I can't make up my mind

[JCTigger]

Hi everyone! I am planning on purchasing (or hoping to) DVC on/before/slightly after my 27th birthday next march... I would actually like to purchase before hand since I have 2 trips already planned for this year and possibly a third..I went down 4 times last year I would be dumb not to go with DVC... I would mostly be getting studios but the thing is I dont really need the kitchen or any of the other things that come with them it would usually just be me going down so is it really worth it? I generally stay at the value resorts...I'm usually just there to sleep....

I'm not very well off fiancially (im a teacher) I've been looking at the resales but doesnt disney have the choice not to sell it? If that happens then what happens? Is that just with resales or can they do that with new sales as well? What would be the best avenue... With the resales I like the fact that you can find them for sale under 10k which would be perfect for me.
Also I have less then perfect credit (bad choices I made while in college) how hard it is to get a loan? What is generally the down payment needed, or other payments needed before you can close the loan?
Any suggestions/hints would be AWESOME!


TTYA!
Jill

Update: Since a friend of mine is a DVC member (except we kinda aren't friends any more long story) I just got an email from DVC about a 500 dollar disney gc which could be my new annual pass but that of course would mean I would have to buy a new time share and that at the DAK lodge which I dont really like but its not like I HAVE to stay there... I hate making decisions.....

 

[Laxmom]

This is how I understand it. We are just starting the buying process. Disney has ROFR on all resale contracts. If they decided the price is too low, they buy the points. End of story. The contracts that they sell are at a set price. Sometimes as much as $25 more per point, from what I have read.

We are not financing. Instead we have opted to save the money, buy resale and pay cash. Then save up and do it again until we have the desired points. The contract we are looking at requires $100 down and the balance at closing. Buying resale, you will have higher closing costs than if you purchased from Disney direct. Disney has lower closing costs in general for your initial master contract. That is something you will have to include in your price per point to determine which is better for you.

I have heard of people using home equity lines or getting cash advance on 0% credit cards to purchase points. If you use the Disney Chase card and buy from DVC, I beleive you get 6 months no interest. I have read that Disney does not show up on your credit report if you finance directly from them.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your purchase. This is a great place to learn.

Added - you can only buy a minimum of 160 points from DVC directly. Resale you can buy as few as 25.

 

[Laxmom]

I read you also get double developer points with that because there won't be occupancy there until sometime in 2009. That is a limited time offer. I read it somewhere on the boards today. I am not sure when it expires.

 

[Donald is #1]

Hi everyone! I am planning on purchasing (or hoping to) DVC on/before/slightly after my 27th birthday next march... I would actually like to purchase before hand since I have 2 trips already planned for this year and possibly a third..I went down 4 times last year I would be dumb not to go with DVC... I would mostly be getting studios but the thing is I dont really need the kitchen or any of the other things that come with them it would usually just be me going down so is it really worth it? I generally stay at the value resorts...I'm usually just there to sleep....

If I were you, I would run the numbers on DVC versus your normal WDW vacations. If you are staying at a value resort, then I think that DVC may actually cost you more than the value resorts. My analysis showed that it will take me 5-7 years to recoup my investment when I compared the costs to the WL & AKL which was where my last 2 vacations were. If you are not trying to save money but instead to upgrade your vacation then great! I actually killed my break-even analysis this year when I decided to add enough points to stay in a 1 bedroom even when I am by myself.

I'm not very well off fiancially (im a teacher) I've been looking at the resales but doesnt disney have the choice not to sell it? If that happens then what happens? Is that just with resales or can they do that with new sales as well? What would be the best avenue... With the resales I like the fact that you can find them for sale under 10k which would be perfect for me.

I would be real careful running the numbers to make sure that you understand the costs. if you buy resale, in addition to the costs of the points, there will be a closing cost and depending on the resale company there may be an additional fee. If you are buying through Disney, then there will also be a closing cost (it was in the $200-$300 dollar range for me). Also no matter where you buy, there will be maintainance fees each year. These amount of these fees per point vary by resort.

