Buying cheap points to stay at Aulani

[lablady]

Ok, we are planning a trip for February of 2020 to Hawaii. We’ve been to Aulani half a dozen times without being owners. Most of those times we rented points. Now I’m looking and even renting points, the prices seem crazy! We loved our last stay in a one-bedroom ocean view. Now buying is starting to make sense.

One problem that I’m having is that there aren’t many Aulani resale contracts available at this time. At least with the Timeshare Store. Then, I’m looking at other resales and see that Vero has some super cheap contracts, like in the 50s and 60s per point. I know that the dues would be higher, but with the price so much lower it seems like it might be worth it. I know that we would be wanting the one bedroom or two bedroom with either the pool or ocean view, so will need a fair amount of points. I’ve heard that Aulani is not as hard to get into at the 7 month mark, especially if you aren’t wanting the standard room.

Is there something that I am missing here? I’m super new at the DVC thing and I don’t want to miss something that’ll bite me later. Thanks for any advice that you can give me.

 

[Jenniebee]

The dues actually do matter.

Not sure how many points you are looking for but let's say it's 100.

Aulani dues are $7.86, so $786 per year

Vero is $9.48, so $948 a year.

Not even factoring increases, which will for certain happen happen, this is a couple thousand dollars difference over just 10 years. Vero MF will be over $10 in the not so distant future. Just make sure you factor this in.

 

[Ruttangel]

Quite a few on Fidelityresales for Aulani
Also, someone said that it would be worth paying more for one with subsidized dues as you get your money back over time.

 

[Great3]

IIRC, you asked a similar question before, but this time it's specific to Vero Beach. I will just say I wouldn't do it. Aulani can with had for $85 - $90 a points fairly easily thru other well known reputable broker(s), which isn't much more than $60 / point for VB, and the Aulani due's is much cheaper, and you get home resort advantage booking at 11 months.

By my math, break even point buying higher initial price Aulani over Vero Beach is about 15 years. So, if you plan on owning for less than 15 years, than yeah, maybe it makes sense. But if you plan on owning greater than 15 years, Aulani is the way to go, not VB. And good luck selling a non 2042 Non-WDW resort in 10-15 years time when deed expiration will be only about 10 years left. At least with Aulani, there's enough shelf life left that even if you had to sell, you can probably get something back.

Edit to Add: And if you love Aulani a lot, than the 2042 deed expiration means you start all over again, need to pay a initial price entry fee, just so you can go back to vacationing where you love. So in summary, long term, buy Aulani. Short term, than really, why buy at all, as you are taking risks that renting doesn't expose you to. Buying a timeshare should be for the long term to truly realize the cost savings of accommodations.

Great3

 

[Philsfan77]

Ok, we are planning a trip for February of 2020 to Hawaii. We’ve been to Aulani half a dozen times without being owners. Most of those times we rented points. Now I’m looking and even renting points, the prices seem crazy! We loved our last stay in a one-bedroom ocean view. Now buying is starting to make sense.

One problem that I’m having is that there aren’t many Aulani resale contracts available at this time. At least with the Timeshare Store. Then, I’m looking at other resales and see that Vero has some super cheap contracts, like in the 50s and 60s per point. I know that the dues would be higher, but with the price so much lower it seems like it might be worth it. I know that we would be wanting the one bedroom or two bedroom with either the pool or ocean view, so will need a fair amount of points. I’ve heard that Aulani is not as hard to get into at the 7 month mark, especially if you aren’t wanting the standard room.

Is there something that I am missing here? I’m super new at the DVC thing and I don’t want to miss something that’ll bite me later. Thanks for any advice that you can give me.

A couple of things here.

- Regardless of what you decide to do, you will need to rent points this year for Aulani or pay cash for a room. The resale process from start to finish can take anywhere from 2-3 months (assuming everything goes as planned), which will put you into December/January and a month out from your trip to book.
- I can also tell you that currently for a 1 bedroom ocean view, only the first week of February and last week of February are available. The middle of the month doesn't have much open, and that is the same for all of the 1 bedrooms currently.
- The difference in dues will all but wipe out your initial savings over time, and if you wanted to sell for some reason in 10 years down the road, a 2042 resort off property with the highest dues will pry net you pennies on the dollar, while Aulani (just a personal guess) will still be hovering close to what you paid for it on the resale market or at the worst be hovering around where Vero Beach is currently.
- Pay a little more today for what you really want...save money on dues down the road...give yourself the 11 month booking advantage...buy Aulani resale (currently 15 available on another very reputable resale site and you can pry get them for $80-$90 a point if you offered in that range).

