Buying DVC

[mckryan]

Don't forget that your financial committment to DVC does not end with your purchase. You also have yearly maitenance fees.

I would not do a joint purchase with someone I am living with, but that's just me. I also would not purchase if my employment situation was tenuous. As someone posted in this thread, DVC is not the cheapest way to visit WDW, but it can be the least expensive luxury visit to WDW.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[GoodFairies]

Whether your rent or own your primary residence is of no concern in determining a DVC purchase. To each their own. Some people like the idea of maintenance free living and renting makes perfect sense for them.

It's the unemployment situation that would have me most concerned. I wouldn't be spending any money, from taxes or otherwise, until that was resolved. Speaking from experience, finding another job may take much longer than you think. I'd wait on the purchase until you are both working again. You might need that tax refund to pay the rent or electric bill.

Exactly what I would have written.

 

[Muushka]

My 2010 point charts show otherwise.

Check out the new, improved (NOT) 2011 point charts. Even more of a jump for weekdays than 2010.

Sorry OP, back to your topic.......

 

[bebelle]

Can't speak to your situation but we had the opportunity to buy DVC in 1992 and did not. Now we could just kick ourselves. At the time DH was still in college and $7500 seemed liked $75000 to us!

 

[frogprincesskc]

Thank you again to all who have replied. Your thoughts have helped. Just to reiterate...MY financial standing has not changed really. The only thing that changes on my end is that wherever my bf ends up I will eventually follow. So buying a house is not a good idea right now.That being said I more than likely will still plan on buying either 50 or 75 points in the next year or so. I only intend to do a Disney trip either every other year to maybe every few. It is generally for a week to ten days. (with banking and borrowing) Thanks again everyone.

 

[smidgy]

You are not married but considering buying property together? Wouldn't do it for that reason alone.

As for buying DVC vs buying a home - IMO, this is a great time to be a renter. If I were not in my current home, I would stay on the sidelines until the housing market started a solid recovery...

ITA! on both points. wish we didn't own our home right now.

and, as a PP stated, DVC is a great waay to enjoy DELUXE resorts. we happen to really like the moderate resorts, and the points for those are crazy!

you can still enjoy disney at the moderate, OR the value resorts.

 

[Sparx]

You are not married but considering buying property together? Wouldn't do it for that reason alone.

As for buying DVC vs buying a home - IMO, this is a great time to be a renter. If I were not in my current home, I would stay on the sidelines until the housing market started a solid recovery...

not every couple gets married.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

not every couple gets married.

Stepping in only b/c now we have both sides...

True, not everyone gets married.

However, people who do get married have legal protections. If you enter into contracts together, if you choose to divorce, the courts can assist you in divvying up those contracts or forcing sales. Sometimes of course, one partner may *oops* not refinance a home for example to drop their ex-es name, but they would be held in contempt. In the even that neither party can refinance so that the contract is exlusive in their name--the courts can force the liquidation of assets (even at a loss as in a short sale). The courts cannot remove a name off of a loan of course. But they can force the partner retaining the property to take care of things as soon as possible to mitigate damages to the person not keeping the property.

Take a couple who choose not to be married (or legally are unable)--the courts cannot force the other party to do squat. So in the event the relationship dissolves, and they wish to no longer be "connected" to that individual through their real estate/debt/contract dealings--they are at the mercy of their ex to go along with it. The ex cannot really be forced to do anything.

Sucks--and there is more legal mumbo jumbo--but that is the jist of it.

So no, not everyone chooses to get married and that is okay. However, there are legal ramifications involved when one chooses that route, opts to make large purchases and then decides to no longer remain a couple.

Nothing against OP getting her own contract or buying her own house. But it is wise financial council to not enter into any contract with someone whom you are not married to. The advice actually is more "legal" and not really a "judgement" or "opinion" of what someone chooses to do in their own life.

OP is free to do as she wishes of course. She is not legally prevented from doing so.

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

DH and I rent and we bought DVC. We aren't planning on living here for long, so it wouldn't make sense to buy a house here. We bought DVC last year, when our jobs were secure. We bought direct from Disney, more than the minimum points, and we financed. Then DH lost his job 4 months later (7 months ago...). We can still afford the payments without problem, but we aren't able to put any more money towards it like we wanted to (I'm saving extra cash instead of paying down the balance).

