Get your feet "wet" with SSR resale contract?

[CMOORE185]

You also have to remember that the maintenance fees will be, by far, the single biggest expense (over time) to owning DVC. Far FAR more than the initial buy-in.

With BLT's lower Maintenance fees, it will eventually eat up the savings realized by buying a different resort with higher MFs resale.

You also have to think about the cost of financing. If you finance a much higher amount of money your finance charges will be thouands of dollars more.

 

[crisi]

BLTs maintenance fees are low in part because it takes more points to stay in a room. If you look at the dues comparison "per stay" rather than "per point" its actually pretty much on par. You need more points to stay the same number of nights at BLT.

I'll state something unpoopular - if the difference between BLT and SSR is a big financial committment, don't buy DVC at all. This is a luxury purchase. The past few months on this board have been depressing as there have often been threads about someone needing to sell or about job loss. You are already thinking "add on" for a different resort. Wait until you can afford it and buy what you want.

 

[jamie&Greg]

Misty – I think it is always good to get different perspectives and the boards are great for that!

We went re-sale as well but we purchased VWL (which is where we would like to stay most of the time).

We have owned almost 2 years and have had great luck booking at the 7 month window. However, we live and Florida and are VERY flexible with our dates and booking cat. I also think the last year or so is not a good example of how booking will be in the future! With the economy the way is less people are traveling right now leaving lots of room avail. Also, with the addition of BLT and AKL Kidona rooms once sold out – that will put more people in the system (but also leave more rooms open). It is really hard to say what 7 month booking will look like in the future.

IMO I think AKL, SSR, OKW, and even BWV will remain pretty easy to get into. I think BLT might be a bit harder at 7 months and BCV and WL are still pretty hard now (but not imposable).

As far as SSR. Have you stayed there? I suggest staying there before you purchase. Some people LOVE SSR - but a lot don’t (us included). It has many pluses but like you said it is a LARGE investment!!

Well Good Luck!!

 

[CMOORE185]

I think that is wonderful that you have had no problems booking at 7 months. I sounds like you are very happy with all the DVC resorts and have no issues staying in whichever ones are available.

It is very rare I do not get the resort I want at 7 months. I do not have to settle for what is available.

 

[jamie&Greg]

I'll state something unpoopular - if the difference between BLT and SSR is a big financial committment, don't buy DVC at all. This is a luxury purchase. The past few months on this board have been depressing as there have often been threads about someone needing to sell or about job loss. You are already thinking "add on" for a different resort. Wait until you can afford it and buy what you want.

While I agree that DVC is a big finical commitment and you should be able to afford it (which we do not know the OP’s financial situation) I don’t agree that they shouldn’t look at all options! I actually think she is being VERY smart in making sure she makes the right financial choice. IMO she is just weighing her options and there is nothing wrong with buying a cheaper contract, trying some other resorts out, then perhaps adding on a more expensive location latter!

There is a big $$ difference between BLT and SSR. I personally wouldn’t buy all my points at BLT (because of the $$ amount). If I find I really want to stay there then I might add a smaller contract just to guarantee the stay (and I think this is what op might do). That doesn’t mean I can’t afford it at all – just being smart!

 

[Deb & Bill]

...staying at the different resorts in pretty much next to impossible, as we live in WI and only visit WDW evey two years. and our next trip will be our first trip "Home" - by visiting each resort, we would spend more than we want to spend on our Resale contract and that would defeat the purpose of saving money w/ DVC

First thing to know, DVC will not save you money. It's just prepaid vacationing. You can probably save money by staying at a Value resort every other year. Even if the cost of the value resort increases.

We used to have 500 points - we were spending about $2500 a year in member fees. We now have 325 points after selling two of our contracts and pay $1560 a year in dues. We plan on selling another contract in the near future. We had it on the market, but had buyers back out twice (got half of their deposit each time) and had numerous offers for way less than we were selling it for. We made money on each sale, but I think those days are pretty much over.

We might still make money on the three remaining contracts we own if we decide to sell them since we have owned them for a long time and bought when points were about half of what new owners now pay. But members who buy now and think they are going to recoup the entire price they paid when they sell are dreaming.

 

[Misty89]

OP here,
I have alot of replies to make, since i do not know how to multi quote, i will try to respond seperately.

On the Condo/ hotel room topic, We have been vacationing with a Timeshare (RCI/bluegreen) through my MIL for 15 years, so yes i much much rather prefer a condo or apartment over a "hotel room" type. We have had cabins/villas/townhomes......lots of room and that is what we are
used to. I won't travel unless we have large acoomdations just my opinion -
So with that, DVC 1 or 2 bedrooms would be what we used, at any DVC resort.

