Buying questions

[BlakeNJ]

A few last minute questions. Hope somone can help. Based on the excellent rate of $86/pt at SSR, what would be the advantage to waiting a year to purchase? Our choice is to add a deck or buy DVC this year. By this time next year, is it likely SSR will be sold out and we'd have to buy resale? I don't think my DH would be interested in VAKL--plus, wouldn't the price per point be higher than the $101/pt price at SSR? Also, we are not sure if we'd go to Disney next year since we were just there--might try HH or VB.

Last questions. I was looking over VAScubaGuy's great UY chart and it looks like a June UY would be best for our family since we will normally travel Nov or Dec. A June UY would give us until Nov. 30 to bank 100% of our points for that year. But what I am confused about is if we get our pts June 07, it would be unlikely that we could get a ressie for Thanksgiving or Christmas 07, right? We could book HH or VB another time of year and bank what we didn't use and put them towards the '08 hoiday trip. So really not be able to book a holiday trip until '08 using my '07 banked points & '08 points, right???? Ugh--this is confusing.

Hope I make sense!
Blakely

 

[RobDoc]

You will need to weigh the value of buying now vs building a deck as it makes sense to you. Prices will very likely continue to rise - that is a given.

As for your question about making a reservation, Use Year has nothing to do with making a reservation - Home Resort reservations may be made 11 months in advance regardless of the Use Year and are dependent only on having the points available at the time of the reservation. As for getting a June Use Year, for trips in November/December I'd suggest an October Use Year - that way if you needed to cancel a November trip shortly prior to arrival, you'd have almost a year to reuse or bank the points. Keep in mind that your travel preferences may change over time, so don't place too much importance on your Use Year.

Enjoy!

 

[BlakeNJ]

Thanks for the reply WebmasterDoc. I have read several posts mentioning not putting emphasis on UY but it seems hard not too-especially when you are pretty sure when you'll vacation. I keep going back to the same UY questions.

As a follow up question to your suggestion of an Oct. UY, say I want to book a Dec 08 trip. I'd get my Oct 07 points and I wouldn't be able to book the Dec trip before 11 mos (Jan 08), right? So it wouldn't matter when I get the points--when I can "bank" is the question. But for my "first" trip--I wouldn't want a March UY since it would be difficult and unlikely to find a ressie for Dec 08, right?

I'm going to talk with my guide--it might not be an option to get an Oct UY. I may have to go with what they offer. I really don't want to go the resale route since it doesn't apprear that I'll save any money until I get banked points--right?

Thanks again,
Blakely

 

[nmere]

Look at the thread refering to the folks who passed ROFR. It will give you an idea about the resale prices and what Disney is letting pass. We are awaiting closing on 300 VWL points, Sept UY with 300 banked from 06. We offered 87 per point, Seller covers 06 MF we pay closing & 07 fees. We passed ROFR on 12/4, On Monday Disney is issuing the 2006 tax adjustments, so we will have our contract by the end of next week. Good luck on your decision,
Have a safe & happy holiday season,
Nick

 

[tjkraz]

I have read several posts mentioning not putting emphasis on UY but it seems hard not too-especially when you are pretty sure when you'll vacation.

That may be true for some, but I suspect it's not the case for many people--particularly when you stop and realize how your life is likely to change over the course of the next 40+ years.

Take my family for example. Right now the kids are still young (oldest is in kindergarten), and the school doesn't have any problems with them missing time for a family trip. We prefer to go in April/May, but have also taken trips in December and February when airfare was good.

In a year or two we're considering moving to a part of town where the school district has a schedule that includes full week-long breaks in October and February. If we do relocate, those would be our targeted trip times. If not, we'll eventually reach a point where we may be stuck with the likes of summer or Thanksgiving.

But eventually the kids will be out of school. When that happens we'll still have 30+ years of DVC ownership left. So DW and I can vacation whenever we want.

So which Use Year is right for us???

I think it's easy to look at your life now and think "of course this makes the most sense", but as soon as you start thinking big-picture, you realize that the likelihood of your current travel patterns continuing for another 30-40 years is pretty remote.

As a follow up question to your suggestion of an Oct. UY, say I want to book a Dec 08 trip. I'd get my Oct 07 points and I wouldn't be able to book the Dec trip before 11 mos (Jan 08), right?

No, I think you're still a little confused. Your October '07 points would be good for STAYS that cover the nights of 10/1/07 to 9/30/08. The Oct '07 points would not be valid for stays in December '08 (unless you bank them to the next year.)

