Has anyone regretted becoming a DVC member?

[skier_pete]

I also think anyone asking "Is anyone dissatisfied?" should expect a resounding chorus of "best thing we've ever done." The DIS DVC boards are the habitat of fervent WDW and DVC fans. Don't expect any dissatisfied buyers to post their issues with DVC -- they don't come here.

That isn't completely true, though I would agree the majority of regular posters here are fans, they also will voice their opinions on flaws/complaints about the system.

For instance, I remember one person coming on here the shortly after they purchased at the property presentation and basically posting "WHAT HAVE I DONE!" and the folks here helping them to try and get out of it.

You also see some of the frustration of the VGF buyers. With high prices on points, they had a LOT more buyers interested in the Studiios than they had studios, so you are finding people upset that they bought in and now they can't get what they wanted when they wanted.

BUT - those are usually people that are popping onto the boards specifically to post their displeasure. I think the majority of posters here like/love their DVC property, but we also aren't clouded to it's downside, and therefore are happy to post reasons WHY others might not be satisfied.

 

[JasonMouse]

Great reads - not a DVC member but considering - depending on what the fees are you may not lose any money by changing your mind and selling, especially after a few years when you've gotten some use out of it. Like buying a house, you break even - like rent vs buy - booking rooms with cash vs points.

The real unknown for me is whether or not we'd be able to get the rooms we want for our Jan/Sept/Early Dec times we usually go. Just the two of us, we live in Tampa. Ideally I'd like 100 points, but after reading, it looks like the lower point rooms get booked up. This totally blows up any savings calculations I try to make, because we don't know if we will actually get 8 nights a year, and we will just spend cash when we run out of points. Or worse, go less often? No way! For now I'm fine with the $200 to $250 discounted Deluxes and $80 to $150 values/moderates.

 

[crisi]

The real unknown for me is whether or not we'd be able to get the rooms we want for our Jan/Sept/Early Dec times we usually go. Just the two of us, we live in Tampa. Ideally I'd like 100 points, but after reading, it looks like the lower point rooms get booked up. This totally blows up any savings calculations I try to make, because we don't know if we will actually get 8 nights a year, and we will just spend cash when we run out of points. Or worse, go less often? No way! For now I'm fine with the $200 to $250 discounted Deluxes and $80 to $150 values/moderates.

OKW is a lower point option that usually has availability later - and SSR points are more reasonable and generally has availability after everything else. But yes, if you are looking at BWL Standard View and BWV Standard View, believing that those rooms will be consistently available at any time of year at seven months - and sometimes nine or ten months - out isn't realistic to base savings calculations off of.

 

[joannjoe]

I can speak from different sides of this conservation. I was a DVC owner from 2004 to 2010. I'm from Ohio, but we would go to Disney twice a year and always stayed in a 1 bedroom villa. We even would go on a Disney cruise and stay at Old Key West or Saratoga Springs. I think we bought the points for around $90/point. I had to sell because of Divorce. I just recently bought back into DVC through Resale. Why because of the cost per point $85 vs $160. The only problem is through resale you cannot use your points for the Disney Cruise. I would say if the cruises don't matter to you, Go resale. I will say this and this has aggravated me more and more is that DVC members are not getting any Good discounts ie... $off tickets or $off dinning plans. The annual ticket does people no good if they only go once a year. So if you live in Florida its a great deal you get discounts on tickets and cruises. For the ones who has to spend twice as much or more (outside of Florida) Disney is getting expensive.

 

[Lorajo]

We just bought so obviously no regrets yet.

We bought resale at a resort we enjoy.

We've rented points at many resorts and I've read these boards on and off for years. I felt pretty educated about what we were buying.

For now we can choose to go every year in a 1 Brm and as kids get older we can do every other year in a 2 bdrm and still have the off years to go to other places.

I've got my first trip booked and can't wait.

Also, we didn't go into debt to purchase and it doesn't bother me if we decide to sell down the road due to any change in circumstances.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I regretted buying my Hilton Head DVC. Sold that thing after ONE stay (at a loss) and was glad to be rid of it.

