Debating DVC Purchase

[Minniemoo15]

We were Caribbean Beach lovers...we stayed there every year for many many years. Then, we decided to rent points and stay at Beach Club Villas for about the same price. That taste of DVC convinced us to buy in. We ended up buying resale at Polynesian and absolutely love it there. While I'm happy we can trade into the original 14 resorts (I would love to try Aulani sometime!) 9 times out of 10 we will likely stay at Polynesian as it now feels like "home".

One thing as a Caribbean Beach lover that turned me off to Riv....is that it is a lot more $$ for the exact same location. At least with the Polynesian it feels like a bit of an upgrade in terms of location and being in the MK area on the monorail. Just my opinion though.

 

[Evita_W]

Something to consider is you are paying $2500 now, but what about 10 years from now?

When we bought in 10 years ago, we were paying about $3,000 per trip, obviously varied depending on where we were staying and for how long, time of year etc., but generally about two weeks at a time. We bought enough points to get 2 trips a year, which means about $6,000 in trips. Our cost was about $18,000, so about three years with of trips, really four when you factor in maintenance fees to break even and since then it only cost is dues on the original contract.

Now DH is getting over double the vacation time he did back when we bought in, so we have just purchased Riviera points as an add on.

If you buy direct, you can book any resort at 7 months at and your home resort at 11 months out. If you always go the same week (or mostly the same week), Riviera does offer fixed week contracts. Basically, you are guaranteed that time every year, but you can still choose to use those points for a different resort or time of the year from what I understand. Just know a fixed week uses a little more points than it would otherwise.

But overall, once you understand the concept of use year and when banking windows are, it is pretty easy.

As for if it makes sense for you, only you can really decide that, basically take the amount you normally spend on just accomodations each year, add the annual dues to that, since you will have to still pay those. Then take what your buy in price is and divide it by your annual cost to determine how many years it would take to "break even". Obviously this will only be approximate, as annual dues to change each year based on actual operating costs, but it will give you a good idea. And do keep in mind, you will have nicer accomodations as well as a kitchen or kitchenette in the Studios that allows you to do some cooking in the room and save some money there. Also, free laundry (in the room at 1 bedroom and up or at the laundry room for studios) helps to reduce how much luggage you need. We now travel with just a carry on and a personal item each for even two full weeks. This can save money on luggage fees if you fly.

There are the other perks as well, but those vary and shouldn't really be included in your decision on if it is worth while to buy or not.

 

[sndral]

When you transfer points to use at a different resort, do they consider the Home Resort? If not, then I will be paying for Riviera but have the same buying power as a "cheaper" resort?

...One of my main hang ups is the value of the point based on home resort isn’t considered when staying at a different resort.

Correct, how much you paid for your points isn’t a factor when booking elsewhere at 7 months.
Here’s a hypothetical, 3 DVC owners book a standard view studio for 10/31-11/7 for this year - Jersey week at the Riviera resort which costs 123 points.
You paid $182 per point for yours, so your buy in cost for those 123 points was $22,386.
PG bought her Riviera points resale for $116 per point (price based on 1 reported riviera resale see https://www.disboards.com/threads/r...ost-for-instructions-formatting-tool.3821777/ ,) so her buy in cost for 123 points was $14,268.
I got lucky and grabbed a studio at 7 months using my grandfathered blue card resale AKV points that I paid $74 per point for several years ago, so my buy in cost for the 123 points I used was $9,102. But, I’ve been paying MFs on those points for years, so my ’cost’ goes up, on the other hand I’ve also been using those points for years, so my savings v. paying for a cash room have accumulated as well.
It’s like plane tickets - how much you paid for your seat is probably very different from how much the person sitting next to you paid.
Reality is, I probably would not get lucky and be able to book a standard view Riviera studio at 7 months because you & PG and all the other Riviera owners would have booked those studios at 11 months. You pay a premium for the 11 month booking advantage for some resorts, I paid more pp for my VGF points than I did for my AKV points, but VGF is very tough to book, so I needed the 11 month booking advantage there. If you don’t need or want to stay in a particular DVC resort, then there’s no reason to pay more IMO. If you don’t want the Disney direct benefits and aren’t interested in staying at the Riviera and future DVC resorts and are happy staying at the legacy resorts, there’s no reason to pay more for direct points, IMO.
I am curious why you are looking at 200 points rather than the minimum direct buy in of 125 when it looks like you only need 123 for your annual Jersey trip, assuming you’ll want a standard view studio & w/ an August or September use year you’d start out w/ 125 bankable 2020 points. You can always buy more later if you need more

