Buy at HH, use elsewhere?

[Giant Sloar]

We have been looking at DVC for a quite a while. It seems that resale is currently the best way to go price wise.

The last few times we have been at Disney World, we have stayed in the Beach/Yacht club area (conference rates, paid by company, yeah) and like that area between Epcot and Hollywood the best. So here is my question.

If I buy into HH at the current $50-60/pt I see on some resale sites, how hard would it be to get into a studio/1BR at BWV or BCV 7 months out? We would typically travel at the end of May, Mardi Gras (mid Feb-Early Mar) and on occasion July 4. We don't have a problem booking that far in advance.

I don't see much discussion of no room availability on this forum. View is not really all that important, but of course nice is better. Worst case, its seems that DW has an abundance of DVC properties and I would imagine that I could get into any of those barring a last minute decision.

Was this a larger problem in the past? Is it expected that this will be an issue going forward in the future, perhaps as the economy rebounds?

Basically, if there is room availability, I don't see a reason to buy at the home location I would prefer to stay. Also, if I use the point for the overseas sites, it becomes even less of an issue as those don't have a home location at all.

If this reasoning is sound, is there another property that presents and even better value?

 

[TiaMaria]

You will almost always see us here on this board say to "buy where you love to stay". The reason is that quite often (not always) it can be quite difficult to book at some resorts at peak and/or popular DVC times.

Epcot resorts during peak times, holidays such as President's Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, or for example, Food & Wine Festival, Halloween and Spring Break, many times require 11 months booking. Studios seem to go especially fast.

As with anything, this is not 100%. And there is always waitlist. However, availability is pretty tight during these times. So if where you stay is at all important to you, give serious thought to buying where your 11 month advantage will get you where you want to be.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Dues are higher at HHI.

DVC could decide to sell it and then you wouldn't be able to use your points for WDW.

DVC could decide you could only use your points at your home resort.

If you ever want a GV or one of the different villas, your odds are not that good at 7 months out.

 

[Sandisw]

The main problem, IMO, of buying HH, to use at WDW is that you can not ever book before the 7 month mark. You can not give yourself a back up plan in case BWV or BCV (the Epcot resorts) are not available for exactly the dates that you want.

If you look at SSR or OKW, those contracts are going for not too much more than HH, are on WDW property, and have lower dues. SSR even has a longer expiration as do some of the OKW contracts over HH, which expires in 2042.

At least with one of those, you could book something on property at 11 months and then try to get the others at 7 months. If they are available, great--if not, then at least you have something at WDW.

However, if you are going to be disappointed in any way that you can't get BWV/BCV at the 7 month mark, I would buy there.

We bought BLT, even though it was $5000 more than SSR, because we wanted to be sure we could get BLT SV rooms. While nothing is guaranteed, being able to book those rooms at 11 months is important to us.

We knew staying elsewhere would not be okay unless it was our choice. We have tried VWL, BWV, and BCV since we bought in 2009 and BLT remains our favorite. We are very glad we spent the extra money to know we have what we want when we want.

And, today, at 9 1/2 months out, I snagged the last 2 bedroom SV room at BLT for my August 2011 dates. And, summer, is typically not one of the busy DVC times so my owning there is very important.

Good luck!

 

[bobbiwoz]

HHI is hard to get into over the summer months. If you think you would vacation there, buy it. If you don't think you'll go to HHI, I would buy OKW or SSR resale. SSR has the longer life of the points and OKW has lower villa point costs. At 7 months lots of people want to get into BCV for 4th of July, but it is possible. The problem is that since there are more "non BCV" points out there, you're competing against an every growing population who also want to be there.

Bobbi

 

[Rocket]

Don't forget that closing costs at HHI are roughly double that of the others as an attorney must do the closing. Figure on $800 - $1000.

 

[Brian Noble]

I would buy OKW or SSR resale.

Ditto. Roughly similar resale costs (especially so for OKW), lower dues, and a home resort *at* WDW.

 

[disney11fan]

if buying resale...what is your up front cost...what is your yearly costthat you have to pay. if you can rent the points and go when you choose,wouldn't that be better.

good luck

 

[Dean]

We have been looking at DVC for a quite a while. It seems that resale is currently the best way to go price wise.

The last few times we have been at Disney World, we have stayed in the Beach/Yacht club area (conference rates, paid by company, yeah) and like that area between Epcot and Hollywood the best. So here is my question.

If I buy into HH at the current $50-60/pt I see on some resale sites, how hard would it be to get into a studio/1BR at BWV or BCV 7 months out? We would typically travel at the end of May, Mardi Gras (mid Feb-Early Mar) and on occasion July 4. We don't have a problem booking that far in advance.

I don't see much discussion of no room availability on this forum. View is not really all that important, but of course nice is better. Worst case, its seems that DW has an abundance of DVC properties and I would imagine that I could get into any of those barring a last minute decision.

Was this a larger problem in the past? Is it expected that this will be an issue going forward in the future, perhaps as the economy rebounds?

Basically, if there is room availability, I don't see a reason to buy at the home location I would prefer to stay. Also, if I use the point for the overseas sites, it becomes even less of an issue as those don't have a home location at all.

If this reasoning is sound, is there another property that presents and even better value?

I would not buy HH to use exclusively elsewhere. The risks are too high and the price difference not enough to justify it. I've seen prices at $40 pp or less though so if you could get it cheaply enough, it might be worth the gamble.

Don't forget that closing costs at HHI are roughly double that of the others as an attorney must do the closing. Figure on $800 - $1000.

It's not that much more.

 

[OntFamily]

Don't forget that closing costs at HHI are roughly double that of the others as an attorney must do the closing. Figure on $800 - $1000.

I bought HH from DVC a few months ago, and paid approx $450 in closing costs.

 

[rmcildw2m]

I bought in at HH back in september and did not have any problem booking at OKW for november stay . I think it does not matter where you buy in at ,as long as you pay attention to the booking windows .And as we all know you cannot always get the dates and place you want when you want it anyway .

 

[Hopefully]

I bought in at HH back in september and did not have any problem booking at OKW for november stay . I think it does not matter where you buy in at ,as long as you pay attention to the booking windows .And as we all know you cannot always get the dates and place you want when you want it anyway .

Getting a Villa at OKW in November is very different than getting a BWV/BCV most of the year.
If you know this is the area you prefer to stay in, I would urge you to buy resale in that area. Many times of the year you will have trouble - or find nothing available. I personally wouldn't pay the cost of HH knowing I may be shut out of the Inn.

 

[LisaS]

If you really want to stay at BCV or BWV then buy one of those resorts. If you don't care where you stay and will be OK with getting into BWV or BCV on some trips buy not always then save yourself some money and buy SSR or OKW.

We bought in to DVC after staying at Yacht Club a couple of times. We knew we would want to stay in an Epcot resort most of the time so we purchased a BWV resale contract. Some of the times we go (early May for example) I could probably get in to BWV at 7 months, though I would likely have to settle for the pool/garden view. Since we prefer either the boardwalk view rooms for their great view or to save points with the standard view rooms, we wouldn't be happy with a pool/garden view room. Other times that we go (Food & Wine festival, early December) owning at BWV is essential. It's worth the extra cost to us to be where we want to be at WDW.