How does someone know it's a good decision for them, to purchase DVC?

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

Get 100 points and use three years worth of points as a bank/borrowing strategy to get to the 280. Make sure you actually want to go every year before buying and paying dues on the full 300 points.

I’m not saying to do that, just an example of “starting small”.

If going direct, I would not buy less than 150 points in your situation. Might as well get the incentives and member discounts.

How many years in advance can you borrow points? And are there any stipulations on reselling your DVC should you change your mind? At what point that someone might sell do you know if you have lost money or broke even, etc?

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

No one ever considers the fact that once Riviera sells out DVC may start to exercise ROFR on Riviera resale contracts effectively establishing a floor which I suspect will be higher than current resale value. Right now it’s the Wild West on Riviera resale. The 200 point contract I just added came out to $112.50/point. I would fully expect Disney to exercise their rights on that when not actively selling Riviera points.

Can you explain this ROFR to me?

 

[cruisehopeful]

How many years in advance can you borrow points? And are there any stipulations on reselling your DVC should you change your mind? At what point that someone might sell do you know if you have lost money or broke even, etc?

You can borrow from one year ahead. I have a June use year. I can borrow from 2026 for this year up until May 31, 2026 reservations. If I want to book in June 2026, I can borrow from 2027.

Can you explain this ROFR to me?

Disney has Right of First Refusal. When someone is buying (already signed contract and paid a deposit towards the contract), Disney will decide if they will let the sale go through or if they want to buy the contract back at the same price/ terms that the contract states. The seller and the broker still get what the contract said. The buyer misses out and gets nothing besides their deposit back.

 

[AstroBlasters]

How many years in advance can you borrow points? And are there any stipulations on reselling your DVC should you change your mind? At what point that someone might sell do you know if you have lost money or broke even, etc?

I would highly recommend going to YouTube and looking up DVC Fan & Magic and the Music. They have whole introductory series on this.

 

[Brian Noble]

I second @AstroBlasters suggestion. If you are a book person instead of a movie person, this site has a very digestible introduction.

https://dvcfieldguide.com

 

[VGCgroupie]

agree with @AstroBlasters you tube is a wealth of information and helped us tremendously when deciding. It helps to hear various people explain DVC verbally rather than reading.

We liked the channels he quoted and also
Pixie Dust PHD
Shannon Ford
Here with the Ears

Also just plug “should I buy DVC” into the search of you tube and so many things will pop up for opinions.

 

[sethschroeder]

Which, if you think about it, is more or less the value proposition of timeshares in general.

Eh timeshares in general I can get a place literally next door for possibly cheaper on a yearly basis. I also 99% of the time with timeshares dont actually want to be back in that spot every year for even 3 years let alone 40.

Edit to add I 100% respect your view as I know you have timeshares and it works magic for you. You trade in to DVC if I am not mistaken even with your very low cost time share offerings. So you 100% know more than me on general timeshares.

 

[sethschroeder]

If 10% of those points hit the resale market

Roughly 1% on average points hit the resale market per year. Math was done on long term a while back and I have done shorter term checks and it was fairly similar numbers.

So 10% will never hit the market at the same time. It could ebb and flow.

Here is the thing the average person will see:
1) RIV in the Epcot area with 40 years left
2) BWV with 15 years left
3) OKW/AKV not anywhere close to parks AND with MFs more than RIV
4) SSR with less MFs (for now) but again not close to parks

Those are your bottom 5 resorts right now. RIV is possibly behind BWV right now but in a couple years when BWV hits 15 years left and its days are numbers both BWV and even BCV will fall behind RIV because of time left.

What could hurt RIV is another Epcot resort that is walkable instead. At that point though both BWV and BCV would also take a nose dive.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

I would highly recommend going to YouTube and looking up DVC Fan & Magic and the Music. They have whole introductory series on this.

Will do, thank you!

 

[sndral]

How many years in advance can you borrow points? And are there any stipulations on reselling your DVC should you change your mind? At what point that someone might sell do you know if you have lost money or broke even, etc?

No more than the next year, you borrow from your next use year when you make a reservation & the earliest you can make a reservation is 11 months from your arrival date.
So if you were making a reservation for this fall which was in your 2025 use year you could borrow points from your 2026 year to complete that reservation if you needed more points, but you could not borrow from 2027.
You can use 3 years worth of points to make a reservation - you can bank your previous years points forward + use all of the years point for the year the vacation is in + borrow from the use year after the vacation.
I have a grand villa booked for a week in October 2025 which cost 700 points. I only have 260 points at that resort, so I used my previous years 260 points which I’d banked earlier + my current 260 points + borrowed 180 from my next years points.

