DVC was a much better deal 10 years ago

[girt25]

Really??

One of the most common statements in every thread where somebody asks "Should I buy DVC?" is some variation of:

DVC oldtimer: "We bought when it was 65 per point, and it was a great deal, I sure have to think twice about joining at close to 100 per point"

OP: "boy howdy, I wish I got in on that deal! But what about the extra 15 years on SSR and AKV"

DVC oldtimer: "Yeah, we thinking about selling some of our contracts in the next few years, who needs those extra 15 years at the end, we'll be too old to go every year"

That's never really struck me right I guess. DW and I are new owners (about a year ago), browse these boards more then occasionally, and have gotten a great deal of information and entertainment from the DVC boards here. Generally, I fully agree with the opinions expressed here, especially by most of the regular posters. However I can't wrap my mind around this one. Maybe it's been too long since some of you have paid CRO prices for rooms, the difference in $65 vs $100 is so incredibly minuscule when you compare that to the general savings DVC is offering. To me, DVC is not noticeably less of a deal now then it was 10 years ago.

here's how I see it.. Because of the length of the 50 year contract, the initial price really ends up being a very small portion of the true cost for the DVC. Being an owner at AKV, I will use that as my example, in 2008 one would be using 12 points a night in a studio savanna view room in october (when I usually go).
Cost to me?
$1.92 (initial points) + $4.71(dues) X 12 = $79
Cost if I bought 10 years ago?
$1.30 (initial points) + $4.71(dues) X 12 = $72
Price Difference = $7 dollar a night or around 10% savings..which sound like a pretty decent deal.

Now look at it from the view of those of us who have spent the last decade paying CRO prices instead of DVC points.. Here's the real comparison

vs. CRO rates ($395 for deluxe savanna view in oct)
Price difference = $316 & $323 respectively
or savings of 80% vs. 82%.

The difference in the "Deal" those who bought in 10 years ago got is actually 1/5th of the room tax on a per night basis.

To take it a step further, a fair comparison would be when current owners are 10 years into their contracts

In year 10 (assuming 3% yearly increase in dues)

$1.92 (initial points) + $6.15(dues) X 12 = $96
Cost if I bought 10 years ago?
$1.30 (initial points) + $6.15(dues) X 12 = $89
Price Difference is STILL $7 dollar a night, but now the savings is only around 7%.

The % keeps going down as the dues rise.

In the big picture, For those buying in today.. a 200 point contract cost about $7000 more then 10 years ago. Over the course of 50 years, that's
less then 150 dollar a year.

I mean sure, I wouldn't turn down an extra 150 a year, it would pay for my half of a meal at Jiko a month ago, but I'm pretty determined to not let it keep me up at night either. Especially since 10 years ago, I was driving my brand new used car by the outrageously overpriced Shell station trying to charge me 99c for a gallon of gas right down the street to the Amaco (96c/gallon) to put in the half gallon of gas I was paying for with change from the 2 dollars my mother sent me out for a gallon of milk with.

As for the extra 15 years... I fully plan on making good use of them while continuing to pay my mousetax in person at WDW well into my 70s. It's the 15 years after that i'm worried about. Here's to hoping they'll keep building new DVC resorts in WDW with later expiring contracts, so I can enjoy my golden years watching my grandkid standing in line to get Mickey's autograph.

My point is... for everyone who missed out on DVC 10 years ago, don't be discouraged, now is as good a time as any.

 

[girt25]

My intention was to make the post neither long, nor a rant.

I apologize for the failure.

 

[DisneyKidds]

I suppose the statement made should be........"DVC was a better deal 5 years (you don't have to go back 10 years) ago, but is still a good long term deal today". Would that be a little more fair?

I do like your analysis. But none of that changes the fact that if we went to purchase today the same 325 points we purchased 5 years ago they'd cost around $7,000 more. No disputing that's a lot of money.......but when you spread it over 50 years and consider the cost of regular room reservations through CRO it really is a long term drop in the bucket.

 

[bblanch]

and actually you can still buy into DVC for a price closer to that $65/point than that $100/point if you choose to go that route.

 

[DisneyKidds]

If someone wanted OKW I suppose it's fair to say $75 is closer to $65 than it is to $100..........but other DVC resorts are going resale for $80 (for a stripped contract) to $95 a point. But your point is valid, you don't have to pay direct DVC prices.

We obtained our points on the resale market, and my analysis of incremental cost of now versus 5 years ago is based on resale prices now versus then.

 

[girt25]

I suppose the statement made should be........"DVC was a better deal 5 years (you don't have to go back 10 years) ago, but is still a good long term deal today". Would that be a little more fair?

