How do you decide how many points to add on?

[rusafee1183]

These are the times I wish I could just talk this out rather than type it, because I don't know if I will explain myself properly....

My husband and I already own 120 points at AKV, and would also love to own at VWL for priority booking. How do you decide what is a good number for an add on? I have been looking at points charts and 50 points won't do too much, but would leave us with a "whole" amount of points (170 total) that is much more manageable for our needs overall.

If we added 100 that would give us much more flexibilty for booking needs, but it would be a greater upfront cost. I'm sure we *would* use them (more points leads to more trips... of course) or rent them, but I'm much more comfortable with the cost as far as 50 goes.

So, how do you decide how many to add on when strictly looking at it from a booking priority stand point??

 

[cbnsoul]

We own(ed) at 4 resorts, 2 with only 50 point contracts for home booking priority. We just sold BWV today. 50 points just doesn't go very far (unless you bank or borrow in a given year to get it to 100 or 150). We are now on wait lists through Disney for BCV and BLT to add to the 100 points we have at each resort. I would really LOVE to own at the Poly at some point but just don't know if I can justify the cost. BLT is expensive enough as it is - imagine what the Poly will be when it is finally available especially given the Poly's popularity!

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

We are going through this very exercise. We are 3 - DH, DD 13, and me. We have been staying in 1BR for most stays. We stayed in a 2BR a couple of trips ago and DD loved not having to sleep on the pull out and we loved the extra BR. So what I have started to do is analyze our stay history and identify what the point value would have been if we had stayed in a 2BR. Adding to that we now have less flexibility in taking DD out of school so I anticipate more 4-5 day stays over weekends with weekend points.

Perhaps a similar analysis would help you.

Good luck!

 

[lodge]

We own(ed) at 4 resorts, 2 with only 50 point contracts for home booking priority. We just sold BWV today. 50 points just doesn't go very far (unless you bank or borrow in a given year to get it to 100 or 150). We are now on wait lists through Disney for BCV and BLT to add to the 100 points we have at each resort. I would really LOVE to own at the Poly at some point but just don't know if I can justify the cost. BLT is expensive enough as it is - imagine what the Poly will be when it is finally available especially given the Poly's popularity!

I always loved your colorful, well balanced signature!!

Congratulations on your sale.

To the OP, try to determine if banking/borrowing or split stays will work for you. 25-100 don't get too long a stay at VWL, with most being studios (stating the obvious, I know). To determine how many to add on, consider your yearly MF's (now and try to hypothesize how you'd handle increases) and your initial up front purchase. Then weigh that against the (usual) lower cost for a bit larger add on's. See which you feel more comfortable with... with few exceptions, I believe people can figure where they stand on a purchase after a short time of introspection (with input).

 

[rusafee1183]

We own(ed) at 4 resorts, 2 with only 50 point contracts for home booking priority. We just sold BWV today. 50 points just doesn't go very far (unless you bank or borrow in a given year to get it to 100 or 150). We are now on wait lists through Disney for BCV and BLT to add to the 100 points we have at each resort. I would really LOVE to own at the Poly at some point but just don't know if I can justify the cost. BLT is expensive enough as it is - imagine what the Poly will be when it is finally available especially given the Poly's popularity!

I think we decided to go with 60 points. That is enough to get us a studio for a week with only having to bank or borrow - not both. And if we stay longer than a week, I will have to pray a wait list comes through, or I guess we could always split stay.

If you don't mind me asking, what made you add direct instead of resale?

I only ask because I am also getting in the wait list going direct, but I know that is frowned upon around here by most.

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[Missyrose]

I think we decided to go with 60 points. That is enough to get us a studio for a week with only having to bank or borrow - not both. And if we stay longer than a week, I will have to pray a wait list comes through, or I guess we could always split stay.

If you don't mind me asking, what made you add direct instead of resale?

I only ask because I am also getting in the wait list going direct, but I know that is frowned upon around here by most.

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Finding a small resale contract with a specific UY can be difficult. So buying a small contract through Disney can be much faster. But Disney just jacked the prices of the older resorts up to $130 per point, which makes a direct purchase pretty hard to swallow, for me at least.

 

[rusafee1183]

Finding a small resale contract with a specific UY can be difficult.

Ultimately, this is exactly why we decided to go through Disney again. I wish I could have been on the resale bandwagon a few years ago.... I feel like it was easier/cheaper to get smaller contracts before. Now, IF they have the resort I want and IF its in my use year and IF its 100 points or less its gone in minutes.

