I am so stressed out over buying into dvc or not.

[4mygrls]

We went to DisneyWorld this past summer and took a tour of SSR. It was nice and we were seriously considering buying into it. We don't go to Disney every year though. We like to do a vacation every year but Disney takes a big chunk out of the bank account for us. We are a family of 6 and on 1 income. I work occasionally but don't like to count on my income cuz it varies. The way I calculated it, it would cost us roughly 2500.00 a year for dvc and we were looking at going every other year and maybe even every 3rd year. We like to do different things like the beach one year, universal one year, waterpark season passes another year. We don't usually spend 2500.00 for a vacation. And that's just accomodations. I try to look for the best deals I can and like to plan out every detail of our vacations. So, if we do dvc then we are committed to 2500.00 every year on top of whatever we do that year. I'm so confused. Another thing we need to consider is we want to move to Florida in a couple of years.I'm afraid of getting stuck with something that we might regret in a couple of years. Another thing too is that our two older kids are willing to help out with the cost. We want to make this a family thing where we can all get together. Advice, please?

 

[BeccaG]

Well Kathi, I am going to throw my 2 cents in, hope it helps! First, I would say maybe you need to slow down. DVC is a BIG purchase and you don't want to make it while you are stressed. Is there a reason you feel you need to decide right now? Secondly, as far as the financial concerns and wanting to do other vacations, I totally understand it. One option, with your ability to bank and borrow points with DVC, is to get enough points that by adding the points together for two-three years you would have enough for your vacation every two-three years, thus decreasing the amount of points you would need to buy. I just recently purchased DVC three months ago, so I know it can be a momentous decision, but I waited three years after my tour because it just wasn't a good decision at the time. The best of luck to you and your family in making this choice!

 

[Didney Daddy]

I concur. Please trust your instincts when it comes to doubt. We can talk ourselves into almost anything and that is not a good thing. Your little voice is obviously nagging you and you cite several significant concerns.

DVC will always be there. When you have the finances and are more confident about the future, then maybe revisit DVC again. Also, I love DVC and I love DIS but it is right for us. You should take a break, stop reading posts from all of us die hard DVC lovers and get away from this stuff for a while.

If you keep reading all this stuff I am concerned you will be emotionally swayed and if it is keeping you at night - it ain't worth it. One day DVC may be right for your family, and when it is we will all be here to welcome you home!

 

[zalansky]

I also concur. It took us almost 3 years to buy before we bought in to DVC. As a matter of fact, we bought in 2003 after touring SSR and then we got scared and cancelled the contract. When a promo came up earlier this year, we jumped on it because we were in a better financial position and also because we really still wanted it, almost 3 years later.

I will comment about being in Florida. We live only an hour from WDW and I am sure people think we are nuts to buy a timeshare so close to home. However, we have always stayed overnight because it is still our favorite vacation destination and I feel we are very lucky to live close because we can use our membership at a moments notice if we want to. We also don;t have airfare and car rentals to worry about.

When I was in your shoes and obsessing about whether to buy or not, and asked DVCers to tell me if they regretted anything about buying in, the common answer was always "I WISH WE'D DONE IT SOONER". And I am glad to say I also now can concur with that as well. Take your time and do it when it feels right.

 

[vascubaguy]

My thought is that if you are stressing over whether to buy-in or not, it probably isn't the best time for you. I know if I were stressing about buying it would be because the negatives in my situation would be outweighing the positives, but I'd still be trying to figure out more positives to justify satisifying my urge to buy!

Regardless, it sounds like DVC may not be the best way for you to go. With the desire (plan?) to move to FL and wanting to travel to other destinations, perhaps a different timeshare would provide a better fit? Or if you know approximately when you plan to travel and for how long each trip, you could buy a smaller DVC contract that would have enough points to book your ressies every 2 (or every 3) years by banking/borrowing.

 

[YoMickey]

College and your 401k should come first.

Unless you can pay cash up front DVC is not that good of a deal. Financing eats up much of the savings. Also with a family of 6 you'll need to get a 2 bedroom due to occupancy rules.

Sorry to rain on your parade but you'd better think things through. It sounds as if you travel plenty and this may not be a good fit.