 

[Travel60]

If you spend much time on these boards it is easy to get overwhelmed with all the talk of transferring, walking, renting, etc. You don't have to do most of that.

We have owned at HHI almost since the beginning. We've added on a few times (all direct, all same use year). Now have 1200 points. We stay there in 3 BR villa for a week about every 3 years and in a 1 BR various times a year. About every 3 years we get a 3BR villa for a week somewhere on WDW campus. We've never had a problem getting room at 7 months....often SSR and that's ok because we like Disney Springs. We have traded out for multiple cruises, Concierge Collection, and RCI. We recently "isolated" for several weeks in a 1 BR at VB. Perfect place to do so. If we get invited to a distant wedding or our favorite college football team is playing somewhere fun, I check to see if there is a CC or RCI nearby.

When we get near banking deadline (4 months out), we assess how many points we will use before year end and bank any we won't use. If we need to borrow for a whole family cruise, we do. That's it. We don't rent, transfer, or try to game system by walking or any of the other transactions people write about. People will tell you that cruises, Destinations and RCI aren't good uses of the points but we don't care.

HHI is an older resort, expiring in 2042. But we will be 88 and 91 then and likely won't care . Our kids will inherit the points and will be in their 50s. They can deal with it!

It's as much work and complication as you make it.

To hopefully answer what I think you asked further up about relative values: Yes you pay more per point at some resorts. Some of that difference is due to life of contract, some due to real or perceived elegance. The point prices to stay there are also more. So the 100 points you buy at Riviera will get you "x" nights at Riviera but might get you "x times 2" nights at one of the point cheaper resorts. But a point is a point everywhere.

 

[MonaMN]

Others with more experience can address the nuances (and have done well so far in this thread. I just wanted to add that we put in an offer in early February (Copper Creek - resale) after looking at room rates and how much they have increased. We have typically done week long trips at moderates during spring break time - but skipped last year to go on a cruise. When I looked at the costs again, I nearly fell off my chair. We put in an offer shortly after that (we had been lightly considering for a few years).

 

[eMoneyBug]

As a newbie don’t buy 2042 because: at the core buying DVC is a way to save money and basically prepay the accommodations annually and or force some work aholics to take a vacation. Well if you do the math on the premium 2042s like Beachclub or Boardwalk the buy in at say $140 and using 20years remaining is $7 per point. Maint say is $8 per point. Your cost is $15per! You could rent for $16-20 and not have to deal with the commitment and upfront purchase price.

now if your per point is under $10 you are an old timer or great bargain resale shopper. If you are $11ish still not bad. $12 just might be my personal cut off when I look at buyers and think hmmm you are buying with more emotions than financial sense, but that’s okay cuz you’re richer than me and that’s awesome for you (wink)

 

[sagosto]

Do not let a few hundred dollar "sale" dictate when you make a five figure purchase.

It's more like $4000.

You are already learning other purchasing options that are not disclosed when looking at the website, especially the part that your guide can get you into a sold out resort!

"your guide"? Please explain.

As for your points questions, let’s use your 200 point example. Say you bought Riviera direct and your use year is August, and you booked jersey week and used the 161 points. You can use the remainder 39 points for your spring booking, or if it’s just 1 trip a year, then bank it to 2022 so then you have 239 points to use between Aug 1 2022- July 30,2023. It constantly rolls over and they’ll use your expiring points first so technically if you go annually, you shouldn’t worry about wasting points. Every yr technically can have access to the year before, current and the year after’s points so for your example you would have 500 points to use currently now for your sept booking (50% borrowing rule from following yr) if your uy is August.

