DVC Owner Wannabe Has Questions

[chucknrita]

I'm sorry if my questions have been answered in another thread but the search function is disabled. Anyway, here goes:

1. If a resale has no points available until the use month (for example, no points until December '03), do I still pay maintenance for the year on these points?

2. If a resale has banked points plus points available for this year, do I pay dues on the banked points?

3. I'd like some opinions on number of points to purchase...I'm thinking of going into this sloooowly and buying 100-150 points initially. We're not intending to go to WDW every year.

4. What would be a good month to get? We don't have children in school yet (not 'til 2004), so still flexible on vacation dates.

Thanks for your responses.

 

[JohnnyII]

I'll try to answer your questions...

1. If a resale has no points available until the use month (for example, no points until December '03), do I still pay maintenance for the year on these points?

That is negotiable with the current owner. I would think in most resale situations, whoever uses the points, pays the dues on the points.

2. If a resale has banked points plus points available for this year, do I pay dues on the banked points?


Again....This would be negotiable. Depending on when they were banked, the dues may already be paid and the seller might want you to reimburse him since you will be using the points.


3. I'd like some opinions on number of points to purchase...I'm thinking of going into this sloooowly and buying 100-150 points initially. We're not intending to go to WDW every year.

If you do not go to WDW every year, 100-150 might be enough. However, most people around here would probably tell you to try to anticipate your future need and look over the various points charts carefully and then buy as many as you can afford since even the resale prices keep rising every year.


4. What would be a good month to get? We don't have children in school yet (not 'til 2004), so still flexible on vacation dates.


If you will be traveling various times of the year, your use year is not very important. It really comes into play when you need to bank points, since the % you are allowed to bank deminishes after 6 and 9 months. If you typically vacation in September, an August use year is ideal becuase it would give you several months to bank your points if you need to cancel for some reason.

John

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Hi, chucknrita! I have not bought a resale, so the resale experts will be along shortly. In the mean time, I'll have a go at it:

1) You can negotiate this with the seller.

2) The fees on the banked points should have been paid in their original use year. Just make sure the seller is not boosting the price to cover the cost of those fees.

3) In order to determine the number of points to buy, you need to look at point charts and figure out- how big, how often, what time of year ect... Most could do with 150 pts going once every couple of years. This is what many have started out doing, and now many of us go much more often, and own many more points.

4) The best use year to get would be just before you usually vacation. The only difference in use years is for those rare occasions when you may need to cancel a resservation.

Hope this helps, and good luck......

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Sorry, JohnnyII. I guess I was typing while you were posting....At least our answers were alike!

 

[chucknrita]

So, would December be a good month if we normally go in late April/early May or November/December? I'm assuming once our child hits school age our vacations wil be dictated by school breaks just like everyone else. Sorry for my stupid questions!

 

[JohnnyII]

Your questions aren't stupid. I have been a DVC owner for a VERY short time and I think the banking issues are probably the toughest to understand.

Because you can bank 100% of your current years points into next year during the first 6 months of your use year, it is desirable to have a use year starting right before you vacation most often.

For example, if you are willing to take on the heat of July every year, I would look for an April or June use year. This way if something happened and you needed to cancel and wait until the next year to vacation, you can just bank the points.

If instead you had an August use and had to cancel your July resservation, you would be unable to bank the points. You would only have until the end of your use year (July 31) to use the points or lose them.

John

 

[Richyams]

If November is a time you will possibly vacation often, a December use year would be bad.

Your use year is not that important, but is idealy 0 to 6 months before your planned times. For you, Sept to Nov would be perfect.....but still not that big of a deal.

 

[DebbieB]

We usually go May & December, I have an April use year. That way if we have to cancel May, we have almost a year to use them & still have time to bank 100%. If we cancel December, I still have until Dec 31 to bank 50%. DVC does not sell every month. The months they sell are: Feb, Mar, Apr, June, Aug, Sept, Oct, Dec.

 

[Dean]

As you've posted, there is no perfect use year. April would work pretty well for everything except March so it depends on when the school spring break is likely to be. If March is a time you may be traveling as well, you may want to decide when you will take most of your trips and get the one that fits best for most of them.

As for the points, it depends on what the FAIR thing is and what the resale companies want you to do as they are different things. DVC fees are paid on a calendar year basis. For a Dec use year, this Jan you will be paying for 11 months of the 2002 use year and 1 month of the 03 use year. If all that's there are the 03 points and no 02 or banked points, I wouldn't pay anything for them or a month's proration at best. The resale brokers would like to tell you that "if you get the points, you pay the fees" but this is inaccurate with DVC and is essentially extra money in the sellers pocket. OF COURSE YOU NEED TO LOOK AT THE OVERALL PACAKGE TO SEE WHAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU and if you're paying more for dues but it works well overall, who cares.

As for when there are extra points, I think the usual is to pay the current years fees but not the back fees. In your example of Dec 03, assuming all 01 points banked to 02, all 02 points and all 03 points available; you should likely pay for the full years fees but no back fees. Remember the extra 01 banked points will expire in Nov and you may or may not be able to use or rent them. You certainly couldn't bank them again. It partly depends on how useable the points would be to you. Again look at the overall package and don't lose a good fit for you on a technicality.