Help me buy DVC!

[lmhall2000]

All three of our kids will be in college, two plan on doing Disney college program...we never bought DVC before bc we traveled every 2 years and scored great deals with kids sail free/kids eat free/etc. bc we went in down season.

We want to buy 200-300 points.

We honestly don't care where our home resort is, we've stayed at most of them from OKW to Poly...they are all fine.

We would prefer to travel in September/March...but again can go anytime with our careers...we plan on going while they are at Disney program in Feb the next two years. (They know a dozen friends/relatives that have done it...so are prepared to work hard to get a slot) the first 4 years of stay will be under 5 people per stay.

After that, just want a week's stay for 8 people-12 people every 1-2 years

If we don't use points, we lose them? (Outside of 3 year mark?)

Should we buy one contract or multiple or just rent points? This part confuses me.

Best time to buy? Best contracts are stripped or no?

Will MF go up every year or are you locked in? And do they differ between WDW resorts?

Thanks!!!!

 

[disneynutz]

Points not used or banked expire.
MF differ by resort and increase each year.

Bill

 

[bwvBound]

Please visit the 'Resource' thread. Post #3 addresses the MF history for each and every DVC resort so you can compare the annual costs.
Link: https://www.disboards.com/threads/dvc-resource-center-updated-march-2017.3514540/

There is also an excellent thread explaining how DVC's "Use Year" works but I can't find it right now. Perhaps another will add the link. The thread is invaluable for understanding banking, borrowing and why Use Year is an important consideration.

Have you researched youth's participation in the College Program qualifies for discounted 'employee' purchase pricing?
Best wishes on your research!

 

[BillPA]

Don't buy at VB or HHI and expect to stay at WDW. Your trip date from Sept to March include the highest demand time for DVC. Buy where you will be happy if you can't not get another location. If you need room for 12, make sure the resort you pick has Grand villas.

 

[lmhall2000]

I have read over 200 threads, no joke. It's only made me more confused. Y'all are speaking a different language with all the acronyms, I don't want to travel Sept TO March, just in September and March...we won't go Oct-January. The only other month we'd likely travel is May.
The links help immensely! There are just a load of threads some going years back that I don't know if they are applicable today...just trying to get help from people who have gone through this process and might can offer their experiences - good and bad.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Member fees vary by resort. They go up annually.

The resale market seems to be most active roughly December-March annually, but good deals and the right contract can turn up at any time, once you determine what that is.

It's important to know that when you use DVC, you get no additional room discounts, no free dining, etc. etc.

 

[davidl81]

All three of our kids will be in college, two plan on doing Disney college program...we never bought DVC before bc we traveled every 2 years and scored great deals with kids sail free/kids eat free/etc. bc we went in down season.

We want to buy 200-300 points.

We honestly don't care where our home resort is, we've stayed at most of them from OKW to Poly...they are all fine.
I would say to look at the experation date on resorts when buying. OKW expires in 2042 and SSR expires in 2054, but both cost nearly the same buy in cost. I think that will make a big difference in retained value as we get closer to 2042.


We would prefer to travel in September/March...but again can go anytime with our careers...we plan on going while they are at Disney program in Feb the next two years. (They know a dozen friends/relatives that have done it...so are prepared to work hard to get a slot) the first 4 years of stay will be under 5 people per stay.


After that, just want a week's stay for 8 people-12 people every 1-2 years



If we don't use points, we lose them? (Outside of 3 year mark?)
Yes you lose them if you do not bank them. But as long as you keep up with your points and bank the, at the apporiate time you should be okay. Most likely you will need to take a trip every two years or so for everything to work out okay.

Should we buy one contract or multiple or just rent points? This part confuses me.
Generally the larger the contract you buy the cheaper per point it is. Not much cheaper maybe 5-10% or so. Remember that over the length of your ownership your main cost will be the maintenance fee not the buy in cost.

Renting is a good way to try out DVC, but I am personally not a huge fan of renting.

Best time to buy? Best contracts are stripped or no?
I do not think there is a "best" time to buy. Maybe the latter half of the year before yearly fees are due may be a bit cheaper but not enough where I would worry about it. I think the worst value is a stripped contract since it seems that the sales price never reflects to loss of value of the points. I.E. if you can rent points for $12 a point a stripped contract should sell of $12 a point less then a loaded contract (depending on if the seller wants MF or not). I do not see that being reflected in resale prices, thus I would look for either a full contract or even better a loaded contract with points banked from the prior year in it.

Will MF go up every year or are you locked in? And do they differ between WDW resorts?
MF will go up every year, generally around 3-5% but that may vary. Each resort has different fees and you can look those up online pretty easily. I would avoid Hilton head and Vero Beach resort since they have the highest MF. They sell fairly cheap compared to other DVC resorts, but over time the MF will quickly catch up with your savings.

