Buying strategy - cheapest points or preferred location?

[Mtnman44]

I'm looking at the resale listings and I see that some DVC properties are selling at much lower $ per point levels. I'm somewhat suprised by this as a DVC point is a DVC point when "buying" reservations, correct? Other than 11 vs. 7 month reservation window of course.

So my first question is, Why is Old Key West listing for as low as $74 per point, when every other WDW location is $85-95 per point?

Second, what is wrong with the strategy if say I always wanted to stay at WDW locations but I bought at Hilton Head @ $65 and just booked into WDW at 7 months. Is that 11 month reservation window worth $20 a point?

 

[Deb & Bill]

That should work, unless you want a GV, or a BW view at the BWV. Or VWL at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If you would be satisfied with staying at your home resort instead of any of these, go for it.

But if something special is something that you will want some day, buy where you want to stay most.

 

[nevertez]

Interesting... With the DVC program expanding the way it is, the name of the game would be booking early. with having only 7 months out you might have to call on that exact date.

Like any other investment property around disney and the orlando area grows at a faster rate but the property outside the area HH, and VB grows at a much smaller rate. It is as if I purchased 2 Identically priced properties one in Cleveland OH, the other in Miami FL; Both at 100k and sold once it reached 180K. A 100K home in cleveland is worth 180K took 10 years (decent gain) but the same home in miami was at 180K in two years. It just gets a faster rate of return, because of the tourism.

WDW continues to feed your investment always adding new attractions, comercials, different signature years, mickey and minnie you can literally go on forever. It also addresses a diverse group of people; Take a look around at the different religions, ethnicities, and economic status of people.

What draws visitors to HH?

What draws visitors to VB?

I would be leary of HH unless you are in it for the long haul and do not have a problem being locked into your home resort 30 years down the road.

Just my perception, from my 5 days of research.

 

[Mtnman44]

What about the lower per point cost of Old Key West vs. the other WDW properties. Is there something different about this one?

 

[Cruelladeville]

But what if you had to sell--and you couldn't? Or you had to take a loss?

The 11 month window is very useful, especially if you want a GV, BW view or standard, Christmas, Easter, Food and Wine Festival. If you don't mind staying at HH during Christmas or Easter, when it's cold, go for it. Warm temperatures might be over-rated for you, anyway. Only you can decide.

Some people price their timeshares at $95 because they can. If they have to wait 6 months for a buyer, who cares? They feel the wait is worth $10 per point. Contracts at $75 are usually stripped of their points, $85 will give you banked points. Most people don't pay the asking price,either, but bargain down a bit, however if you find a contract at $75 with points intact, it will go very quickly.

 

[bradisgoofy]

What about the lower per point cost of Old Key West vs. the other WDW properties. Is there something different about this one?

Although the rooms at OKW are bigger,( got it right the first time ) I think the reason for the lower price is, it is the original DVC resort and it is somewhat isolated from other activities. Also, there is only one restaurant on site. Whereas Boardwalk is right in the middle of a very active area and Saratoga Springs is brand new and right around the corner from DTD.

 

[crisi]

General advice is "buy where you want to stay." My own advice is "buy where you won't be disappointed to end up." If you can't plan more than 7 months out, home resort doesn't make a difference, buy what is cheapest. But if you can, and LOVE VWL and ALWAYS want to stay there, and buy OKW because its cheaper, you may have great luck - maybe 80% of the time. You may need to use the waitlist. But they times that you don't get VWL, will those be disappointing?

People are paying a premium for some of those resorts to stay there. People aren't paying a $10 a point premium on BCV so they can book OKW. So that means fewer rooms available to people who don't own BCV. As membership increases, competition for non-home resorts increases.

There are plenty of people, however, who are happy anywhere on Disney property.

 

[Granny]

General advice is "buy where you want to stay." My own advice is "buy where you won't be disappointed to end up." If you can't plan more than 7 months out, home resort doesn't make a difference, buy what is cheapest.

I agree with crisi's advice.

