Home Resort? What does this mean?

[Icecoldpenguin]

I am a newbie here and I am trying to gather information so that my fiancé and I can decide on buying a DVC membership most likely resale.

We have read about Home Resorts and so far from what I have read the difference between the Home Resort and others is the 11 month of 7 month booking window.

Are there any other benefits to a home resort? I know people say to have your home resort be where you want to stay the most what is the purpose for that?

Thanks for your help
May the force be with you

Teresa

 

[luckyman_apd]

You pay the dues for your home resort. Each resort has a different rate. The 11 month vs 7 month booking window can be a huge deal depending when you travel. The resort you want may be fully booked, or have no rooms available in your point range, desired view, etc., at the 7 month window. Some resorts at certain times require that 11 month window to get a reservation. So if you will disappointed if you can't get a reservation at a certain resort, then you should probably buy there. If you are looking for the cheapest options and don't care which resort you stay, then buy the cheapest you can get.

Most people will book dates at the 11 month window in their home resort. At the 7 month mark, they will call and try to switch if they want something else, but at least this way you have a reservation first. There is a thread about dates and resorts with reported no availability. Maybe that can help you.

 

[disneynutz]

You are buying a piece of deeded real estate for a certain period of time. The resort that you purchase is your home resort. As PP you pay for the up keep of your home resort in the dues that you pay. Your home resort is the only resort that you contractually have the rights to book and you can book there before members who do not own there. Currently you can book your home resort 11 months before check in and 7 months at other DVC resorts.

Bill

 

[JimMIA]

At the top of the Purchasing DVC forum thread list, you will see a sticky entitled "DVC Resource Center." That "sticky" has a number of items including numbers and sizes of villas in each resort, dues history since the inception of DVC, and lots more.

Most of the information in that sticky is historical fact. The only area where opinions are given is the thread index on Renting.

 

[JimMIA]

There are three aspects of your home resort which are important:

1. The length of contracts vary from resort to resort, ranging from 2042 expiration to 2060 expiration. Whether a longer ownership period is a good thing or a bad thing is debatable. Many think longer is better, but I've never cared because realistically nobody is likely to own their DVC contract until expiration.
2. Your dues are determined by the resort you own, and they vary widely.
3. You currently have a 4 month (11/7 as discussed above) booking advantage at your home resort. At certain times of the year, that is very important -- but it assumes you can and do book vacations more than 7 months in advance and really care about where you stay. If you can't book early, or don't care where you stay, home resort only matters for reasons 1 and 2 above.