I just don't need that kind of stress. And that's before ROFR!

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[cbnsoul]

I always loved your colorful, well balanced signature!!

Congratulations on your sale.

Thanks! I'll miss it too - hoping to (maybe) add the Poly too it one day!

 

[cbnsoul]

If you don't mind me asking, what made you add direct instead of resale?

Two reasons. First, as has been stated, availability of small resales. Second, I plan on having (most of) these points for a L-O-N-G time and while we love going to WDW, I don't know if we may want to use them for something other than the parks as we get older so want the flexibility that buying direct gives you.

 

[CarolMN]

Don't worry about what others think - they are not the ones who will be stuck with the results!

FWIW, there just haven't been many VWL resale listings lately and prices for the smaller contracts seem to be rising. A lot of those that do come up are stripped. You may be waiting a long time just to get an opportunity to bid on one with no guarantee you'll have the winning bid.

There's nothing wrong with buying direct if you want/need the points soon. Good luck!

 

[Minniesgal]

What i did is put together a spreadsheet of holiday wishes. i worked out what would we really like to do for the next 5 or so trips. Once i knew how many points i needed to do that i looked at the affordability of that and scaled back the plans as necessary eventually i landed on a number of points i thought was affordable and would allow us to do things we would like.

 

[rusafee1183]

Don't worry about what others think - they are not the ones who will be stuck with the results!

FWIW, there just haven't been many VWL resale listings lately and prices for the smaller contracts seem to be rising. A lot of those that do come up are stripped. You may be waiting a long time just to get an opportunity to bid on one with no guarantee you'll have the winning bid.

There's nothing wrong with buying direct if you want/need the points soon. Good luck!

Thank you!

We are emailing Mark tomorrow to have him add us to the waitlist!!! When I spoke with him the other day, he said that there was about 50 people in front of us. I am hoping that the timing works out, and I have enough time to save a bit more - and not have to wait TOO long.

I couldn't be more excited!

 

[jstarcze]

Here was my planning thoughts for the add-ons that I did.

1. Where do I want to stay
2. What size accommodations do I want. (for me it was 1 BR and no more studios)
3. When do I want to go
4. How many times per year do I want to go

This gets me an approximate number of how many points I will need.
then comes:

5. How many points can I afford.

I brought in two separate add-ons to get the number of points that I wanted. Hope this helps.

 

[rusafee1183]

Here was my planning thoughts for the add-ons that I did.

1. Where do I want to stay
2. What size accommodations do I want. (for me it was 1 BR and no more studios)
3. When do I want to go
4. How many times per year do I want to go

This gets me an approximate number of how many points I will need.
then comes:

5. How many points can I afford.

I brought in two separate add-ons to get the number of points that I wanted. Hope this helps.

Thanks!!

I think that was the tough thing, we would be perfectly happy in a studio, but would prefer a 1br if cost was no object. And for now, we are just a couple with no children and don't know if/when that will change.

For now, after this small add on I think we have enough points to be happy with.

Well, at least until add-on-itis bites us again

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[cseca]

Thanks!!

...And for now, we are just a couple with no children and don't know if/when that will change.

For now, after this small add on I think we have enough points to be happy with.

Well, at least until add-on-itis bites us again

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BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
I bought DVC when I was single. Bought 150 and thought I had enough. Addonitis hit when WLV was opened and I thought "what in the world am I going to do with 300 points!"
Fast forward 13 years, 1 DH, 2 kids and about 5 add ons later ... ... Now we seem to always run out of points

 

[dbs1228]

I am so grateful for these boards after buying our 1st 160 point BLT contract direct then looking to buy resale we realized the price difference between direct and resale back then was about 10.00PP and direct did not have closing cost so we opted to add on a 60 point contract and a 65 point contract vs. 125 points. In hind sight I really wish I had done that 2 more times since eventually I want to add on another 150 - 200 points to BLT but smaller contract would be better, and still resale is only about 10.00 less then what we paid direct - yet smaller contracts with a certain UY is like a needle in a haystack!