The 2042 referral is just pointing out it wouldn’t be cost effective for you at all since those resorts have such a short life left of their contracts. Definitely consider buying any of the others if you are concerned about economics. I just bought a 2042 contracts only because I want Boardwalk as a home resort for festivals.

hope this helps...

This definately helps. We would go every 12-18 months and I didn't want to be in a position to just 'over pay' on a resort to use my points. In the example above, I would be banking 39 points every year (assuming points do not change). Does that mean I have 4 years (39 * 4 = ~160) to make an additional trip before they are lost? Or do they just constantly pile up over time?

We were Caribbean Beach lovers...we stayed there every year for many many years. Then, we decided to rent points and stay at Beach Club Villas for about the same price. That taste of DVC convinced us to buy in. We ended up buying resale at Polynesian and absolutely love it there. While I'm happy we can trade into the original 14 resorts (I would love to try Aulani sometime!) 9 times out of 10 we will likely stay at Polynesian as it now feels like "home".



One thing as a Caribbean Beach lover that turned me off to Riv....is that it is a lot more $$ for the exact same location. At least with the Polynesian it feels like a bit of an upgrade in terms of location and being in the MK area on the monorail. Just my opinion though.

I've never stayed at Poly but always wanted to but couldn't justify the cost -- ironic given this thread eh? The wife loves RIV's location and the 2070 long contract date.

Correct, how much you paid for your points isn’t a factor when booking elsewhere at 7 months.

Here’s a hypothetical, 3 DVC owners book a standard view studio for 10/31-11/7 for this year - Jersey week at the Riviera resort which costs 123 points.

You paid $182 per point for yours, so your buy in cost for those 123 points was $22,386.

PG bought her Riviera points resale for $116 per point (price based on 1 reported riviera resale see https://www.disboards.com/threads/r...ost-for-instructions-formatting-tool.3821777/ ,) so her buy in cost for 123 points was $14,268.

I got lucky and grabbed a studio at 7 months using my grandfathered blue card resale AKV points that I paid $74 per point for several years ago, so my buy in cost for the 123 points I used was $9,102. But, I’ve been paying MFs on those points for years, so my ’cost’ goes up, on the other hand I’ve also been using those points for years, so my savings v. paying for a cash room have accumulated as well.

It’s like plane tickets - how much you paid for your seat is probably very different from how much the person sitting next to you paid.

Reality is, I probably would not get lucky and be able to book a standard view Riviera studio at 7 months because you & PG and all the other Riviera owners would have booked those studios at 11 months. You pay a premium for the 11 month booking advantage for some resorts, I paid more pp for my VGF points than I did for my AKV points, but VGF is very tough to book, so I needed the 11 month booking advantage there. If you don’t need or want to stay in a particular DVC resort, then there’s no reason to pay more IMO. If you don’t want the Disney direct benefits and aren’t interested in staying at the Riviera and future DVC resorts and are happy staying at the legacy resorts, there’s no reason to pay more for direct points, IMO.

I am curious why you are looking at 200 points rather than the minimum direct buy in of 125 when it looks like you only need 123 for your annual Jersey trip, assuming you’ll want a standard view studio & w/ an August or September use year you’d start out w/ 125 bankable 2020 points. You can always buy more later if you need more

This was my thought process! I thought a nice compromise would be to buy @ SSR as it would be $13K cheaper than RIV ($37K vs $23K) for 9 days in late Oct. Or, to buy resale but wheeling/dealing the open market isn't my strong suit. I think RIV resale is a non-starter as the wife loves the idea of other resorts around the world. I am trying to convince her that RCI/Disney Cruise is a bad use of points. But, resale DOES give the original 13 so it is still in the mix. We wouldn't go enough to justify the Annual Pass and we have Disney Visa for the food / shopping discounts. It's unfortunate that RIV resale is so limiting. If we did buy direct, would we be able to 'pass' direct down to the children? Or do they get RIV resale with its limitations?