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I'd also point out that Vero is going to get hit by dues issues multiple times in the next 10-15 years. They get hit by tropical storms and hurricanes, which have been on the rise, and the beach gets trashed every time. Insurance rates and deducatibles = special assessments. They build across time.

 

[lmhall2000]

Look at ALL the vendors, I’ve been tracking for 2 weeks and Aulani has LOADS of contracts! It also has tons of availability- we were just there last week. I think with so many contracts listed this month alone- there will be some low point contracts that go through!

 

[montreid]

Plenty of Aulani ones around. Not even stripped ones either. Just entered into contract on a small 50pts to get into our first foray into DVC.

 

[stuartsong]

I concur with everyones comments. Stick with Aulani rather than VB. You will come out ahead with Aulani. Also, home priority will be important for prime times at Aulani.

 

[lablady]

IIRC, you asked a similar question before, but this time it's specific to Vero Beach. I will just say I wouldn't do it. Aulani can with had for $85 - $90 a points fairly easily thru other well known reputable broker(s), which isn't much more than $60 / point for VB, and the Aulani due's is much cheaper, and you get home resort advantage booking at 11 months.

By my math, break even point buying higher initial price Aulani over Vero Beach is about 15 years. So, if you plan on owning for less than 15 years, than yeah, maybe it makes sense. But if you plan on owning greater than 15 years, Aulani is the way to go, not VB. And good luck selling a non 2042 Non-WDW resort in 10-15 years time when deed expiration will be only about 10 years left. At least with Aulani, there's enough shelf life left that even if you had to sell, you can probably get something back.

Edit to Add: And if you love Aulani a lot, than the 2042 deed expiration means you start all over again, need to pay a initial price entry fee, just so you can go back to vacationing where you love. So in summary, long term, buy Aulani. Short term, than really, why buy at all, as you are taking risks that renting doesn't expose you to. Buying a timeshare should be for the long term to truly realize the cost savings of accommodations.

Great3

See! This is why I ask you guys. I was COMPLETELY forgetting about the earlier deed expiration. I feel dumb. Seeing all those listings with prices below $60 is just so tempting.

 

[lablady]

What other brokers would you suggest?

 

[keaster]

What other brokers would you suggest?

We purchased a subsidized Aulani contract with DVC Resale Market

 

[Rick195275]

I saw one other person point it out and I’ll reiterate it, if you are planning to use this resale contract for February 2020 your unlikely to find availability in 2-3 months when the process finalizes. You would get plenty of trips out of the contract moving forward though.

 

[Noodlez]

We purchased through Fidelity and had no problems at all. It wasn’t Aulani, but they definitely have some contracts available there at the moment.

 

[The Jackal]

If you could find one, a Vero Beach Subsidized dues contract has lower MF’s but are hard to come by. Aulani subsidized is probably the cheapest, but SSR contracts are not much different in the long run, plus it would give you a WDW 11 month booking priority.

 

[Matty B13]

If you could find one, a Vero Beach Subsidized dues contract has lower MF’s but are hard to come by.

Are there any Vero Beach Subsidized dues contracts????? I thought the only subsidized dues were at Aulani because of all the shenanigans that the DVC executives pulled with the MF's.

 

[crvetter]

Are there any Vero Beach Subsidized dues contracts????? I thought the only subsidized dues were at Aulani because of all the shenanigans that the DVC executives pulled with the MF's.

Yeah there are subsidized dues that were based on the larger initial plans of the resort. Once they scaled back the size the dues had to go up however contracts sold prior to the scale back got to keep lower dues. Less shenanigans and more poor sale performance.

 

[Noodlez]

Yeah there are subsidized dues that were based on the larger initial plans of the resort. Once they scaled back the size the dues had to go up however contracts sold prior to the scale back got to keep lower dues. Less shenanigans and more poor sale performance.

Thanks Crvetter! In all my wasted time on forums this was one thing I’d never come across before.

 

[eMoneyBug]

Definitely check out the ROFR thread to get an idea of what others are paying for AUL. Larger contracts in my opinion sell slower and thereby have greater chance to be negotiated to a lower selling price. And definitely don't get tempted by HH or VB as of the 14, AUL is probably the 3rd lowest and has the longest deed expiration and you will want the 11month booking window since this is your top destination, no matter what special time of the season it is, you can book it.