I wish you luck in your decision. I think your gut is screaming, "Don't do it."

Listen to your gut!

-Yo

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

When in doubt, wait.

Our circumstances are similar (family of 6, 1 income). We just purchased a contract that will allow us to go every other year. we're utilizing a small inheritance from my mom to pay for it. As my DH put it, it's not a financial investment, it's a vacation investment. We both have engineering degrees, and tend to take a logical approach--until it made sense logically, we weren't spending a penny.

Might I suggest you consider renting points to try DVC with your family? We planned to do this, but a deal came our way to buy.

Good luck to you. It's a big decision, and should not be taken lightly.

 

[simzac]

It took me 10 years from the first time I heard about DVC until I purchased earlier this year. Please don't rush into anything you might regret farther down the road. DVC will always be there, along with the ability to purchase where you want thru the resale market. Give it some more thought. JMO

 

[mickeymarcor]

The common theme here is don't let your emotions control your actions. Take a break from the self-imposed pressure to decide now. DVC will be here a long time, so you can revisit your interest to join later. You'll be able to purchase resale or through DVC's frequent incentive plans.

I know how you feel. It was a year and a half a go when my family first looked at DVC from their website. We became so interested and excited about it that we bought in almost right away, and we hadn't even seen SSR. We did this over the phone. Talk about letting your emotions control your actions! Once we received the contract, we finally cooled down, put on our thinking hats, and discovered that DVC was not right for us at that time.

However, after pondering it for the last 18 months, taking the tour at SSR last summer, and carefully planning how we could use the points, we decided to join the club this week by taking advantage of DVC's lastest 15th Anniversary Incentive. After all that thinking and being away from the situation, we were able to make a decision that we were comfortable with and excited about.

Also, if finances are an issue, then don't join DVC. I have friends who own other time-shares and have to borrow money to pay their annual dues. Meanwhile, their daily standard of living suffers. This no way to live. My philosophy is that your life at home comes first, vacations come second.

It's funny that DVC doesn't use pressure tactics to sell points. They don't have to because we do it to ourselves!

Have a magical day! °O°

 

[rkdahl]

The way I calculated it, it would cost us roughly 2500.00 a year for dvc and we were looking at going every other year and maybe even every 3rd year.

I tend to echo the previous posts on timing and priorities. I was curious though about your calculations. Just roughly what made up the $2,500/year calculation? Like how many points were you thinking, annual dues, financing, etc. I was just wondering if you were comfortable with how you arrived at that.

 

[rahrah]

Many people say this wish they had bought sooner. My wife and I took the DVC tour when they first opened. We just bought one this year, and we have no regrets about waiting.

From a financial point of view, a DVC is an obligation to pay money every year. To enjoy it, you have to pay additional money (transportation, tickets, meals). When we were younger, vacations needed to be a choice. Some years we did it really inexpensivly by staying with relatives, other years we could splurge.

Now we can afford the initial payment without any pain. We have been sitting on the stock we bought it with for 15 years. Back then it would have just covered the cost. We have used the money from this stock for a protion of the downpayment on our house several years ago, the DVC, and we still have money left over. Despite all of the financial calculations about DVC ownership, sometimes you get lucky when you invest other ways.

The reason we bought it was because we tend to put vacations on charge cards and then pay it off in a couple of months after the vacation. This drove me crazy and tended to ruin the vacation for me (and being cranky, I ticked off everyone else). This summer we went on a Disney Cruise and it was paid in full before we left. I had a great time. To me, a DVC is a way of forcing our vacations to be paid for before we go.

So what I am saying is that the right time to buy a DVC is when it makes your financial situation feel better, not when it causes you to feel additional financial stress.

 

[Mtnman44]

Try not to finance the purchase. Instead, save up for it or at least most of it.
If you want to do other things on some years, I second the advice to purchase a small amount of points and use banking and borrowing to have triple your points every three years. A nice ~90 point contract would be around $8,000 and cost approx $ 400 a year in fees but every three years you would have 270 points, enough for over a week of resorts stays in a 2 br (depending on the resort and season of course). For an extra 140 or so a year in dues, you could get a 120 point contract and really be living the life at WDW every three years with 360 points to spend!

