help before we buy

[chris168]

BLT is probably the "cheapest" DVC resort, close to MK, but that isn't saying much....... but if that is your favorite, I would buy resale first with enough points for a 1 bedroom standard view. The standard view option is what will save you the most money, since you will have the 11 month booking window. After you have paid off your resale contract, maybe add a 75 point direct BLT for the perks. You are probably better off buying resale first to get the UY you need that works for the time you vacation during the year. This will also give you time to really know if you like DVC resorts, that way if you don't then you can just sell your contract and probably won't lose to much money, as a posed to buying direct first and then finding out DVC doesn't work for you, and then you have to sell at a big loss.

That is helpful. Appreciate the good info. We will talk it over. Advice to slow down is probably reasonable too. All got excited at that tour.

 

[chris168]

Since you asked for help... I'm helping you. Promise you will thank me down the line. You can buy me a Starbucks coffee. I'm 65 and retired 10 years. Still married 35 years... And yes been to Disney 16 times. Just last month and going next month.

Appreciate the opinion. Not looking it as a way to make money. More like someone said as time with family. That is the value to us. But also don't want to spend more than necessary.

 

[chris168]

Hi! I actually asked a similar question a few days ago. We are kind of considering the opposite. Direct at Riviera and then a larger resale at Old Key West. In case any of the replies are helpful to you, here is the thread

Thanks. Will check out replies. We liked Riviera rooms but didn't like the new rules. Looks like a nice place though, we would like to stay there. Part of why we are thinking of buying from Disney in first place.

 

[disney11fan]

That is helpful. Appreciate the good info. We will talk it over. Advice to slow down is probably reasonable too. All got excited at that tour.

Lol. Reasonable....I'd say spot on. I promise you will thank me for it. By the way I take thank you gifts.... Just 1% of what you would've spent on your initial contract on a coffee shop discount..... Only a joke people

 

[disney11fan]

Appreciate the opinion. Not looking it as a way to make money. More like someone said as time with family. That is the value to us. But also don't want to spend more than necessary.

time with family priceless. I have so many great ideas that won't cost any money but the time together will be amazing.

 

[GrumpyInPhilly]

Our family is new to DVC, haven't bought in yet but about to. We had a tour yesterday. Went in thinking we'd buy at Bay Lake Tower because we stayed there last year and loved it. Didn't realize the cost was so high. We want to buy from Disney to have AP discount and chance to stay at new resorts. Don't want to buy Riviera though, heard it will be a bad resale value. Now considering buying 100 points from DIsney at Old Key West for the perks at lower cost then 150 points resale at Bay Lake. Because we are new, want to make sure this is a good idea and will work for booking rooms. Usually stay in one bedroom, could squeeze in studio if needed. Don't really mind any of the resorts.

Your getting lots of good advice here. I just wanted to say:

*** Welcome ***

 

[BarlowFamily]

Our family is also considering DVC. It's kind of mind boggling that DVC resales have gone UP from the purchase price. What other timeshare product has done that?! I haven't heard anyone who purchased 10 years ago regretting it, but I'm sure they're out there Disney has kept those resale prices high with ROFR, but changing the rules with these new DVC resorts might change up these resale prices. We've decided to give ourselves a cooling off period until January. 6 months to really think it over. We're renting points and staying in that time period to try it out. We are torn between two resorts as well, we may just buy small contracts at both. I wouldn't purchase for perks. Those could (and have) changed any day. That's why we are okay going resale. And paying cash, because you could end up paying double the price with 10% interest over 10 years! And after our rented stay, we are open to the fact that DVC might not be for us. Renting points will continue to be an option if we want to stay at DVC without purchasing. If we purchase, we are thinking of it more as prepaying for discount hotel stays.

Take your cooling off period. Do some research. You've stayed at BLT, but have you really looked into other DVC resorts? Watch youtube videos if you can't check them out in person. If 150 points is what works for your family, you could purchase 75 resale BLT first with your desired UY and 75 direct at whatever the most economical direct resort is at the time, Disney will match your use year. Then you'd be "real" members, but still save some $$$. Best of luck to you.