I don't regret doing it, because I know that we will be going to Disney for years and years to come. The amount of money we spent on our hotel room at Beach Club for our honeymoon could have paid nearly 1/3 of our contract! And we had taken 2 trips to WDW and several short trips to DL before that! Ouch. Just ouch. So it made financial sense for us to get a good deal on our hotel rooms and commit to it. We don't have kids yet, and knew we would want to take them, so we are for sure in our commitment.

So, if you can actually afford it even without DBF having a job, I say to do it. But I agree to check out the 2011 point charts to make sure you have enough points for when you want to stay, otherwise you might as well just wait - or buy the small contract and purchase points for transfer to get the vacations you want until you can afford more. But just in case something happens in the future, make sure your contract's in your name only - which I'm sure you'd planned on doing anyway. You can always put DBF as an associate on your account and he can talk to MS and do all the planning if you want!

Oh, and we have no trips planned for this year, but that's the beauty - I can bank my points if we aren't able to financially go to WDW this year! Though, we'd probably end up going to HHI or Vero if we don't want to swing the tickets purchase.

 

[golfgal]

Can't speak to your situation but we had the opportunity to buy DVC in 1992 and did not. Now we could just kick ourselves. At the time DH was still in college and $7500 seemed liked $75000 to us!

Is a DVC only $7500? Is that a one time fee? Do you pay anything other then that? How long is your ownership (forever or limited?)? Can you trade your "spot" like you can with other timeshares? I am just curious how this all works.

 

[mckryan]

Is a DVC only $7500? Is that a one time fee? Do you pay anything other then that? How long is your ownership (forever or limited?)? Can you trade your "spot" like you can with other timeshares? I am just curious how this all works.

Here is a good primer about DVC. There are resales available through places other than Disney, too.

 

[golfgal]

Here is a good primer about DVC. There are resales available through places other than Disney, too.

Thanks, that answers most of my questions. Are park tickets included in your points?

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

Is a DVC only $7500? Is that a one time fee? Do you pay anything other then that? How long is your ownership (forever or limited?)? Can you trade your "spot" like you can with other timeshares? I am just curious how this all works.

Way more than $7500 for a minimum direct from DVC purchase of 160 points. About $20,000. You can get less points from resales. Plus maintenance fees of $4-$5 per point you own, per year. How long you own is dependent on the resort you choose, 2042, 2053, 2057, 2060. I own BLT which is 2060.
You can trade out with RCI, but it isn't the most cost effective option if you plan on doing it very often, as DVC costs a lot. You pay $95 to trade out.
You can also use your points at Hilton Head Island DVC resort and the Vero Beach DVC resort. They're currently building a resort in Hawaii. There is one resort at DL and the rest are at WDW attached to regular resorts.
You own points, not weeks, so you can stay on your terms; to trade out you deposit a certain # of points into RCI's system.

You can check out the DVC boards on here for questions. We're nice!

I think a good overview of everything is at Mouse Owners. I had a link but apparently it's blocked. They have a "program basics" section that is very helpful.

 

[mckryan]

Thanks, that answers most of my questions. Are park tickets included in your points?

No, definitely not, but you do get a DVC discount on Annual Passes at this time.

 

[DisneyMim]

As one of the oldest DVC members, we bought in 1991, never saw it just pictures, it wasn't even built and we wanted it, I wanted to jump in here. I don't think owning or renting has anything to do with it. Owning a home is a lifestyle and a lot of people don't want the responsibility of a home. That being said, we've always owned our own home. We LOVE LOVE our membership, but I have to say that we also go to Disney as paying guests. Sometimes the deals are just too good to refuse. We are going in April (just an example) and staying at Kidani because we found a passholder rate that was just too good!! We enjoy staying at the Poly and other deluxe resorts also. AND we stay at the All Stars sometimes too. Last August we stayed during free dining and kept talking the whole week about how wonderful this deal is. We probably will do this again this year. What I am saying is that you have to look into it really really well, and find out if it truly is right for you. I don't know anything about joint ownership for unmarried couple, but I will say that a ton of people are together in relationships and are not married. I would look into this also. I also want to add that I don't think DVC is a good thing if you put so much money into it that you can't enjoy anything else. We would never own if we couldn't do other things. We love cruising on a line that is not Disney (sorry Mickey!!). Some people like to go to the mountains or lake or ocean, or just go out to dinner. If DVC is going to put a big dent in someone's budget I would say to wait. Sorry so long, but the bottom line is that is has to work for YOU and your lifestyle and budget. Best of Luck with whatever you decide!!

