Follow up Question

[Montana Disney Fan]

Well, according to my Income Poll, none of us are suffering too much.

My next questions: Is the purchase of a DVC property a total waste of money? Should we feel guilty or is this a sound investment?

How many of us CAN be stupid with our money? **rasies hand**

 

[OneMoreTry]

It depends on the return you are looking for. If you're just considering the green stuff, personally I don't think any timeshare is sound. Although DVC points are holding their value for the present. That probably won't continue for decades.

If you're considering family, recreation, etc, then for many it's a great investment.

 

[Greysword]

I speak for myself when I say...

Yes, we are all stupid

stu·pid ( P ) Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-)
adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est

4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

 

[Muushka]

Speaking for myself (and husband) we are very (VERY) careful with our money. All of our purchases are carefully made. We felt that DVC was not a stupid purchase. A totally unecessary one ( ), but not stupid!

We got used to staying at the deluxes and DVC just made sense. Also, really enjoy not fretting the "code game" that we always had to play prior to DVC.

Good luck with the decision!

 

[CHOPR]

My next questions: Is the purchase of a DVC property a total waste of money? Should we feel guilty or is this a sound investment?


I don't know about a "total" waste of money A little guilt maybe because i'm the only one in my family going to WDW every year. But the payoff in my kids smiles is, as the commercial say's "priceless"! I never once thought of DVC as a financial investment but, having said that I do believe I will break even after 4-5 trips. O.K. 6 trips Do I hear 7? And just think of all the time I can waste on this DVC forum talking about my lousy investment

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

Im with you CHOPR in that I feel a little guilty when my kids get to go to WDW every year (sometimes twice) and all my neices and nephews have never been.

I believe it was a sound investment in this sense: We go to WDW every year anyway so to save money we purchased DVC. W/O the DVC, our trips would cost us A LOT more money.

You want to see a total waste of money (and natural resources)? Look below:

BTW: That's my daughter. Ain't she cute?

 

[Lesli54]

We don't think that we wasted any money on our DVC purchase.

DH looks at it as a prepaid vacation that we will take more often as the kids get older. Some are already leaving home.

I look at it as, in order to stay on property for future trips, we would have been forced to get a villa since we have a family of 6, so comparing apples to apples, we are actually saving money in the long run with our DVC purchase. The rack rates will go up every year, but my initial investment remains the same. Even as the dues go up, I will still come out ahead. To me, I am saving money that I can invest into something else.

If we didn't like WDW or didn't plan on going too many more times over the next 37 years, then I would say we wasted our money, but that is not the case here.

 

[DebbieB]

One of the best things I ever did. I paid $14,750 for 250 points in 1999 and currently pay about $1,100 in annual dues. I've had 11 DVC trips staying 5 or 6 nights each in a 1 bedroom which racks at $400+ a night. I paid $65 per point (minus a $1,500 magical beginnings credit). BWV is currently selling around $80 per point, so even with fees I would at least break even and got all these trips for the price of annual dues.

There is a negative side - you will not want to stay in a "regular" hotel room again.

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

One of the best things I ever did. I paid $14,750 for 250 points in 1999 and currently pay about $1,100 in annual dues. I've had 11 DVC trips staying 5 or 6 nights each in a 1 bedroom which racks at $400+ a night. I paid $65 per point (minus a $1,500 magical beginnings credit). BWV is currently selling around $80 per point, so even with fees I would at least break even and got all these trips for the price of annual dues.

Wow, you did good! I paid around $89 per point.

 

[DebbieB]

Wow, you did good! I paid around $89 per point.

At that time (1999), I was looking at the original OKW members who paid $52 per point and said the same thing!

 

[MJTinNH]

Well, according to my Income Poll, none of us are suffering too much.

My next questions: Is the purchase of a DVC property a total waste of money? Should we feel guilty or is this a sound investment?

Life is short.....enjoy yourself! Or as a colleague of mine used to say "Smile..... you're a long time dead!" (I used to be much too serious)

Think about that for awhile and you will not feel guilty about getting as much enjoyment out of your existence that you can reasonably achieve.

 

[tamu91]

I don't know if any of us would've bought DVC if we'd thought it was total waste of money but I would not consider it as an investment either. At least not in a traditional sense anyway.

DVC will allow us to enjoy quality family vacations for years to come and able us to share WDW with our friends and other family members.

 

[lllovell]

We are not always as careful as we should be at my house with money (ok - I am careful one, hubby thinks the ole sayin "I can't be broke, I still have checks left" is accurate), but with DVC I crunched and thought and wiggled and crunched again and then tossed it all and went with my gut which was SCREAMING at me to buy in. We love vacationing as a family. DVC is happiness for me because it means at least once a year (for a big bang) or 20 or so nights a year during the weekdays, I get to be somewhere that I feel safe, happy, and childlike again!

Your daughter is very adorable btw!!!

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

Your daughter is very adorable btw!!!

Thank you so much. She has a great personality too.

We agree. Vacationing at WDW is just pure joy for us. We really have no desire to vacation anywhere else. I trave a lot due to business so I get to see a lot of the other vacation spots and I always have fun but it's just not the same as vacationing with my family in WDW. That's the best.

 

[kathleena]

I never like to call my DVC timeshare purchase an investment. In my mind - investment implies that I expect a return for my money - that the investment will grow - as in buying a home, upgrading it, buying stock etc. I don't look as this as investment - because in the end - I am left with purchased vacations. No real property, no monetary value at the end of 50 years. Just vacation memories.

So I think of the DVC purchase only as prepaid vacation time. And sometimes, while thinking about paying the annual dues - I don't even think of it as that - it becomes more of a vacation on the installment plan.

This is just my opinion and how I think of it. You can call it right or you can call it wrong - it matters not to me - I won't be changing my mind! And I support everyone in their right to have their own opinion! In the end - it really doesn't matter if we look at it differently - as long as we are both happy with what we have!

 

[LIFERBABE]

"Measure your vacations in memories, not in dollars"

Sometimes we have more memories than dollars, but we will always have DVC! (at least for the next 49 years)

 

[kathleena]

"Measure your vacations in memories, not in dollars"

I like it!