One thing to keep in mind, adding points is easy if you ever find that you need more.

 

[traceyr13]

I just wanted to jump in and offer support and understanding. I am a fairly new lurker to this board (only a few weeks) and while I know I am being "smart" about how I'm approaching this and my timeframe, it's so hard NOT to jump in and feel like I'm "missing out" by not buying RIGHT NOW. But everyone is right - DVC will be there, and if you know in your gut it's probably not the right time to buy, it's probably not. I think maybe what people mean when they say they "wish they did it earlier" is that they had the means to buy earlier, but they hesitated and over-analyzed it - NOT that they were in a precarious/unsure situation (not sure if that makes sense).

We are very likely selling our current home and buying a different home in the next year or two, AND I'm starting a 2 year graduate program in the fall, so I'm not planning on beginning the "DVC experience" until 2008 or 2009. So for now, I'm sitting tight, researching, and planning. But it's hard! So I can commiserate. I don't want to miss out!

Tracey

 

[bwvBound]

Confession: I've read only the OP -- and not the follow-on conversation.

My suggestion: For a family of six, timeshare is certainly a great way to go -- but it wouldn't have to be DVC. The general advantages of timeshare include space to stretch out, a full kitchen for meals, laundry facility to ease packing issues, etc. Many of the nearby "off-property" resorts offer 2BR and 3BR units with beautiful grounds, pools and other amenities.

My personal approach would be to consider owning a resort within an easy day's drive from your primary home -- with the idea of exchanging into Orlando area properties or even booking Orlando via rental weeks through the Exchange companies (II/RCI, etc). I'd look for a 2BR or 3BR resale property for under 5k with annual dues under $1200. Then even with exchange costs -- both the outlay and the annual dues are far less than DVC.

If your travel dates are limited (due to school schedules or otherwise) -- then it might be more practical to own directly in Orlando -- but again, look for a resale with reasonable dues.

Bottom line, timeshare might be a given -- but don't stress over making it DVC.

 

[4mygrls]

Many people say this wish they had bought sooner. My wife and I took the DVC tour when they first opened. We just bought one this year, and we have no regrets about waiting.

From a financial point of view, a DVC is an obligation to pay money every year. To enjoy it, you have to pay additional money (transportation, tickets, meals). When we were younger, vacations needed to be a choice. Some years we did it really inexpensivly by staying with relatives, other years we could splurge.

Now we can afford the initial payment without any pain. We have been sitting on the stock we bought it with for 15 years. Back then it would have just covered the cost. We have used the money from this stock for a protion of the downpayment on our house several years ago, the DVC, and we still have money left over. Despite all of the financial calculations about DVC ownership, sometimes you get lucky when you invest other ways.

The reason we bought it was because we tend to put vacations on charge cards and then pay it off in a couple of months after the vacation. This drove me crazy and tended to ruin the vacation for me (and being cranky, I ticked off everyone else). This summer we went on a Disney Cruise and it was paid in full before we left. I had a great time. To me, a DVC is a way of forcing our vacations to be paid for before we go.

So what I am saying is that the right time to buy a DVC is when it makes your financial situation feel better, not when it causes you to feel additional financial stress.

What you say makes alot of sense. Our situation is we have two older teenagers who both have jobs and are willing to help out financially with payments and we have two younger girls. We tend to use our tax return for big vacations every other year or so. Sometimes we go on vacations more often. But they are usually driving distant away. Mostly cuz dh hates to fly. But it costs too much to fly all six of us. This past summer we went to Universal twice. We got the annual passes cuz the deal was so good. I also have a brother who lives in Clearwater so we stayed there too.We stayed onsite at universal. That spoiled us. My biggest concern is the cost of Disney tickets on top of the monthly payments for dvc. We are aproximatly 11 hours away from Disney. We are planning to move to Ocala in a couple of years, so we will be real close to Disney then. We could get annual passes then. I do have a question regaurding points. I read that if you try to purchase under 100 points then Disney is sure to FROR. But the perfect option for us would be to purchase just under 100 or like 75 points. I'm confused about how you can use the points for the disney cruise or other resorts? We wanted to take a cruise for our next big vacation.

