The second home view is pretty much how I look at it. Before committing to
DVC, we looked at a potential second home in the area. But once you factor in all of the carrying costs associated with a second property for just a few weeks of use annually, DVC was actually the cheaper and most useful option. At this point our thought is just for personal use but I’ve been reading a lot about high point holders renting out points to cover the maintenance fees which actually is a good idea at the high demand resorts that will maintain their long term value.
"Ditto That"!
We use our 665 Points for our 2nd-Home scenario, also.
We "SnowBird" each year to avoid Winter in the Mid-Atlantic region, and we found DVC to be a better alternative than buying a place that we would only use 2 months per year, just as DisDad stated, above. It's 'hassle-free" compared to having a property manager, paying annual property taxes, carrying insurance, etc..... And, based on current demand and resale prices, we could get out quickly if we needed to, and potentially come out ahead financially.
In the interim, we plan to maximize our usage. We had >4 weeks in Studios in 2021, and we have 7 weeks booked for 2022.
We took advantage of the Covid-Price-Dip last year, and added on before the prices rebounded.
OH - and we financed our original purchase of Direct points in 2011, but only for 1 month at prevailing market rates, before using our HELOC to cover the balance. All of our Resale add-ons have been cash purchases. We did add on a small amount "Direct", a few years ago, and took advantage of free-financing for 6-months on our Disney Visa, plus the CC Points.