 

[ShaneDJ]

Can you explain this ROFR to me?

See this section: "What is Right of First Refusal (ROFR)?"

...in this recent report:

DVC Right of First Refusal Report (ROFR):
https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/blog/dvc-right-of-first-refusal-report-rofr-april-25/

 

[Brob2132]

You're at a good place to ask some of these questions. I would recommend not purchasing anything until you feel like you have a good grasp on the product.

 

[squeezeplay101]

I have been a Disney fan since I was a child, planning trips over the years with friends or family. Now we are a family of 4, with teen and a younger child. We have gone to Disney before Covid shut downs, then stopped for a few years due to various factors, and have now gone 3 years in a row. I personally know I could go yearly and never wish for anywhere else. I am not sure my family feels the same, but they do love the trips each time.

So I started thinking, maybe we should be looking at DVC? We are at a point where we stay in one bedroom villas for a week+, rented through Disney using a discount code, & paid for in cash these last trips.How do I figure out if DVC is a good move for us? Worried what if we aren't able to go yearly going forward? So how does a person accurately calculate if this is worth it for them to make the move into buying DVC?

Worried about "life" becoming less conducive to being able to take those week long stays going forward, or things such as jobs, health issues, or other life factors posing an issue to traveling, in the future. Also, I am concerned we'd need to purchase 200+ points to even come close to how we like to stay, etc. FYI, considering direct, since we love RR. Of course, it's a huge commitment financially and a huge leap. Anyone have any words of wisdom to share?

We were in a similar mindset when we took the plunge and became DVC members. Getting more points gives you flexibility, especially when having to book a 1-bedroom simply because the studios are all booked solid when you're looking to travel (a forced luxury situation, and something we personally prefer anyways).

Yes, the money is significant - especially considering the yearly maintenance dues you'll have to pay. However, if you LOVE going to Disney, and plan going every 1-2 years, then that is a strong case in taking the plunge and becoming DVC members. You're likely spending more for the rooms (especially if on-property) that help you justify the cost. Look at the DVC resort point charts for the weeks you plan on going, and use that as a guide for how many points you'll need.

We also may taper off going yearly, and in that case, there are options: Renting out points (as you have experienced), swapping the points, etc. Could also sell the contract later as others have mentioned.

Full disclosure: I would not have bought into DVC if I had to finance it. During my cost / benefit analysis, it was a little too pricey when considering that additional cost. Others obviously will feel different about financing and their own personal situation.

 

[Patsaizan]

Jumping in here. Life does happen. Over the years we have had to cancel our stays last minute (week long stays, this has happened 4 times now, most recently this past month) due to medical reasons and member services has been great - allowed us to put back out points without going into holding.

We have owned DVC for 14 years. We have 4 home resorts and 700 total points spread out over 10 total contracts (all purchased over a 7 year spread). We live 35 minutes away from WDW.

Advice: buy where you want to stay. We purchase only direct. Smaller contracts, cash upfront is best. If you do finance, pay off as quickly as possible. Direct purchases are quick and you can book all DVC resorts.

If you are worried about getting your money back after a few years, then maybe RR isn’t for you. We love it, have 250 total points there, the resale value doesn’t bother us. For some it does bother them. My brother also owns at several resorts, loves RR, and decided to sell his VGF points to buy more RR points. He actually walked away (after commission deducted) with the same money he originally paid for VGF (direct purchase) in 2014. For a timeshare, this is amazing. Some properties, like VGF hold their value better than others. We also own at DVBR, we use the points there a lot, but if we want to sell we would only get 1/2 of what we originally paid (we paid $90 a point back in 2013, direct).

DVC is a commitment. You have to love the resorts and the Disney “lifestyle.” For us (and we are now in our late 60s) it has been wonderful. Honestly, if they had better incentives for a direct purchase of Poly we would add more points. We also cruise a lot. But I would give up cruising if I had to. DVC vacations come first for me.

If you want to dip your toe in the water and are worried about resale value if you should decide it isn’t for you, then I would advise you to buy a small contract at the Poly. Poly has a good resale value if you decide it isn’t for you, and it is currently sold direct with incentives due to the new Island Tower. Personally, I would not buy any contract over 150 points, and prefer contracts at the 50 to 100 range. To get the incentives you can ask the guide to split up a contract. If you want to start with 150 points then ask for the incentives for 150, but split over a 100 and 50 point contacts or three 50 point contracts.

Good luck with your decision.