 

[Livelovedance]

Our family is new to DVC, haven't bought in yet but about to. We had a tour yesterday. Went in thinking we'd buy at Bay Lake Tower because we stayed there last year and loved it. Didn't realize the cost was so high. We want to buy from Disney to have AP discount and chance to stay at new resorts. Don't want to buy Riviera though, heard it will be a bad resale value. Now considering buying 100 points from DIsney at Old Key West for the perks at lower cost then 150 points resale at Bay Lake. Because we are new, want to make sure this is a good idea and will work for booking rooms. Usually stay in one bedroom, could squeeze in studio if needed. Don't really mind any of the resorts.

Take your cooling off period. Do some research. You've stayed at BLT, but have you really looked into other DVC resorts? Watch youtube videos if you can't check them out in person. If 150 points is what works for your family, you could purchase 75 resale BLT first with your desired UY and 75 direct at whatever the most economical direct resort is at the time, Disney will match your use year. Then you'd be "real" members, but still save some $$$. Best of luck to you.

I second the suggestion to watch youtube videos of the different DVC resorts and different room types. You can also check out the different resort threads here. You might find yourself loving the rooms in another resort, which could give you more options.

I think it's crucial to buy where you want to stay. The 11 month benefit could make a big difference if you're able to plan that far in advance. The more I read and make reservations myself, the more I realize how difficult it can be to make reservations for lower point rooms at 7 months or less, depending on the time of year you are traveling. 1 bedrooms seem to be easier to book, so if you purchase enough points with intentions of booking 1 bedrooms you might have an easier time. However, 1 bedrooms do cost a lot more points. Be cautious with the idea of buying points at 2 different resorts. For example (if I understand correctly), if you have 75 BLT points and 100 OKW points and want to book a room at BLT for 150 points, you won't be able to until the 7 month mark (which will also lead to limited availability of the lower point rooms by the time you reach 7 months). Someone please correct me if that is wrong!

As someone who would have APs even if I didn't own DVC, I will say the AP discount is my favorite perk. However, I know any of the perks can go away at any time, and I may never get to partake in some of them before they do! (Moonlight Magic, I'm looking at you! )

Good luck with your decision!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The money you save not buying direct would allow you to buy small contracts to stay at the new resorts if you should decide they matter. I would not recommend spending thousands more today for two resorts that have not even opened yet.

Model rooms do not give a true feel of a resort.

With current direct pricing, it can be a challenge to make the economic benefits of direct "worth it" in financial terms. Do you red APs? Do you have sufficient professional and school flexibility to try to hit a day where they maybe offer Moonlight Magic, if you can even get a ticket for said event?

 

[Mikamarii]

My best advice to you is to look over all the information and make a decision that is best for YOUR situation. People like to weigh in and give a recommendation to you based on what is best for them. Even the highest rated hotels and resorts in the world will get 1* review because the weather was bad. It is the generalities that are important. DVC is a luxury purchase. Some people see the world in dollars and cents. Everyone is different. Many things in life are terrible purchases. Ex)
-Cars - we can walk, talk the bus, cab everywhere cheaper than buying a car
-Homes - we don't need 2, 3 4, bedroom houses. Big families are perfectly capable of living in small 1 bedroom apartments. Millions of people all over the world do this every day
-Cell phones - the world was fine without them but we seem to have created our own need for them. In reality, no on 'NEEDS' a cell phone.

OR we can use the money we make to enjoy as we see fit. What works for me will not work for everyone and vice versa. We buy luxary items for convenience and to make or life a little easier and a little more enjoyable. DVC is not for everyone. But to suggest its good for no one is ridiculous.

Now having said that I'll give you my families experience with DVC. Our situation was different and won't apply to everyone but maybe some of our experience will help you in your decision.

