Hoping to take the plunge...need advice please

[jarrdisney]

My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a resale within the next month or so. I have done plenty of research so I hope I don't bore you with mundane questions. We have a trip coming up in July that I am hoping I would be able to use pts for. I know the availability might be limited and that leads me to my questions.

Do you think it's worth it to book this trip in july with dvc? We are planning on purchasing around 75 pts and borrowing in order to complete our stay. How does the borrowing work? We're also hoping within the next year to add-on more pts through disney. Is it worth purchasing that way? Should we just wait in order to purchase 150+ pts? We figure we're going to be spending $1600+ on a room w/an ap rate in july, and are tired of just "throwing" that $ away. Are there closing costs when adding through disney? Here's some info.

We will purchase our pts in cash and any more than 75 pts might be too much to spend with so much up in the air.
We plan on using a studio for a majority of our stays.
We don't plan on having children for another couple years.
We love the BW and def want to stay there most the time.
We plan on using pts within the first 3 weeks of Dec.
We also plan on using pts in july.
We plan on trips 2-3 times a year.
Fiance is a teacher so we might be vacationing during "peak" times. Is that peak for DVC? What are the peak times (not pts but avail) for DVC?

I might have some more questions that I am not thinking of, but this will def get things going. I appreciate any of your input.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

How many days do you stay on each visit? if you go 2 or 3 times a year i can tell you 75 is not going to get you what you want.
Also It can take about 3 months or longer for everything to settle with your resale you might try to buy one and dVC snatch it up and then you would have to start all over again.
Doing a resale is a very long process and will take probably longer than you were thinking.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

Oh BTW, If you are really wanting points that you could use now and be able to get a ressie for July then you might want to buy directly and not through a reseller right now.

They have a promo right now from DVC if you have a referral from a current owner if you want more info on it please let me know.But you are looking at having to buy in at least 160 points.

 

[ldo]

Since you are a couple with no kids, a studio would be fine. If you stay sun-Thurs, you can really stretch your points. But, if you typically travel for 5 days each (sun-thus), you are looking at 50-65 points per stay. Thus, I would consider 100 points. The 160 points do have nice incentives. But, your travel styles could change, etc. and with 100 points, you have less $ tied up in DVC. You can always add-on in a few years if you feel you need more points. Reservations might or might not be avail. for this July--SSR and OKW would be about the only ones---but you could keep your cash reserv. and waitlist--you have up to 5 days to cancel if it is room only.
100 points contracts are also easier to resell, if you need to, b/c they are cheaper and once you get to 150+ points, a lot of people just buy thru DVC.

 

[jarrdisney]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Just to clarify, we plan on borrowing pts in order to stay the 7 nights in july. Our Dec 08' trip is already taken care of, as my uncle (dvc owner) is giving us his pts as a wedding gift. I was not aware that the resale process would take 3 months. I thought the rofr usually went through within 3 weeks. What else chews up so much time? If we have NO chance of getting a studio at bw, bc, or wl...we might forego purchasing until after july. I understand the incentives purchasing through disney are enticing, but BW is our fave resort, and we would be upset if we were unable to book there in Dec. There is NO question that we WILL be adding pts, and will probably do so within the next year. I was just curious as to what you thought of our particular situation. We have X amount of dollars to spend right now, as I do not want to finance dvc. I just figured we might as well start small, add on within a year, and be able to use the money we would have on a regular resort stay on DVC.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

Well I would buy as many as possible right now for sure and then add on.I just would not get into the borrowing mode as I have done that and you never seem to get out of it.
So if you for sure just want to stay at BW I would definetely buy there.
well after the ROFR then you have to wait for closing and that can take 8 weeks and Disney does have 1 month to take to do that.But you hav paperwork to fill out and send back to the resell broker as does the owner and that can take time to.So thats where it can take 3 months or longer.
I would say that it is not much possibility at all to get anything if you wait to get it till after you purchase the resell.

So why not let your Uncle get your July stay and then you pay for your stay with the ones that you purchase.But even then Disney at the resorts you want to stay at will be booked for December by that time. December is one of the busiest times for DVC and the resorts you want are the most popular during that time.

So I am not for sure what to suggest for you to do. If it were me then I would just go ahead and find a resale and see what you can do on it.Because the longer you wait then the slimmer chance anything would be availible to book.

Thanks a lot for the replies. Just to clarify, we plan on borrowing pts in order to stay the 7 nights in july. Our Dec 08' trip is already taken care of, as my uncle (dvc owner) is giving us his pts as a wedding gift. I was not aware that the resale process would take 3 months. I thought the rofr usually went through within 3 weeks. What else chews up so much time? If we have NO chance of getting a studio at bw, bc, or wl...we might forego purchasing until after july. I understand the incentives purchasing through disney are enticing, but BW is our fave resort, and we would be upset if we were unable to book there in Dec. There is NO question that we WILL be adding pts, and will probably do so within the next year. I was just curious as to what you thought of our particular situation. We have X amount of dollars to spend right now, as I do not want to finance dvc. I just figured we might as well start small, add on within a year, and be able to use the money we would have on a regular resort stay on DVC.

 

[CarolA]

I somehow doubt you are going to get this 7 night studio in July using points you have not yet purchased (and I am a big last minute booker) Especially at the three resorts you list. If those three (BC, BW and WL) are your "only acceptables" be sure you buy resale there. WL And BC are the two smallest so they can be harder.

