DVC Questions

[Mouseman11]

I tried looking up the answer to this but I havent found it.

Do the maint. fees go up each year or are you locked in to one rate for the life of the timeshare?
I read that the points value doesnt change. Does that mean that if i book a 2 br villa at SSR for a week it will be 270 points in 2005 as well as 2025 assuming I pick the same week?

Hopefully that made sense. We are going on our honeymoon at the end of the year and we might into the DVC then so I'm trying to figure it all out.

Thanks guys

 

[croach]

I believe the maintenance can change at any time.

As far as the points being the same for life that is a little more complicated. Points values at different resorts can change but overall they can't. For example if they raise on resort by five points another resort would have to go down by five. Hope that makes sense. So techinally the answer to your second question is no.

 

[Mouseman11]

Thanks for the info

 

[tjkraz]

Maintenance fees can, and do change. DVC members who own points at a resort pay 100% of the operating costs of that resort. Housekeeping...transportation...property taxes...front desk staff...all are paid entirely from member dues. So, when the county decides to raise property taxes or when the cost to provide healthcare benefits to employees increases, member dues go up.

You can find historical data on the dues here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=483351

Dues are set annually. They can be paid all at once or in 12 equal monthly installments (with no administrative fees or interest charged.) The average increase probably runs 3-4% (which is no different than the cash resort rates.) Some years dues have even decreased.

croach is not quite right on the points issue. Each individual RESORT must stay in balance. If a week is moved from Adventure to Magic season on the point chart, another week must be moved from Magic to Adventure. It's a little more complicated than that, but I hope you get the idea. Basically if points for a single night are ever increased, a corresponding decrease must occur elsewhere.

The total points at a resort cannot change.

This type of point reorganization has only happened once--back in roughly 1996 when OKW was the only DVC resort. I certainly wouldn't lie awake worrying about it happening again.

 

[Greysword]

I think I read that maintenance fees have been increasing about 3-5% per year to cover raising costs.

As for points, the answer to your question is yes...but it isn't as bad as that may sound

Each resort has a maximum number of points annually it may charge the owners for a stay. This overall total point pool will never go up or down and is locked for the life of the resort.

That said, the amount of points from this pool a resort may charge for a particular day of the year may go up or down. This would be the same as a hotel raising its room fee during heavy seasons. If the DVD decides to raise the cost of one day, it must then lower the cost for another day to keep the total annual balance the same.

In your example, the cost of your 270 point stay may go up to 300 points, but another week of the year may cost you only 240 points.

Fluctuations over the life of the contract should be fairly minimal, though.

Hope this helps!

 

[croach]

Thanks for correcting me. I wasn't sure if I had that quite right. Good to know.

 

[CarolMN]

Some additional info :

Disney/DVC is not allowed to make a profit on the resort operating costs. The dues reflect the actual cost of operating the resort - i.e., there isn't any "mark up" for profit permitted.

Florida law caps any increase in annual maintenance dues at 15%. As already mentioned, the annual increases have been averaging approximately 4% per year. AT BWV, the dues actually went down at least one year since we purchased (in 1999).

Best wishes -

 

[jmminarik]

Take a look at the point charts in the link at the top of this page...they'll show you how the points can fluctuate for a "week" year by year. If you use the traditional 'timeshare' 52 week year, your weekly cost can fluctuate a bit if you cross a 'season' due to the nature of our calendar. The biggest 'fluctuation' time is probably arround Easter because of the tie in to the Jewish lunar calendar and Passover. This is important to know because if you 'always go the 1st week of April', your costs will depend, to an extent, on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. It's lunacy. Literally.

-Joe

 

[Dean]

Some additional info :

Disney/DVC is not allowed to make a profit on the resort operating costs. The dues reflect the actual cost of operating the resort - i.e., there isn't any "mark up" for profit permitted.

Florida law caps any increase in annual maintenance dues at 15%. As already mentioned, the annual increases have been averaging approximately 4% per year. AT BWV, the dues actually went down at least one year since we purchased (in 1999).

Best wishes -

Better tell that to BVTC and the DVC board who pays them for the management of the resorts, LOL. They cannot pocket extra money but they do indeed take a chunk of change for management.