You can always book your trips 11 months out at your home resort (7 mos elsewhere) as long as you will have the points available when the stay occurs.

For the sake of argument, let's assume that you get an October Use Year and that your points in 10/07 will the the first ones you receive. You don't get any points until 10/1/07. You could call TODAY and book the nights of 10/1/07 to 11/14/07 at your Home resort. We are more than 11 months out from those nights and you WILL HAVE THE POINTS in your account by 10/1/07 (even though you don't today.)

Does that help?

As for your questions about resale, I don't think you could buy into SSR (with the longer contract) any cheaper via resale. As soon as the $86 special goes away, resale will be competitive again at SSR, but it isn't right now. You could buy into another resort for less--Old Key West, Vero or Hilton Head--but you'll have 12 fewer years on the contract. The exact financial terms will vary depending on the specifics of the contract you bid on.

 

[BlakeNJ]

Thanks Tjkraz. I am going to let the UY thing just go for now. I guess as long as I am wise with my banking deadlines I shouldn't matter what UY I have. Thanks for the tip on booking a trip even if you don't technically have the points at the time of booking--I was unaware of that advantage.

One last question and this may be a silly one but what is the purpose of a small 50 pt contract? Is it primarily for someone who stays in a studio during during lower point weeks? Or are these people adding points with the same UY month to boost their exisiting points? Just want to make sure I'm not missing something there.

Thanks!

 

[tjkraz]

The small, under-150 pt contracts that you see on the resale market were all originally add-ons from current members. People will add-on for any number of reasons (like new resort, didn't buy enough to begin with, travel plans change to higher-point season, etc.)

As for why new members buy those contracts, again I think there are a variety of reasons. I'm sure some people DO only stay in Studios. Others only visit WDW every 2 or 3 years and can use the banking and borrowing provisions to give them 100 or 150 pts every time they need them. Still other people may not have the cash on hand to buy 150 points and don't want to finance the purchase, so they are content starting with a small amount and adding more later.

Hope that helps.

 

[senecabeach]

You,ve done your homework well, BlakeNJ.
Forget UY...its only important to banking/borrowing.

Also..rumors have it that the AKV prices/points should be out by the EOY. So...you can check out the prices/pts. required and see if it suits your family. Then you will still have 3 weeks till the current SSR incentive @ $86. per pt. expires!!

 

[RobDoc]

...
As a follow up question to your suggestion of an Oct. UY, say I want to book a Dec 08 trip. I'd get my Oct 07 points and I wouldn't be able to book the Dec trip before 11 mos (Jan 08), right? So it wouldn't matter when I get the points--when I can "bank" is the question. But for my "first" trip--I wouldn't want a March UY since it would be difficult and unlikely to find a ressie for Dec 08, right?
...

Again, your Use Year has nothing to do with when you can make a reservation. It does not matter if you have an October Use Year, a March Use Year or a December Use Year - a trip in December, 2008 may be reserved in January, 2008 at your home resort. As long as the points will be in your account at the time of your trip you can make the reservation 11 months ahead. Points from October, 2007 would need to be banked in order to use them for a December, 2008 trip.

Enjoy!

 

[LisaS]

I guess as long as I am wise with my banking deadlines I shouldn't matter what UY I have. Thanks for the tip on booking a trip even if you don't technically have the points at the time of booking--I was unaware of that advantage.

It really helps to think of your points as tjkraz described. With an Oct Use Year:

Your Oct '06 points are valid for stays 10/1/06 - 9/30/07
Your Oct '07 points are valid for stays 10/1/07 - 9/30/08
Your Oct '08 points are valid for stays 10/1/08 - 9/30/09
etc.

You can book 11 months prior to your checkout date at your home resort. So if you wanted to book a stay for Nov 4-9, 2007 you could book that stay today, using points from your Oct '07 UY, because those points are valid for stays between 10/1/07 and 9/30/08. You could also bank some/all of your Oct '06 points into your '07 UY and use those banked points for that stay. You could also borrow points from your '08 UY for that stay.

With an Oct UY, your banking deadlines would be: Mar 31 (100% of the points in your contract), Jun 30 (50% of your points) and Jul 31 (25% of your points). Banking is cumulative so any points banked earlier in the UY count towards those percentages.

Your Use Year comes into play if you ever have to cancel a trip or you are holding a back-up reservation while on a waiting list to switch to a non-home resort. Let's say you planned a Nov trip and had to cancel (at least 31 days in advance to avoid your points going into "holding"). If you had an Oct UY, you would have over 11 months left in the Use Year to use those points for another trip. You would be in your 100% banking window so you could bank the points into the next Use Year if you had no other plans for them.

