DVC "membership" question

[Jenbabe411]

Ok after years of stalking and usually figuring stuff out on my own my fiance and I are looking into purchasing DVC soon and this is probably the most confusing things I have ever had to deal with! But I am very excited to soon become an owner. My question right now is, when you buy resale, are you still an "owner"? I see a lot of people say I am not an "member". Does that mean they are renting so they cannot go on the website? Or do people that get points resale not get to go to the website? I figured they still would but out of everything on here, that is the part that I am still not clear about. Thanks for all your help in advance and I hope to be talking to ya'll more as my journey into DVC continues!

Oh and one more question: My fiance and I were thinking of buying around 225 points to be able to get a one bedroom villa at SSR every year. Well, we don't see us going two DW every year most likely so would it be most cost effective to rent our points every other year and use that to pay the MF and have a little left over or just buy 100 or so points now and bank them for use every other year and then buy more later if needed? We have the money to buy either option now in cash if that helps. Thanks again!

 

[Deb & Bill]

You are a member if you buy resale. You just cannot use your points for the Disney Collection (non-DVC Disney resorts, Disney Cruise, Adventures by Disney, etc). May be a few other things.

BUT, do not plan to buy with the idea to rent out your points every year. You may find it easy and you may find it difficult. If you plan on going to Disney at least every other year, buy half as many points as you need and use bank and borrow to get the total you need every other year.

 

[chalee94]

My question right now is, when you buy resale, are you still an "owner"?

yes. but you lack the ability to trade pts for cruises and other disney trades, such as trading for a stay at the poly. (these trades are usually a pretty poor value.)

resale purchasers have access to the website and all of that.

I see a lot of people say I am not an "member". Does that mean they are renting so they cannot go on the website?

probably - renters cannot login to the DVC owner website nor talk to member services about any reservations, even ones they are listed on as the lead guest.

Oh and one more question: My fiance and I were thinking of buying around 225 points to be able to get a one bedroom villa at SSR every year. Well, we don't see us going two DW every year most likely so would it be most cost effective to rent our points every other year and use that to pay the MF and have a little left over or just buy 100 or so points now and bank them for use every other year and then buy more later if needed?

if i understand you correctly, i would suggest you only buy what you plan to use yourself. don't count on being able to rent for a certain return if that is critical to your ownership. buy half of what you need to go every other year (plus a few extra pts in case the point charts are reallocated again.)

but you may want to step back and do some more research before jumping in. take your time. DVC will still be there.

 

[disneynutz]

You need to understand that Disney can change almost everything about your ownership and recently they have changed a lot. Where you can stay using your points could change again and our ability to rent our points could also change.

The only thing that is for certain is your ability to book at your home resort before others who do not own there. That's why selecting a resort that you love is very important.

Bill

 

[Jenbabe411]

Ok but am I mistaken in the the thought that I understood that your points stayed the same for the year that you bought it? Or is that just for direct or not true at all?

 

[disneynutz]

You buy points for a home resort. What you bought doesn't change but Disney can change the points required for a given stay. If they increase the points required in one place, they have to lower them in another. They made 2 changes like this a year or so ago. Some people were affected and others weren't. For my family the change caused us to come up 38 points short for our usual vacations at WDW.

Bill

 

[Jenbabe411]

Increase points in your specific dvf? if so i would love to see an example if you have time to get one.

 

[JimMIA]

Increase points in your specific dvf? if so i would love to see an example if you have time to get one.

The overall number of points at a resort cannot change, by law, because the points represent room-nights at that resort. Obviously, the State of Florida will not let Disney sell something they do not have, so the total number of points remain the same.

However...they can and do change the way points are apportioned for various sizes of villas, between seasons, and by days of the week. They are limited in the size of the change they can make in any one year. But they have made significant changes in the point allocations twice recently (I believe in 2009 and 2010, but I could be wrong).

The apparent reason for the changes was that many owners had been arranging their stays Sunday-Thursday nights because the point costs for those nights was about half of Friday-Saturday. DVC raised Sun-Thurs and lowered Fri-Sat. Because of the limit on the percentage of change they can make, they spread the "rebalancing" over two years.

So families like Bill's points costs went up, and families who stayed mostly on weekends saw their costs go down.

 

[Sandisw]

I also think that you should buy the number of points you will be able to use yourself and add on later if you find you want more.

Because I am a teacher, we knew we would be traveling during Magic Season, a higher point time, so based the number of points we bought on this. We also knew that when we retired, we would be visiting in times when the points are currently lower.

So, when deciding, look at the points in some of the more expensive times so that you can average your stays and not be caught short if something is adjusted. As mentioned, the points in the chart can be shifted around at a resort.

Buying this way, with 1/2 the points, also allows you to see if you are comfortable with the way DVC works. If you are, you may find you will want to go more often and can always add more points.

Good luck!

 

[chalee94]

Increase points in your specific dvc? if so i would love to see an example if you have time to get one.

you can see some of the reallocations in the links below:

2011 point chart for OKW

original 1994 pt charts for OKW (thanks to webmasterdoc).

if you wanted a 1BR at OKW for 7 nights in may 1994, it would have cost 200 pts. if you wanted a 1BR at OKW for 7 nights in may 2011, it would cost 199 pts.

OTOH, if you wanted a studio for 5 nights sun-thurs in early december, your 35 pt stay cost in 1994 has now increased by 43% to 50 pts. weeknight stays have taken a hit...but if you just stayed 2 nights on a weekend in early december at OKW, your 34 pt stay in 1994 dropped a bit to 26 pts.

if you typically stay for 7 nights, i doubt you'll see any big changes (although early dec is popular enough that it won't surprise me if they move it to a different season.)

 

[Jenbabe411]

Thank you for making it clearer! I am still looking at all options but I think starting smaller and adding on will be the best for our situation. We usually stay on a weekly basis so hopefully the point change won't have much of an effect on us. Thank ya'll so much for your input!

 

[BigDaddySlick]

We bought over 10 years ago and got the smallest at the time and added on as we have used more... best thing we bought as a couple!