Oh, I wanted to add about the free tickets. You may be thinking of way back when DVC started. We were given "free" park tickets until 2000. We loved it so much that it made us become passholders. Yes there is a method to the madness. Mickey really hooked us!!! LOL!!!

Enjoy The Magic!!

 

[LaurenLC]

My husband and I bought our DVC membership before owning our home... Come to think about it, we didn't get married till about a year later either..... However, I wouldn't look into buying anything like that with someone unless they were contributing to the cost.

 

[bumbershoot]

Before you buy into DVC (which, for me, would be after I bought a house) be sure you understand the use of points. This year they have changed the point charges to reflect lowering points on weekends (F,S) and raising points during the week (S,M,T,W,Th). We are now 60 points short for our normal vacations. I mention this because if you did all of your research a year ago, this would not be a factor.

That is an astonishing difference for your trips! I haven't seen anything like that difference between the charts for the times we would go. So the "mileage" of different people, different trips, different resorts, different times of year will vary widely.

Is there anyone else out there that rents rather than owns their home and still bought into DVC?

YES.

And as far as I can tell, that is the ONLY question you're asking right?

All the other stuff is just why you haven't yet bought a house, but is absolutely irrelevant to the question that is actually on your mind, from what I'm reading.

True, not everyone gets married.

However, people who do get married have legal protections.

And unmarried people can get a lawyer, spend some extra money that legally married people don't have to spend, to get all of those protections. Just like buying property with a business partner, fully covered legally by a contract, an unmarried couple can cover themselves as well.

Is a DVC only $7500? Is that a one time fee? Do you pay anything other then that? How long is your ownership (forever or limited?)? Can you trade your "spot" like you can with other timeshares? I am just curious how this all works.

The poster you quoted was talking about the price back in '92 when they first wanted to buy, but at the time that amount (that feels low now) felt huge to them.



OP, we are happy renters, with only the slightest twinge (only recently started, and only in one of us) towards the idea of "owning" a house. We love the freedom we get by renting, and the time we gain by not having to do all that maintenance on the place.

And yet we bought into DVC. Do we get to deduct the portion of, er, what is it, taxes? interest? something like that? NO. Because we don't already itemized deductions. Someone who has a mortgage on a house is likely itemizing already, and so they can itemize the bit from DVC too.

But we're still glad we did it, and it doesn't feel anywhere near as weird as it did just thinking about it.

 

[MrsPete]

Stepping in only b/c now we have both sides...

True, not everyone gets married.

However, people who do get married have legal protections . . .

A good explaination of why it's wise not to enter into legal contracts without the benefit of marriage. People like to say "it's just a piece of paper", but that's short-sighted. Your post was right on target.

I don't think owning or renting has anything to do with it. Owning a home is a lifestyle and a lot of people don't want the responsibility of a home.

That's absolutely true, and there are places (i.e., big cities) where home ownership is essentially impossible . . . but the OP does want a house.

Her question is really about priorities: I have this money. Should I invest in vacations or save this money for a bit and the timing is right for us to buy a house? Given that she does want to own a house, I'll vote for that option every time.

 

[MrsPete]

And unmarried people can get a lawyer, spend some extra money that legally married people don't have to spend, to get all of those protections. Just like buying property with a business partner, fully covered legally by a contract, an unmarried couple can cover themselves as well.

And yet, in situations like the one we're discussing, most don't. They assume that the relationship will never go sour, that the partner would never cheat them. So while what you're saying is possible, it's not usually the case.

 

[Buckalew11]

I don't see anything wrong with owning DVC while renting. However, I think it is not a smart move to make payments on DVC points if you are buying into it. Of course, that is ONLY my opinion and highly debatable. I waited until I could pay cash up front which was about 5 or 6 years.