Instead, imagine you had a Dec Use Year. At the time of cancelling your Nov reservation you would be past all of your banking deadlines. You would be within 6-8 weeks of the end of your Use Year so scheduling another trip to use those points would be next to impossible. You would most likely lose the points.

Travel schedules can change over the course of your ownership but if for now you expect to to travel in Nov and Dec, then as Doc suggested an Oct UY would work out great for you.

 

[BlakeNJ]

For the sake of argument, let's assume that you get an October Use Year and that your points in 10/07 will the the first ones you receive. You don't get any points until 10/1/07. You could call TODAY and book the nights of 10/1/07 to 11/14/07 at your Home resort. We are more than 11 months out from those nights and you WILL HAVE THE POINTS in your account by 10/1/07 (even though you don't today.)

Ok, I have been thinking a little more...Let's say I have 150 pts at SSR with an Oct UY and 50 pts at VB with an April UY. That is a total of 200 pts. I want to book a November 08 vacation worth 200 pts. Will MS book this vacation for me knowing I will have all 200 pts come November? And secondly, could I book VB 11 mos out and use my 200 pts for the vacation? I think I asked this question a few months back but if MS let's you book knowing you will have all the points, can you take advantage of Home Resort at VB with 50pts even though the vaca may be 200 pts?

Hope I make sense.

 

[RobDoc]

Reservations will be based on the points available in the account at the time of the reservation, but the 11 month priority will still apply to reserve at your Home Resort.

11 months in advance, only the points owned at your Home Resort can be committed to a reservation. You could reserve at SSR using your 150 points 11 months ahead and/or you could reserve at VB using your 50 points 11 months ahead, but those points cannot be combined to make a reservation at either resort (or any other DVC resort) until within 7 months.

Using banking and borrowing, you would have up to 150 points to use at VB and 450 to use at SSR at 11 months or they could be combined at 7 months at any resort- based on availability.

Since those points would be from 2 separate contracts, you would need to reserve whole nights using one or the other. You could transfer points from one into the other for use at 7 months - but that usually isn't really necessary for most reservations.

 

[BlakeNJ]

Ok, coming down the home stretch. I have tossed all UY stresses out the window (decided on Oct UY--thanks for the advice). Now, I have been offered '06 points. We are not going in '07 due to "increase" in family reasons ( ). I can bank the 06 points but have to use them by Oct 08. We vacation in Nov or Dec so the banked 06 points will be no good to us in Nov 08. I am crazy not to take them--right. I can rent them, correct? Is renting a hassel? I don't plan on making a habit out of renting my points but this one time rental would pay for 07 & 08 dues. Any advice??

 

[tjkraz]

Yes, you can do what you describe. Renting the points is certainly an option.

As to whether it's a hassle, I think that depends a lot on the people you happen to attract as renters. To be blunt, some people can be high maintenance--asking you to check availability for dozens of different date/resort/room combinations, asking you questions throughout the process, trying to negotiate a lower price, etc. A rental is a glorified handshake agreement between a member and a non-member. While it's wise to have a written agreement to spell out the exact terms of the deal, from the standpoint of the non-member, he/she is sending you hundereds or thousands of dollars on little more than good faith. If he/she should run into a problem with you, trying to enforce that agreement is a lengthy, costly uphill battle.

Those are just some things that go through the minds of SOME renters. Other transactions go very smoothly and require very little time.

Did DVC offer you any alternatives with regard to your first set of points? In other words, are they offering one price with Oct '06 points and a lower price with the first points coming in Oct '07? If so, you might be better off just deferring until 10/07. If that's an option you shouldn't have to pay any dues for Jan - Sept '07, which will save you over $3 per point. If DVC is willing to discount the price by another $5-7 per point, you're pretty close to the roughly $10 per point you would earn renting. Follow me?

Another option you could consider is using the points for something other than a DVC resort. Although it's costly, you could use the points toward a high-quality Concierge Collection hotel stay.

 

[3DisneyKids]

Glad you went with the Oct. UY--sounds like a good plan for your family, considering you most likely plan to vacation in Oct., Noc. and Feb.

You are doing a great job of doing your homework! Good for you!

Yes, take the 06 points. You can bank them and use them later or rent them to help pay that first dues bill.

Hope we can all welcome you home soon....