DVC Purchase Questions

[have2getaway]

Just curious what the minimum number of points you are required to buy to be considered a DVC member? I have seen so many posts for sales in all sorts of ranges and I haven't seen exactly where it's spelled out the number you are required to buy. I believe I saw somewhere that you had to buy direct from Disney for the member perks, but also read that the perks are not that sought after. Is this true? I just want help understanding the whole Disney DVC membership process and how many points people typically buy?

 

[KornBred]

It has changed over the years and I thought that it was now 100 points but we did a DVC presentation last year and she offered us to buy 50 points at Poly just to become DVC members as we are not. So I think unofficially they will let you buy as low as that to get you in as a member. But maybe we just had a crafty sales woman.

 

[Kim Gillihan]

I am sure others will chime in here as I am very new, just purchasing actually, but have been researching alot and I think I have read that min direct buy in is 160 points but if you are already an owner, even resale you can buy as few as 25 to get the benefits of being a direct point owner.

someone please correct me if I am wrong!

 

[chalee94]

Used to be 160 pts - now you can buy as few as 50 pts direct.

Resales start at 25 pts.

The perk with $$$ value that you lose buying resale is the AP discount. You also lose the option to visit the epcot lounge or trade pts for cruises. (not a good value as you've heard. )

The number of pts mostly depends on how you vacation. A 50 pt contract might be fine for a studio every other year. A giant contract would get you a month in a poly bungalow. How much do you want to spend?

 

[Starshine]

100 is the official minimum for new direct buyers according to the website.

 

[Kim Gillihan]

100 is the official minimum for new direct buyers according to the website.

ok, thanks for the info!

 

[have2getaway]

Used to be 160 pts - now you can buy as few as 50 pts direct.

Resales start at 25 pts.

The perk with $$$ value that you lose buying resale is the AP discount. You also lose the option to visit the epcot lounge or trade pts for cruises. (not a good value as you've heard. )

The number of pts mostly depends on how you vacation. A 50 pt contract might be fine for a studio every other year. A giant contract would get you a month in a poly bungalow. How much do you want to spend?

I am honestly not sure. We are renting a 2 BR on our next trip to feel it out.

 

[ziravan]

Direct:

50 if first time owner

25 if current owner buying an add on

Resale:

25 point contracts are sometimes avail and anyone can buy but usually they are snatched up in hours if not minutes.

 

[BillPA]

Back when it started, you had to buy 230 or more. That's when is was more exclusive. Now anybody can buy in via resale with 25 points.

 

[have2getaway]

Back when it started, you had to buy 230 or more. That's when is was more exclusive. Now anybody can buy in via resale with 25 points.

Wow! That seems crazy, although I suppose you can't really do much with only 25 points.

 

[Mmw37]

You can't do much with 25, but you can with 50 at the right resort. We started with a loaded BWV 50 pt contract, and that gets you 5 nights a year in a studio several months of the year. The plan was always to add on once we tried a few other resorts and got used to the booking system.

 

[kniquy]

There a few different scenarios - If you buy a resale contract even as small as 25 point then you will be a DVC member with restricted "benefits". To buy direct they can have certain buy in minimums. If you need the perks often what people will do is buy a resale for most of the points they need and then add a 25 point (minimum once you are an owner) direct contract to get the so called benefits.

As for the number of points - that is a very individual decision. You need to figure out the size of your traveling party, what size room you want/need, what resort you want to buy into and then the typical time of year you want to travel --if it will vary to all times of the year then you need to figure out the highest number of points that you would possibly need. Do you want to travel every year, multiple times of the year or every other year.

You need to look at points charts for the resort, rooms and time of year - an easy way of doing this is on davids DVC rental --it has a simple cost calculator that will give you points cost for your time frame. Once you figure this out then add 10% for any possible re-allocation of points down the road.

My personal scenario - we bought 120 points at AKV so that my family of 5 could stay in a 1BR for a week every other year. There is a lot to research with DVC, but probably the most important thing to consider is buying resale or a combo of resale/direct -- there is a HUGE savings when going this route. Research and ask lots of questions - there are so many aspects of DVC.

 

[Dean]

Just curious what the minimum number of points you are required to buy to be considered a DVC member? I have seen so many posts for sales in all sorts of ranges and I haven't seen exactly where it's spelled out the number you are required to buy. I believe I saw somewhere that you had to buy direct from Disney for the member perks, but also read that the perks are not that sought after. Is this true? I just want help understanding the whole Disney DVC membership process and how many points people typically buy?

Normally 100 direct but they will sell 50 at times, usually at harder to sell resorts. As noted, 25 resale if you can find a contract but the closing costs kill that deal in most cases. I have seen a couple of resorts of them selling 25 retail to a new buyer but I think this is a long shot. As a rule you will save based on how many points you use, the savings on just owning 25-50 points is very minimal based on the points usage. There are a few situations where it does make sense like where the perks are a real help or where people only need a few days every couple of years. I also know of some who have bought just to get a studio for pool access, a respite during the day and access to the dining plans but while staying off property.

 

[edk35]

Normally 100 direct but they will sell 50 at times, usually at harder to sell resorts. As noted, 25 resale if you can find a contract but the closing costs kill that deal in most cases. I have seen a couple of resorts of them selling 25 retail to a new buyer but I think this is a long shot. As a rule you will save based on how many points you use, the savings on just owning 25-50 points is very minimal based on the points usage. There are a few situations where it does make sense like where the perks are a real help or where people only need a few days every couple of years. I also know of some who have bought just to get a studio for pool access, a respite during the day and access to the dining plans but while staying off property.

WOW never heard of that before.....studio for a respite and to get dining. Interesting.

 

[Dean]

WOW never heard of that before.....studio for a respite and to get dining. Interesting.

And free parking.

 

[TCRAIG]

And free parking.

I've done this a few times - book the cheapest studio that I can - check in and use it for EMH, a place to crash during the day, etc but actually stay at a bigger timeshare offsite.

 

[edk35]

I've done this a few times - book the cheapest studio that I can - check in and use it for EMH, a place to crash during the day, etc but actually stay at a bigger timeshare offsite.

WOW that is something I have never thought to do. Great idea!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

WOW never heard of that before.....studio for a respite and to get dining. Interesting.

Sounds better than the tent cities they were starting to erect in the parks!

 

[mustinjourney]

And free parking.

and extra magic hours...and 60 day FP access.

 

[goofy4tink]

So, we have three contracts....150, and 50 at BWV, and 50 at BLT. Seriously considering buying property in the area. Dd is a CM and staying in Florida, so figured we would buy something and she could live there and pay rent and we had someplace to go when down there. Thought selling most of our points is a good way to make part of the down payment. But, can we keep a 50 pt contract and still be considered full members? I want to be able to still get the discounted AP and other 'perks'.