 

[sagosto]

RIV has $180pp for 200 points. I'm 42 so I am going to price it out for 25 years. Our typical 8 day visit in Oct/Nov is 161 points. $37K purchase (w/ CC) + ~ $40K in maintenance ($37K now but it will go up). For $77K, I get approx. 25 8 day visits @ $3,080 a visit or $342 a day. Essentially, I am getting a moderate (CB is $350 nightly in Nov for us) for the price of a deluxe.

 

[Eric Smith]

It's more like $4000.

The previous poster is probably right about it being a few hundred dollars. Your total discount is $4,000 but there will be a discount that replaces the current one when it goes away. It could be worse, but the difference won't be that much. It'll probably end up being a few hundred dollars.

"your guide"? Please explain.

The guide is the person you deal with at DVC. Historically, it would be the person that you met when you did the tour at Disney World. I'm not 100% sure how they do it on the phone but I would guess that you still get assigned to a person. Keep in mind that you're not stick with the guide you're assigned. If they're not working for you, you can always request a new guide.

This definately helps. We would go every 12-18 months and I didn't want to be in a position to just 'over pay' on a resort to use my points. In the example above, I would be banking 39 points every year (assuming points do not change). Does that mean I have 4 years (39 * 4 = ~160) to make an additional trip before they are lost? Or do they just constantly pile up over time?

You could pile up banked points until you reach the max on your contract. Here's an example of what it would look like.

Year 1: use 161, bank 39
Year 2: use 161 (122 from current use year and 39 banked), bank 78
Year 3: use 161 (83 from current use year and 78 banked)
....and so on until you reach banking 200. At that point you'll have to use some or lose them.

It's also worth knowing that the points charts are not static and it's likely that the point cost for you preferred week will change over the life of the contract.

I've never stayed at Poly but always wanted to but couldn't justify the cost -- ironic given this thread eh? The wife loves RIV's location and the 2070 long contract date.

Keep in mind how old you'll be when that contract expires. I see you said that you're 42 in another thread. That means you'll be about 91 when Riviera expires and 87 when the Polynesian expires. Not to be too morbid, but are you likely to be in a situation where you're able to go to Disney during those extra four years. If you want to pass the contract on to your kids, that's a good reason to look for the longer contract potentially.

 

[sagosto]

The previous poster is probably right about it being a few hundred dollars. Your total discount is $4,000 but there will be a discount that replaces the current one when it goes away. It could be worse, but the difference won't be that much. It'll probably end up being a few hundred dollars.

That makes sense -- thanks.

The guide is the person you deal with at DVC. Historically, it would be the person that you met when you did the tour at Disney World. I'm not 100% sure how they do it on the phone but I would guess that you still get assigned to a person. Keep in mind that you're not stick with the guide you're assigned. If they're not working for you, you can always request a new guide.

Are they generally useful? They have a vested interest.

You could pile up banked points until you reach the max on your contract. Here's an example of what it would look like.

Year 1: use 161, bank 39
Year 2: use 161 (122 from current use year and 39 banked), bank 78
Year 3: use 161 (83 from current use year and 78 banked)
....and so on until you reach banking 200. At that point you'll have to use some or lose them.

It's also worth knowing that the points charts are not static and it's likely that the point cost for you preferred week will change over the life of the contract.

Perfect example. Your bank cannot exceed your contract points it seems. That's not too bad. It does make it more 'interesting' to decide how many points you want.

Keep in mind how old you'll be when that contract expires. I see you said that you're 42 in another thread. That means you'll be about 91 when Riviera expires and 87 when the Polynesian expires. Not to be too morbid, but are you likely to be in a situation where you're able to go to Disney during those extra four years. If you want to pass the contract on to your kids, that's a good reason to look for the longer contract potentially.

I'd love to be trollin around Disney at 90 but I think low 70s is a better assumption with my family/personal history. This gives me 25 years of use. I can see us going to Disney every 12-24 months. I have 2 young girls (4/6) who LOVE Mickey. When we pass, will my kids get RR direct or resale? I assume it is passed down like any other 'asset'? RR resale limiting to just RR is a non-starter for me. In fact, I am still going back-n-forth between resale vs direct.

