Buy Points for Cheaper Home Resort and Stay at Any?

[tookie]

I have been tossing around the idea in my head of purchasing DVC resale. My question is this.... If I buy points for one of the cheaper home resorts such as OKW or SSR, I can still use the points to book any other resort, right? The only difference is that I can only book my non-home resort 7 months out as opposed to 11 month? Is making sure you can book at 11 months out really that important? Any thoughts on this theory?
Thanks!

 

[Garthilk]

Hmm,

Honestly, this is likely one of the most cost effective ways to purchase DVC. If the 7th month booking window and avliability is not going to be an issue for you, then yeah, picking up points at 50$ a point is a whole hell of a lot better than buying them for 100$ a point at some of the other resorts.

 

[ELKHUNTER]

Myself I like all the resorts they have their differences, but hey their all deluxe disney villas. What we looked at were dues per point, price per point, and length of contract remaining. These were the most important things to the DW and me. PS. I see you live in the High Country, anywhere near Silverton CO.

 

[joandegennaro]

As long as you will be happy with staying where you purchased. Disney has the option of discontuing the "perk" of being able to stay at the other resorts. Not something I think they will do but it is always something they are allowed to do. I myself bought at OKW which is one of the "cheaper" resorts although we bought direct from Disney. While I would like to try the other resorts if there is no availablity or Disney decides to remove this perk I will be more than happy to stay at OKW and you should be sure you will be happy where you buy.

 

[JimMIA]

It depends on two things -- your ability to USE the 11 month window at your home resort, and the importance to you of getting a certain resort at a certain time of the year, or a certain view/booking category, or certain accommodations.

The home resort booking advantage only works if you can reliably plan and book vacations more than seven months in advance. Many families can and do. Many other families - because of work or family considerations - either can't or won't. You need to know which group you are in. If you are in the latter (can't/won't book early), home resort booking advantage means little.

For certain things, you will need the 11 month booking window, and in some cases will need to call exactly when your 11 month booking window opens. Examples include either BCV or BWV for Food & Wine, Grand Villas just about anywhere, any resort during the peak DVC period between Thanksgiving and New Years. Other examples include Standard View (low points) at BWV, Concierge Level at AKV, MK view at BLT. If you don't care much about those things (we don't), home resort booking advantage doesn't matter.

In our particular case, we own at both OKW and SSR. We can book 11 months out, but rarely do. In fact, we almost never use our booking window, typically booking 5-6 months out. We travel during off-peak times (November and/or May) and have never had a problem getting the resort and accommodations we wanted.

I personally think either OKW or SSR are really great resale buys right now. OKW also happens to be our favorite resort. The price differential is so great that I'd be hard-pressed to justify buying direct.

 

[disneynutz]

If you will be happy staying anywhere then your plan will work.

Bill

 

[Sandisw]

For us, having the 11 month advantage for BLT was more important to us than saving money buying SSR or OKW.

We knew we would not be happy staying elsewhere and just did not want to take a chance. However, we can book at 11 months which is important.

I think you really need to decide for yourself how important where you stay will be. If you are okay with staying at your home resort if what you want is not possible at 7 months, then buying to save money is a great idea.

But, if you would be disappointed in any way if you can't get what you want at the other resorts, then I say consider a resort that would make you happy.

Nothing is impossible at 7 months, but some reservations are harder than others. Getting SV or BW view rooms at BWV are difficult. Getting the value or concierge rooms at AKV are difficult. Getting SV or MK view rooms at BLT are difficult. Getting in to BCV during Food & Wine is difficult. Getting VWL during December is difficult.

But, so is getting a THV at SSR or a GV at OKW.

Good luck!

 

[william1375]

Dont forget maintenance fees, at $6.6 per point places like Vero are not really "cheap" to own in the long run.

 

[Kelblum]

I bought a resale at OKW about 1.5yr ago, last November (Jersey Week) we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and this November we are at Kidani!!

 

[McCrae]

I have been tossing around the idea in my head of purchasing DVC resale. My question is this.... If I buy points for one of the cheaper home resorts such as OKW or SSR, I can still use the points to book any other resort, right? The only difference is that I can only book my non-home resort 7 months out as opposed to 11 month? Is making sure you can book at 11 months out really that important? Any thoughts on this theory?
Thanks!

Over the life of the contract OKW and SSR assuming dues remain relatively the same are not cheaper options than BLT or VGC. They are more expensive.

If you are only concerned about the upfront costs they are cheaper.

 

[ScottakaMickey]

As others have said, that question has a lot to do with when you intend to travel and then looking at that you only have historical reference to know crowds and how full the resorts and DVC got.

In my opinion this is going to change over time. As Disney adds more and more DVC resorts you will be competing more and more with others who are in the same situation, owning elsewhere, but wanting to come to WDW, and therefore 7 month availability may get harder. Granted elsewhere DVC members won't likely come to WDW every year, but there are folks who did what you are looking at.

My vote, buy your points where you like the most that way you are covered if your times change and you do need to book between the 11 and 7 month window.

Scott

 

[tookie]

You have all been so helpful! The way I see it, sure we would like to stay at other DVC properties as well, but if they are full we would be perfectly happy to stay at OKW. Hey it is a Villa and they are all at WDW, so really it's a win win situation. Plus, I just found out that they are redoing the rooms at OKW and saw pics and they look great! I also like the idea of being able to maybe bank a year here and there and going on a trip to Europe or something. I also love the idea of getting to plan a fantastic vacation every year with my wonderful family! Thanks everyone!