Lets say you find the perfect 100 point contract today. Figure 4 to 6 weeks for it to close and your points to be reflected by Disney and that's OPTOMISTIC. Disney has 30 days to do ROFR so it could easilty be 8 weeks or more. Just to give you some idea. AFTER Disney does ROFR then you mail your final money and paperwork to the closing agent. The seller does the same thing. Some sellers move fast some don't. Then their's the closing, filing at the courthouse and getting Disney to update thier records. They can and do run behind!

And a search on the board sponsor just now turned up no 75 point contracts and one at 70 points, but it was a Vero Beach. It could take a while to get that perfect contract and those little ones sell fast. The brokers could easily have a waiting list that you go on....

So it's now the end of April before you even get your points and you want 7 nights 3 months later?

 

[spiceycat]

the thing that takes a long time is getting the deed changed and process.

dvc only has a small staff to do this - and they always take the DVC sales first over resales.

if you can get standard view at BWV -then I think you can do it - 5 days for your Dec would be 45

then only 3 days in July would be 33 points.

you might consider staying at OKW or AKV - then Dec is 40 points - but summer is the same.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Just to clarify, we plan on borrowing pts in order to stay the 7 nights in july. Our Dec 08' trip is already taken care of, as my uncle (dvc owner) is giving us his pts as a wedding gift. I was not aware that the resale process would take 3 months. I thought the rofr usually went through within 3 weeks. What else chews up so much time? If we have NO chance of getting a studio at bw, bc, or wl...we might forego purchasing until after july. I understand the incentives purchasing through disney are enticing, but BW is our fave resort, and we would be upset if we were unable to book there in Dec. There is NO question that we WILL be adding pts, and will probably do so within the next year. I was just curious as to what you thought of our particular situation. We have X amount of dollars to spend right now, as I do not want to finance dvc. I just figured we might as well start small, add on within a year, and be able to use the money we would have on a regular resort stay on DVC.

Given that information, I think you should plan to buy 160 points NOW for BWV (yes, you can buy that direct from Disney), so you can book your July trip as soon as you put your downpayment in. That is likely the only way you will get to use points for July. That also will give you a price discount if you don't take the developer points (since you say you wont need them). Then, with the gifted points from your uncle, you can bank your points from that year and have them available for the following year.

 

[spiceycat]

though the price discount and developer points were only for AKV and SSR - not the older resorts.

 

[jarrdisney]

Given that information, I think you should plan to buy 160 points NOW for BWV (yes, you can buy that direct from Disney), so you can book your July trip as soon as you put your downpayment in. That is likely the only way you will get to use points for July. That also will give you a price discount if you don't take the developer points (since you say you wont need them). Then, with the gifted points from your uncle, you can bank your points from that year and have them available for the following year.

What a bummer this has been! Unfortunately, we are not in a financial situation that would allow us to buy 160 pts in cash. I promised myself the only way I would purchase dvc is without any financing. I am intrigued that you said disney will give me a discount on BWV? I thought they only offered that on the newer resorts. Let me recap what I have learned, and please correct me if I am wrong.

Buying resale could take 3 months.
Booking 3 months out from your trip is a complete crapshoot.
Early Dec and July are busy times for DVC.
Purchasing one larger contract is better than starting w/a smaller contract and adding on.
Buy were you want to stay.
Borrowing pts is sticky, but how does it work?

 

[spiceycat]

Purchasing one larger contract is better than starting w/a smaller contract and adding on.
Buy were you want to stay.
Borrowing pts is sticky, but how does it work?

hope Mike posts soon - he brought alot of smaller contracts and is still buying.

if you can only afford a 100 points - go for it. some people could only start with 50 points.

borrowing points is easy. I do it alot. first of all you must have used up all your points current and banked points before you can borrow. secondly you can only borrow one year. in 2008 you can borrow 2009 - but not 2010. unless you are making a reservation in 2009 beyond your use year - then you can borrow 2010 - oh boy making this more difficult

example

you have 100 points use year is june - it is 2008

you want to take a reservation in Sept, 2008 that will cost 200 points.

you use your current points and borrow your 2009 points

 

[luvindisneyworld]

Yes it can take 3 months,not always crapshoot but during the busy times then yes it definetely is,yes they are very busy times for DVC,you want to purchase small no more than about 200 points for one contract because it is hard to sell bigger point contracts if you need to,Yes if you want BWV most of the time you better buy at BWV and if you want BCV then I would say more than BWV you need to buy at BCV because it is the smallest,borrowing is easy but it is hard to get out of borrowing once you start,I never seem to catch up ever.

What a bummer this has been! Unfortunately, we are not in a financial situation that would allow us to buy 160 pts in cash. I promised myself the only way I would purchase dvc is without any financing. I am intrigued that you said disney will give me a discount on BWV? I thought they only offered that on the newer resorts. Let me recap what I have learned, and please correct me if I am wrong.

Buying resale could take 3 months.
Booking 3 months out from your trip is a complete crapshoot.
Early Dec and July are busy times for DVC.
Purchasing one larger contract is better than starting w/a smaller contract and adding on.
Buy were you want to stay.
Borrowing pts is sticky, but how does it work?