 

[RoseGold]

It's more like $4000.

So the next “sale” will be $3600. The real “sale” is a good resale deal, which does require acting quickly. Direct form Disney does not.

 

[Eric Smith]

Are they generally useful? They have a vested interest.

I'm not really sure. We bought both of our contracts via resale. We did meet a guide at Disneyland in November of 2019 and he was very nice. He seemed knowledgeable, but they're going to heavily try to slant your towards buying direct. I wouldn't look to them as an unbiased source of info, but if you do decide to go direct they can help you out.

Perfect example. Your bank cannot exceed your contract points it seems. That's not too bad. It does make it more 'interesting' to decide how many points you want.

I'd look at the points charts of everywhere you want to say. Some places (Bay Lake Tower, Grand Floridian, Riviera) have very inflated points charts meaning that the rooms cost more points than other resorts. You'll likely want to have some kind of buffer to cover this. It's also possible that Disney would move your preferred time of visiting to a higher point cost tier. There was a big shift last year to try to even out the DVC demand throughout the year. It became very clustered in the fall because that's when rooms were the "cheapest."

I'd love to be trollin around Disney at 90 but I think low 70s is a better assumption with my family/personal history. This gives me 25 years of use. I can see us going to Disney every 12-24 months. I have 2 young girls (4/6) who LOVE Mickey. When we pass, will my kids get RR direct or resale? I assume it is passed down like any other 'asset'? RR resale limiting to just RR is a non-starter for me. In fact, I am still going back-n-forth between resale vs direct.

I can't say for sure as this wasn't a concern for us, but I've seen people talk about transferring contracts to their children. I think as long as you do that, they'll retain direct status. I'd have to defer to others to say for sure though.

 

[sagosto]

The wife is keen on location so I THINK that limits me to RR, Poly, and GF as it allows either skyliner or monorail access. We love CB but the 10+ stops and Jazzy loading is what made us switch to AOA. If we want RR, then we'd have to do direct to avoid being locked in. I need to price out Poly/GF.

 

[Eric Smith]

The wife is keen on location so I THINK that limits me to RR, Poly, and GF as it allows either skyliner or monorail access. We love CB but the 10+ stops and Jazzy loading is what made us switch to AOA. If we want RR, then we'd have to do direct to avoid being locked in. I need to price out Poly/GF.

I'd recommend heavily weighting which resort you'd want to stay at the most.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

The wife is keen on location so I THINK that limits me to RR, Poly, and GF as it allows either skyliner or monorail access. We love CB but the 10+ stops and Jazzy loading is what made us switch to AOA. If we want RR, then we'd have to do direct to avoid being locked in. I need to price out Poly/GF.

Good luck! I find the MK resorts all have something special to offer, but lack something another one has. I have yet to be able to choose one!

Location is top priority to us as well and we loved POR so much I was worried we'd miss it (We do a little and may split stay there sometimes). Currently, my dream trip is 4 nights at BWV for walking to Epcot and HS, 3 nights at (BLT? Poly? VGF? CCV?) for MK and some specialty dining or shows, fireworks from TOTWL or the Poly beach etc and 2-3 nights at SSR to relax, shop and dine at DS before we head home. I acually like SSR and love walking over to DS whenever we want to. Booking preferred and a little luck for a Congress Park request is worth it IMO). Visiting AK would probably be the day we switch from MK area resort to SSR and probably the only day we use the busses if we don't have a car. Perhaps this will become a reality when we are retired. We don't have that kind of time to be away at this point.

You stay 8 days (nights?) How do you feel about split stays? You have a better chance at snagging other resorts at the 7 month mark if you only need a few nights. So, if you really want RIV, how about for only part of your stay? Buy 100-125 at RIV (depending on if you want direct benefits or not) and the rest resale at SSR or Poly or VGF if you don't want to gamble? Although, you do lose some of the cost savings by breaking it up. You will still save buying SSR but not a lot on Poly and maybe not at all on VGF.

