Give it to me straight

[redrosesix]

I think that most people who are going every year will break even at some point, even if they're staying in Value resorts, if like us they travel during peak seasons. So, just like the initial investment to purchase a house rather than renting for a lifetime, the initial DVC purchase makes financial sense in the long run.

So...I wouldn't hesitate to finance the initial purchase, but definitely wouldn't finance the MF's ie. pay cash instead of putting them on a CC. However, I wouldn't want to finance through DVC or even the Timeshare Store -- you can get better interest rates at home, especially if you can get a LOC on your house and write off the interest.

Some people buy only half as many points as they ultimately think they'll need the first year -- then they borrow from the following year to make up the difference for the 1st year reservation. That breaks the investment down some. Or.. they stay DVC every second year by borrowing points, and off-site or at another WDW resort the alternate years.

 

[gkrykewy]

I think that most people who are going every year will break even at some point, even if they're staying in Value resorts, if like us they travel during peak seasons. So, just like the initial investment to purchase a house rather than renting for a lifetime, the initial DVC purchase makes financial sense in the long run.

Just to play devil's advocate, it really depends on what you pay for the house vs. what your rent would be. There are lots of people who bought houses in California and the southwest at/near bubble peak who will *never* break even on that calculation.

Similarly, if you compare a financed DVC purchase to value stays every 1-2 years, it's possible that you'll never break even if you factor all costs/tradeoffs into the equation. On the other hand, it's comparisons to regular mod/deluxe stays where DVC really shines.

OP - it's clear that you've got the bug, and will end up buying in One option if you don't want to finance (and we were of the same mind) is that you can get 6 months at 0% on your Disney Visa. You could buy soon to get the incentives, and use your next 6 months of vacation "savings" to pay down the visa debt. This would probably require you to finance some portion of the purchase, but I imagine that the financing costs if you pay the loan off aggressively would be much less than it would cost you for that one last cash stay at WDW.

 

[sefindlay]

We love being part of DVC, but the problem that we run into is that we sometimes cannot pick our time to come a year ahead. There are times that we would like to take a long weekend, and when we call (sometimes 5 mths ahead) there seems to be no rooms available. Waiting lists do not help for us. This is very frustrating. Especially when you can call and ask for a reservation if you are a paying customer and get it! We never get straight answers from DVC about this problem, except that they only open a percentage of the hotel to DVC members. Good luck with your decision

 

[Deb & Bill]

We love being part of DVC, but the problem that we run into is that we sometimes cannot pick our time to come a year ahead. There are times that we would like to take a long weekend, and when we call (sometimes 5 mths ahead) there seems to be no rooms available. Waiting lists do not help for us. This is very frustrating. Especially when you can call and ask for a reservation if you are a paying customer and get it! We never get straight answers from DVC about this problem, except that they only open a percentage of the hotel to DVC members. Good luck with your decision

There are two sets of inventory - points inventory and cash inventory. Whenever a member trades out of the DCL or a Disney non-DVC hotel or vacation, MS has to recover the costs paid to Disney for this vacation. So the points the members used to purchase/plan the non-DVC vacation must be sold for cash via DRC. Now, if a member was never allowed to trade out except to RCI (that inventory is swapped with RCI inventory), you might have a lot of unhappy members. Plus Disney owns a small percentage of the villas that can be used if they take out villas for maintenance. If they don't need those for maintenance reasons, they rent them out as well. They aren't available for points.

 

[Sandisw]

I definitely would not want to finance the initial money - this is a tough decision! We REALLY want to go back to WDW next year and so now I am faced with, should I save for DVC on the side and still pay up for next year's vacation or do we skip next year so we can save for a 2011 DVC purchase.

ACK! Decisions.

2008 Trip Report

2009 Trip Report in progress!
​

Just some more to think about re: financing. When I was deciding, I looked at what I spent on my yearly vacation and figured what owning DVC would cost me, even with the financing.

Since I was already spending between $5000 and $6000 per year to go to WDW , I figured if I could own DVC for somewhere in that same price, it was the "break even" point for me. I was already spending that amount of cash each year and as long as what I would be paying for my trips didn't exceed that, I knew it made sense.

For my typical vacation, I needed about 180 points. With the incentives, and a $2500 deposit, and financing with Disney, it would run me (monthly payments, MF's, tickets, airfare, food, etc.) right around that same $5000 each year.

For me, that meant it wasn't going to cost me more to own DVC than I was typically giving Disney every year to go and stay on cash. And, if I paid off the loan sooner than the 10 years, I would start saving money at some point. The best part was, I would be getting a 1 bedroom instead of a typcial hotel room at the Contemporary.

Of course, we have been going almost yearly since 1994 and know we will be going every year for years to come (even though my kids are older, it is mine and my DH's favorite vacation spot).

As it turned out, I was able to figure out different financing and didn't have to go with Disney and will have it completely paid in 6 months.