I also got carried away and bought way too many points. I have sold half of them. My advice is to go slow LOL!

 

[gdrj]

I haven't been able to find the benefit in it. Even if you just pay the monthly $100 fee mentioned earlier and nothing else, that's $1200 a year. I can get a week's hotel for that off site at a nice place. Tack on the actual purchase price and it becomes a waste of money.

My vacations are planned every year too. And I'm not tied down. To disney, in the event my priorities change.

Timeshares are a bad idea. Timeshares where you don't actually own anything are an even worse idea.

As others noted your scenario and your vacation habits do not make you a good candidate to purchase DVC. A couple of things in regards to a waste of money, which is subjective. For us it was not a waste, now part of that is subjective and emotional. Our maint fee are approx $72 a month. This has given us the opportunity to vacation as a family of four in a much more comfortable way. Prior to DVC we stayed on or offsite in standard hotel rooms. When our young children would go to sleep we would be sitting in a darkened room whispering or sitting outside the hotel room. DVC gave us the opportunity to be onsite (which we are big fans of), and stay in 1 or 2 bedroom villas. We have been able to have extended family join us as well as gift vacations to family members and have our kids bring friends. It truly has enhanced our vacation experience. When we didn't use our points we banked them. Our kids are grown, and still enjoy Disney and join us if we let them! The past few years we have switch to studios and have made multiple trips during the year.

This year we are spending 4 nights Lake view at Poly and 2 nights at Bay Lake. While I understand the purchase is financial for us the positive emotional impact on our family has an immeasurable impact, or at minimum some financial positive impact.

Poly Lake view for 4 nights would be $2673 including tax standard view would be $1989 including tax
The 2 nights at Contemporary $1143 inc tax. So total for 6 nights this year would be over $3800,

So timeshares may be a bad idea as you say and worse when you don't own anything. I've never done the breakdown and analyzed as an annuity or the value of todays money, or inflation etc. For the past 15 years are family has had great vacations at Disney. In our case I could actually sell my timeshare for more than I purchased it for but even if I were not able to sell it for anything it has been a great investment in time and enjoyment and memories for our family. So I truly hope that time shares are the worse idea, because if that is the case all my other ideas must be better

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have been owners since 1998. Have four different use years and 7 resorts. Purchased both directly and on resale. Have over 1400 points and have never regretted it! Go to Disney properties two or three times a year from Chicago, including aulani. Give points to our kids or friends. Rarely go to parks and love the resorts. Have never used points for anything but resorts. Have never done a cost analysis except I know over a 16 month period we used over 60 days and if purchased would have cost about 50000, including three bedroom cottage at vero and two bedroom villa at Aulani. We will pass them on to our kids.

 

[joannjoe]

We have been owners since 1998. Have four different use years and 7 resorts. Purchased both directly and on resale. Have over 1400 points and have never regretted it! Go to Disney properties two or three times a year from Chicago, including aulani. Give points to our kids or friends. Rarely go to parks and love the resorts. Have never used points for anything but resorts. Have never done a cost analysis except I know over a 16 month period we used over 60 days and if purchased would have cost about 50000, including three bedroom cottage at vero and two bedroom villa at Aulani. We will pass them on to our kids.

Man that's almost $8,000 a year in maintenance fee's

 

[sandieb]

We had 3 BCV and 1 HH contracts that we sold last year. We had been members for 12 years. We sold them because:
1. Maintenance fees were $3900/year
2. The economy is strong and we were able to sell the BCV points for $22 more than we purchased them
3. The ticket prices keep climbing.
4. The food at WDW has definitely taken a hit with lower choices and quality and very high prices.
5. We have an RV and did a test vacation at Ft Wilderness in it. We had a blast and loved the enjoyable opportunities at the Fort.
6. We took a vacation to Europe and one to Yellowstone National Park and realized there were enjoyable vacations other than Disney.

I do not regret having bought in nor to I regret having sold DVC. I continue to love WDW in spite of some of the disappointing changes, and we are going for an 8 day vacation in April.

