Hard time deciding how many points we truly need.

[Sandisw]

This makes me wonder if there would be a savvy person out there who knows the rules and real estate law well enough to break into the DVC sales market at a discount/savings vs others. When my agent sold my home years ago, I asked why 3% on both sides, and the answer was, that's just how it has been. It didn't take too much effort to get that down to 4.5% total and the house sold with no issues quickly.

Perhaps 9.25% made sense when most of these contracts were selling for barely 5 figures but with most now well above that perhaps someone can leverage technology/automation to run a lean/high volume service for a bit less. No clue what I'm talking about, but just like 3% makes sense when homes are 100k but not as much when they are 500k+, perhaps some opportunity is out there and offer a tiered % based on the sales price of the contracts.

I do know when I was buying and selling at the same time with one broker, they lowered my rate for selling down to, IIRC, 5%.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Today, while my husband was working, I sent him a message with a link to pictures of the Copper Creek refurbished rooms. Instead of commenting on that...he responds back with...

"I’m not going to look at the Disneyland hotel before we visit because I don’t want to get excited."

I asked what he was talking about because he's already seen tons of pictures and videos. And he said -
"Yes. But the more I look at them the more I want to own there."

Uh oh.

He's more of an impulsive person that I am, so I will have to really keep him from immediately wanting to purchase VDH points if he ends up loving it in person in December.

I really think we need to wait until we stay in a 1-bedroom at VGC next June before deciding what to do for our future purchase. But I do feel that the more time that passes...the more interested he seems in VDH. Honestly, a bit surprising to me. Because that tropical vibe I get from the pictures/videos really isn't his type of style at all. This is a man who absolutely hates palm trees, for example.

 

[Dafoo17]

How easy is it to offload extra points, like 10-40pts?

I'm new and also trying to figure out how many points to buy, so thought maybe I'd piggyback into this thread. Can't tell if you got that answered somewhere along the line and I missed it.

Seems like people want more points, but you can also get stuck after a few years where you have extra you can't bank

 

[airjay75]

How easy is it to offload extra points, like 10-40pts?

I'm new and also trying to figure out how many points to buy, so thought maybe I'd piggyback into this thread. Can't tell if you got that answered somewhere along the line and I missed it.

Seems like people want more points, but you can also get stuck after a few years where you have extra you can't bank

Depends. Are you talking about selling a small contract? That's pretty easy. But, if you have a 100 pt contract, you can't just sell off some of those points - you have to sell the entire contract. That's why, when buying direct, it is often advisable to break up larger point purchases into smaller contracts.

If you're talking about renting your points out because you have extra, that is pretty easy, assuming you've planned ahead (i.e., you aren't trying to rent them out in the next 30 days before they expire).

 

[MartyParty]

How easy is it to offload extra points, like 10-40pts?

I'm new and also trying to figure out how many points to buy, so thought maybe I'd piggyback into this thread. Can't tell if you got that answered somewhere along the line and I missed it.

Seems like people want more points, but you can also get stuck after a few years where you have extra you can't bank

It's easier than 200+ points. Depends greatly on the selling price and resort.

Here's a site with resale listings that also shows the age on market:
***************************

Sortable by price, resort, amount of time up for sale, etc. Smaller points contracts under 100 points and priced well tend to sell quicker. I'm guessing within 3 months.

For refence, I have two smaller contracts in my portfolio for a possible down sizing if the need should arise: 40 BLT and 75 VDH. I'm not expecting to sell but if a) no longer want or able to travel as much to Disney b) shed some dues expense c) and/or our kids don't want to inherit the points.

You will pay additional for the closing costs but overall I like having the future flexibility.

Hope this helps.

 

[byurick]

How easy is it to offload extra points, like 10-40pts?

I'm new and also trying to figure out how many points to buy, so thought maybe I'd piggyback into this thread. Can't tell if you got that answered somewhere along the line and I missed it.

Seems like people want more points, but you can also get stuck after a few years where you have extra you can't bank

First thing is you need to get at least a rough idea of how often and when you will be traveling. That answer will be different for everyone so there's no one size fits all number of points. Granted that will probably change over the years but you have to start somewhere.