Thanks!!!!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

All three of our kids will be in college, two plan on doing Disney college program...we never bought DVC before bc we traveled every 2 years and scored great deals with kids sail free/kids eat free/etc. bc we went in down season.

We want to buy 200-300 points.

We honestly don't care where our home resort is, we've stayed at most of them from OKW to Poly...they are all fine.

We would prefer to travel in September/March...but again can go anytime with our careers...we plan on going while they are at Disney program in Feb the next two years. (They know a dozen friends/relatives that have done it...so are prepared to work hard to get a slot) the first 4 years of stay will be under 5 people per stay.

After that, just want a week's stay for 8 people-12 people every 1-2 years

If we don't use points, we lose them? (Outside of 3 year mark?)

Points are "current" for one year. They can be borrowed if you need more in the "year" prior or they can be banked into the next UY if you don't need to use them. Once they are banked they then need to be used before then end of that UY or they would expire. Borrowed points also need to be used in the UY they are borrowed into or they will expire but you don't borrow until you need them for a reservation.

Should we buy one contract or multiple or just rent points? This part confuses me.

It's a larger point total you are looking at but not something I'd say definitely split. In fact if you find a nice 200 point contract I'd do that. The 300 points if you find a nice contract I'd also say that would be fine but getting 2 contracts that equal that would not be bad. You would want the 2 contracts to be the same UY in order to manage and book reservations most easily. When buying you would need to make certain they were titled exactly the same so that DVC would place them under the same membership.

Best time to buy? Best contracts are stripped or no?

It's just what people put up for sale at the time. You should be able to find a contract that isn't stripped especially since you are open to any WDW resorts. No need to settle for stripped unless it seems like the price is right and you don't need the points right away. For me the contract would have to be priced to make up for the lack of points and usually they aren't.

Will MF go up every year or are you locked in? And do they differ between WDW resorts?

A link was posted of the different MF's which do vary between resorts. They do increase as everything does.

Thanks!!!!

For resorts - SSR has consistently been the best value for years. A lower cost to buy in resale and some of the lowest MF's. Now with the standard category it also has rooms with low point requirements so it's an even better value if you book those rooms. Since you'd be happy there it would likely be the best place to buy and with the times you are looking to travel - and especially once you get into 2BR's, you will almost certainly have good options to trade to at 7 months if you want to stay elsewhere some trips.

See other responses above in the quoted text.

 

[Dean]

All three of our kids will be in college, two plan on doing Disney college program...we never bought DVC before bc we traveled every 2 years and scored great deals with kids sail free/kids eat free/etc. bc we went in down season.

We want to buy 200-300 points.

We honestly don't care where our home resort is, we've stayed at most of them from OKW to Poly...they are all fine.

We would prefer to travel in September/March...but again can go anytime with our careers...we plan on going while they are at Disney program in Feb the next two years. (They know a dozen friends/relatives that have done it...so are prepared to work hard to get a slot) the first 4 years of stay will be under 5 people per stay.

After that, just want a week's stay for 8 people-12 people every 1-2 years

If we don't use points, we lose them? (Outside of 3 year mark?)

Should we buy one contract or multiple or just rent points? This part confuses me.

Best time to buy? Best contracts are stripped or no?

Will MF go up every year or are you locked in? And do they differ between WDW resorts?

Thanks!!!!

For your situation SSR is the only reasonable choice IMO. Around 200 sounds like a reasonable option though you might consider slightly more in the 220-250 range. This should be enough to get a 2 BR plus a studio EOY. If you bank points and use less for the few years, the points will go even further which means that somewhere in the 170-200 range will likely work fine for quite some time. I'd likely look for the best loaded contract in the 170-220 range. Generally I'd recommend adding 25 retail for the perks/discounts but since you'll have other options for quite some time, you'll have to decide if that's worth it or not, it may not be.

 

[lmhall2000]

For your situation SSR is the only reasonable choice IMO. Around 200 sounds like a reasonable option though you might consider slightly more in the 220-250 range. This should be enough to get a 2 BR plus a studio EOY. If you bank points and use less for the few years, the points will go even further which means that somewhere in the 170-200 range will likely work fine for quite some time. I'd likely look for the best loaded contract in the 170-220 range. Generally I'd recommend adding 25 retail for the perks/discounts but since you'll have other options for quite some time, you'll have to decide if that's worth it or not, it may not be.

Where can I find perks of buying 25 retail points? Thanks!!! This sounds like a plan!

 

[LtRazor]

Where can I find perks of buying 25 retail points? Thanks!!! This sounds like a plan!

Biggest ones I think are 1) being able to get gold annual passes (about $200 cheaper) 2) being able to attend member only events and member only places like the members lounge at Epcot.

