), thinking it is less today, without a super short term plan for pay off is a tough one.

Reasons to not use a HELOC
Your home is on the line ... THINGS happen in life,easy to give up a luxury item, but now you have to pick your home to give that espense up.
Adjustable with prime (most states have no caps on what it can adjust too, states that do it is well into the 20% range. ) Read the fine print, they are often fixed for a month, or 6 months, or __XXX__ then % over prime.
Payments most frequently are interest only, and without making substanital extra payments it would take a long time to pay back.
If you do not have substantial liquid reserves if you need something for your home, like a roof, or basement flooded. This is the main reason for a HELOc and the reason HELOCs were designed for. 3rd mortgages when needed are not reasonable rates.


Reasons to use Disney
Fixed rate, fixed payment and not tied to your home

Reasons to use a HELOC
You have a $$$ of money coming in and plan on paying it off in a very short period of time. Like 1 -2 years.
Or, you have assets, just prefer to take them from some where else, but if need be you can pay it off right away.. if rates say went to 19%, or if DH lost job.
Only putting a small portion of it on HELOC and rest maybe finance from Dis.
GREAT option put down, what you can afford to pay off in 1-2 years and the rest with Disney.

.. Also even sold out resorts have resale.. Though since the whole BLT is not even fully declared.. you probably got a line sold to you. It will prbably not be sold out by spring.

 

[Melnalala]

sure sold out by disney, but resale may work

 

[Melnalala]

good luck

 

[IloveDisney77]

Not sure if this is an option for you but Disney does offer pretty good rates if you are financing for 1 year. When we bought in a couple of years ago, the rate was 5.95%. However, if you have the payment automatically withdrawn it dropped to 4.95%...not as good as a HELOC rate but not bad overall.

 

[Sandisw]

Another option for financing, if you have one, is to use your Disney Visa. You get 6 months, 0% interest on up to $10,000 of your purchase.

If you did this, you would save even more without having to finance the balance until the 6 months is up with your HELOC.

The only drawback is, as a PP mentioned, most HELOC are variable and can rise quickly so I think it would depend on how long you see needing to take out the financing. If it is short term (a few years), then it would seem that there is a good chance that it wouldn't rise above Disney during that time.


Good luck!

 

[JimMIA]

Not sure if this is an option for you but Disney does offer pretty good rates if you are financing for 1 year. When we bought in a couple of years ago, the rate was 5.95%. However, if you have the payment automatically withdrawn it dropped to 4.95%...not as good as a HELOC rate but not bad overall.

I don't know if this is still available. Within the last year or so, DVC raised their interest rates a LOT. I think the current rates are approximately 10.25% preferred and 11.75 standard.

I don't stay up with those rates, so if somebody has more accurate figures, please correct me.

 

[macman752]

I don't know if this is still available. Within the last year or so, DVC raised their interest rates a LOT. I think the current rates are approximately 10.25% preferred and 11.75 standard.

I don't stay up with those rates, so if somebody has more accurate figures, please correct me.

I think 1 year financing is still accurate. 4.95% with auto deduction. Buyer must finance no more than 50% of sale price.