Honestly, it sounds like you have a problem spending higher priced points for a lower priced swap out but you do want to try other resorts. I understand, but really, RIV points aren't outrageously expensive. Pricing is inline with VGF resale. Even BLT, POLY, CCV are only $20-30 /pt less via resale (though Poly and BLT have much better dues). So, sometimes you'll win, sometimes you'll lose. Otherwise buy some SSR points and feel good everytime you snag a higher priced resort on them and just forget about RIV and future resorts at least until sometime in the future. Or like I said above, do both.

 

[sndral]

...

This was my thought process! I thought a nice compromise would be to buy @ SSR as it would be $13K cheaper than RIV ($37K vs $23K) for 9 days in late Oct. Or, to buy resale but wheeling/dealing the open market isn't my strong suit. I think RIV resale is a non-starter as the wife loves the idea of other resorts around the world. I am trying to convince her that RCI/Disney Cruise is a bad use of points. But, resale DOES give the original 13 so it is still in the mix. We wouldn't go enough to justify the Annual Pass and we have Disney Visa for the food / shopping discounts. It's unfortunate that RIV resale is so limiting. If we did buy direct, would we be able to 'pass' direct down to the children? Or do they get RIV resale with its limitations?

At this point inherited points come w/ their status, so if you buy direct points your children would keep that blue card status.
I tend to agree w/ your wife re: Riviera resale, but that is a personal bias I have & other than early in my ownership when I used my AKV points to sleep around a bit to help me decide where to buy my next set of points, I haven’t stayed anywhere except my home resorts booked at 11 months. There are some disadvantages to being limited to 1 resort, like if you have to cancel or need to scramble to change plans for some reason or try to rent out your points -2020 I’m looking at you.
As much as I like to have things done and dusted, I did a slow easing into DVC. First I stayed for cash in a villa to see how I felt about the units. Once I knew that I liked the villas I bought half the points I thought I needed to see how the DVC system worked for me. I figured I was reducing my potential loss if DVC wasn’t a good fit for me and I decided to sell. Then I added on. Before I bought I ran some numbers to see how long before I’d need to add on or skip a WDW year. In your case working with the 125 direct minimum to get blue card benefits -
Buy 2021 w/ a use year (Aug/Sept?) that gives you points you’ll bank before your Nov. 2021 trip:
(’20) 125 + (‘21) 125 = 250 - 161 (11/21 trip) = 89 points (bank into ‘22)
(‘21 banked points) 89 + 125 (‘22 points) = 214 - 161 (11/22 trip) = 53 points (bank into ‘23)
(‘22 banked points) 53 + 125 (‘23 points) = 178 - 161 (11/23 trip) = 17 points (bank into ‘24)
(‘23 banked points) 17 + 125 (‘24 points) = 142 - 161 (11/24 trip) = - 19 points (borrow from ‘25)
(‘25 points left) 106 - 161 (11/25 trip) = - 55 (borrow from ‘26)
(‘26 points left) 70 - 161 (11/26 trip) = -91 (if 50% borrowing gone then borrow from ‘27)
(‘27 points) 34 - 161 (11/27 trip) = -127 time to skip a year or add on
This was just my thought process before I bought, I knew things could change, that DVC could up the points needed for a particular stay or villa size or view category or they could lower the points needed, they do have to keep the total number of points for the year roughly the same - so if one week or villa type goes up another must come down. Then there’s personal preference changes, I’ve been sizing up, you may find that as your very young children get older you’d like the luxury and privacy of having a separate master bedroom & if you can afford a bigger villa why not add a few more points?

 

[Wedgeout]

RIV may be your main hurdle. Wanting stays there puts you more into the direct purchasing route (unless prefer only stays there with a resale). Caribbean Beach can always be purchased cash with moderate resort deals if enjoy the Skyliner. (walk over and eat at RIV). It’s a transportation system bit unpredictable for my liking. Scrapping the RIV idea, will make buying resale at one of your other resort choices a great saving option.