I'm in same boat as you. I've been looking for about a month and have read about every thread out there. I've got spreadsheet projecting savings, monitoring sales sites, asking questions, etc I'm definitely going to go with most points at Saratoga Springs (SSR) but considering buying small amount direct(25 points) to get member benefits as I'm family of 5 so I can save $1000 per AP purchase so I can pay for the cost of the points by the time I buy 4th set of AP. Each person has different needs so what's good for me may not be good for you. For me, we will be going 3 weeks every 3 years by banking first year, going 2nd year and banking left over and then going week in 3rd year while AP are still good and then the cycle repeats. We love Disney but also love our beach place and travel so why only go over 12 month time every 3 years. It's will take planning but we can do it!

Good luck to you in your search.

 

[disneynutz]

Where can I find perks of buying 25 retail points? Thanks!!! This sounds like a plan!

You should understand that perks are not guaranteed and they do change. With each management change, perks also change and we have had three different executive officers over DVD/DVC in the last few years.

Bill

 

[BillPA]

Don't over estimate the value of the AP discount. If you don't make 2 5 days or more trips in a year or at least 1 10 day trip you don't really save any money on tickets.

 

[Dean]

Don't over estimate the value of the AP discount. If you don't make 2 5 days or more trips in a year or at least 1 10 day trip you don't really save any money on tickets.

But it's also insurance for other future options and against potential losses.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Expect the Epcot Lounge to be unavailable by 2019 as they retheme Epcot.

 

[lmhall2000]

It's will take planning but we can do it!

Good luck to you in your search.

This is where I would love your breakdown, it seemed a poor choice to ever buy direct with our deals. We scored Mediterranean Disney 10 night cruise for 7 people for 4K and $1600 OBC! If my money has that kind of power, I'd like to support it Most 6-7 night stays with meals/passes for our five have Averaged <$3000 for Poly/OKW/CR/POR/AKL I need a spread sheet to see what my costs will be if I keep it 25 years.

 

[Dean]

This is where I would love your breakdown, it seemed a poor choice to ever buy direct with our deals. We scored Mediterranean Disney 10 night cruise for 7 people for 4K and $1600 OBC! If my money has that kind of power, I'd like to support it Most 6-7 night stays with meals/passes for our five have Averaged <$3000 for Poly/OKW/CR/POR/AKL I need a spread sheet to see what my costs will be if I keep it 25 years.

I think LtRazor is talking about buying SSR and then adding 25 retail, not buying all retail to use for cash exchanges like DCL though I agree it's NEVER a good idea to buy for that reason (and never has been). He's figuring 4 purchases of 5 gold passes to break even though it's break even on the purchase total, not on the difference if he just bought all the points resale. In that situation it'd be about 2 purchases to break even on the resale points. To pay for the points in 4 purchase periods is actually somewhere in the 8-10 year range in this scenario which I see as a risk since I'm 100% certain we'll see changes in this area over that period of time. But I do think it's a no brainer for LtRazor since he has the opportunity to plan that retail purchase as part of his overall purchase strategy and a single purchase of 5 gold passes will cover much of the difference and 2 rounds will cover most all of the difference even if the price per point on the resale portion is higher due to a slightly smaller contract.

 

[LtRazor]

Dean, your right on the money. I was being conservative in my savings and counting the total retail purchase and not diff like you said. I'm still not 100% sure I'm doing any retail yet, but do know I want 225 points total at SSR. I'm currently watching 200 point contracts and there are couple that I like but not going to pull trigger until I get rid of couple other timeshares this year (should be around July/August). Our next visit is planned 2019 (oh the horror, but going to beach place this year and going to D.C./Grand Canyon next year) so I've got plenty of time but I ideally do want 2018 points I can bank into 2019. I honestly never stopped to run the numbers until month ago and was kinda caught off guard at what a good financial choice it was. im paying cash for points so no financing charges.

 

[LtRazor]

Hey, does anyone know if you buy resale and the go in to buy 25 direct, do the still give you the freebies like they do most direct purchasers? Bag, etc....

 

[LtRazor]

This is where I would love your breakdown, it seemed a poor choice to ever buy direct with our deals. We scored Mediterranean Disney 10 night cruise for 7 people for 4K and $1600 OBC! If my money has that kind of power, I'd like to support it Most 6-7 night stays with meals/passes for our five have Averaged <$3000 for Poly/OKW/CR/POR/AKL I need a spread sheet to see what my costs will be if I keep it 25 years.

Even buying direct makes financial sense Eventually. Buying resale just means you are able to save more than you paid much much sooner. Buying direct for some may be the way they want to go with ability to trade into cruises and such but from what I've read, that's not as good of a use for the points. Plus, I'll be paying somewhere around 16k but if I bought direct it would cost me around 35k for same amount of points. For me, 16k easier to swallow than 35k. Plus, our vacation trend may change in 10 years so I want this to pay for itself before then (and it does well before then) in case I want to sell and get out.