Getting cold feet-- can you offer your opinion?

[CNMooner]

We are currently listing our SSR contract up for sale and buying into AKV.

Now I'm getting cold feet about owning DVC at all.

First off, we are financing at 10.75%. It will take us 2 years to pay off the loan.

We like to go to Disney at least once per year, and we're a young family. Our first child is only 7 months old. So there will be many, many more disney trips in our future.

I'd love to hear any and all opinions. Thanks!

Our pros:
1. Locking in pricing now for 50 years of visits (if I ignore dues)
2. It'll be paid off and ready to use when saving for college/bigger house, etc is revving up.
3. The convenience of membership-- it's hard to get DVC accomodations if you're not a member (am I right about this? Are there a lot of cash villas available through disney?)
4. It's sort of fun to be a member!

Cons:
1. Two years of debt! ...and being that we're growing our family, my employment has a rather spotty outlook)
2. It'll take at least 10 trips to break even.
3. Those dues keep going up and up.
4. We'll feel compelled to go to Disney every year, and maybe miss out on a great non-Disney vacation.

 

[global_mom]

Our only regret with DVC is that we did not buy 6 years ago when we first started taking our children to WDW. We would have surpassed our break-even point last year b/c we go 2 - 3 times per year. Had we bought back then, the point price would have been much less and we would have had much larger accomodations. The good news is that we have stayed in lots of the resorts at WDW and those have been fun experiences.

We have also worried about feeling compelled to go to WDW each year but we plan to branch out to DL, Vero and HHI. Beside, we cant imagine life without at least one trip to the World each year! We made sure that our financial committment to DVC would not prevent us from going to other destinations. As a TA, I get great deals all over the world and we made sure that we would not have all of our travel budget in one nest.

If continuing to own will be a financial burden then I defiantely would not do it. Otherwise, enjoy your future new ownership at AKV!!

 

[ACDSNY]

Why would you need to sell SSR for AKV? Maybe you should wait and see what the availability is like at the 7 month window before making any decisions.

 

[kend58]

You say you will be financing for two years with disney - is that timeline certain or could your projection easily slip to 5 or 10 years? Have you looked at your risk factors (you mentioned potential loss of 2nd income,what about rising housing costs, rising fuel costs etc)?

You are selling SSR and buying AKV - is that because of a location/theming preference? or just for the 3 extra years? Are you getting a good value in the deal is my question afterall buying and selling has some out of pocket costs associated with it. (FYI I can understand doing this for either of these reasons but I don't know what your reason and associated cost are).

In general I think as long as your budget predictions are accurate you should be fine (2 years to pay-off with 10 years usage to get to full cost recovery = 40 years of vacation accomodations at MF for expense) are you including projected 10 years of MF in the breakeven calculation? Are you including an inflation factor (say 3.5% or so on Mf)?

Your analysis seems reasonable. You can sell after a few years without a signifigant capital loss. After 10 with no loss. DVC has lots of non WDW options (I know many argue to only use DVC points at WDW but if you feel like a cruise or DL or Concirege Collection or an II exchange is what you want some years they are after all your points) so when you want a break it will be available. I would not buy / reccomend DVC if the only or primary intended usage was exchange (other lower cost TS options exist) but for WDW travel (staying onsite) DVC can be a very good option. Especially for those desiring the villa style or Deluxe level accomodations.

 

[toyboy]

I'm with ACDSNY on this one. If you are worried about it financially, I would definitely not go the way of selling and rebuying. You are sure to lose money off of your older contract by doing that. If you are dead set on going to AKV try your luck booking at 7 months (should be easier when the whole complex is complete), or at least wait until some of the AKV contracts become available on the resale market to balance out your sale at SSR.

 

[CNMooner]

Hi everyone,
Selling SSR is an absolute. We're doing that no matter what. It's just now a decision (once again) of "does DVC makes sense for us."

Thanks so much for your thoughts. Keep 'em coming!

 

[LisaS]

To address your "Cons" (two years of debt, compelled to go to Disney every year), here's another option to consider. You could buy an add-on at AKV prior to selling your SSR contract. You could purchase as few as 25 points (50 points if you want Disney financing and 100 points if you want the $8/pt incentive or the developer points incentive) and then sell the SSR contract. A small add-on would allow you to go to Disney every other year or every third year by banking and borrowing your points. You could add on more points in years to come, perhaps avoiding the need to finance, reducing your overall cost. Unfortunately the cost/pt also goes up over time so you would have to crunch the numbers to see how that affects things.

 

[CNMooner]

You know what's killing me? The dues. Dues go up ever year, and they're not super cheap. They're not nothing. So all this money down only, in the end, gives us 70% off accomodations or whatever.

However, hotel rack rates go up ever year too! And even if in 10 years we decide the kids are older, we won't want it anymore, the contract will be worth something. We can sell it.

I'm leaning toward buying it again. ugh.

 

[DiznyDi]

I agree with LisaS. Buy the smaller AKV add-on BEFORE you sell your SSR. Personally I would hate not to own at any DVC resort. I enjoy being a member! This brings a smile to my face everyday!

 

[barbeml]

You know what's killing me? The dues. Dues go up ever year, and they're not super cheap. They're not nothing. So all this money down only, in the end, gives us 70% off accomodations or whatever.

That's what made us say no.

Cousins just bought AKV. Told us the $17,000 (plus finance charges) will pay for itself in 7 trips. But what about the dues? We decided that commiting to $17,000 was justifiable, but an additional $35,000 (or more) in dues was not justifiable TO US.

Others obviously feel differently, but the dues are part of what must be considered in the overall picture.

 

[DiznyDi]

Sorry, forgot to mention that we stayed at SSR prior to owning and paid in excess of $500.00 per night for a 2 bedroom villa for 8 days during the off-season. Sure would have been nice to have known about DVC when planning that trip! That was a sizeable chunk of change that could have been put to much better use as a down payment toward purchase.