Second, what is wrong with the strategy if say I always wanted to stay at WDW locations but I bought at Hilton Head @ $65 and just booked into WDW at 7 months. Is that 11 month reservation window worth $20 a point?

I think one thing you should keep in mind is that the purchase price of points is less of a financial consideration than the annual maintenance fees for a resort. Vero Beach has some of the lowest resale prices but the highest annual maintenance fees. So if finances are really driving your decision, you'll find that OKW or SSR probably give you the lowest total cost of ownership.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We first looked at DVC in the '90's, but didn't buy for a number of reasons, and one of them was the location of OKW. When we decided to buy in '03, we could buy BWV, BWV and VB "new" from Disney, and we looked at resales, and OKW was more value priced, but still, we were put off by the location and bought BWV, with an add on at VWL.

We have stayed at OKW and liked it, we loved the 1 bedroom, but we wouldn't want to stay there more than we want to stay at VWL, or BWV. We are happy with our purchase. I have to admit that going down steps is not easy for me, and since most of the buildings do not have elevators, in fact only 3 of them do, that is a huge factor in our avoidance of OKW as a home. There are some very very lovely areas of OKW, I loved riding the boat to DTD, but I don't want to always be faced with worry over having a 1st floor or elevator accomodations. And wanting an elevator automatically takes me out of the running for some of the more beautiful areas. Also, we like studios, and the studios at OKW do not have a sofa bed, they have 2 queens and we are empty nesters, and perfer a sofa to watch TV on. If OKW was built in the '80's when we were taking our 2 boys to Disney, it would have been more attractive to us. If it were the only resort available at that time, we would have bought it, hey, I like the campground, so really the "out of the way" wouldn't have been a deal breaker, and having a mini kitchen and a balcony would have really worked for me/us.

Even SSR direct from Disney costs less than the $95 per point add on we recently did for VWL, and it lasts longer, but we bought where we want to stay, most of the time, and most of the time we book 11-10 months out.

Best wishes as you make your decision!

Bobbi

 

[tomandrobin]

Buy where you want to stay! There is no guarantee that you will be able to book and stay in other resorts in the future.

Points are points, there is no difference where they were purchased.

You must look at the maintenance fees when considering the "total cost" of ownership.

If 11 month window does not matter if you don't have a preference on location. Peak times will be more difficult to book, if your home resort is not your choice of destination.

If you book on short notice, and do not care where you stay, don't plan on using grand villas, are not tied to the school schedule.....then buy the best value, which would be Old Key West.

 

[browniemtb]

The op has a good question.
Supply and demand would be one answer. OKW, HH, VB, and even SSR tend to have a much lower demand for purchasing. As in real estate...location, location, location, can drive prices up as well. BWV, BCV, and VWL are all connected to a parks and are sold out. Therefore resales will carry a higher price tag. Is it worth the extra $12 per point.....to some yes to others no. If you are happy staying at OKW it worth saving the $12 but if you like being walking distance to a park...to me its worth the $12 per point. As DVC grows, and they are, it will be harder to book at the 7 month mark. I don't like playing the waitlist game...I like knowing that I'm booked and ready to go. So as others have said "Buy where you want to stay!"
Brownie

 

[DVC Grammy]

What about the lower per point cost of Old Key West vs. the other WDW properties. Is there something different about this one?

We bought straight from Disney in '98. At that time, BWV and OKW were about the same price, so we chose BWV because we preferred the location. Our add-on was also through Disney, mostly because we wanted the extra 12 years at SSR.
We've stayed at OKW a few times, most often at BWV, and next week will be our first time at SSR. If we were to purchase today, and we wanted one of the '42 expiring resorts, we would probably go resale at OKW, mostly because of the extra points for the $. To us, being at any of the DVC resorts is wonderful.
DVC

 

[salmoneous]

I tend to break the resorts into groups:

First you have HHI and VB: These are great resorts if you want to stay there. But I absolutely wouldn't buy at either to get cheap points to stay at WDW. First, these resorts could see higher maintenance costs, which over their lifetime will dwarf any upfront savings. Second, there is a risk (tiny, but real) of these resorts being spun off from the rest of DVC. (Before I incur the wrath of the HHI and VB folks, let me repeat - tiny risk. But one I'm not willing to take.)

