DVC Lesson for Cdn Dummy

[mom_rules]

Can anyone in their best DVC for Dummies style explain to me how this works? How much does it cost up front-how much per year when can you use them? etc. I've read alot of stuff and I just can't seem to get it.

 

[LisaSt]

The coost depends on how many points you purchase. You pay a down payment of about 15% again it will depoend on the number of points you purchase As for when you can use them you do not have time slots like your traditional time share where you get weeks to use. Thisa is based on points and you can use your points at any time of year. Hope this helps some if you h ave more questions feel free to ask.

 

[Scratch42]

What she said!

But you also have to decide what time of year you are more likely to go and then decide which use year is best.

Since it's based on points and not the same week every year, you can change what time you go. And for how long, depending on your accommodations.

For instance, this Halloween Trip will be in a Studio. Basically a four day trip staying at our "HOME" SSR

X-mas ~ New Year Trip a One Bedroom. Basically an eight day trip, majority of time at BCV and hopefully the whole stay!

Since we are doing the Repo Cruise will not have vacation time or need of points again until then where we will use for one bedroom for two nights.

Check out the DVC site and look at the points schedule, it will give you a better idea of how many at what time of year you will need.

Ask again if this is clear as mud!

Scratch

 

[MikeJ]

AllEarsNet has a good primer on DVC which you can access here.

- Mike

 

[mbb]

"it can't be this simple - what's the catch?"

But it really is, and no catches....

*Every night of the year is assigned a "point cost". The "cost" is more expensive at different times of the year, cheaper at others.

*Each type of accomodation is assigned a "point cost". A studio is the cheapest, a three bdr Grand villa is the most expensive.

*YOU decide when you want to go, for how long etc., how many trips per year...and you can keep going and staying - any time YOU want - until "your" points for that year run out.

*Each year, on your "use month" - like an anniversary - you get another allottment of the number of points you purchased.(We bought 160) You can "bank" these points, or "borrow" from this allottment to save up for a super-dee-dooper vacation.

*Every January, you pay maintenance fees based on the # of points you have...we pay around $600.

That's it.
HTH!!

 

[barb45]

Don't be afraid to contact DVC and talk to a sales rep. They are very helpful and not at all pushy like the other time share reps. They can answer all your questions and don't seem to mind if you call them several times with more questions. It is a pleasure to work with them - we dealt with Doug Rapp and he was so patient with me when I would call with "just one more question". We originally bought 150 points at VWL and then just added 100 at SSR

 

[mom_rules]

Okay. Read all that info-how do I figure out how many points and the cost that I would need. I gather that you can only buy points at SSR at the present time if you purchase through DVC. What if you want to buy points at BWI or BC-how reliable are the resale agents etc?

 

[Susan--Ontario]

We just purchased at SSR in March. We bought directly through Disney because they were offering a buy back, which basically helped out our downpayment. When you deal with Disney it is virtually painless. We bought ours from here in Ontario. I'm not sure if you can do that from other provinces though.

They sent us the paperwork, we filled it out (there was always someone at the Disney Quality Assurance 1-800 number to help us when we needed them), had our lawyer notarize our signatures and sent it back.

We went with Disney financing because they just put the mortgage payment on my MC every month. I pay that off and collect grocery points at the same time. If you want to pay it down you can do that at any time. Interest is calculated monthly. Right now we're watching the dollar and if it goes much lower we will buy the US money and put the debt on our line of credit.

When you purchase resale you will have closing costs, less years on your contract, and Disney always has the first right of refusal. It is shortened to ROFR on the DVC boards. It goes into escrow also I think.

You have to do the math to see what works for you. We opted for Disney because we wanted the 50 years at SSR instead of the 37 or less the others offer. After all it is real estate and you may want to sell it sometime in the future.

You will always need more points than you buy.

However, figure out what times of the year you can go, are you going to stay over the weekends at DVC or get a cheap hotel elsewhere, what type of accomodations are you going to want, how often do you want to go (every year or every other year). Plug all that into the points calculator and go from there.

We originally thought 170 but ended up with 200 because we knew we would want to add on within two years. The price was going up the next month and it was worth it to us to buy the extra. That said, we have 200 points and can stay in a hotel like room for about 12 nights every year. We are going to bank some points this year because the middle weekend we are going to Pop Century and save those 46 points for next year.

It may seem very confusing but it actually makes the plan VERY flexible, which is what I love about it.

I know how you're feeling because I was just there four short months ago.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[mom_rules]

So here goes... through DVC right now you can only purchase at SSR. Say you want 200 points and the going rate is $80 so $16000. (don't know what the going rate actually is) so let's say we have that $16000 (or will have within one year or so) and we want to buy now but know we will probably use vacation time in either May or October (or both if it works out) How am I doing so far?
So we buy in August and chose a use month of October-there will be 200 points available for use each October of which you can carryover to next or borrow against for current year.

If your home is SSR you don't necessarily need to go there (say for instance we prefer BCV)-provided we have the points necessary, we could book our vacation there (or Vero Beach or Hilton Head or the mountains, DCL or whatever) right?

