Could everyone possibly be paying cash for resales??

[Canadian Disney Mom]

I guess technically we paid cash but it was using our home equity credit line at around 2.5% or so.

 

[calypso726]

1300 points purchased both direct and resale and all paid cash. When VGF was just a rumor DH began saving the money for it and we guesstimated what the buy in cost would be based on what BLT was selling for at the time. He knew he'd be buying points there direct as soon as it was announced since GF is his favorite resort even though we'd only stayed there once before with a 40% room discount. Our mortgage is paid off and we have no debt. We live in south Florida so we do not have the added expense of flights for our Disney vacations. We do lots of weekend getaways which we would not be doing without DVC.

 

[lovewdwfun]

I paid cash. For me, it would've been irresponsible to buy a timeshare if I didn't have the cash to pay for it. As people have said, it is a luxury, and one that requires a commitment to spend more money every single year. There are plenty of other options, including renting points, staying offsite, or staying in values.

We paid about $7,500 for 150 resale Saratoga points when I was around 25 years old. We'd skipped a few years of vacations, stayed in a value for a year, owned a home, had a stable income, and retirement savings. A few years later, we paid about $20K cash for Boardwalk points. We budget throughout the year to contribute to college, 401K, and Roth IRA, so that when my annual bonus and tax return came, we were comfortable spending the cash. We did a lot of research and made sure that we could afford it and that it was a good financial decision. For us, it was a great decision!

 

[lovewdwfun]

On another note, my husband and I wanted to stay at the Grand Floridian for our honeymoon. We couldn't get the 10% AAA discount we planned on, so we downgraded. We could've paid cash and afforded it, but it was important that we met our savings goals and stayed on budget. We are headed there for our 10th anniversary trip this year - one-bedroom suite for 10 days! It was a long wait, but so much more satisfying knowing we can afford it!

 

[sndral]

Sha la la la la la live for today
And don't worry 'bout tomorrow, hey.

I did a 401k loan for our DVC. It would take YEARS to save that much cash. Who's got that kind of time to wait?

I'm a dinosaur w/ a vested defined benefit pension & will get social security. But I maximize my 401K (actually a 457b - but same thing) contributions to reduce my current taxes on my current income. It has never made sense to me to pull that tax protected money out via a 'loan' to myself and then turn around and have to pay the loan back with taxed money and then pay taxes on it a second time when I'm w/drawing it in retirement - it's a double tax on that money and IMO that's a lot of taxes to pay.
Here's a simple calculator to estimate the loss of potential gain from a 401K loan where you can input your assumptions http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/borrow-from-401k-calculator.aspx.

 

[gharter]

We are paying cash (still in the process). Unless you can get a really low interest rate or able to write off the interest on your taxes, I just don't think its worth financing. I think if you need to finance the points, you are probably better off either buying a smaller contract, or saving the money until you can pay cash. The interest just grows quickly and wipes out any savings you might have from DVC.

 

[robinb]

I paid cash for both my resales.

 

[mel&me]

When originally bought in paid with my CC and had zero interest for 18 months. paid it off in 14 months. my second contract thru resale was paid in cash. I would never finance with Disney's rates.

 

[Minniesgal]

For me being against financing it isn't about the rate of interest I also wouldn't pay Disney's rates but that's not why I don't finance. I wouldn't finance at any rate not even 0%.

To me financing something is borrowing against your future earnings, future earning you don't even know for sure you will have. Without knowing what my future situation will be it is too much of a risk for a vacation home. I took the risk for my home but I wouldn't risk my future for anything else.

 

[Sparrow624]

We financed our first 110 points at VGF....because we wanted the points right away and VGF was selling out at that point. Paid it off within a year though.

About to put a resale offer in within the next few months for another 150 VGF points and 200 AKV points...all cash.

The point is, I guess what you choose to do is up to you, but make sure you have a long term plan as to how you will deal with the debt (if any) /yearly payments for each resort you own.

 

[malba2366]

We paid cash. I was not interested in financing through the companies that finance DVC purchases...the interest rate is near 10%, I don't think I could make the numbers work at that rate. If I did not have the cash I would have rent the points I needed until I could buy.

 

[Dean]

We paid cash. I was not interested in financing through the companies that finance DVC purchases...the interest rate is near 10%, I don't think I could make the numbers work at that rate. If I did not have the cash I would have rent the points I needed until I could buy.

IMO the risk far outweighs the interest rates and numbers so I feel it's a poor choice even at zero % interest which really isn't anyway.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

We paid cash with a very favorable bonus my husbands job bestowed on him. But even before we did that we used the bonus money to get rid of some old school loans and to fund our kids college account. With the leftover we treated ourselves to a DVC resale. It's been more than worth it for us.

 

[jmmess]

We paid cash for our purchases. Borrowing money for a vacation doesn't make sense to me.

People buy resale to save money, paying cash saves you more money, so it would not surprise me if the majority of resale purchasers paid cash.

Agree wholeheartedly with this.