How do you afford it?

[kruggel2004]

I recenlty recieved the DVC dvd in the mail and was real excited to get the information as DH and I love WDW..I was shocked to see that the minimum price was fourteen thousand dollars..I'm just wondering how people afford this..I love the idea of it but don't see realistically how it is economical?..can someone help me understand this a little better..Hakuna a Matata

 

[DebbieB]

The minimum price shown is a one time purchase, not annual. If you buy into SSR, that would give you the points annually until 2054. DVC offers financing up to 10 years. There are also maintenance dues that you pay annually, that is about $4 per point or about $600 per year on a 150 point purchase. DVC offers monthly payments on dues with no fees.

 

[dianeschlicht]

If the minimum buy in price for 48+ years of vacation sounds too high for you, then it probably is not a good deal for YOU. Everyone has to make their own choices about WDW travel. If you are used to staying in Deluxe Disney resorts and only on-site adn go at least once every other year, then it's a GREAT deal. If you only stay off site or in the value resorts and go less often than that, it's probably a stretch. For what it's worth, the minimum buy in doesn't get you much more than an annual vacation in a studio which is really not much different than a deluxe hotel room. For the real timeshare experience with this, you have to want stays more often and in large accommodations like the 1,2, and 3 bedroom villas, and that will require more than the minimum buy in rate. Each individual knows their vacation expectations, and while it miht be an interesting idea to you, if staying in a deluxe is not what you are used to paying for, then DVC will seem too much. Just remember that it is like prepaying 48 years of vacations (assuming you are buying SSR).

 

[TW1]

Personally, its an addiction to Disney. And I am not looking for a 12-step program to break it.

There are plenty of similar threads here about this topic. Like all purchases, large or small, there is an emotional as well as practical element that each buyer balances. Many will say they were going to go on vacation anyway, so you might as well lock in a price at a geat location and just enjoy it.

 

[Indea88]

I view it as prepaid deluxe accommodations that are paid monthly. I can always sell if unable to manage in the budget. Or you pay in a lump sum and enjoy!!! I own various other timeshare weeks and Disney is worth every penny. This is the one Vacation Club that I know I would be able to sell without loss.

 

[crisi]

We bought it for $11,000 several years ago and now pay $650 a year or so in dues.

But $11,000 (or $14,000 or more) is a lot of money to a lot of people. We are fortunate to be able to tie up that amount of money in vacations. (We used by husband's bonus for that year).

 

[TammyAlphabet]

Some people get a smaller contract on resale and it suits them just fine. Click on the tab for Current DVC Resales above and check out what they have.

 

[shari2shop]

I did not want to make monthly payments. I also didn't want to put a huge chuck on $ into it. So, I bought a small 75 point resale last summer. It was right around $6000 with all the fees. That was a managable amount for me to spend. It also was enough points to get 6 nights in a studio at OKW in early June ever year. Now, I had a little extra cash so I did a small 25 point add on. It was only $2250. Again it was a manageable amount of $ for me. I plan to add on another 25 points every 6 months - 1 year until I have 'enough'. I have no idea what enough is but I guess I'll eventually find it.

So, if the $14,000 is seems like alot, you can buy a smaller resale contract and just keep adding until you get the # of points you want.

So, yes people think you have to have big bucks and spend big bucks to get into DVC but you can do it by buying what you are comfortable with and adding on later.

Shari

 

[spiceycat]

you need 40 points for OKW Sun-thur (leaving on Fri) - Jan, Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec (most of it).

you need 60 points for the same time at BCV, VWL and BWV (preferred)

for SSR it is 55 points.

so with 150 contract you can go twice a year - once a year going with a 1-bedroom

80 for oKW, 110 for BCV,etc, 100 for SSR.

this is for those 5 days only.

so it depends upon you - I like studios - I like to go more often - and while I do love the whirlpool tub in the 1-bedroom and up and the extra room - I don't need it. all the quiet pools at all the DVC resorts have a spa(whirlpool) tub. It is just not in your room.

their is a free laundry mat also - again it is just not in your room.

so completely depends upon you -

a studio is pretty much like a deluxe hotel room. more room and amenities than the moderate.

SSR and OKW did not have room service - BWV, VWL and BCV do.

 

[murcor]

I recenlty recieved the DVC dvd in the mail and was real excited to get the information as DH and I love WDW..I was shocked to see that the minimum price was fourteen thousand dollars

Yes, same here....my face went from a smile to a frown....and my thoughts were "and there is maintenace fees too"

..I'm just wondering how people afford this..I love the idea of it but don't see realistically how it is economical?

We left the idea alone. and continued planning our Disnaey vacation.

We have 5 people so we were looking at 2 rooms (1 room for 5 people for 9 nights would not cut it)

On site as we do not rent a car

A balcony (Only deluxes have balconies)

..can someone help me understand this a little better..Hakuna a Matata

Our costs would have been 225 night x 9 nights = 2025.00 x 2 rooms = $4050.00

or

1 bedroom at Saratoga 350.00 x 9 nights = $3150.00

Got us thinking again about dvc.....read and re-read and stayed at Saratoga and realized how much can be saved in time to come. We bought when we there. It is a big investment now but for us we feel it will be so worth it with years of magic and fun.

 

[starwood]

Plus if you ever decide you don't want it any more you can sell it and get back a good chunk of the money you put into it (plus having had all those great vacations).