We purchased on our honeymoon on a cruise back in 2011. We had been to Disney before together and loved it (I proposed in WDW). We knew we would be going back and would bring our future kids. We had heard of DVC but really new nothing about it. We saw an ad on our cruise for a presentation and figured we would take a look. We went and loved the idea. Got pricing info. Went back to our room and discussed and decided we would do it. We had done no prior research before (a big no no to some people). Since we were on the cruise we decided to finance as communication with home was non existent. (Financing - another big no no for some people). We closed the deal and when we returned home we moved the Disney loan to our bank at a much lower interest rate and paid it off in a couple years. Now one thing with our purchase, we are Canadian, our dollar at the time was above the american dollar which made a huge difference. However, financing had saved us Tens of Thousands of dollars. Had we waited and saved to pay cash it would have been more expensive. Direct prices went up, Canadian Dollar went down.

We were owners for a little over 8 years. Took many wonderful trips and have not regretted it for a minute. We took 3 trips to Aulani for a total of 34 days with one trip in a 2 bedroom with my parents. They had never been and likely never would have gone without our DVC room.

Fast forward to earlier this year. We were looking at our finances and what we wanted to do. Our kids are 7 and 5 and their activities have begun to consume a lot of our time (and money). Something we could not have predicted. Between school and activities, planning vacations has been a little bit harder. Plus, coming from Western Canada, we couldn't go to WDW for a weekend getaway. A week to 10 days minimum to make the travel worth it. That gets expensive in other areas. We want to see other places now that the kids are older and more appreciative of other things. We still want to do Disney but now we are looking at every 4-5 years instead of every 2-3. Our lives changed. That makes DVC less viable for us. We looked at renting points out but that involves cross border taxes that we don't want to deal with. We could, but just seemed a hassle.

We decided to list our contract and see what happened. We set a price we would not go below and listed. Took a couple months but accepted an offer on exactly what we wanted. We have a delayed closing so have one more last hoorah to WDW with our points and then the ownership transfers. Because of the drop in the dollar and rise in prices we made (as the dollar is right now) about 18k CDN before commissions and fees over and above what we originally paid.

So for us, we owned for 8 years, made trips that we would have never have dreamed of, and made a massive profit. DVC has been amazing to us. Now, had we not sold, we would have been perfectly happy keeping it and continuing to use it, but decided to take advantage of the current hot market and see what happened. We are lucky, that may not always exist.

We recommend DVC to anyone that asks. But when we recommend, we try to give full disclosure. Yes it is expensive, yes fees go up, yes costs to visit can be crazy. But in the end, we got great use out of it. Our 10 day, 2 BR Aulani trip was priced at over 12K US for our room. No way we would have paid that cash for one trip. DVC made it happen for us.

The dollar value of DVC may become stagnant. Resale prices may drop, direct prices may plummet. But, since we have owned, every year, there have been people that said 'this is the cap'. Yet prices continued to rise. People say direct isn't worth it but for every 'Direct isn't worth it' thread there seems to be a 'I'm tired of being a second class citizen' thread.

Everyone is different and wants different things. Take in all the good and bad and make the decision that is best for you and your family whether it is buy direct, buy resale, or not buy at all. I just wouldn't let one person talk you in or out of the decision.

 

[AlexTina]

We bought dvc 10 years ago. Purchased AKV initially then added points at BLT all direct (points were around $85 at that time). Used the points for annual vacations for 7 years sometimes going 2 or three times a year. Then 2 years ago building new house need cash for landscaping etc. (Refuse to charge things). Sold my AKV points for more than what we paid. Now house is done, landscaping done, need more disney lol. Waiting for ROFR 170 points saratoga springs still have BLT points. Anyway point is seems worth it to me. Basically prepaid hotel rooms. I have not run the numbers down to the penny but purchase price + maintenance fees I feel like we definitely got our moneys worth. Hubby travels a lot for work so we fly free on points, and that makes a huge difference. Vacations are much easier to plan if you don't have to pay for a room every time you go and we're a family of five so deluxe or 2 rooms is our only option anyway. We vacation more often because of it.

