Buying for points or buying for home resort - I don't know what to do.

[disney-super-mom]

I'm getting confused.

The only advantage of a home DVC resort is that you can book 11 months in advance.

In all reality, points are points no matter what your home DVC resort is, right?

We're also still very concerned about purchasing a Vero Beach resale because it's not an on-site DVC resort, and is therefore always at risk of being sold by Disney. Even though we may purchase a Vero Beach resale, we would really only be making the purchase for the points, not because we love Vero Beach and want to spend a lot of time there. Actually, we just love Disney, and would spend most of our time and points at an on-site DVC resort.

Also, Vero Beach has the highest annual dues, which must be the reason the asking price per point for a VB resale is so much lower than any of the on site DVC resorts.

Ahhhhhh! I'm so confused! I don't even know what I'm asking here...

...okay, I guess what I'm asking is would you feel more comfortable buying a Vero Beach resale at $70 per point with LOTS of banked points, or would you take advantage of the great SSR deal going on right now?

 

[CarolMN]

You are right - at 7 months, a point is a point is a point. Right now it is still possible to reserve DVC accomodations at the 7 month mark for most times of the year without using a waitlist. I think this will continue to be true, but it will become harder to get reservations at VWL, BCV & BWV at that time.unless you are willing to call day by day as soon as MS opens. Since SSR is going to be so large, it should be a lot easier to get in there at the 7 month window.

VB is a very nice resort, but it is not located at WDW. IMHO, it sells for less because it is not at WDW. The dues are higher because of the higher cost of maintaining a beach property.

If my main purpose for buying DVC was to vacation on site at WDW, I would buy one of the WDW resorts rather than VB. Then I would always be able to stay on site, even if I couldn't book elsewhere at 7 months. Saving a few hundred dollars now would not make up for my disappointment if I couldn't be at WDW or had a lot of hassle/frustration/worry over making reservations.

Best wishes-

 

[geffric]

If my main purpose for buying DVC was to vacation on site at WDW, I would buy one of the WDW resorts rather than VB. Then I would always be able to stay on site, even if I couldn't book elsewhere at 7 months. -

buy where you want to stay...

 

[shellbelle1971]

I would also think about how long I planned to hold on to my DVC. If you buy at a resort like Vero Beach you might save some intiall over buying a something like OKW resale--maybe $10 to $15 per point. But the difference in dues is substantial (I think maybe $1-$1.50 per point--I'm sure it's posted on this board somewhere) so if you hold your DVC for a certain length of time you will more than offset your initial savings in higher dues payments.

I would say, if you primarily want to stay in Orlando, and are planning on holding your DVC for 10 or more years, look for a resale at a resort there OR buy thre new using the current SSR discount.

If you plan on mostly staying elsewhere (Vero or HH) and/or do not want to hang on to your DVC long-term then consider buying elsewhere and/or not buying at all, but renting points.

Just my $.02; I'm sure the other board members (who are a lot smarter than I am and have far more experience) will correct this if it's wrong.

Michelle

 

[mydogdrew]

If you must, don't pay more than $60 per point for VB with banked points. $70 is way too much. Why not just go with OKW?

 

[disney-super-mom]

Well, we want this to be a long term investment. Something that we could use well into our retirement years.

The higher dues at VB does concern us for a long term investment. Plus SSR memberships are good until 2054, which is about 12 more years of use if we buy a SSR membership.

It's just that all those unused points for the VB resale would put us so far ahead in saving points to take more vacations, that's it's almost too good to pass up. None of the points for this year were even used (yet).

I guess we have more thinking to do about this.

 

[littlestar]

There's always the danger of a special "assessment" at Vero if it gets completely wiped out by a hurricane, plus the higher dues for maintaining it. Now, if Vero is where someone wants to stay say for a beach cottage, than that might be different.

If I were you and you want to stay at WDW, depending on your age, I'd buy resale at OKW or straight from Disney at Saratoga.

You still have to figure in closing costs on a resale (say around $450 to $500) and then if the points are "stripped" I value those at $10.00 a point. So Saratoga through Disney would probably be better than a lot of resales if the points are gone until 2007.

 

[scootert]

If you plan to use your points primarily at WDW, then I would look to buy points for one of those resorts. You know you have home priority which is very important for the popular times at WDW.

If your main interest is staying at VB, then I would buy points there.

We own at BWV and go at least once every three years. The other years, we go to VB. So far we have not had a problem booking at 7 months, but we don't go during the busy times or holidays.

Buy where you really want to stay....

 

[Aneille]

We got a loaded contract at BWV this year but we paid $82 a pt. But we got all pts from 2003, 2004 and it was a Dec. use year so we still had '05 comming.

But we knew we wanted to stay at the BWV most of the time. So the few thousand extra was well worth it for us. And compared to the SSR promotion at the time it was was very comparable when we took into consideration the extra 2 years of pts.

If I was in the same position now just buying in, I would probably buy 120-150 pts at SSR with the current promotion and then buy an add-on or resale at the BWV to get me to the pt # I wanted.

Personally I thought of purchasing other than BWV but never really considered Vero and HH because I knew I would want to be at WDW most of the time.

I think in your orginal post you have your answer. Its seems clear you have hesitation about buying at Vero. I wouldn't do it just for that reason alone. You don't want to second guess it later.