 

[Disney-For-Life]

My husband and I did an analysis and determined that if you were:
a) planning to go to Disney (or other worldwide destinations) every year AND
b) planning to stay at a moderate or better
c) planning to stay 7+ days each time
...then it might be worth your while. It doesn't make sense if you stay at the value resports most of the time because it won't save you any money. For us is wasn't about money, but more about making an investment in the quality of our future vacations. We like the higher end venues, and feel good knowing that when we go to England or Japan, we will have a Disney quality experience.

 

[4mygrls]

I tend to echo the previous posts on timing and priorities. I was curious though about your calculations. Just roughly what made up the $2,500/year calculation? Like how many points were you thinking, annual dues, financing, etc. I was just wondering if you were comfortable with how you arrived at that.

HMM, I wonder if I miss calculated something. What do you mean by how did I come up with $2,500 a year. That was monthly payments, including dues. Umm, I don't have the paper in front of me right now to tell you how we did that but I think it was based on 150 points. I'd have to go back and look. What are you thinking when you say are we comfortable with how i arrived at that figure? Did I compute something incorrectly?

 

[mlacreta]

hi there. looks like you already got alot of great advice. being in a sililar situation i though i'd give you a little more! we are also a single income family with 6. I looked into the timeshare and did TONS of math looking into the cost per year even if the dues doubled and came to the conclusion that based on out plan it was a great value. if you like to stay at disney you don't have many options for a family of 6 unless you stay in a villa or 2 rooms elsewhere. we knew we wouldn't want two seperate rooms and the kitchen and living space are a big plus! We bought in at 150 pts. figuring we will go every three years to keep it magical for the kids. we may even get more points after enjoying our first vaca this year so much! (we stayed two weeks between okw and bcv.) if you do decide to buy and go every so often using banked points just make sure you buy one year ahead so you're all set! Goodluck with your decision!

 

[starbox]

One reason we hesitated a few years before buying was that I realized that the monthly payments were do-able, but there would not be extra $$ in our budget to save for the huge expenses of tickets/meals/travel/etc.

A few years later, our financial situation changed so that it was possible to spend the money on DVC and still have the disposable income for all the non-lodging vacation expenses. We bought into DVC and are thrilled with our purchase.

Do I regret not buying sooner? No way. It would have been too stressful to feel obligated to take the family on vacations and buy park tickets and meals that we could not always afford. For 2,500 a year, I could have gotten a very nice hotel or condo deal off TravelZoo or Priceline (or even a MYW Disney package) and still had plenty of money for meals and entertainment/park tickets - which is just what we did for the years before we became members.

 

[rkdahl]

HMM, I wonder if I miss calculated something. What do you mean by how did I come up with $2,500 a year. That was monthly payments, including dues. Umm, I don't have the paper in front of me right now to tell you how we did that but I think it was based on 150 points. I'd have to go back and look. What are you thinking when you say are we comfortable with how i arrived at that figure? Did I compute something incorrectly?

I was just curious how you got to $2,500/year for your annual cost. So I was wondering how many points you were looking at in total, sounds like 150. So the dues on that would be approx $600/year in 2006. And I was curious what the other $1,900 was for. Maybe it was paying some money down and financing the remainder of the DVC purchase via a loan? So that $1,900 is your monthly payments for xx number of years to pay off the loan? Plus the $600 in dues.

For example, if you paid cash or did not in fact finance any of the 150 points you would only have the $600 annually. Or if you made a larger down payment your loan and payments would be less of course, and once your loan is paid off that would go away and you'd just have dues. So it couldn't be $2,500 forever. (and of course the dues increase annual some which you have to consider).

Just wanted to make sure you weren't confused by the point system and annual dues cost vs the cost of financing a real estate purchase for xx years. There's no way your cost would be $2,500 forever for 150 points. That's why I was perplexed.

And to answer your cruise question. You can use your DVC points to stay at your home DVC resort, the Disney property hotels, other time share exchanges for a week, cruises, and other things. Each 'thing' costs so many points so you just 'use' them just like you would staying at a DVC property. A cruise may cost (just throwing a number out) like 200 points/person. So to go on that cruise for 2 people would be 400 points. Theres charts you look at to tell you what everything uses for points per night or per cruise, etc.