I do like your analysis. But none of that changes the fact that if we went to purchase today the same 325 points we purchased 5 years ago they'd cost around $7,000 more. No disputing that's a lot of money.......but when you spread it over 50 years and consider the cost of regular room reservations through CRO it really is a long term drop in the bucket.

For those who finds value in the extra 15 years, I think it's actually much better value to join today then it was 5 years ago. Disney has valued the extra 15 years of the contract (at OKW) at between 15 dollars (extend now) to 25 (extend later) or about $1 per point per year. Prices 5 years ago was... $80-84? That puts the 50 year contract price at $90 to $94, very similar to current prices, not even keeping up with inflation.

 

[DisneyKidds]

5 years ago we paid $72 a point. Looked at this way, our 325 points cost us $23,400 for 40 years of fun, or about $585 a year in initial cost. Someone who purchased last year at SSR/AKV for $95 a point paid $30,875 for 50 years of fun, or about $618 a year in initial cost. So technically it isn't as good a deal as it was, even with the extra years, but we're talking $32 a year here, or $1,600 more relatively speaking, over the life of the contract. That's really nothing, and the long term value is the same.

Where the numbers diverge is where someone wants to own at BCV, BWV, or VWL, which I find to be more desireable resorts based on location. The cost of acquiring those now is much more than it was 5 or 10 years ago and now you only have another 35 years. But even those resorts are still good long term value now.

 

[Chuck S]

Gasoline, groceries, electricity, heating oil, water, airfare, hotel rooms...everything was a "better deal" 10 years ago. Prices have risen, and we can't pay what we did 10 years ago for anything. Don't we wish gasoline was still $1.35 per gallon?!

Even 5 years ago, US gasoline averaged $1.59.

 

[JimMIA]

DVC was a much better deal 10 years ago

So was I...

 

[AKV707]

While I do wish that I had bought in years ago, in my mind, that has little to do with price per point. I would have had more years of DVC and would have spent less at the Swan, CR, POFQ, and CBR twice a year.

Finally becoming a member made perfect sense, financially and otherwise, and I know that in 5 years, I will miss the current prices.

I commend those who had the foresight and the means to become members years ago. I also commend all of us who have finally decided that DVC is for us.

 

[DVC Mike]

I would think that the prices the "old timers" paid, when adjusted for inflation into today's dollar, would be fairly close to what DVC charges today.

 

[rinkwide]

My intention was to make the post neither long, nor a rant.

I apologize for the failure.

LOL, don't be so hard on yourself.

I do agree with your premise, but, as Mike states above, you could simplify the message by stating that the same $65 factored into 2008 money is almost exactly what points sell for now.

 

[DeeCee735]

So was I...

 

[drag n' fly]

Really??

One of the most common statements in every thread where somebody asks "Should I buy DVC?" is some variation of:

DVC oldtimer: "We bought when it was 65 per point, and it was a great deal, I sure have to think twice about joining at close to 100 per point"

OP: "boy howdy, I wish I got in on that deal! But what about the extra 15 years on SSR and AKV"

DVC oldtimer: "Yeah, we thinking about selling some of our contracts in the next few years, who needs those extra 15 years at the end, we'll be too old to go every year"

That's never really struck me right I guess. DW and I are new owners (about a year ago), browse these boards more then occasionally, and have gotten a great deal of information and entertainment from the DVC boards here. Generally, I fully agree with the opinions expressed here, especially by most of the regular posters. However I can't wrap my mind around this one. Maybe it's been too long since some of you have paid CRO prices for rooms, the difference in $65 vs $100 is so incredibly minuscule when you compare that to the general savings DVC is offering. To me, DVC is not noticeably less of a deal now then it was 10 years ago.

here's how I see it.. Because of the length of the 50 year contract, the initial price really ends up being a very small portion of the true cost for the DVC. Being an owner at AKV, I will use that as my example, in 2008 one would be using 12 points a night in a studio savanna view room in october (when I usually go).
Cost to me?
$1.92 (initial points) + $4.71(dues) X 12 = $79
Cost if I bought 10 years ago?
$1.30 (initial points) + $4.71(dues) X 12 = $72
Price Difference = $7 dollar a night or around 10% savings..which sound like a pretty decent deal.

Now look at it from the view of those of us who have spent the last decade paying CRO prices instead of DVC points.. Here's the real comparison

vs. CRO rates ($395 for deluxe savanna view in oct)
Price difference = $316 & $323 respectively
or savings of 80% vs. 82%.

The difference in the "Deal" those who bought in 10 years ago got is actually 1/5th of the room tax on a per night basis.

To take it a step further, a fair comparison would be when current owners are 10 years into their contracts

In year 10 (assuming 3% yearly increase in dues)

$1.92 (initial points) + $6.15(dues) X 12 = $96
Cost if I bought 10 years ago?
$1.30 (initial points) + $6.15(dues) X 12 = $89
Price Difference is STILL $7 dollar a night, but now the savings is only around 7%.

