Help with questions when considering DVC...

[jupers]

Ok, so buying DVC is something I would love to do but don't know if I could afford. However, after looking at resales would it make more economical sense to buy a bulk of points at a less expensive resort like VB then buy like 30 at a resort in WDW??? Can you do that? Drawbacks?

Also, even if we didn't buy DVC I'm still thinking a timeshare in the future. Anyone know if it costs $ to exchange a week into points. Is it better to say buy in a cheaper RCI resort with the intention of regularly exchanging it?

Just trying to see how to keep maintenance fees down.

Last ?. Any thoughts about buying on ebay. I see a lot of timeshares there that basically cost $1 and you're just picking up maintenance fees, seems like a good deal, anyone know about this?

TIA for any help.

 

[chalee94]

Ok, so buying DVC is something I would love to do but don't know if I could afford. However, after looking at resales would it make more economical sense to buy a bulk of points at a less expensive resort like VB then buy like 30 at a resort in WDW??? Can you do that? Drawbacks?

as far as buying 30 at a wdw resort and bulk pts at VB, you still will only be able to book at the wdw resort for those 30 pts at the 11 month window. you do not get the 11 month window for all resorts owned - just for those specific pts.

VB is cheap for a reason. you do risk getting locked out of wdw. the annual dues are much higher. your risk of storm/hurricane damage is significantly higher (and you do risk even higher annual dues and special assessments). (and there is a tiny chance that DVC may spin off their non-wdw resorts at some pt if the timeshare business sours even further.)

it can work to buy VB cheap and book at wdw at the 7 month window if you are fortunate. IMO, i would only buy VB if i intended to stay there during the summer...

Also, even if we didn't buy DVC I'm still thinking a timeshare in the future. Anyone know if it costs $ to exchange a week into points. Is it better to say buy in a cheaper RCI resort with the intention of regularly exchanging it?

it can work better in some cases but there is an art to making timeshares work for you. it's not easy and requires a lot of planning. (also be aware that DVC may opt back into II in a few years and then you would have no option to trade your RCI into DVC.)

Last ?. Any thoughts about buying on ebay. I see a lot of timeshares there that basically cost $1 and you're just picking up maintenance fees, seems like a good deal, anyone know about this?

they are $1 for a reason. if you want to stay at that particular timeshare and think the annual dues are cheaper than what you would pay for rent, then it's a good deal. otherwise, you are likely to find yourself with an annual payment that provides no value to you and that you may have to pay someone (by footing all closing costs) to take off your hands.

before you buy a timeshare, make sure you spend 6 months or so researching them first. pay for an annual membership to TUG and go to work...

 

[mecllap]

Looks like Charles pretty well covered your questions. TUG is the Timeshare Users Group (sometimes I wish I had found it before buying my first timeshare, but I've made that "no-no" developer purchaser work for me okay -- we love our home resort on Grand Cayman): http://www.tug2.net/

It may not take you six months to do the research, but definitely do a lot of reading about timeshares and DVC before deciding. It is a luxury purchase, with very long-term ramifications for you and your family. DVC is one of the very few with any resale value.

The best advice is "buy where you want to stay" -- one cannot count on exchange availability at all. The game is constantly changing (well, maybe not constantly, but frequently -- one of the reasons for my original purchase was to be able to exchange into DVC, but I'm in II and can no longer do that ).

If you're going to need accommodations during the summer and holidays at WDW (the high visitation times, altho that's most of the year now) -- having most of your points at VB will likely not work for you (once our economy gets back to whatever the new "normal" is going to be).

Have fun doing the research, and good luck with your decision (while most people seem to be happy with their DVC purchase, the lively resale market right now indicates that it hasn't worked out for some folks, for whatever reason(s) -- so exercise "due diligence" and caution).

There are lots of threads on DIS with advice about how to buy and use DVC (smaller contracts vs. larger; resale vs. developer, etc.). So use the Search function up on the tool bar and pretty much any question will be exhaustively answered.