 

[crisi]

Here are the other things to consider.

Do you have liquid assets to tide you over if there is a loss of income?
Do you have adequate money set aside for retirement? (If you are planning on doing the SAHM thing - will you still maintain sufficient retirement savings on one income?)

You talk about college - as the mom of a seven and eight year old - college savings doesn't suddenly rev up. Its really easy to postpone that committment another year. The only reason my kids are doing well on the college savings front is that I had options expiring that I turned into 529s. Otherwise, I'd still be saying "well, maybe next year I'll put money there."

Dues seem to be a big deal to you, but dues are only one part of the expenses of Disney. Park tickets, airfare for an expanding family (or gas and wear and tear on the car), souvieniers for little girls who NEED princess dresses (and the shoes, and the gloves, and the build a crown - what a racket!) - all that can make Disney an expensive trip when money is tight. And it becomes a commitment.


I like Lisa's idea of a small contract - those are really easy to sell (and usually at a premium) if you need to dump it. Dues won't be much. And you will take fewer (every other year - every third year) trips - which means you go other places and/or don't have the expense of Disney ever year.

 

[Anthony1971]

It seems like you want to own DVC. You never state why you would sell SSR to buy AKV. It does not make much sense if you are concerned about money but want to own DVC to sell a contrcat then buy a new one at a loss. You also mention you are concerned about the price of the dues, SSR is less than AKV and will almost certianly be so due to the nature of AKV. I do not understand your reasoning for this but it would seem the only advice to offer would be to keep what you have with what you explained so far.

 

[cobbler]

You know what's killing me? The dues. Dues go up ever year, and they're not super cheap. They're not nothing. So all this money down only, in the end, gives us 70% off accomodations or whatever.

However, hotel rack rates go up ever year too! And even if in 10 years we decide the kids are older, we won't want it anymore, the contract will be worth something. We can sell it.

I'm leaning toward buying it again. ugh.

Think of dues as taxes and insurance. Those go up every year as well, but people don't typically sell their house to move into an apartment to avoid paying that.

Also it's a lot like a car. Sure you make the initial purchase but every year there are tune-ups, multiple oil changes, new tires, and so on.

 

[Steamboat Girlie]

I, too am curious, why the big need to sell SSR?

 

[mjy]

Actually, I'm a little confused.

Are you selling SSR and using that money from the sale to pay off other bills?

Because, otherwise, wouldn't the vast majority of your SSR sale go toward your AKV purchase? It would probably be a lot less that two years of payments if that's the case.

Just curious.

As to the "dues" issue, you say that you want to go down often.

Figure out how much it would cost you each vacation to go down and then figure out what the "cost" would be in dues money for the same room type. You will be much money ahead "paying" for it as dues points rather than paying rack rates at the same resorts.

But, ultimately, nothing we can say will matter in the end. You need to decide what you believe is best for you, especially as you begin to grow your family. If you wanted to pick up DVC in the future, there will always be resales out there that will make it a little more affordable for you.

Best of luck in making your decision . . .

 

[CNMooner]

No, the majority of our SSR contract is financed too.

I didn't want to offend anyone, but we don't care for SSR, and don't wish to own there. It was never an issue for us until we tried booking elsewhere at the 7 month mark and couldn't get anywhere. SSR is lovely, but with little kids, I'd much rather be near the Animal Kingdom, have SAB, or eventually be on the monorail.

 

[Anthony1971]

No, the majority of our SSR contract is financed too.

I didn't want to offend anyone, but we don't care for SSR, and don't wish to own there. It was never an issue for us until we tried booking elsewhere at the 7 month mark and couldn't get anywhere. SSR is lovely, but with little kids, I'd much rather be near the Animal Kingdom, have SAB, or eventually be on the monorail.

No one will be offended this is a personal decision. You made a mistake and it takes more of a person to admit that they made a mistake... I would suggest renting points at the resorts that may be interested in before buying at any of them as even staying at the hotel section if it has one will not be the same. I would certianly caution before buying AKV as the villa section will differ from the lodge section.
Some people are also happier paying cash as there are more options with style and price as well as no Commitment. Yes you lose some DVC options but I have always found the studios at most Disney resorts more than comfortable and I do miss some.

 

[CNMooner]

Why would you need to sell SSR for AKV? Maybe you should wait and see what the availability is like at the 7 month window before making any decisions.

No one will be offended this is a personal decision. You made a mistake and it takes more of a person to admit that they made a mistake... I would suggest renting points at the resorts that may be interested in before buying at any of them as even staying at the hotel section if it has one will not be the same. I would certianly caution before buying AKV as the villa section will differ from the lodge section.
Some people are also happier paying cash as there are more options with style and price as well as no Commitment. Yes you lose some DVC options but I have always found the studios at most Disney resorts more than comfortable and I do miss some.

Yep, it looks like we're not going to buy AKV afterall. I'm really sad, because I WANT it. If we had cash in hand, I would buy it. But I think we're going to focus on getting out of debt and starting that 529 soon after, and renting points for a few years. See how it goes.



It's a bummer, but I must say that I feel relieved.

Thanks everyone.

 

[mjy]

Yep, it looks like we're not going to buy AKV afterall. I'm really sad, because I WANT it. If we had cash in hand, I would buy it. But I think we're going to focus on getting out of debt and starting that 529 soon after, and renting points for a few years. See how it goes.

It's a bummer, but I must say that I feel relieved.

Well, that pretty much says it all. If you are relieved by your decision and at peace, you're making the right call!

And, in a few (or several) years, there will be plenty of AKV resales out there that you should be able to get for a good price.

All the best . . .