Back to “your guide?” question: I bought resale first then added direct. I didn’t have a guide so Member Services transferred me to one. Had a great purchase experience.

 

[sndral]

...
Honestly, it sounds like you have a problem spending higher priced points for a lower priced swap out but you do want to try other resorts. I understand, but really, RIV points aren't outrageously expensive. Pricing is inline with VGF resale. ...

Yep, I recently started eyeing VGF resale prices for an add on (something to do w/ that villa upsizing problem I seem to have acquired) .

 

[4luv2cdisney]

At this point inherited points come w/ their status, so if you buy direct points your children would keep that blue card status.
I tend to agree w/ your wife re: Riviera resale, but that is a personal bias I have & other than early in my ownership when I used my AKV points to sleep around a bit to help me decide where to buy my next set of points, I haven’t stayed anywhere except my home resorts booked at 11 months. There are some disadvantages to being limited to 1 resort, like if you have to cancel or need to scramble to change plans for some reason or try to rent out your points -2020 I’m looking at you.
As much as I like to have things done and dusted, I did a slow easing into DVC. First I stayed for cash in a villa to see how I felt about the units. Once I knew that I liked the villas I bought half the points I thought I needed to see how the DVC system worked for me. I figured I was reducing my potential loss if DVC wasn’t a good fit for me and I decided to sell. Then I added on. Before I bought I ran some numbers to see how long before I’d need to add on or skip a WDW year. In your case working with the 125 direct minimum to get blue card benefits -
Buy 2021 w/ a use year (Aug/Sept?) that gives you points you’ll bank before your Nov. 2021 trip:
(’20) 125 + (‘21) 125 = 250 - 161 (11/21 trip) = 89 points (bank into ‘22)
(‘21 banked points) 89 + 125 (‘22 points) = 214 - 161 (11/22 trip) = 53 points (bank into ‘23)
(‘22 banked points) 53 + 125 (‘23 points) = 178 - 161 (11/23 trip) = 17 points (bank into ‘24)
(‘23 banked points) 17 + 125 (‘24 points) = 142 - 161 (11/24 trip) = - 19 points (borrow from ‘25)
(‘25 points left) 106 - 161 (11/25 trip) = - 55 (borrow from ‘26)
(‘26 points left) 70 - 161 (11/26 trip) = -91 (if 50% borrowing gone then borrow from ‘27)
(‘27 points) 34 - 161 (11/27 trip) = -127 time to skip a year or add on
This was just my thought process before I bought, I knew things could change, that DVC could up the points needed for a particular stay or villa size or view category or they could lower the points needed, they do have to keep the total number of points for the year roughly the same - so if one week or villa type goes up another must come down. Then there’s personal preference changes, I’ve been sizing up, you may find that as your very young children get older you’d like the luxury and privacy of having a separate master bedroom & if you can afford a bigger villa why not add a few more points?

This is a great detailed example of how banking and borrowing works and a great option to jump in now and leave the door open for another home resort or more RIV when you know better how the system works, how point fluctuations affect your stays, etc and to try other resorts if you want to (and see how easy or difficult that is).

I'll add, if OP were to decide to try some split stays and swap out at the 7 month mark, using some OTU points (one time use points) could even stretch the above scenario another year. Especially if trading out for a resort with a more budget friendly points chart. OTU points aren't cheap, but it's a small purchase and about equivalent to renting and you don't have to NEED them to buy them.

I'm a buy as you go fan. We have been doing just fine on a 60 point BWV contract since 2017 thanks to standard studios, low point seasons and typical stays of 5-6 nights. We would be needing to add-on now had Covid not changed our plans.

 

[sagosto]

RR/GFV/POLY are semi-close in cost so it's almost a toss up. I would lean towards RR as it is newer and has the longest contract. However, that assumes I can pass it to the kids as direct. I doubt the resale restrictions are that much a concern as I'd only sell to upgrade/change but that seems like a bad idea.

The outlier is BWV with a 20 year contract that I've read can be had at $115PP. Why is the resale market so low? I could buy 175-200 points and then splurge at POLY/GFV every few years.