Foreign DVC owners?

[ozliz]

So I would love to own DVC one day but I live on the other side of the world. I would not look to be buying soon because the exchange rate has gone way down recently but I would love to keep it as a maybe if the exchange rate improved and I could save up for the initial purchase in cash (whilst still repaying the mortgage etc). My question really is, how many non-US residents own? How far away are you and how often do you manage to go? Was resale even an option from where you live? How much did you worry about maintenance fees with exchange rate fluctuations? Finally, was it difficult to make the big initial payment in USD? OK so that was a lot of questions but you get the general idea, tell me about your experience. TIA

 

[TimR]

There are quite a few foreign owners here on DisBoards. The list for Canada is here, and there's a forum for UK DVC members. We bought ours when the Canadian dollar was at par with the USD a few years ago, the exchange rate today would bump up the price by 30%.

We thought we would do 1 family trip every 2 years. What has actually happened is that we do 1 big trip every 2 years, but since we have DVC and can get discounted APs we end up going a couple times per year since the only large cost is the flight. We aren't that far away - it's only a 3 hour flight - so a long weekend is a decent amount of time for a solo trip.

We bought direct but now we're looking at grabbing a small contract resale for our last-minute trips where we don't want to use our BLT points. We don't worry about maintenance fees since we don't own that many points (125 right now), and if we couldn't afford the fees we also couldn't afford the flights and it would be time to either sell or rent out points for a year or two.

 

[Face Like Fizz]

We're from the UK. We bought two contacts direct, one on a DCL cruise and one by phone. We have also bought a resale contract. We paid in cash each time, by credit card for the direct and bank transfer for the resale. I was all very straight forward. The exchange rate hasn't been much of an issue for us. Our contracts were bought when the rate wasn't too bad. As for the maintenance fees - well, if the rates happen to be poor each January when they are due we just have to suck it up.

We have enough points to go two years in three, for about 10 days each time. The cost of the flights is ridiculous - but we'd be spending that much to go on holiday whether we had DVC or not.

 

[Minniesgal]

We are from the UK but currently live in Australia temporarily. We own 430 points bought up over three years. We go every other year but if we have to skip a trip we rent the points we can't use. As we tend to use our membership in borrowing mode we find if we do have to skip a trip as long as we know before we book we don't have a massive amount of points we need to rent. Works fine for us and have never lost a point.

 

[suebeelin]

SIL still waiting on sellers to notarize... The sellers are in japan. So yah, dvc is owned by lots of international people .

Most owners, however, are probably in the US. I hazard to guess a large portion is mid Atlantic and even northeast.

Anyone ever heard of jersey week? My sister bought dvc just for that week...

 

[ColinA]

So I would love to own DVC one day but I live on the other side of the world. I would not look to be buying soon because the exchange rate has gone way down recently but I would love to keep it as a maybe if the exchange rate improved and I could save up for the initial purchase in cash (whilst still repaying the mortgage etc). My question really is, how many non-US residents own? How far away are you and how often do you manage to go? Was resale even an option from where you live? How much did you worry about maintenance fees with exchange rate fluctuations? Finally, was it difficult to make the big initial payment in USD? OK so that was a lot of questions but you get the general idea, tell me about your experience. TIA

Where are you located?

 

[pinklotusflower]

we're from the UK and just bought DVC through re-sale it was very straight forward, we transferred the money with no problems. We plan to open a US bank account when we go out so we can pay our dues monthly.

 

[Meemoo]

Hey there, We bought in at Aulani - We are from Australia (I'm guessing you are too?) But we bought when the dollar was above parity to the US Dollar, to which I am very grateful now. I am not sure if I could comprehend buying in now and adding 30% onto the the purchasing price. We only have 135 points, but its enough for us to do a great 2 week or more trip every 2nd year. I don't worry a great deal about the annual fees because I didn't purchase a lot of points and I feel like I got a good price on our initial purchase. If you do visit Disney often, I'd say it would be worth it - especially if you go to WDW often, there are so many options for villas there. Good luck with your decision!

 

[zavandor]

I live in London now, but I'm Italian and bought when I was still living in Italy. I was lucky enough to be able to buy when both the prices were very low and exchange rates very favorable for the Euro, so it's been a great deal for me. Nowadays it would be more difficult for me to crunch the numbers and get huge savings from the purchase.

 

[SWofDisorder]

We are expats living in the EU. I bought when I lived in the States but since moving we have not returned. I rent my points to my one friend each year, only her to pay for the MF and it gives me a bit of spending $$ of more holidays in and around the EU.

I hope one day to return to see all the changes to WDW.

 

[ozliz]

I am in Australia and so flights to WDW are very expensive but a trip every two years with some to closer places (aulani etc) mixed in would be my plan. That means the expensive Orlando flights would not always be every 2 years if looking to mix in Europe or other non Disney/DVC trips too (bit of an international travel addiction). I just can't justify it right now with the recent exchange rate fall but I do think that it would be a good investment in the long term based on personal interests, priorities etc (even though financially it can be argued either way). I am rather curious about the logistics of it all as it looks like Australians might need to buy direct as I would never be in the U.S. for long enough for a resale contract to go through.

 

[Meemoo]

I am in Australia and so flights to WDW are very expensive but a trip every two years with some to closer places (aulani etc) mixed in would be my plan. That means the expensive Orlando flights would not always be every 2 years if looking to mix in Europe or other non Disney/DVC trips too (bit of an international travel addiction). I just can't justify it right now with the recent exchange rate fall but I do think that it would be a good investment in the long term based on personal interests, priorities etc (even though financially it can be argued either way). I am rather curious about the logistics of it all as it looks like Australians might need to buy direct as I would never be in the U.S. for long enough for a resale contract to go through.

It might be hard buying resale for that reason, a lot of the good properties have long waiting lists. Aulani still has points and they always have special offers. When we haven't been able to use our points or if we go somewhere else overseas we rent our points out, you get a pretty good price for them which always allows us to book nice hotels in exchange for what we sold them for at other destinations

 

[ColinA]

I am in Australia and so flights to WDW are very expensive but a trip every two years with some to closer places (aulani etc) mixed in would be my plan. That means the expensive Orlando flights would not always be every 2 years if looking to mix in Europe or other non Disney/DVC trips too (bit of an international travel addiction). I just can't justify it right now with the recent exchange rate fall but I do think that it would be a good investment in the long term based on personal interests, priorities etc (even though financially it can be argued either way). I am rather curious about the logistics of it all as it looks like Australians might need to buy direct as I would never be in the U.S. for long enough for a resale contract to go through.

We are Australia, We have bought some of our points new from Disney starting in 1999. When the price increased we bought the rest of the points through resales. We have done six resale purchases over the years dealing through 2 brokers There is no problem buying resale from Australia, banks will transfer the money. It is an easy process, the broker emails the documents, you sign and fax back and hope you get it through the ROFR.

Buying DVC direct from Disney you can only do it while you are there, the papers can be signed within the day, we put the cost on Amex. Not sure I would be paying the cost now though.

Best thing we ever did buying DVC. It is dearer now with the dollar going down and the price of resale points has increased but the upside is I get more from the rentals as I rent in US dollars.

 

[ColinA]

I will add, if you have DVC points and do not use them for a trip every one to two years you will have no trouble renting the points out.

I would only be using DVC points at a DVC resort.