Second, we are toying with the idea of SSR resale not because
we cannot afford BLT, it the point of $20k for BLT or $10K for SSR resale......it's that simple.
my DH and I and have said many many times, I am sure there is no "Bad" Resorts @WDW, they all are in the middle of the magic
, and each make eveyone happy in thier own way......For us it could be any. you are in Disney world for heavens sake


We did visit SSR this past February, when we were in the World for 9 days we took the time to go on the DVC tour and really enjoyed it, and whle we thought is was a super place,
we decided not to purchase then, for the same reason we are waiting now..........we like to be fully imformed before we make ANY financial commitments.
(for petes sake, we have been researching Big screen tv's for 2 years we will purcahse for Christmas this year)

I know i missed some replies, i will respond more later

Tina

 

[Crystal_27]

Second, we are toying with the idea of SSR resale not because
we cannot afford BLT, it the point of $20k for BLT or $10K for SSR resale......it's that simple.

Tina, I just wanted to tell you (for what it's worth) that if you buy 160 points at BLT using the current incentives and a DVC member referral, once you put the 10% down, you will finance right at $14,200. Again, I don't know that it makes a difference to you, but $14,200 is a little bit easier to swallow than $20,000 (though still not as easy to swallow as $10,000 - LOL). Still, I know that you are trying to look at this situation from every angle - hopefully it helps.

 

[gkrykewy]

First thing to know, DVC will not save you money. It's just prepaid vacationing. You can probably save money by staying at a Value resort every other year. Even if the cost of the value resort increases.

....

But members who buy now and think they are going to recoup the entire price they paid when they sell are dreaming.

DVC will save you money if you always stay at MODs and/or Deluxes, however. And members who buy now SHOULD be able to recoup more than the price paid if they wait long enough (as you have), barring a semi-permanent recession or oil shocks, in which case we'll all have bigger problems than a loss on DVC.

 

[mom of princessx2]

We bought resale at SSR last fall for the same reason as you are thinking, so we could get more points for our money. The $35 per point savings for initial purchase was a big deal.
I understand why people say buy where you want to stay but our approach was Buy where you wouldn't mind staying because if I bought where I wanted to stay I would have points everywhere
Ahh but a girl can dream

Also, we as well as many others, bought sight unseen. Never stayed or even visited SSR, but like you I figure "hey, its Disney" and I would probably stay in a cardboard box if I had no other option!! Well, maybe not

 

[PinkTink63]

We own at SSR and have not had any problems booking other resorts. I think it really depends on when you travel. We always travel in the summer and have booked OKW,BC, BWV's twice, AKV's twice, and VB twice now.

I think you might have a harder time getting an EPCOT resort during F&W festival and some of the smaller resorts at those peak times. I did try did get AKV conciere this summer, which I'm waitlisted for. So we will see!

We love SSR, but we bought hoping to stay at all of them! We look at it this way...we know there are going to be times when SSR is going to be our only option, but that's okay, because we do really like it! Matter of fact, for our trip this summer, our son's pick was SSR, so we are splitting our time between SSR and AKV!

Each of the resorts have something special to offer!

 

[PinkTink63]

not sure if i should reply or not, but i will.
Blt is not an option for us, $20k is just too much right now, we can always add on points later.
This is a board for DVC owners to share their opinions with new or potential new owners, so i thnik getting the opinions from them is great....it will help me understand DVC better, and the resale market.
I have been reading over and over, and this IS a big financal commitment and therefore requires alot of research., which i have been doing, and intend to for a few more months, we have in no way decided anything....not sure what resort, points, etc.
staying at the different resorts in pretty much next to impossible, as we live in WI and only visit WDW evey two years. and our next trip will be our first trip "Home" - by visiting each resort, we would spend more than we want to spend on our Resale contract and that would defeat the purpose of saving money w/ DVC

Just to add to your statement...you will find people on here that only want to stay at one resort! If that is the case then you should buy there! On the other hand, we are like you in the sense that to try all of the resorts would have cost us more than our buy in!

We had been to WDW twice and had stayed at 3 moderate resorts, which we really liked. Then we rented from an owner and stayed at OKW and BWV one trip. Well, we loved that! A great offer came up for SSR right after that and we bought sight unseen, except for what we saw on the internet. We new enough about Disney and their resorts to know that we loved them! That was in 2005 and we do not regret our purchase one bit!

Good Luck!

 

[PinkTink63]

I understand why people say buy where you want to stay but our approach was Buy where you wouldn't mind staying because if I bought where I wanted to stay I would have points everywhere
Ahh but a girl can dream

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN ABOUT!