But, to me, whether I paid the money each year for a cash hotel room or paid finance charges, I was still spending the same $5000 - $6000 each year. At least with DVC, I have something at the end of the day!

Good luck!!

 

[christa112]

Great point Sandi!!!

Just some more to think about re: financing. When I was deciding, I looked at what I spent on my yearly vacation and figured what owning DVC would cost me, even with the financing.

Since I was already spending between $5000 and $6000 per year to go to WDW , I figured if I could own DVC for somewhere in that same price, it was the "break even" point for me. I was already spending that amount of cash each year and as long as what I would be paying for my trips didn't exceed that, I knew it made sense.

For my typical vacation, I needed about 180 points. With the incentives, and a $2500 deposit, and financing with Disney, it would run me (monthly payments, MF's, tickets, airfare, food, etc.) right around that same $5000 each year.

For me, that meant it wasn't going to cost me more to own DVC than I was typically giving Disney every year to go and stay on cash. And, if I paid off the loan sooner than the 10 years, I would start saving money at some point. The best part was, I would be getting a 1 bedroom instead of a typcial hotel room at the Contemporary.

Of course, we have been going almost yearly since 1994 and know we will be going every year for years to come (even though my kids are older, it is mine and my DH's favorite vacation spot).

As it turned out, I was able to figure out different financing and didn't have to go with Disney and will have it completely paid in 6 months.

But, to me, whether I paid the money each year for a cash hotel room or paid finance charges, I was still spending the same $5000 - $6000 each year. At least with DVC, I have something at the end of the day!

Good luck!!

 

[wide receiver]

We love being part of DVC, but the problem that we run into is that we sometimes cannot pick our time to come a year ahead. There are times that we would like to take a long weekend, and when we call (sometimes 5 mths ahead) there seems to be no rooms available. Waiting lists do not help for us. This is very frustrating.

Wow I hadn't heard this before. We are considering DVC also but wouldn't like to run into this problem. Is this common?

 

[christa112]

How it works is you get 11 mos booking at your "Home Resort" and then a 7 mos booking at resorts other than your "Home". I have not run into this yet because we are brand new DVC members. My suggestion would be not be be very picky at 5 mos out.

It is also going to depend on when you are looking to vacation. There are certain time that are busier than others. From what I have been reading Food & Wine Festival is very popular for DVC Members as well as December. So, I guess if you were hoping to book Beach Club or Boardwalk during the Food & Wine Festival and they were not your "Home" resort at 5 mos and it is going to be difficult.

Wow I hadn't heard this before. We are considering DVC also but wouldn't like to run into this problem. Is this common?

 

[doconeill]

How it works is you get 11 mos booking at your "Home Resort" and then a 7 mos booking at resorts other than your "Home". I have not run into this yet because we are brand new DVC members. My suggestion would be not be be very picky at 5 mos out.

It is also going to depend on when you are looking to vacation. There are certain time that are busier than others. From what I have been reading Food & Wine Festival is very popular for DVC Members as well as December. So, I guess if you were hoping to book Beach Club or Boardwalk during the Food & Wine Festival and they were not your "Home" resort at 5 mos and it is going to be difficult.

I'll add that it also depends on what type of room you want. Some rooms are more plentiful than others.

We were able to get a 1BR at BCV for Food&Wine last year at 7 months out, but studios were gone both there and at BWV. But I've heard that they could even be difficult for BCV/BWV owners outside of 7 months.

 

[Crystal_27]

Wow I hadn't heard this before. We are considering DVC also but wouldn't like to run into this problem. Is this common?

DVC is "targeted" at those who can plan their vacations as far out as 11 months before a travel date, but *certainly* within 7 months from a travel date. That said, it's not impossible to get a room at the spur of the moment, although you likely would have to be very flexible about the resort and, possibly, a split stay between two resorts.

 

[Lynne M]

Wow I hadn't heard this before. We are considering DVC also but wouldn't like to run into this problem. Is this common?

Well, all timeshares really work best for those who can plan long-term. If your schedules don't allow you to plan more than a couple months in advance, or if you were thinking you could run down for long weekends on short notice, you may find DVC (or any timeshare) to be very frustrating.

If you can plan vacations between 7 and 11 months out, you should be fine with DVC. There are a few specific situations in which booking can be difficult:

• All DVC resorts are very busy during the month of December; trips for that month should be booked at 11 months.
• The Epcot resorts (BWV and BCV) are very busy during the Food and Wine Festival. They can be difficult to get at the 7 month mark.
• Certain specific villa types can be tough to get at 7 months: BWV standard view and grand villas, AKV concierge. BLT MK view may soon be joining this list.

 

[JenniVamp]

Thanks for all of the great information!

DH and I used to be last second vacationers, but with the addition of DD (who's turning one in less than 3 weeks) we've had to switch to planning a little further out.

DVC keeps looking better and better!

JenniVamp