Considering buying resale...what is best resort?

[chimera]

On most of the resale boards, Vero appears to be cheapest per point. But OKW has lowest maintenance fees. Which works out better?

Also, is there any advantage to your home resort being at Disney vs. vero Beach off-site? We're not likely to stay at Vero Beach very often. We usually stay onsite about 4-5 times per year.

TIA!

 

[littlestar]

I wouldn't buy Vero if you're planning to stay at Disneyworld. You might be shut out on availability at the busy times (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving as you really probably need the 11-month window at these times). Also, Vero owners may get hit with a special assessment from the two hurricanes that hit it last year.

I see from your countdown clock that you'll be at Disney pretty soon. I'd make a point to tour all the onsite DVCs and see what you think. Also, check out tragel.com - he's got some great pictures and tours of DVC.

Good Luck!

 

[bongo59]

buy where you want to stay most often regardless of prices...........if you dont you will be sorry............

 

[cruise-o-matic]

We opted for Hilton Head for combination of lower price and lower maintenace fees. But also, we plan to visit HH at least every other year and wanted the 11 month advantage for summer. We don't plan on going to WDW during its most busiest times.

I would not opt for Vero, unless you really, really want to stay there. They may be the cheapest and most available, but the MF's are the highest and any up front savings now will be gone in 3-5 years, depending on the special assessment from the hurricanes.

If you don't care where you stay at WDW, buy OKW since they are the cheapest on site points and lowest MFs. If you want in quick and easy, buy SSR direct from DVC. Definitely take the DVC tour when you are there.

 

[rinkwide]

Which works out better?

Old Key West offers a combination of low maintenace, reasonable buy-in and spacious on-site accomodations. In my opinion, that's hard to beat.

 

[DrTomorrow]

And, as always, don't forget that SSR comes with an additional 12 years of ownership....

 

[crisi]

If the criteria is value, OKW is hard to beat. Fairly low buy in costs, large rooms, low dues, less points than anywhere else on property...and on property. It was only the lack of a pool slide and its isolation that kept us from calling it home (that and a resale that fell through).

Other resorts are better based on other criteria. Most people have reported little or no problems switching resorts at seven months to a different resort, though some of us think that will tighten up as more owners enter the system as long as the resort sizes are so varied. For me, you also need to weigh the hassle factor of switching or the stress factor of waiting.

 

[MarkRG]

My best piece of advice echos one above, decide what your location is to be first, this is important. Each resort has strengths and weaknesses. You need to decide upfront what the focus of your stay at WDW is and will be over the next 40+ years. I've now stayed at all the DVC resorts with the exception of Hiton Head and SSR.

In very brief, most of these can be interpreted as pluses or minuses:

OldKeyWest: Spacious rooms, low maintainance fees, easy access to DTD, a removed atmosphere from the busy of WDW, complicated bus service.

BoardwalkVillas: Direct access to Epcot and MGM, a large number of restaurants in resort, shared bus runs with other Epcot resorts, can get noisy.

BeachClubVillas: Same as BWV, also direct access to Stormalong Bay, still the best resort waterpark, but sometimes the busiest too, and the somewhat noisy access road behind the resort.

WildernessLodgeVillas: Quick boat access to the Magic Kingdom, the rustic feel and shared theming with Wilderness Lodge, the critters(snakes, bugs mostly) in the adjoining woods, the infamous dumpster view.

Vero Beach: On one of the barrier islands, right on the oceanfront, too far for WDW, a fun rexlaing resort with a lot of nature type enrichment activites.

You really need to think more longer term when making a decision here.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Whoa, Mark; not even a mention of Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa?

 

[chimera]

Thanks, everyone. Sounds like OKW is definitely better for us than Vero. How difficult is it to get reservations? We don't plan too far in advance, usually just 1-3 months ahead. The AP and FL resident rates are how we've been doing it, but since they seem to be drying up, we're looking at DVC. I can't imagine booking 11 months in advance, though if we want to go for the holidays, looks like we would need to?

 

[tjkraz]

How difficult is it to get reservations? We don't plan too far in advance, usually just 1-3 months ahead.

With that said, I would limit your choices to either Old Key West or Saratoga Springs. Home resort is meaningless once you reach a point 7 months prior to your check-in date.

You can probably get an OKW resale in the neighborhood of $75-80 per point once you add up the base cost per point, closing costs and maintenance fees (which buyers are almost obligated to pay in order to avoid ROFR.) That gives you 37-38 years of ownership at the resort which currently has the lowest maintenance fees. Personally, I wouldn't take a contract unless it had at least some banked points from the prior year. There are a lot of OKW resales out there--might as well get the best deal possible. If you can't use those banked points, rent them at $10 each.

