Rascal1003 said:
Well, we did a calculation that the costs involved in DVC membership would be about 50% per year more than if we take a vacation and book accomodation as well. The accomodation cost makes up only a small part of the total vacation cost for us from the UK, so the DVC actually is not very cost effective.
I feel a bit cheated and suckered by it all really. It is probably great for US residents with cheaper air tickets, but I think it sucks for us.....I was rash and foolish signing up, it must have been the rush of blood that followed the wedding !
I think your maths is wrong or your logic is flawed Rascal.
IMHO the true cost to you of your DVC purchase (excluding any financing costs) is:-
A. The Purchase Premium - ie the diff between what you paid and what you can sell it for. What you can sell it for is what the asset is actually worth.
B. A should be amortised (amortised) over a period.
C. The annual maintenance cost.
So, as an example, a purchase of say 150 points at SSR at $95, assuming maintenance costs of $4 per point, and that you could sell it for $60 net, would have a real cost like this:
A = $35 x 150 = $5,250.
You could amortise this over the life of the asset say 46 years, but to be conservative amortise it over 10 years, so...
B = $525 pa over 10 years after which you have cleared the purchase premium.
C = $4 x 150 = $600pa
So...the true cost (as opposed to the cash flow) would be B + C = $1,125pa for 10 years, after which it would reduce to just the $600pa maintence costs.
The maintenance costs will rise over time but (hopefully) the resale value of the DVC will rise too so in practice A will reduce over time, i.e. if you could resell it for $75 net per point A will fall to $20 x 150 = $3,000. In time you might be able to sell it for what you paid for it say, $95 which would wipe out the premium. If you can resell for more, you would make a profit.
DVC is not a way of buying a cheap vacation. A package holiday in a hotel or villa will inevitably be cheaper than DVC, but it will not be of DVC quality. DVC is IMHO a value for money way of staying in on-site quality accomodation in WDW.
The sums above ignore your financing costs which are on the whole asset but there are ways of minimising these if these are an issue for you.