 

[Dafoo17]

Depends. Are you talking about selling a small contract? That's pretty easy. But, if you have a 100 pt contract, you can't just sell off some of those points - you have to sell the entire contract. That's why, when buying direct, it is often advisable to break up larger point purchases into smaller contracts.

If you're talking about renting your points out because you have extra, that is pretty easy, assuming you've planned ahead (i.e., you aren't trying to rent them out in the next 30 days before they expire).

Yes, renting! But that's a great point I hadn't considered about splitting it up.

After a bunch of spreadsheets, I'm between three point values separated by +30pts and +60pts, where the +60pts would likely have stragglers each year, but useful every ~5th year when everyone comes with us. Was curious how much of a burden extra points are

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

I haven't been to VDH/VGC/DL yet, but I have enjoyed reading your travel posts. I think 150 VDH makes sense to future-proof your CA trips, and we're a 1B family of four, but as the kids are now my size (5'8") and are a B/G, I'm thinking we'll migrate to 2B permanently pretty soon. As your son grows, I know it's just the three of you, so a 2B is kind of overkill, but the point chart at VGC isn't bad, so maybe keep rotating your VDH/VGC doing 2Bs versus the 1Bs, and what we have gotten into doing is taking the late flight in the night before at WDW so we can just unpack, settle in, and wake up fresh and not stressed on our Day 1 of the trip. If you have a few points to burn, even if you just book a studio for your arrival night to crash and then transfer to a 1B or 2B the next day, it's so nice to already BE there, and it sounds like your travel to get to the park is tiring.

Treat Yo Self!

 

[Mouseforward]

Yes, renting! But that's a great point I hadn't considered about splitting it up.

After a bunch of spreadsheets, I'm between three point values separated by +30pts and +60pts, where the +60pts would likely have stragglers each year, but useful every ~5th year when everyone comes with us. Was curious how much of a burden extra points are

Buy the extra points. Take that from someone who passed on a 120 point contract for a 100 point contract and had to buy a small contract for an overinflated price later.

You will not always get the lower point rooms, sometimes you will have to change plans and go at higher point seasons. Having an extra 30 points will give you flexibility.

 

[juliebee]

Was curious how much of a burden extra points are

Extra points aren't a burden... in fact, you may be surprised to realize you don't have "extra" points at all and actually need more. It's called add-on-itis.

 

[MartyParty]

Extra points aren't a burden... in fact, you may be surprised to realize you don't have "extra" points at all and actually need more. It's called add-on-itis.

This is the way.

 

[Blondientor]

Honestly sounds like you’re in a good spot already. If you don’t really need more until 2026, I’d just wait. Prices might move, but avoiding extra dues now is worth it.

 

[davper]

We decided how often we wanted to go, when we wanted to go and for how long. And considered our preferred room type.

For us it was a 1-bedroom usually in Late April or October for 1 week every other year at SSR.

Knowing this, we learned that it would cost us ~300 points each trip. So going every other year, we needed a 150 point contract.

This was before they introduced preferred room category at SSR. Our favorite is Congress park, which is a preferred room category. So now, the 300 is not enough points. So take into consideration that point requirements could change down the road.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

This is the way.

Yep. Our minimum number of points keeps increasing. In fact, we just closed on a nicely loaded SSR resale contract and my husband is already talking about the next one.

 

[Cfabar1]

Buy what you think you will realistically need/want. You can't split up contracts down the road, but if you buy small contracts you overpay for those points and have to wait to find the right contract to come along. Not fun.

 

[Moonspinner]

The whole reason we want more points is to get into a 1-bedroom each trip. We really want the extra bathroom, washer/dryer, bigger kitchen area. Plus, at VDH, you get a balcony in those rooms. So 160 really isn't enough, in the long term, for the amount of trips we like to take. We would never (and can't) stay in a duo. And if we wanted to stay in a studio, we'd just keep our 160. But our son has special needs and we will be traveling as a group of 3 adults when he's older. Yes, a studio is totally doable. But we'd prefer not to be in one. Sure, we'd tolerate it once in a while...which is what we're doing right now. However, the long term is to get us into a 1-bedroom. (At WDW, we may actually end up in 2-bedrooms since we don't travel there as much.)