At SSR, you'll pay a net of $85 per point for 49 years of ownership with the first set of points coming later in '05. Dues are second-lowest on site (and we also had a tiny, little .7% increase from '04 to '05.) SSR is also much easier to buy--you can literally do it all in one phone call to DVC.

Either route will work well for you. Just decide whether it's worth it to pay a few extra $$$ for the additional years.

With regards to booking success, my guess is that the only time you would have trouble getting a room--any room--booking on short notice is the period from Thanksgiving to New Year's. If you want to travel then, you are much better off booking early. Trying to get a room during that period on 2-3 mos notice will probably necessitate going on the waitlist.

Any other time of year, you will likely get a room somewhere on short notice. Most likely resorts would be OKW and SSR due to their size. BWV Pool / Garden view is probably the next most likely, although not necessarily in the Spring and Fall when the special events are happening at Epcot.

 

[Safari Queen]

If you always plan to book inside the 7 month window it really doesn't matter where you own. You'll probably wind up at OKW or SSR most of the time since they have the most units. However, if you do want the option of getting popular dates with the 11 month advantage, take the advice to visit all the resorts and see what appeals to you. Most people have a clear preference for some over others.

 

[crisi]

You may want to be aware that occationally there is nothing available 30 or 60 days out. DVC turns unused rooms over to CRO and they book them. DVC is usually booked to capacity. If you can't or aren't willing to plan further out, you may be dissatisfied.

 

[dougmatt]

I want to echo one specific comment above...

BUY WHERE YOU WANT TO STAY!!!

We own at VWL, BWV, HH, and VB. We had to buy the VWL add-on to be able to get in when we want to go as it is our favorite resort (and wasn't built when we bought), we had to buy HH to get in during the Summer (11 months or you don't get in), and had we not bought VB in the beginning we would have had to add on there as we go every other spring break.....

You have the option to buy contracts at diferent resorts as well, and if you are going resale there is no minimum initial purchase. So you may want to consider multiple resorts to get a net average lower dues payment etc... For instance if you think you may want to stay in a grand villa, and VWL is your favorite resort, well there aren't any there, so you may want enough points to cover (using 3 years worth of points bank - current and borrow) a week in a grand villa at OKW, HH, BW etc...

Finally so much is made of the extra 10 years at SSR... While I am neutral on the resort overall, the cost of ownership of timeshare is the maintenance fees NOT as much the original purchase price.... The SSR purchase comes with 10 years of additional fees... Granted 10 additional use years as well....

Basically though the NUMBER 1 item to focus on is where do you want to stay??? Also as a side note, OKW (and I expect eventually SSR) are almost ALWAYS available even last minute because they are SO large. That's why I don't own OKW, and probably won't SSR (waiting for CRV!!!). I have stayed there, the resort is ok, but it's relatively easy to get into.

 

[MarkRG]

Whoa, Mark; not even a mention of Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa?

Whoops, overlooked the new one.

But he said resale, are there already SSR points on resale?

 

[Lewski709]

Whoops, overlooked the new one.

But he said resale, are there already SSR points on resale?

I thought I saw some yesterday, I am in the market too.

 

[Dean]

I agree with the advice above.

• Buy where yo want to stay.
• Don't buy VB or HH with the main idea of using at WDW, especially VB.

But even more than that, it is my opinion that owning DVC is not reasonable for anyone who cannot plan at least 7 months out. That's not to say one cannot be successful that far out but the chances are far less and will continue to decrease as the number of members ands points increase, especially for BWV, BCV and VWL.

 

[belsam]

We own at SSR and have been able to book HH both this summer and last at seven months out for 5 days in July, so I disagree that HH is impossible to get for summer. FWIW, SSR is available easily on the resale market both through traditional timeshare resellers and on Ebay @ $78-80 pp, making it a really good deal.

 

[RLevy29]

If you can't plan your vacations more than 2 months in advance than it really doesn't matter where you buy. In my opinion all of the DVC resorts are great. I have stayed in all of them except for SSR. We own at OKW and BCV and have had success booking at the 7 month window at our non-home resorts. It all depends on how flexible you are. OKW and SSR usually have availability and if you don't mind staying at either of those resorts than I would say buy an OKW resale. The "buy where you want to stay" mantra only applies if you are able to book vacations at the 11-7 month window.

 

[dougmatt]

Belsam. I got locked out 2 years straight trying to get into HH within 7. Either you were lucky or I was not? Either way the funny thing is I bought 50 HH points intending to use them every 2 or 3 years for a summer week, and have used them for "other" vacations ever since.... Oh well!