 

[JimMIA]

Over the life of the contract OKW and SSR assuming dues remain relatively the same are not cheaper options than BLT or VGC. They are more expensive.

If you are only concerned about the upfront costs they are cheaper.

Be careful what you assume -- you know what happens when we assume.

First of all, VGC is an irrelevant comparison because OP is talking about vacationing at WDW, not California.

Secondly, a much better comparison is to look at the historical dues for OKW - which has been around the longest - and the other well-established hotel-connected DVC resorts like BWV, BCV, and VWL.

You will find that although those resorts' dues started out lower than OKW, they soon overtook OKW. Why? Because a hotel-connected property has a lot more common amenities to support and the dues tend to range higher. Also, there are fewer owners, so the costs are spread over a smaller number of contracts.

In addition, resorts that are only partially sold (BLT is currently only about 60% sold) often are subsidized to some degree. Once the resort fully sells out, those subsidies are withdrawn and the dues naturally go up.

If you look at the historical data carefully, I think you will find that SSR and especially OKW are likely to be the less expensive over the longer term.

 

[mickey&minniealways]

Have you stayed dvc before. We are still toying with the idea. We usually rent points. We were not a able to do it before this. We normally rent points. We stayed at OKW the first time and usually still do. We fell in love with the place and it remains our first choice. My sister owns at VWL. She wouldn't even consider anywhere else. Then she took a trip with her two kids and our mother. Her DH couldn't go because of work. She wanted to conserve points. They wanted to do a longer trip another year. So she stayed at a studio at OKW and fell in love with it also.

 

[tookie]

So from what I am hearing, buying resale at OKW is a good choice if buying into DVC. It's nice, it's cheap, and a point is a point is a point, so I can pretty much go to other resorts when I feel like it booking 7 months out unless I go during the busiest times. Also, I haven't ever been to OKW. Does this really matter? No matter what, it's a Disney vacation. Hmmm............... Now, if I can just get my hubby on board!

 

[ssawka]

Setting MFs asside for right now, what seems like a huge bargain for OKW is not, but it depends on how long you plan to keep the contract. If you are planning on using it until the end the difference is not that great, let me explain:

For the sake of this example, let's assume you are looking at buying 160 points priced at $50 for OKW and $100 for BLT. Also assume that OKW does not have the extension added.

OKW:
# of points: 160
Price per point: $50
Total purchase price: $8000
# of years remaining: 32
Total # points for contract: 5120 (32 * 160)
Price per Point: $1.56 ($8000/5120)
Relative Price: $249.60 ($1.56 * 160)


BLT:
# of points: 160
Price per point: $100
Total purchase price: $16000
# of years remaining: 49
Total # points for contract: 7840 (49 * 160)
Price per Point: $2.04 ($16000/7840)
Relative Price: $326.40 ($2.04 * 160)

So, if you are buying to use the contract for it's entire life, the relative difference between OKW and BLT is $76.80 ($326.40 - $249.60).

Now it can be argued that if you actually use the BLT points at BLT then you would need more points, but the premis of this discussion was that you can use your points anywhere. Also, when you factor the MFs back in, BLT may actually wind up being cheaper (comparatively) then OKW.

 

[tookie]

This seems to get so complicated quickly. I am almost 40 and really to have a contract for almost 50 years is probably irrelevant as I would be 90 years old at the end of it! The initial cost of BLT is simply more than I want to spend. I am looking at purchasing around 270 points and OKW is just more affordable to me right now without breaking it down for years to come. I just want to have fun at WDW with my family for years to come and am trying to figure out the best way to do it.

 

[ssawka]

This seems to get so complicated quickly. I am almost 40 and really to have a contract for almost 50 years is probably irrelevant as I would be 90 years old at the end of it! The initial cost of BLT is simply more than I want to spend. I am looking at purchasing around 270 points and OKW is just more affordable to me right now without breaking it down for years to come. I just want to have fun at WDW with my family for years to come and am trying to figure out the best way to do it.

That is great if that works for you! For others, you just need to make sure you're comparing apples to apples before making your decision, then choose what works best for you and your family.

 

[johnsbelt]

Over the life of the contract OKW and SSR assuming dues remain relatively the same are not cheaper options than BLT or VGC. They are more expensive.

If you are only concerned about the upfront costs they are cheaper.

I'll agree with you at this point in time but (you knew there was a but ) if you take a look at the historical prices of dues, you'll notice that OKW started at about where BLT is today. So barring any major problems, BLT SHOULD mimic OKW's over time.

Where I would worry about dues becoming high is Vero and AKL, the latter due to the animals.

Just my 0.02.

John

 

[JimMIA]

Also, when you factor the MFs back in, BLT may actually wind up being cheaper (comparatively) then OKW.

The problem with this argument is that it turns an intentional blind eye to history. It reminds me of something a DVC timeshare salesman might say.

In the entire 18 year history of DVC, every single hotel-connected resort's MF's have risen above OKW within the first 5 years or so.

New resorts always start with lower dues, but every hotel-connected resort that has been open for a few years (BWV, BCV, VWL) has considerably higher MF's.

Don't be misled by BLT's dues today vs. the oldest resort in the system; compare ANY of the sold-out hotel-resorts to OKW and you'll get an accurate look into the future of BLT.