 

[rusafee1183]

I am so grateful for these boards after buying our 1st 160 point BLT contract direct then looking to buy resale we realized the price difference between direct and resale back then was about 10.00PP and direct did not have closing cost so we opted to add on a 60 point contract and a 65 point contract vs. 125 points. In hind sight I really wish I had done that 2 more times since eventually I want to add on another 150 - 200 points to BLT but smaller contract would be better, and still resale is only about 10.00 less then what we paid direct - yet smaller contracts with a certain UY is like a needle in a haystack!

It's definitely been tough to find the right contract resale, that's for sure! We caved and decided o go direct instead. I wish that we could have made resale work to our advantage, but getting something you really don't want just to "save money" isn't really saving enough in my eyes. We are adding on specifically because we want VWL, not just to get more points. If this was just to bulk up on points, I would gladly snatch up a SSR resale contract! There's tons of them!

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[eandesmom]

We really looked at two things. One how many we thought we needed and two, what the cost of MF's over time would be. We started small deliberately to test the waters and really determine our need knowing we would likely be adding on within a year.

Currently we own at SSR and BWV and were debating BWV versus Vero for adding on for our 3rd and final (?) contract. Initial investment aside, the MF's are universal no matter how you buy your points. I couldn't get past what those Vero dues looked like about a decade in and the total of the 3 combined, had we done Vero, just didn't work.

We will have 3 contracts at equal amounts of points (105 each) once our BWV waitlist goes through. Heaven only knows when that will be.

Bottom line is everyone can make the math work to their advantage and as long as you are happy with what you did, and informed, then it's the right choice for you. We will have bought direct each time. For me, renting when those funds could have simply gone to the "differential" between resale and direct, or skipping a trip (or two) because the contract was stripped wasn't saving anything worthwhile in my mind. Add in the fact I could never find what I wanted without getting more points than I needed or wanted and direct was best for us.

 

[Irishmom23]

Currently own at SSR (250 points) and BCV (75 points) and on the waiting list for HH 60 points (direct through Disney before the price hike) It was difficult to find small add-ons through resale so bought 50 points SSR and 75 points BCV direct after chasing several resale contracts and being outbid or wasn't quick enough.

 

[lovin'fl]

We bought 200 OKW points in 2006 because they were the cheapest WDW resort at that time (SSR was still selling new at @$100/point). We lived in NC at the time and our kids were elementary school age. We planned to go to WDW at least once/year (drive there). Our kids were in year round and we planned to go in Sept...so 200 points was plenty. Then, we moved to MD 9/1/2007 and soon realized that our annual trips to WDW would not be as plausible (too long a drive and airfare for 5 ). We listed our contract but really didn't want to sell all 200 points (but you can't break contracts up), so MIL and FIL mentioned that they were wanting to buy some points and they paid us to use 100 of our 200 OKW points each year.

Fast forward to 2011 and we realize that we would like to do a trip to HH every 2 or 3 years and MIL and FIL are really using about 130-140 of our 200 points (they fell in love with 1BR villas at OKW-HH). So in Dec we start looking and add on 2 HH contracts (25 and 50 points from same seller). We also like cruising and figured we'd do 3 year rotations (cruise, WDW, HH...repeat). We also only do 4-6 night trips due to our kids' crazy schedules and DH's busy work. Next thing you know, we realize we like to do 2-3 of these short trips per year (so out with the 3 year rotation plan). Basically 5 trips in a 2 year period and of these 5 trips we will do 3 of these using our DVC points (so 2 trips to WDW in one year using APs and then a beach trip, VB or HH, the following year...with a cruise per year sprinkled in). So, this past Dec we start looking for another add on and after a couple failures at adding onto our HH points, we add on 100 AKV points (we like to go to WDW with inlaws and SIL1 owns AKV and SSR and we don't like staying at SSR and she doesn't like staying at our OKW...so we added on AKV and, also, we now can book the value villas and save points).

OK...so now at 375 points with 3 home resorts...we are done...right? Well, after 2 trips to WDW in 2013, we plan to go back to HH next year (Aug 2014). I add up the points we'll need for a 2BR for 5 or 6 nights and we just don't have enough (only have enough for 4 nights). DH wasn't really wanting to add on anymore, but I won out when a perfect resale popped up (50 HH Aug UY points with no points until 2014 (we would not be able to use '12 points for an 8/14 trip). We are in ROFR on that and will have 425 points...130-140 of which MIL and FIL use and we also book a studio for SIL2 upon occasion (when we go for Xmas which seems to now be a biennial trip)....will have about 175/year for inlaws and 250/year for us. We still will always be in borrowing mode.