Can someone PLEASE help me with ? about DVC

[stephanie23]

OK this year is my familys first time ever going to WDW. I want to start a tradition of going ever year or every other year (not sure if we will have the money every year). I was wondering how much the DVC cost? Like if I finance it.. what would I pay monthy? I know I would def. be financing the amount b/c I dont have thousands of dollers saved up. But I am really interested in learning more and the DVD doesnt help with the costs and money involved. I also dont feel like being pressured by a sales rep. ont he phone. Any help is appriciated!

 

[tinkbutt]

it really depends on how many points you want they start at 160 points and go up you can put a down payment down too. the points are about 104$ per point
so it really depends on what you buy and what you down payment is I know we are paying about 300 per month with 160 points I am not sure what are down payment was??? my suggestion is go to the dvc boards and see if a long standing dvc member can give you more information.

 

[Chellymouse]

Hello and Welcome! We are newer DVC owners and we bought in for the same reason....we go to WDW a good bit (and now we can go even more!!)
I would suggest you head over to the DVC board section operations, however, I can answer a few things for you! You can finance through Disney, but the interest rate is awful (10.75% for preferred credit) You may want to look at a home equity line or a loan through your bank or credit union as you will get a better rate. We financed through Disney for now because we are paying it off in 2 years and just worked better for us, however, if we actually took 10 years to pay it off we would pay an additional $12000 in interest. There are also some good incentives going on right now if you purchase through Disney. Your monthly payment is calculated by how much you put down (10% of purchase price is required), how much your interest rate is and how long you have the loan. You may also add your annual dues into the mix as well if you choose. I can tell you that our monthly payment is $313 right without going into specifics. I would also recommend our guide, Todd Bearden at DVC. When you call, ask for him. He is WONDERFUL and does not believe in high pressure sales and will send you a wealth of information which will help you to decide if DVC is right and affordable for you!
Good Luck!!!

 

[Unregistered]

You may also want to read some of the threads on the DVC Section.. There is the Planning forum, Mousecellaneous Forum and the Operations Forum... I will tell that they are always having specials. I just looked into it a few weeks ago but decided to hold off for now.

Stacie

 

[lovetoscrap]

I am going to move this over to the DVC board where you should be able to get lots of expert advice!

 

[dairyqueenmom]

We are also new DVC members and will actually take our first trip home in May. We are frequent visitors and wanted to stay in nicer accommodations then we could afford yearly. DVC allows us pre-paid accommodations in Deluxe accommodations we would never be able to afford. I also love the idea of owning a piece of the world.

The saying I hear most is "buy where you want to stay". You have an 11month booking window at your home resort, and only 7months at all other DVC resorts. We bought in at 200pts. We have a family of 6 and need a two bedroom. How many points you need is dependent on the size family you have and the time of year you would like to travel.

Different size accommodations have different point values at different times of the year and Sat. and Sunday are about twice as many points per night as Sun.-Thurs. I would encourage you to call DVC and have them send you the packet of info. I didn't feel like they were high pressure at all, but I really wanted to buy in.

Good Luck with your decision.

 

[wilde_oscar]

that is such an open ended question, that you will get 90 different answers in asking it to 30 different people... best answer is talk to the DVC folks onsite. Talk to your bank and make a budget. DVC is the functional equivalent of pre paying for deluxe vacation accommodations at todays prices for tomorrows stays. Don't look at it for return on investment, but something for enjoyment. If you are going every year in a predictable manner, or every other year in a predictable manner it is easy to work out the math... if there is any questions about having the money to go from year to year, this is probably not your best use of the $$.

 

[wilde_oscar]

and the DVC sales folks are the least pushy of any time share sales reps... either you are a fit and you have the $$ to buy in or not. The rest sells itself, as the accommodations are top notch and the locations are first rate.

 

[mickey&minniealways]

If you decide to do this and don't want AKV or SSR you may want to consider a resale. The people at the Timeshare Store are not pushy( sponsors of this board). We have been considering it ourselves. We inquired there. We get updates via e-mail of timeshares for sale. When the one that fits us correctly comes along we will probably buy. For now we are renting from a dvc member. It is a great way to try before buying without paying rack rates. Disney reserves the right of first refusal but if you don't lowball the offer you should get accepted and it can be a lot cheaper this way. I don't know much about the other resale companys but these people are not pushy and will send you a very informative packet if you ask.

 

[crys5]

If you decide to do this and don't want AKV or SSR you may want to consider a resale. The people at the Timeshare Store are not pushy( sponsors of this board). We have been considering it ourselves. We inquired there. We get updates via e-mail of timeshares for sale. When the one that fits us correctly comes along we will probably buy. For now we are renting from a dvc member. It is a great way to try before buying without paying rack rates. Disney reserves the right of first refusal but if you don't lowball the offer you should get accepted and it can be a lot cheaper this way. I don't know much about the other resale companys but these people are not pushy and will send you a very informative packet if you ask.