 

[yaawgmoth]

A question above asked what if and cost per night.
How I worked out was very easy
Total Cost to purchase points - 160 (Resale) for $10 Contract (purchased in 2014) Expires in 2057 which means per year cost is $430 per year.
I estimated the annualized cost of MF to be $1000 over the full life of the term (estimate) and came out with a yearly cost of $1430.
That's very simple math, yet that is how I think of the cost of ownership on an annualized basis.

Thanks for listening.

 

[joannjoe]

Your math has a lot to be desired. Your $10 contract is more than my $80 contract. You were scammed!

 

[DisitDisitgood]

DVC is great for Disney, customers pay all the development costs of new resorts for Disney upfront and in most cases they also pay Disney interest that is far higher than the borrowing costs for the Disney Corporation. Disney's cost of capital is about 5.75% DVC buyers can at best borrow at 9%. It's frankly criminal consider that an unsecured personal loan is only 6.88% at my local credit union. Whereas DVC debt is secured.

It's sheer genius on the part of Disney corporate.

It can make sense to purchase DVC but only under very limits conditions:

1 You pay the full cost upfront in cash either with cash on hand or by borrowing from a source like a home equity line at less than 4.25%. You also must pay back that money in less than 10 years otherwise maintenance fees will eat into your break even.

NOTE: Borrowing does not mean raiding your 401k, your kids college fund or using a credit card. The assumption here is that you have a ready source to cash or borrowing won't impact other savings plans.

2. A far better strategy is to pay cash for resale points.

3. Remember your return on DVC is negative and the net present value is zero.

4. If you take advantage of discounts by, for example, looking at Dis boards your break even for buying into DVC is really poor. That is DVC will cost you more than any cash vacation you could pay for at Disney.

5. THE MOSTEST MICKEYEST IMPORTANT RULE:

DO NOT BUY WHILE AT DISNEY WAIT A FULL MONTH BEFORE BUYING.

Ok but 500,000 people cannot be wrong right?

Well yes they can most people don't consult their financial planner before making these decisions and most people aren't financial experts. Again DVC does make financial sense in a few limited circumstances.

So two things: consult a professional financial planner before buying. DON'T buy while on property over 80% of DVC deals close while people are at Disney its marketing inoculate yourself.

If you want to own Disney do what we did buy their stock $10,000 invested in Disney stock just since 2010 is worth over $35,000!!!!! Holy mouse ears! How many vacations to WDW is that?
Now that's an extreme example because 2010 was a low point for DIS stock but compare any return to DVC...

10,000 invested in DVC is worth $4,532.

I won't say don't do it I will say think long and hard about it and consult a financial planner.

 

[suebeelin]

I bought bc I have a decent amount of spare cash and I always lose money in the stock market without fail. I'm too scared of the stock market, especially right now.

I also cringe when I have paid Disney cash rates ($400-600/night after taxes). When we did cash it was always a brief 3-5 days. We only stayed at certain resorts. Hated the cash rates-- and bc we foresee ourselves going to Disney yearly for at least another 10yrs, dvc would be cheaper in the long run.

This is why I bought dvc resale. Surprisingly, both my properties are currently worth more than our original purchase price by $10-20pp. I love being able to stay in a 1bd with full kitchen and laundry. I've calculated that after appx 7yrs, it will be break even for us, assuming the cost of the hotel room is $400-500/night with tax. We have been members for three years thus far.

With dvc, we force our frugal selves into a vacation that we truly enjoy. We stay in a 1bd vs a regular hotel room. We cook, do laundry and have a seperate sleeping room for each kid. So much more pleasurable than being stuck in one room, two beds, two kids-- one of which is a godawful light sleeper that has aged me a decade in a few years.

So- about regrets-we kinda overbought (400pts between two resorts for a family of 4). I'm regretting 200 of the points right now. I wish I had 100pts per resort instead of 200pts per resort. Did we really need 400pts/yr?? No. But we love both resorts.

I figure I'll keep both resorts for at least 5-10yrs then resell one of them. The other resort we will keep till the end .

 

[ScottOKW2K]

A ton of people have regretted it. That's why there's such an active and healthy resale market.