Now on the resale end, once your offer is accepted, Disney has the right to buy the contract at the price you offered. This is called ROFR. If Disney decides to to buy the contract, then they pay the seller and you have to look for another contract. Also, pay attention to the points available in the contract. You can find resale contracts that have all of their '07, '08, and '09 points gone. On the positive side, through resale, you can buy smaller contracts and the cost per point is less.

If you buy through Disney, then the price per point is fixed. You can not negotiate. Also, you have to buy 160 points minimum. On the positive side, this route is much quicker, there is no ROFR, and you get all of you points for the current use year. There is one caveat to this: The recent AKV posts that I have seen this week indicate that Disney is selling points in Kidani and these points are not available to use until some time next year.

Also I have less then perfect credit (bad choices I made while in college) how hard it is to get a loan? What is generally the down payment needed, or other payments needed before you can close the loan?

I can't help you too much on these questions. I know that if you buy throough Disney, they require 10% down at a minimum and if your credit isn't good, they may require a larger down payment.


Hope this helps and good luck with your decision.

 

[JCTigger]

Currently can you only purchase at DAK? I would LOVE LOVE LOVE WL as a home base (that is my favorite resort out of any of them) I wouldnt really even mind SSR as a home base.... From what I understand it would be a very long time before they start to sell the new CR towers?

Thank you

 

[Donald is #1]

Currently can you only purchase at DAK? I would LOVE LOVE LOVE WL as a home base (that is my favorite resort out of any of them) I wouldnt really even mind SSR as a home base.... From what I understand it would be a very long time before they start to sell the new CR towers?

Thank you

When buying from Disney, they are currently promoting SSR and AKV. However, they do have the other resorts available for the most part. It just depends upon how many points you are looking for and the resort. These are points that they bought in the ROFR process.

 

[Laxmom]

There are resale contracts available both through resellers and DVC. VWL is the smallest of the DVC resorts so there may be less availability of contracts out there.

 

[Arthur27]

The way I see it it may cost you a little more with DVC. However you'll be staying at nicer resorts with lots of upgrades compared to places like All Star. Heck, the airport service I think would be worth its weight in gold.

 

[4Pluto]

You may be able to purchase points from Disney with VWL as your home resort, or you may be qualified for various incentives for purchasing SSR or AKV from Disney, but the minimum points are 160 so you can't do either under $10,000.

If your means are modest and your needs are also modest, I'd start with a small resale contract that you can easily afford. Get a feel for how far the points go and how easy/difficult it is to pay the maintenance fees.

For example, buy a 25 point contract at OKW. Use the member perk to purchase an annual pass. Use your points for weekday studio reservations and then use the annual pass or other Disney incentives for weekend stays (they burn alot of points compared to paying cash). As an owner, you can purchase more points on resale, or do "add ons" through Disney for as little as 25 points (or 50 points with financing), at the higher Disney cost but with lower closing costs.

In addition, the smaller contracts are easier to sell if you run into unexpected trouble.

Just a thought.

 

[Laxmom]

4Pluto, that leads me to a question. If you buy a small resale contract and are then members, can you then purchase any number of points from Disney or do you still have to buy a 160 pt contract? I think I knew the answer to this at one point but I seemed to have brain dumped it.

One more note on the small contracts, if you find one that works for you, jump on it. The smaller ones go faster than the larger, more expensive ones for the reasons that 4Pluto mentioned.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

honestly, I think you would NOT benefit from DVC. You said you were a teacher, so you would be going down peak times, and mostly using weekends? Friday and Saturday nights are peak points, if you could travel Sundays - Fridays, then you can save. But with the specials they run, I think your better off doing it the way your doing it now, plus you have much more flexibility.

Now if I'm wrong - then go for it. What I don't like about DVC is we had much more flexibilty before buying, but I do like the savings when we can plan, we almost always stay in a 2 bedroom unit for the 4 of us, sure its a waste of points, but we like our space. We didn't plan well last year and decided a month out we wanted to go to WDW for New Years. Had a HOTEL ROOM (OMG!!!) at the Contemporary, would never ever do that again. We have become so spoiled as a family have all the space, kitchen, laundry, extra bathroom, etc!!!

