Buying into DVC a good idea for us?

[GeoffM24]

I have been trying to do the math and it seems like a no brainer but I wanted to see if I was missing something.

Both my wife and I are big WDW fans and with our first child expected 11/2 we are excited to take him when he becomes 2-3 and then many times there after.

We are guessing that we will be going once a year for a good long time, who knows 15-20 years?

We also figured that if we did not want to go to WDW in a year we can bank the points or use them towards a cruise or something else.

So I'm starting to save up to aquire somewhere between 50-100 points.

Is there any benefit to trying to buy the points now vs. 2-3 years from now?

Thanks

 

[Pa@okw95]

You seem like an excellent candidate for a purchase, but I would think about buying 150 points for SSR because the ending date of the other places is 2042, while I believe it is 2054 at SSR. Just a thought.

 

[crisi]

Buying now....

Historically, prices have gone up. We bought three years ago - resale, at $63 a point at BW. Now we'd be luck to find the same contract for $73.

Smaller contracts (such as what you are looking for) are very difficult to come buy. If you want something specific, you might want to start looking now. However, if I were you, I'd really consider buying more points. With children, the one bedroom is a luxury that if you can afford, you should consider. We have 150 points and travel every other year in a one bedroom. You probably won't have any trouble renting those "extra" points if you want to.

You can probably rent the points for a few years until you are ready to use them.

I disagree with Pa about SSR. I don't think it makes much difference if the contract is for 37 years or 49 years - your baby will be an adult either way when it ends. It would be nice to have it for grandchildren, but that is assuming a lot for a child that hasn't been born yet - my own mother didn't start bothering me for grandkids until I was at least walking.

 

[tamu91]

You probably can expect to pay little more in 2-3 years so if you can financially afford to do it, I'd buy it now.
Remember, you can buy it now and rent your points out for the next 2-3 years and that alone can lower your overall $/pt significantly.

Assuming you can find the right amount of points buying resale;

100 pts @ $75 = $7,500 + closing cost = say $7,900 = $79/pt.

If you can rent those points out for the next 3 years @ $9/pt;

100 pts @ $9/pt for 3 yrs = $2,700 = $27/pt

 

[Cruelladeville]

Don't forget that you have to buy 150 pts at least, if you are going thru Disney. The prices are always going up, I bought in 1997 at the outrageous price of $54 I thought that was robbery Last week I bought 51 pt add-on at OKW at $84! So if you are planning to wait, thinking that the price might go down, it won't! On the other hand, don't buy DVC for the kids, buy it for yourself because you are the ones who will get all the use from it.

 

[MrShiny]

I would go with at least 200 points if you can afford it. This give you a good number of points, especially if you'll occasionally 'save up' for a cruise. Don't forget you can also rent those points out to family, friends, or people on these boards!

 

[Dean]

Of course you must ultimately make the decision. Here are my thoughts. If you do not plan to go now but your next trip will be in 2 to 3 years, start looking now for the right resale or wait a year or two and revisit the issue. Prices are unlikely to go up that much. If you're planning to finance, all the more reason to wait and save money with a higher downpayment.

Since the per year cost is about the same for SSR vs others and I feel location is FAR more important than the length of usage; I'd agree that home resort is more important for most people.

As for how many points, it sounds like a lower amount would work out for you, I'd say around 150 makes sense. Smaller contracts have their own issues and the closing costs will be the same.