Then there is OKW. Great choice if you need to get cheaper points. As long as you would be happy "getting stuck" at OKW, it's a good choice. (Again - not trying to put down OKW in any way - but I'm specifically trying to address the option of buying OKW as a cheaper way to stay at other resorts.) Plus, owning at OKW gives you a shot at an "affordable" GV if you ever want one.

But don't overlook one important point. The upfront cost/point is one small piece of your overall cost. You can't just look at 85/point vs 75/point and view OKW as being 12% cheaper. Once you factor in the maintenance costs and deprecation, OKW might only be 1-3% cheaper. Having the 11-month window at your first choice of resorts might not be worth a 12% price premium, but isn't it worth a 2% premium?

Then there are BWV and VWL. These are the middle-priced resorts I'm comparing everything else to.

Finally there is BCV. Personally, I'd have a hard time justifying the price premium over the very-similar BWV. Especially as I have a suspicion that the premium is due to a temporary market shortage, not a long-term preference for BCV. But the point about upfront cost differences being small when compared to total costs holds true. If you really like BCV, perhaps the small premium is worth it.

 

[Jynohn]

For us it was an emotional decision. We initially bought at SSR, and when we were looking for an add-on we knew it would have made better financial sense for us to add on there, or OKW. But after staying at VWL, we just knew that that's where we wanted to call "home." Maybe not the smartest decision, but just knowing that we "own" a tiny little piece of that magnificent place makes us really, really happy.

 

[spiceycat]

depends upon you.

if you want to do WDW Dec 1-14, or thanksgiving - then buy at WDW.

I happen to own at OKW and love it!!!

OKW sells for less because it cost less - it was the first and started priced at $48 per point and went up.

I think you will be very happy with OKW. Try it. go rent points at OKW and any others you are considering - then see which you can live with easier.

I also have small contracts at VWL and BWV for those dec times that are very hard to get.

 

[skibum]

If you want WDW, you should buy WDW. That way you can make reservations 11 months out, guaranteeing you a room. Then at 7 months, you can try to switch resorts.
From a value standpoint, SSR does give you an extra 12 years. We factored that into our decision to purchase SSR over OKW.
No matter what you do i am sure you will be happy.

 

[Mtnman44]

THanks everyone for the advice. Regarding location: The map that I have shows OKW right next to SSR. Is this correct? To me they look like they are in almost identical locations.

 

[skibum]

OKW and SSR are near each other.
OKW is like an established neighborhood, and has bigger units. Great if you want to 'get away' from the parks.
From SSR, you can walk to DTD (lots of dining options), and the units are newer.
Good luck with your decision.

 

[Deb & Bill]

OKW is within easy walking distance from the Westside-DTD. SSR is within easy walking distance from either the Marketplace-DTD or Westside-DTD.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

If you don't plan on making reservations more than 7 months in advance then buying the cheapest resort is the way to go. However what cheapest means is open to interpretation. I wouldn't buy VB because of the hurricane risk, the possibility of it being spun off and the fact that as a beach resort in Florida there are better choices. I would buy VB in a 150 point contract or less with extra points banked and none borrowed if I had a need for extra points for five years. On the other hand I might buy HH because for at least six months of the year its in an indemand location, the hurricane risk is less and as an east coaster I wouldn't mind vacationing there on occasion because its a driveable distance.

The key is, I wouldn't mind staying at SSR or BWV, numbers 1 and 3 in sheer numbers of units. I've never made a reservation more than 7 months in advance except one I have coming up for New Years at VWL. I think if you can work in the 4 to 7 months time frame you can get most times except early December but you may have to waitlist for it.

Editted to add. I hit the submit button before I finished. Ultimately I'd probably choose between OKW and SSR based on the juxtaposition of maintenance fees and price. However if I ever add again I'll probably buy a small HH contract.