A good thing to do is take your last 4 trips, go back and figure out how many points you would have used, compare them to say SSR and also BW, BC and VWL, just to see exactly how many points you could possibly use a year. Then compare them to how much your trips cost?

 

[crisi]

A good thing to do is take your last 4 trips, go back and figure out how many points you would have used, compare them to say SSR and also BW, BC and VWL, just to see exactly how many points you could possibly use a year. Then compare them to how much your trips cost?

This is really excellent advice.

For MOST of us, DVC doesn't save us money. IF you were staying in Deluxes pre DVC and stick to DVC studios, you can save money. IF you were staying in moderates and stick to DVC studios you can save money if you are disciplined. Most of us don't end up that disciplined. We take an extra trip. We add on points. We end up with extra points and treat a friend to a room. We discover one bedrooms are so much nicer than studios and don't go back. We find that the AP is such a great deal, and then having the AP, squeeze in a cash trip to make use of the AP. We have good intentions about cooking in the room, and find out we really don't do it as much as we wanted. We get in "use it or lose it" situation with points and squeeze in a trip that had we been paying cash, we wouldn't have bothered taking. DVC becomes a more efficient way for Disney to suck money out of our pockets - which doesn't mean many of us - quite aware that that is what is happening - don't still find it a good value. But you seem to have "save money" concerns.

 

[Grandbuddy]

Hi everyone! I am planning on purchasing (or hoping to) DVC on/before/slightly after my 27th birthday next march. I would mostly be getting studios but the thing is

I dont really need the kitchen or any of the other things that come with them it would usually just be me going down so is it really worth it? I generally stay at the value resorts...I'm usually just there to sleep....

I'm not very well off fiancially (im a teacher)

Jill. If you are comfortable at a value resort, and spend very little time in your room, I wonder if DVC would be a good investment for you. I agree with those who note that membership tends to make you spend MORE money, as you feel (rightly so) that you are "saving" on your accommodations. You will not be saving over staying in a value resort, though - and there are some "package" savings with the value resort packages that might save you more than DVC would. (You can't package your tickets and accommodations for savings with DVC - just get a discount on an annual pass, which is only a savings if you are going to be at DW an awful lot within a one calendar year period.) Magical Express (Airport to resort transportation) is available as part of the packages for the value resorts - not just to DVC members. All that said, I am in the process of buying DVC, because I have extended family, including grandchildren, who will benefit - and though we happily stayed in a value resort in December, and will again in April, we were not "comfortable" in a value (3 rooms) with the number of people we had. With small grandchildren, we need a kitchen and a washer and dryer.
And, if I had to take out a loan to do this, I would not do it. I'm kinda old, and my kids finished college long enough ago that I have recovered.

 

[Lynne M]

You've gotten some great advice here.

IMO, DVC is a great value for me. It may not be for you. As a teacher, you're going to be forced to go at peak times, when point costs are high. So, it's very important for you to study the point charts and think about when you'll be using your points. Weekend stays? Major holidays? Those will all require more points (in the case of weekends, nearly double the points), and will effectively decrease the value you'll be getting out of your membership.

The bottom line is that DVC is NOT a way to vacation inexpensively; it's not the cheapest way to stay at WDW. Over time, it will almost certainly cost more than staying in value resorts. Personally, I think it's best viewed as a way to pre-pay for upgraded resort accommodations.

 

[JCTigger]

This was a lot of really good advice. The great thing about my job is I work at a private special education school that goes year round so staff gets actual vacation time to take because school vacation vary through the year...
I was giving this some thought today and I may go down for a week or long weekend on a solo trip (usually this is how i vacation its SOOOO relaxing) and rent points and see how much of the studio I actually use. I generally ship down like a case of water and snackish stuff I dont see myself coming back to make supper for myself because it takes away time in the parks and all....

I thank everyone for all thier insight! I'll give it some more thought and see where I stand...

Thanks again!!!
Jill

 

[Grandbuddy]

I'm sorry you recently lost your stepdad. And may God bless and keep your brother, Jeff.