The % keeps going down as the dues rise.

In the big picture, For those buying in today.. a 200 point contract cost about $7000 more then 10 years ago. Over the course of 50 years, that's
less then 150 dollar a year.

I mean sure, I wouldn't turn down an extra 150 a year, it would pay for my half of a meal at Jiko a month ago, but I'm pretty determined to not let it keep me up at night either. Especially since 10 years ago, I was driving my brand new used car by the outrageously overpriced Shell station trying to charge me 99c for a gallon of gas right down the street to the Amaco (96c/gallon) to put in the half gallon of gas I was paying for with change from the 2 dollars my mother sent me out for a gallon of milk with.

As for the extra 15 years... I fully plan on making good use of them while continuing to pay my mousetax in person at WDW well into my 70s. It's the 15 years after that i'm worried about. Here's to hoping they'll keep building new DVC resorts in WDW with later expiring contracts, so I can enjoy my golden years watching my grandkid standing in line to get Mickey's autograph.

My point is... for everyone who missed out on DVC 10 years ago, don't be discouraged, now is as good a time as any.

Very Well said! ( and yes I am a new owner too)

 

[junior27]

Gasoline, groceries, electricity, heating oil, water, airfare, hotel rooms...everything was a "better deal" 10 years ago. Prices have risen, and we can't pay what we did 10 years ago for anything. Don't we wish gasoline was still $1.35 per gallon?!

Even 5 years ago, US gasoline averaged $1.59.

That would be great - here in the UK we are paying over $8 a gallon

 

[CarrianneB]

I would think that the prices the "old timers" paid, when adjusted for inflation into today's dollar, would be fairly close to what DVC charges today.

I think both Mike and OP make a good point. I agree with Mike - a more direct route to the same conclusion!

I'm a new owner who is very happy with the deal I got. I invested my $65/point from 10 years ago so I could afford my $96/point today

 

[White_Sox_Fan]

girt25, very well stated. Everyone seems to dwell on the initial per point cost but that is just a fraction of the total cost of ownership. The cost of dues are significant. If you project out the cost of dues for SSR & BWV for until 2035 using a 3.5%/yr increase SSR owners save $38-40pp in maintenance. Certainly this will vary but you have to use something as a guide in making the decision to purchase.

Of course BWV is a more desirable location but you wind up paying for it.

You always hear peoples say that they purchased future vacations at todays prices but that is not entirely true since the maintenance fees constantly adjust based on the current cost to operate the resort and that is actually a greater percentage of the cost per point. The real savings is that the cost of purchase is fixed and the cost of maintenance increases at a lower rate than the cost of hotel rooms, plus we pay no tax on our stay.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I would think that the prices the "old timers" paid, when adjusted for inflation into today's dollar, would be fairly close to what DVC charges today.

I agree. It's just that incomes have not gone up by the same proportion as costs.

 

[sjdisneywedding]

I agree. It's just that incomes have not gone up by the same proportion as costs.

aint that the truth

 

[nunzia]

girt25, very well stated. Everyone seems to dwell on the initial per point cost but that is just a fraction of the total cost of ownership. The cost of dues are significant. If you project out the cost of dues for SSR & BWV for until 2035 using a 3.5%/yr increase SSR owners save $38-40pp in maintenance. Certainly this will vary but you have to use something as a guide in making the decision to purchase.

Of course BWV is a more desirable location but you wind up paying for it.

You always hear peoples say that they purchased future vacations at todays prices but that is not entirely true since the maintenance fees constantly adjust based on the current cost to operate the resort and that is actually a greater percentage of the cost per point. The real savings is that the cost of purchase is fixed and the cost of maintenance increases at a lower rate than the cost of hotel rooms, plus we pay no tax on our stay.

Very true, and we also need to remember that the room cost will skyrocket while our maintanence fees will only creep..hopefully. Plus, as noted, we pay no tax which is no longer a small thing, nor are resort fees. Here's a little perspective:
We made our one and only trip to WDW in 1993. We stayed 7 nights at the Beach Club (Love that place) We got a package that had a total cost of $2,821. Included in this was a wonderful room, park hoppers for five and three meals. We chose the Yachtsman's Steakhouse, the show at the Poly and a character breakfast at BC. We drove our big 8 cylinder Suburban and it looks like every time we filled up it was around 20.00, I see we also ate a full breakfast at MGM for 20.00. Fast forward to now..it looks pretty cheap. Fast forward 15 years more and I bet we'll be reading alot of posters saying they just wish they'd joined back in 07
(man..I was skinny back then )