 

[NMW]

For us is was really a money saver. Yes, it's a large amount up front. However, we were paying a lot to stay in Deluxe resorts with our family of 5. In 2003 we spent about 8,000 (not including airfare) for a week at the Beach club. Granted, we did the dream maker gold plan which included meals and the old UPH tickets, but even with just the tickets it would have been a lot. We knew we wanted to go every year and stay about 9 days. We were planning a 10 day POLY stay (with the silver plan) when we learned about DVC resales. We scraped our POLY stay and bought a BWV resale. We figure it will pay for itself in a few trips. We look at it as pre-paying our resort stays. Plus we hated, hated doing wash in Disney. Now we will have a washer and Dryer in our villa and a big fridge!
We didn't use Disney finacing, but if you buy from Disney you can pay over 10 years and only put something like 10 or 20% down. If you go resale, you would have to have cash or get your own financing from a bank, or something like that. You can spread the monthly dues into monthly payments that get deducted from your checking account.
DVC is not for everyone, but with almost 90,000 members, lots of people must think it's a great deal!
DVC members get a great price on PAP's and AP's also. We bought PAP's and plan to use them for 2 trips . That was an unexpected bonus for us.

 

[quentina]

Well...we financed. We traveled yearly and would save to pay for a trip. We bought 150 points, put 500 down (did the magical beginnings for $'s off the down payment) and had a monthly payment plus dues of about $100.00. We would need to save more than this for a yearly trip anyway.

Now, we ahve since done 2 add-ons, both financed...although our original contract is 1/2 paid off. The financing is not the best, however, I have it taken out of ourt checking account and don't really miss the money. Now our payment is about $210.00 per month, however, we now vacation 2-3 times per year. We save our frequent flyer miles and off we go.

In no way do we have money to blow, however, family vacations are very important to me. I know am able to take my parents (2 bedroom), I am point thrifty (OKW and SSR) and I get my parents to pay for the food while we pay for the room. To be honest, I think we come out ahead.

Now, we would do the All stars at times....I hate it there....it reminds me of a high school cafeteria (sceaming kids). I would try to do dixie landing's etc.....Now we do 2 bedrooms in a deluxe. In 60 days I am off to HH for a week and next February I am going to Disneyland for a week.

Personally, I think you just have to do what is right for you. I do not regret this purchase, I do not regret that I financed. It has made wonderful memories for my family and to be honest is worth all $21000.00 it cost me.

Kim

 

[JoeEpcotRocks]

My home equity line of credit was only 5.25% and interest is tax deductable.

Points needed to stay at a DVC resort can never go up, so it's a very good inflation hedge.

Maintenance fees on a monthly basis are not that much.

If you plan on going to Disney at least every other year for a week or so and normally stay at a luxuary or moderate resort, I think it's worth it from a financial perspective.

And from a vacation perspective - WOW!

 

[AFMom]

We bought a 100pt resale OKW contract - much cheaper! Maintenance fees are lower with less points, and OKW has the lowest maint fees so far. To help offset the price for the first few years (and becasue we are military and can't go for a few years anyway) we have rented out our points to people who wanted to stay on-site for cheaper. We've been able to rent the points (about $1900 so far) and put the money on the loan. The loan itself is now almost 50% paid off and we haven't even owned for a year - and a lot of that wasn't our money!
100 points is on the low end of ownership - but it's a start and with borrowing points from the next year it works for us!
There are ways to do it if you can get creative - we know we'll be renting out more points in the future - as much as I'd rather just be able to use them - and it really can help with financing the tripswe'll take until 2042 when our contract expires.
There's nothing like having a 1 bedroom suite, full kitchen and a whirlpool tub to come back from the parks to!!!!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

For us it's just a matter of priorities. Great vacations are numero uno on our list of things to do with discretionary loot.

You only go around once...

MG

 

[grimgrinnin]

Simple - I drive a 1993 Buick that I paid $1,000 for, and buy my pants at Costco.

It's all about priorities.


grim

 

[SpoonfulofSugar]

It's like buying a car, only hopefully it lasts longer and you have lot's of fun with it. $14000 is actually cheaper than your average car, and with monthly payments, you pay for it just like a car.

 

[vernon]

The numbers play out differently for each individual, but if you're going to be visiting WDW once every three years for the next 20 years then there is a very good chance that economically it will make sense. This is certainly the case if you do it as a "like for like" booking i.e. paying cash for a week in the Beach club (or similar) and calculating a likely inflation for that period of time compared to the high initial outlay of buying into DVC and the on going "dues" again with likely maintenance fees inflation.

For a moderate it takes a little longer to hit "break even" and probably needs the most economical use of the points ( as spiceycat points out the lower weekday points costs)

When comparing to a "Value" resort it does take a lot longer, in some cases maybe never, to get "ahead of the game" but what you are getting is delux style accommodation for the price you would have paid to stay in a value.

I agree with grimgrinnin , it's a lot about priorities, if guaranteeing your family simply outstanding vacations for the next 40 years is a major priority, then there are many ways that people find the money to do it. For some it's giving up smoking, eating out less often , buying a cheaper car, cheaper clothes or not moving to a bigger house.

 

[megrod74]

For us it's just a matter of priorities. Great vacations are numero uno on our list of things to do with discretionary loot.

This is true for us too.