I am in touch with The Timeshare Store also and receive emails and like you said, when we find one we want we will buy. I think this is the best way to go. We are also renting points for now until we find something. What i am thinking of doing is buying a 50 point contract this year, since we are not going this year and bank those points to next year . We are going next year with rented points which we are in the process of doing right now. So then we will have this years 50 to put with next years 50 points for a trip in 2010, whatever is left over from those put with 2010's points for 2011 and so on. We always do a studio for 4 of us which is plenty of room, we do a boardwalk view which is great! We have gone to DISNEY 5 times, we also want to make it our annual trip every year, we went in 2005, 2006, 2007...2007 stayed at Boardwalk with rented points....2006 stayed at Port Orleans riverside, we love it there too, but i paid 1274.00 for the week that time and i figured DVC would be cheaper than that....actually for 34 years which is whats left on most DVC resale contracts, if i were to stay at POR it would cost me over 40,000.00 and buying 50 points to do DVC, it will cost a little over 4000.00 plus maintenance fees every year, not bad at all.....lol The person i talked to at TTS said to finance a little over 4000.00 would be 400.00 down and 58.00 a month, which i can handle just waiting for the right one to come along.

 

[SSRFred]

OK this year is my familys first time ever going to WDW. I want to start a tradition of going ever year or every other year (not sure if we will have the money every year). I was wondering how much the DVC cost? Like if I finance it.. what would I pay monthy? I know I would def. be financing the amount b/c I dont have thousands of dollers saved up. But I am really interested in learning more and the DVD doesnt help with the costs and money involved. I also dont feel like being pressured by a sales rep. ont he phone. Any help is appriciated!

I'm going to do my best in answering this question as I read it.
Starting a tradition of WDW visits is a wonderful thing, but it does not have to include DVC. DVC will have you spending more money than you need to. There are cheaper ways on site as well as similar or better accommodations off site. However, you can't have both.

DVC is the one of the best ways to stay onsite AND have better accommodations for less money. I was spending $5 to $10K total per vacation a year for onsite before, offsite about 30% less. Now after DVC, I still spend the same but at least everyone has there own bedroom (even guests) and we're onsite.

Personally I don't like to finance luxuries. If you do finance, you are probably talking about an average of $400(including dues/maintenance) per month for 10 years after which you will still have to pay yearly maintenance of probably $125 to $200 per month. These numbers are rough numbers for a 2 bedroom for 1 week a year. You can commit to less and there are ways to increase your value such as a shortened stay but that's not my point.

So a DVC 2 bedroom can cost you about $5000 per vacation for the next 10 years. That's still less than the rack rate for a 2Br but it is still quite a bit of money and that doesn't include airfare, tickets, food etc.

After all that, I do love DVC. Please continue to investigate it for yourself. There is immense value in DVC, but most importantly it must have value for you.

 

[tomcat]

I agree with SSRFred. You really need to work the finances first. Esp as you need to finance the purchase. You dont state your household size and if you can only travel during school vacations and holidays ... high point usage. Length of vacation? Studio, 1 or 2 bedroom?

You'll need to determine minimum points needed and calculate the initial cost plus annual fees.

However, from your brief post a couple of red flags stand out on whether you can afford it at this time.

 

[crisi]

Also, this is your first trip to Disney. Around here, you'd think everyone adores Disney (around here this is pretty true). But plenty of people get there and discover it isn't their cup of tea, take one trip and never return. Or love it for the first trip, enjoy the second trip, feel a little burned out their third trip, and don't take a forth trip. Or go once, and go back in five years, and thats plenty.

DVC is a large financial committment to a Disney lifestyle you aren't even in a position to know you want to commit to on what appears to be a tight budget during a period of economic uncertainty (to say the least). Think this through very carefully. Think about the vacations you give up to spend your vacation dollars at Disney - DVC isn't a good value as a timeshare trader.

 

[nunzia]

Great advice already from the pros. All I have to add is:
Make sure you like Disney enough to commit to going at least every other year.
The cheapest way to get into the system is to start with a small resale (you have to buy an initial 160 points if you want to buy from Disney. After you are in the system, which you can do for as little as a 25 point resale, you can buy all further add ons through Disney, with no closing costs. 25 minimum points with cash, 50 with financing.)
Choose where you want to stay the most so you can use the critical 11 month window for booking.
Remember that your room is just a drop in the Disney Dollar bucket..you still need to get there, get tickets, eat, etc.
We bought very small first contract cash, then will add on at GCV for probably about 70 points..with our small amount of points we can do WDW every 2-3 years and DLR every year.(mainly studios, off season)
The most important advice is to read, read, read these boards. These people have a wealth of expereince and information. Take time to really understand before you jump in.