Buying points with different start months

[Menfamily1]

Hi.
We are looking to buy into DVC - either resale or direct. We've been working on this for months and gone through a lot of information.
One thing I want to talk out is whether there is any specific advantage or disadvantage to buying different lots of points with different start dates - such as 160 in February and 160 in August - at the same home resort.
We want to acquire enough to bring our family of four down when we want without borrowing from future point. Right now the ideal would be BLT at Thanksgiving, which is why I am looking to get north of 301. (We are set for 2015 through a deal with relatives.)
As I understand it, as long as I have all the points at check-in, I can make the reservation once we hit the 11-month mark. So an August date to acquire points works fine for Thanksgiving.
And, once the kids get into college, my wife and I can space out some smaller trips at less costly times.
I like the idea of two lots as opposed to a single large one for resale considerations and, when the time comes, leaving equal shares to our kids.
I think I've thought through the scenarios but wondered if there is some pitfall I haven't thought of.

 

[skier_pete]

You are talking about having one contract with a February UY and another contract with a August UY, correct?

I am not a DVC excerpt, but here is the problem with doing this - when you buy these two contracts, you will end up with two different DVC accounts. If you have a reservation that will take 305 points, you will then have to book say half the reservation from one account and the other half the reservation from the second account. You would then have the link the two reservations, and hopefully DVC will let you stay in the same room for the whole stay.

Alternately, you book borrow points from the following year from one account, and book the entire trip through that account. Then bank the points in Account #2 and use those points the following year.

Third choice would be to transfer points between accounts, which can be done once per UY (per account) so you could only do that once a year.

OR - you could buy both contracts with the same UY - this way they would all be in the same account. This in my view would be smarter than buying two separate UY and dealing with the above. However, I do agree with the logic of buying the two smaller contracts versus one large one.

Now, there CAN be a benefit of having two UYs if you booking your trips so you are always using points from a UY in which it's the first 8 months of UY, and therefore if you cancel your trip you would be able to still bank the points, which you can't do in the last 4 months of your UY. However, not sure that benefit outweighs the inconvenience of two separate accounts. Edit: with your scenario of going at Thanksgiving, you'd be better off with the August UY.

 

[MountainMouse]

I think lots of folks manage different UY's without a problem, just takes a bit more planning. All the points do have to be in one account for booking though and there is the limitation of one transfer in or out per year. If you decided to go the transfer route (points from one into another) you could have a max of 2 contracts that you needed points from. It would probably be smarter to bank/borrow from one contract each year and not do transfers. All just management/planning work and all doable. That said, if you can get the same use year it makes life easier.

 

[Menfamily1]

The combination problem is manageable but I understand it can be cumbersome. I'll have to decide whether I want to put the money out now for the whole package. Thanks for the input.

 

[MountainMouse]

I'll have to decide whether I want to put the money out now for the whole package.

If by whole package you mean one contract with 320 points then it shouldn't be any more expensive (maybe a little less but not greatly) than a couple of 160 point contracts. If you're eyeing a couple of 160 point contracts now you could always just buy the one that gives you the best deal, bank/borrow from that contract for your first trip, and keep your eye out for another contract reasonably priced with your use year. You should be able to find something in a year or so before you would need it. If you work with a resale agent they can keep an eye out for you and maybe even contact you for a first shot at it.

 

[com_op_2000]

I have 3 contracts with two different UY at the same home resort.
If you keep a spreadsheet of the points, keep it upto date, and can plan ahead it is not diffucult to manage multiple contracts and UYs.
My major issue is that MDE does not play well when you have multiple DVC accounts.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I have two contracts (total 275 points) with one UY, another contract (50 points) different UY. The smaller contract often gets transferred into the larger, but there are times when I can't do that (like I need to borrow points from the 50 point contract). You can't transfer future year points and borrow them, only bank them.

It's easier to have them all be the same UY. But not impossible to manage.

 

[disBOBney]

I like your think on having multiple smaller contracts rather than I larger one. Others have pointed out some of the disadvantages of having different use years (starting months, as you described). The Use years you suggested would suggest that you have two primary vacationing time preferences. The first being Feb, Mar or Apr, and the second being Aug, Sep, or Oct. While of course you are not limited by theses months to travel, you have the most opportunity to recover from an unexpected cancellation following this kind of a scheme.

Now following, this scheme if you want to make a vacation that cost 301 pts as you described. One one year, instead of using both contracts to supply the points, use only one of the contracts, and borrow the next years points of that contract to provide the needed points for one reservation (as opposed to making two reservations and then asking ms to link). Meanwhile bank the second contracts points so that the following year, you will already have two years points available for use in again one reservation. In that second year you would bank any leftover points from both contracts. Rinse and Repeat :smile. Of course in the third year, you have banked points from both contracts, (because you purchased more than you needed, (i.e. 320 instead of 301) So you could either add an extra day or so to your vacation, take a second mini get-away, get a larger room, rent out extra pts or put them into the RCI exchange.

All this being said, If there is a second resort you might like to regularly visit instead of buying both contracts in one resort buy two different resorts and alternate between them, or stay at any of the resorts in the 7 mo window.

Short answer, two smaller contracts over one larger one, good. Two use years if you like to travel in different times of the year. Different resorts if you like two different places to stay. Buy as close to the number of points that you will use.