I'm sure some have regretted it. However, we were recently sellers on the active resale market you reference. Though we sold one of our contracts we never regretted purchasing it. Current and upcoming changes in our life were gong to result in less vacation time available, and we would not have been able to use all our points in the fashion we would choose to. We actually hope to buy again in the future. No regrets here at all !!

 

[disneynutz]

DVC is not an irrevocable life long commitment. You are pre-paying for a room and paying for all services and upkeep of the resort and room. You either enjoy your stay or you don't. You either save money using DVC on your normal Disney vacations or you don't. You either put up with the DVC rules, policies, and restrictions or you don't. You may or may not enjoy and or make use of any DVC perks or discounts being currently offered.

If you like it you make use of your DVC membership, if you don't you sell.

Bill

 

[sndral]

...
(I want to know what jobs you have that make you feel you will be better off financially in retirement than you are while working!)

Back in the good old days of defined benefit pensions it was quite possible to be better off in retirement. Take a job that offered a COLA protected defined benefit pension, work long enough to make 70-90% of your salary in retirement add social security and max on deferred comp. investments as you go along to pull out in retirement and viola.
My mom's state of California Pension is especially sweet as it pays all of her medical and has since she retired 26 years ago.
I think the interesting thing about DVC is how much resales cost. From what I've read many timeshares retain little value in the resale market, yet DVC contracts seem to retain value. I could sell my resale that I bought just under 2 years ago for more than I paid and probably break even after the broker's commission, so that suggests to me that the marketplace values the product.
As for me, I agonized for years over buying (anti timeshare bias) but once I did I've had no regrets.

 

[crisi]

I think the interesting thing about DVC is how much resales cost. From what I've read many timeshares retain little value in the resale market, yet DVC contracts seem to retain value. I could sell my resale that I bought just under 2 years ago for more than I paid and probably break even after the broker's commission, so that suggests to me that the marketplace values the product.
As for me, I agonized for years over buying (anti timeshare bias) but once I did I've had no regrets.

Much of that is Disney exercising ROFR. If they stop doing that, or set the floor much lower, prices drop - like they did in 2009-2010. Not the $1 Cancun timeshares you can find off eBay though.

 

[chalee94]

I think the interesting thing about DVC is how much resales cost. From what I've read many timeshares retain little value in the resale market, yet DVC contracts seem to retain value. I could sell my resale that I bought just under 2 years ago for more than I paid and probably break even after the broker's commission, so that suggests to me that the marketplace values the product.

the biggest correlation in timeshare valuation seems to be where maintenance fees are less than cash rental costs. disney charges a lot more in rentals than DVC annual dues, so the timeshare has good value. many summer beach marriotts have similarly good valuations...but those same resorts for winter weeks can be found for $1 on ebay.

so i don't think it's ROFR-related, but if disney hotel demand suffers, DVC will definitely lose value as well.

 

[DisitDisitgood]

the biggest correlation in timeshare valuation seems to be where maintenance fees are less than cash rental costs. disney charges a lot more in rentals than DVC annual dues, so the timeshare has good value. many summer beach marriotts have similarly good valuations...but those same resorts for winter weeks can be found for $1 on ebay.

so i don't think it's ROFR-related, but if disney hotel demand suffers, DVC will definitely lose value as well.

It is both limited supply and the ROFR. The ROFR creates a floor and costs Disney very little relative to cash flow. All it does is add rooms back into the general stock of Disney rooms and since Disney has one of the most efficient reservation and hotel room pricing systems in the world it's not much of cost to Disney itself.

You're partially right about the maintenance fees, once fees are greater than a similar hotel room the value of the timeshare falls. In this case though there is a limit since Disney nearly always executes its ROFR. Also Disney rates tend to rise at the same rate as maintenance fees, which is not an accident. In other areas hoteliers don't have control over the supply of rooms, the land those rooms are built on, and the costs of maintenance. Disney of course controls all this as one company so the decisions tend to be more consistent and better protect timeshare value.

Again DVC makes sense in some circumstances, very limited ones. Just weigh that decision carefully, make sure you can pay cash, and as always consult a financial planner before buying. Remember this isn't an investment, there are costs to selling, and large fees with buying.