If you go through DVC there are no closing costs so you pay your $16000 and Bob's your uncle. You would have a maintenance fee of around $4.00 per point per year, so $800.00/yr.

Okay, so now you own real estate. Are there any taxes or write offs for Canadians? What happens if you pass away, can your family inherit your DVC? What if you want to sell in 20 years? Does Disney buy them back or do you go through a resaler?

If you go through a resaler to purchase you could end up paying less per point but you have closing fees etc. Any idea of what they might be?

Sorry about the length of this thing. Are these numbers realistic or am I out to lunch?

Thought of one more-where do I get information on current availability and on current costs etc?

 

[barb45]

We bought directly from DVC because we were afraid there might be unpaid maintenance fees if we bought resale. If there are any unpaid fees you have to pay them up before you can book your next vacation. We were told that you may not find out that there are unpaid fees until your deal closes.

 

[mom_rules]

Ouch! So how did this dummy do? Close?

 

[Susan--Ontario]

Yes you can will it to whoever you want. It is like owning a condo. I think the price is $93 a point right now, but often they have deals going on where you can get some money back.

The reason for a home resort is basically booking privileges. We own at SSR so we can book a vacation there using our points 11 months before the day we check out. ie. I want to go December 1 - 10th. I can book my vacation on January 10th. If I want to stay at any of the other DVC resorts I have to wait until the 7th month window. Therefore I could book anywhere else on May 10th.

There are limitations to banking and borrowing points but if you're organized it shouldn't be a problem. You can always rent them out as well. The going rate is between $10 - $15 a point.

So, I want to bank my points from this year. My use year is March 1st. Therefore I won't be able to use my banked points prior to March 1st of next year. On the other hand I can borrow points from next year to use now if I needed them. The banking and borrowing of points is important in a resale because if they have borrowed all of next years points you may be buying something that you won't be able to make use of for over a year.

The maintenance fees are naturally lower at SSR because it is a new resort and won't need maintenance for a while.

If you want to check out resales go over to the DVC board because it is hosted by The Timeshare Store and there are links there. If you see a really good deal chances are Disney will probably exercise their right of refusal and it won't go through for you.

Keep asking the questions, we're happy to help.

 

[mbb]

Originally posted by mom_rules
So we buy in August and chose a use month of October-there will be 200 points available for use each October of which you can carryover to next or borrow against for current year.

Yep.


If your home is SSR you don't necessarily need to go there (say for instance we prefer BCV)-provided we have the points necessary, we could book our vacation there (or Vero Beach or Hilton Head or the mountains, DCL or whatever) right?

yep again....however, if you *really* prefer BCV, buy there. The "motto" on the DVC Board is "Buy where yoiu want to stay". BCV is one of the smallest DVCs 192 rooms...and with more and more people joining DVC everyday, the 7month window is goona get tight



Okay, so now you own real estate. Are there any taxes or write offs for Canadians? What happens if you pass away, can your family inherit your DVC? What if you want to sell in 20 years? Does Disney buy them back or do you go through a resaler?

Actually, you own a "real estate interest"...no actual property. So no write offs.
DVC is fully willable.
Disney always has ROFR...and yes, you go through resale.

If you go through a resaler to purchase you could end up paying less per point but you have closing fees etc. Any idea of what they might be?

Closing costs range from $400-600 USD

Sorry about the length of this thing. Are these numbers realistic or am I out to lunch?

You're good
I think the current price for SSR is $95...???per point. It just went up in April/May


Thought of one more-where do I get information on current availability and on current costs etc?

Call DVC

HTH!!!

 

[mom_rules]

Thank you soooooo much-I think she's finally got it!!!

Is DVC currently selling at BCV or just at SSR for the time being? I checked out some of the resales, so if a person is offerring a BCV with 200 points with a date of May and it says in the remarks that there will be 61 points available May 2005-it would appear that they have already borrowed 139 points from the 2005 year and full points wouldn't be available until May 2006 right?
So if you are lucky you might get a 4 weekday vacation with the 61 points after May 2005?

What kinds of incentives have there been in the past with respect to purchasing from DVC? and where do I find out if there are any available when I'm ready to purchase?

 

[Susan--Ontario]

Sometimes Disney will have resales available from their inventory of buybacks that they have bought using their ROFR.

You are right about the points. You have to decide if you want to pay now for a vacation that you can't take for a couple of years.

The incentives when we bought were $5 a point. But we could have had an additional $5 if we wanted to give up this year's points. Mind you at the time The resale market was really hot and Disney was competing with them. Disney was buying a lot of ROFR contracts at the time too.

Call DVC!! When we went on the tour in 2002 and didn't buy there was no pressure to buy. He just told us to come back when we could afford it. Which was now.

 

[DonDuck Fan]

I just want to say thanks for the thread,

We are just starting to 'think' about this. Not anywhere ready to buy, so it is cool to see the steps in the process.

Thanks again,

DDF

 

[Susan--Ontario]

I was just over at the Disney DVC site and there was an interesting announcement on the front page if anyone is interested.

http://dvc.disney.go.com/dvc/index


I would surely call about this incentive program. Is says something about a Complimentary Disney Vacation when you purchase at SSR.

Worth a phone call anyways.