Edited: I had the wrong price per pt. I also went and looked at my spreadsheet when I was comparing and the difference at the time from purchasing at SSR and at BWV (w. the contract I got) was only $984. I didn't take into consideration dues throughout the life of the contract but only for what I needed to pay this year. I did take into consideration the cost of closing etc.

I would probably set up a similar spreadsheet and see what the difference is with different options and then decide how much more are you willing to pay to own where you want to stay.

 

[disney-super-mom]

I should have explained that we are a young couple (DH is 38 and I'm 35) and we have two young boys, ages 6 1/2 and 2 1/2 years old.

We go to DL alot, at least once a year, and in the last four years we've gone to DL six times. We're going again the first week of December, and we can hardly wait. We just love Disney! It really does give us a feeling of being in a magical world and away from the real world for awhile, although I hear that with all the great theming, and just from the shear size of WDW, you REALLY feel like you're in a different world.

Now that our youngest is getting a little older, and we're not planning on having more kids (at least not at this time), we thought taking some vacations to WDW would be very feasible for us. Surprisingly, it costs the same for us to fly to Orlando as it does to fly to Anaheim. Go figure...

When I started researching the DVC, it seemed to be a good fit for us. For as much as we visit Disney, it makes sense, but if we ever want to take a different type of vacation (beach, skiing, etc...) we can do that too through DVC and II. It also seems that DVC has great resale value compared to other timeshares, so it makes us feel like it's a better investment.

Thanks for all the great, and I mean really great advice! You're all wonderful teachers!

 

[Aneille]

Sounds like you would prefer to stay at Disney and with young kids just starting school you will eventually need to go during school breaks unless they are homeschooled so I would choose a WDW resort. Your vacation time is going to be less and less flexible as they get older. Not only will there be school but even during certain school breaks they will have sports, camp or something come up over the years.

Maybe buy a small contract first and go and check out WDW and see which resort you really fall in love with. I am sure that will make the decision easier!

My kids are 4 and 2.5. I am dreading the days when we have to go during school breaks!

Good luck with your decision, I know its tough one.

 

[qgallo]

I was juggling the same thing. I thought about HH very hard and also VB. Really it was because of price per point. Then I started thinking of BUY WHERE YOU WANT TO STAY. I leaned really hard on BCV or BWV . Then the SSR incentive came along. Got thinking I dont go during the holidays, and usually dont plan vacations more than 7 mths out. And thought that even booking at the 7 mth window I would have a pretty good chance of getting one of the resorts I was leaning toward anyway, and if not SSR is a very nice place with DD within walking distance. I bought with 150 pts at $83.30 /point. Got the 2005 points. Thats a extra 150 pts. If you sold those for $10 a point , thats like taking another $10 off the point price. So now your looking at $73.30 a point and disney pays for closing. And if you need financing, they can do that. So as bad as I wanted BCV, I can live with SSR, even get 12 more yrs of use. And the lowest MF of any of them.

 

[disney-super-mom]

Sounds like you would prefer to stay at Disney and with young kids just starting school you will eventually need to go during school breaks unless they are homeschooled so I would choose a WDW resort. Your vacation time is going to be less and less flexible as they get older. Not only will there be school but even during certain school breaks they will have sports, camp or something come up over the years.

Maybe buy a small contract first and go and check out WDW and see which resort you really fall in love with. I am sure that will make the decision easier!

My kids are 4 and 2.5. I am dreading the days when we have to go during school breaks!

Good luck with your decision, I know its tough one.

Actually, we just pull our oldest guy (he's in first grade now) out of school for a week to go to DL. We never go during a school break because it just gets too crowded at DL. That's fairly easy to do when the kids are in elementary school. After all, they're not studying for the SATs yet or missing homecoming. However, as the kids get into junior high and high school, and especially if they get into sports, it may become a little more difficult to avoid the crowded season during school breaks. Plus, they'll be older and more able to handle the crowds. They may even like to go during school breaks because it'll be more exciting for them with all the other teens around WDW that they can meet and hang out with. Also, it'll be easier on mom and dad - no more stroller, diapers, bottles, naps, etc... So we'll be able to handle crowds more too. Although, I'm not sure how we'll handle their interests in the girls...YIKES!

 

[CharlesTD]

I have said it before and will again we don't care about the buy where you want to stay we bought where they offered us the best deal at the time. We have never had a problem getting a room at 7 months out at any of the resorts no matter what one we wanted. We also go early Dec the first 2 weeks actually and it is growing in popularity with DVC members but we still get exactly what we want every time at 7 months out. We also take the kids out of school for the 2 weeks we are at Disney and never have any issues with that aspect of it most of the teachers are jealous and wantr to come along LOL.

 

[Dean]

Every situation is different. Points are points at the 7 month window but for those that can't plan at least 7 months out, I'd question the wisdom of buying at all. If I wanted on site, I'd buy at WDW, likely OKW or at least the best price you can get for any contract. That way you could reserve 11 months out then change over at 7 months if you wanted something else. I would agree that there is a point where VB and HH become worth the risk just based on a price difference, I'd put that difference at $20-25 per point at the present time. Still, if one is restricted to times school is out, I don't think i'd take the chance. But we can't make your decision, only provide you with information.

 

[Mcmouse]

I just saw a OKW fully loaded 230 point contract for $75/point(redweek.com) You may save a few $$ up front buying VB but you pay maint fees for as long as you own the contract.

Mike