 

[Denise W]

Hi, again I know this wasn't direct at me but it brought up a question... isn't that what resale is for? It's not a facetious question, I'm really wondering. If in 10 years, the contract isn't working out and we sell it and in the meantime we had 10 years of trips, a least a few of those years after we broke even so at a savings, it seems like that still makes sense?

And yet in another thread this same poster (disney11fan) didn’t even know that resale is owners selling their contracts directly. I would not count on him for guidance when it comes to DVC. I am not even sure why he keeps posting over here as he has announced several times that he would never buy DVC.
Denise

 

[jerseyduke]

I have a degree in business / economics

Oh, so you are the one?

 

[disney11fan]

And yet in another thread this same poster (disney11fan) didn’t even know that resale is owners selling their contracts directly. I would not count on him for guidance when it comes to DVC. I am not even sure why he keeps posting over here as he has announced several times that he would never buy DVC.
Denise

the only people that benefit with dvc is Disney.

 

[Denise W]

the only people that benefit with dvc is Disney.

Ok, so why do you persist to post over here where DVC owners post?
Denise

 

[jerseyduke]

the only people that benefit with dvc is Disney.

Thanks for telling me I have not benefited, I was not sure, but now I know.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

the only people that benefit with dvc is Disney.

Why are you trolling so hard? You've made your point. You've said the same thing over and over again for 10 posts and you've added zero to the discussion.

We get it.. you don't like DVC. That's fine, but your opinion isn't gospel and, frankly, you're being very rude to the OP by hijacking this thread with your spamming. I think maybe this isn't the sub-forum for you.

 

[zavandor]

That is helpful. Appreciate the good info. We will talk it over. Advice to slow down is probably reasonable too. All got excited at that tour.

This is wise. A lot of people end up buying because they're having a great vacation and the prospect of the same vacation for 50 more year is exciting. Cool down a bit, investigate DVC a bit more and then decide if it's for you or not. It took me 5 months reading these boards daily to finally buy and I'm very happy I did it. DVC makes sense for some and it doesn't for others.

 

[AlexTina]

If you don't consider your enjoyment/memories beneficial. Then no matter where you travel the only beneficiaries are the companies your paying for your flight, hotel, meals, etc..

 

[bdphill22]

I have a degree in business / economics and the only person this benefits is Disney.

do you have any idea where you'll be in 10 years..... Maybe divorced, maybe transferred to another city and state far removed from Disney. My advice have a long cooling off period.

I also have a degree in this field. Specifically, finance along with a major financial / investment industry certification that requires me to know just about everything with regards to finance, business, economics, etc. Citing authority on a subject is not a good way to make a point.

DVC benefits both Disney and the consumer.

For Disney it's guaranteed income up front that they can invest, along with passing the risk on to the consumer. It also usually leads to increased money spent at Disney on resorts and then related revenue from park tickets, food, merchandise, etc. It also builds customer lifetime value and loyalty to a brand, which they can profit from in other ways. For this, Disney gives lodging for a lower cost.

For the consumer, you get lodging for cheaper. Every net present value analysis you do shows this, including if you incorporate investing the money instead in safer Treasuries or investment grade bonds for a safe low return or higher return equities, but then you're adding risk again. However, most often, people end up going way more than you would otherwise, therefore, spending more. This is fine if you believe it was worth it. I struggle with if it will be worth a purchase because I know I'm transferring a lot of future trips elsewhere to Disney. It also can be a downside for the consumer if you are not responsible with the points.

If you had an exact plan of your future vacations and what you'd need for it and purchased the right amount of points for that and stuck to that plan, you would without a doubt come out ahead. But as I said earlier, most don't do that, it's up to the purchaser to decide if the extra they do was worth it and the opportunity cost of doing other things with the time and money. Other things happen in life too of course, but a net present value analysis of buying, using and then reselling usually also comes out ahead.