I really think we will end up choosing 150 points at VDH or 50-100 more at VGC. My cheap-self is thinking 50 at VGC would probably be plenty and then we aren't adding a bunch of yearly dues. But...the "you only live once" version of me thinks we should do more.

Disneyland Forward does make VDH more appealing because even though the walk to the park right now is further, there's potential for VDH to basically be "inside" the parks in the future.

We hope to keep traveling to Disneyland even when we are old. Of course, no one knows what the future holds for our health. But, thinking optimistically, I could see us continuing to go into our 70s. (I will likely be in a scooter by then.) So DF should definitely happen sometime in our lifetimes! (We are in our 40s now.)

Anyway...just babbling. I suppose another option would be to go with my cheap thoughts and just get a 50 if it pops up. And then, if we decide we want to travel more in the future (10+ years from now), add VDH at that time (price will be crazy, I'm sure!)



Yeah, that definitely is appealing. When our BRV expires, I'll be 61 years old. I'm guessing we will still want to visit WDW but maybe not as often as DLR. So I could see us using VDH points out there once in a while. Especially if we like the looks of Lakeshore Lodge. Or if they re-open BRV. I don't see us buying anymore WDW points after our BRV expire so having some direct points would definitely come in handy as all the OG resorts start to expire.

Listen to your only live once self and buy 160 VDH.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Listen to your only live once self and buy 160 VDH.

We won't be buying anything just yet. We need to visit in person to see what we think of VDH. And we don't need the extra points just yet. Right now, we have enough for a 6-night stay in a 1-bedroom at VGC next June and another identical stay that we plan to take in June 2027. But after that...that's when we'll likely need more to continue staying in a 1-bedroom.

If we do visit VDH and decide we love it and want points there, we'll have to decide if it makes more sense to buy points ASAP and just rent out unused one or if it makes more sense to wait until 2027 and beyond, when we actually need the points.

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

We won't be buying anything just yet. We need to visit in person to see what we think of VDH. And we don't need the extra points just yet. Right now, we have enough for a 6-night stay in a 1-bedroom at VGC next June and another identical stay that we plan to take in June 2027. But after that...that's when we'll likely need more to continue staying in a 1-bedroom.

If we do visit VDH and decide we love it and want points there, we'll have to decide if it makes more sense to buy points ASAP and just rent out unused one or if it makes more sense to wait until 2027 and beyond, when we actually need the points.

I'd buy sooner than later and rent any extras. At the very least be mentally ready to jump on any incentives that improve. While I am not a fan of the TOT at all, I do think DisneyLand Forward is going to shift things around and make VDH much more valuable in the future. Unless you hate it there, I don't think you'll be sorry to have those direct points, and even during the pandemic, the direct prices still kept going up. Yes, there was the VGF fire sale and a surprise OKW sale, but that's WDW, not DL. I don't see them trying any deals in CA. Just my $.02.

 

[PolyRob]

We won't be buying anything just yet. We need to visit in person to see what we think of VDH. And we don't need the extra points just yet. Right now, we have enough for a 6-night stay in a 1-bedroom at VGC next June and another identical stay that we plan to take in June 2027. But after that...that's when we'll likely need more to continue staying in a 1-bedroom.

If we do visit VDH and decide we love it and want points there, we'll have to decide if it makes more sense to buy points ASAP and just rent out unused one or if it makes more sense to wait until 2027 and beyond, when we actually need the points.

When are you visiting?

If you take Magical Beginnings and then bank the next UY you may not need to rent at all.

 

[Moonspinner]

I'd buy sooner than later and rent any extras. At the very least be mentally ready to jump on any incentives that improve. While I am not a fan of the TOT at all, I do think DisneyLand Forward is going to shift things around and make VDH much more valuable in the future. Unless you hate it there, I don't think you'll be sorry to have those direct points, and even during the pandemic, the direct prices still kept going up. Yes, there was the VGF fire sale and a surprise OKW sale, but that's WDW, not DL. I don't see them trying any deals in CA. Just my $.02.

I agree. I think VDH will be valuable in the future, similar to VGC. The TOT sucks, but, for the owner, it makes the points even more valuable. Ironically, Disney himself was worried about DL not being self-enclosed, but when you drive into that resort— it is like you’ve arrived in heaven after driving through LA. It really is an oasis.