 

[jmminarik]

They cannot pocket extra money but they do indeed take a chunk of change for management.

Anyone know if the management function gets bonuses for keeping costs low? Plenty of ways to keep a not for profit not profitable, year end bonuses are one.

-Joe

 

[Mouseman11]

Thanks to all who responded. We'll be looking for something around 250 points so we can stay at the polynesian for a week during an off season week, so i guess it doesn't really matter what our home resort is as long as the dues are cheaper than another resorts. I don't see a problem reserving for the poly. 7 monthes in advance and not getting a room.


One last question i hope. If you bank points, you can never get them out? Does that mean it adds value to the timeshare when you go to sell it?

 

[tjkraz]

Thanks to all who responded. We'll be looking for something around 250 points so we can stay at the polynesian for a week during an off season week, so i guess it doesn't really matter what our home resort is as long as the dues are cheaper than another resorts.

That would be a mistake. Point values for the non-DVC resorts can and DO increase annually. Everything that was said about point values staying the same...that only applies to the DVC resorts. When we buy into DVC we are acquiring a deeded ownership in one of the DVC resorts. Staying at another Disney resort basically involves trading your points outside of the program. Administratively it's not difficult to do, but it is costly.

The lowest class of room at the Poly during Value season goes for 35 points per night (today, at least.) You can get a comparable room at Old Key West for as little as 8 points per night...at the Boardwalk for 12 points per night.

And, that 35 pts at the Poly is likely to be 36 in 2006...38 in 2007...and so on. Barring any reogranization, that OKW room will ALWAYS be 8 points.

If you're married to the Poly, then you might as well get used to paying a couple thousand $$$ per year for your trips. DVC won't save you any money in the long run.

But if you're open to using points predominately at the DVC resorts, the points will probably pay for themselves in 6-8 years.

One last question i hope. If you bank points, you can never get them out? Does that mean it adds value to the timeshare when you go to sell it?

Banked points are rolled forward one Use Year. If you have a February Use Year (which runs 2/1/05 to 1/31/06) and bank your 2005 points, they would be moved into the 2006 Use Year. Those points must then be used between 2/1/06 and 1/31/07 or they are forfeit.

 

[Epcotkids]

Banked points can be used the next use year, however there are some rules reguarding thier use if you have to cancell a reservation made with them.

Just small bit of advice: 250 is a good number of points, you may want to consider a few things before putting all 250 in one resort. First, depending on the size of your family, and points per week that you may most often go to DW, you may want to split your points among two resorts giving you the 11 month booking advantage at two resorts. (Keep in mind here, that you can only book 11 months in advance for the number of points you have at that resort.) Second, I know it is hard to believe that you could ever want to sell, but it may happen and contracts below 200 points sell MUCH better than 200 and up. If you are buying direct from Disney it may be worth any extra fees to do a 150 point contract and a 100 point contract, even if they are both at the same resort. We bought 350 at BC, and had to sell because it was just too many points. If we had followed this advice and divided our points into two or three contracts we would still be DVC members. We are now in the market for re-purchase but are having to pay more per point.

Just something to consider.

 

[Mouseman11]

Thanks again. I wouldn't use a timeshare to stay in poly all the time but it's nice to know that you have the flexability to stay anywhere else. I'm leaning toward SSR as for the promotions that are going on. Hopefully they are still going on when we are down there in October. Plus the villas looked great and with a large extended family we can offer are points for them to use with us in the two bedrooms. I guess I still have about 7 monthes to do my research. I ordered the DVC video so hopefully I will get that soon.

Thanks all

 

[athenna]

Thanks again. I wouldn't use a timeshare to stay in poly all the time but it's nice to know that you have the flexability to stay anywhere else. I'm leaning toward SSR as for the promotions that are going on. Hopefully they are still going on when we are down there in October. Plus the villas looked great and with a large extended family we can offer are points for them to use with us in the two bedrooms. I guess I still have about 7 monthes to do my research. I ordered the DVC video so hopefully I will get that soon.

Thanks all[/QUOTE
Just an fyi-the current promotion for SSR ends Monday. As of yet we have not heard anything on what the next promotion is or will be.