If you were to do it again

[Kadorto]

I'm considering buying into DVC. If you had the chance to start over what would you do different before you purchased? Looking for "if I'd only known" type of reponses.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Patty3]

I think you are going to find alot of, " I should have bought earlier". If I only knew how much enjoyment my family has from this ownership, I would have bought years ago and saved myself quite a bit of money on those points!

 

[JimC]

Bought ten years sooner!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bracho]

I'll go with JimC on this one.... 10 years sooner!! and I would buy 2 contracts of equal point size instead of just one large one.

 

[Simba's Mom]

If only I'd known that there's such a thing as resale, that all of the DVC resorts are available through one or the other method, just some more easily than others, we might have bought at a different resort. Or at least known it was an option, rather than thinking we "had" to buy what was available through Disney only.

 

[Niagara2]

I would of bought 4 years earlier and been one of the first!!!

 

[RuthnPaul]

Ditto to what every one else is saying! We first checked into DVC 10 years ago but always found a reason not to buy -- since then, we've ended up at WDW almost every year, staying at deluxe resorts! Could have paid for one of our contracts with what we've spent...

 

[WDWguruDH]

Wish we would have done different:
Bought earlier. We had looked, but thought TimeShare!

Things we did by mistake, but are glad we did - wish we knew to do it:
1) Bought multiple contracts. We bought multiple smaller contracts rather than one big one. Multiple home resorts, multiple booking windows, etc.
2) Multiple contracts with same use year. With multiple contracts, it is just easier to have all the points on the same schedule.

 

[helenabear]

Only that I would have done it a lot sooner!! Could have saved myself some money with trips and I could have gone more often!

 

[DVCGirl49]

If we re-did it again, we would buy 250 pts @ OKW thru a resale, and not waited around as the prices went up. We didn't really know about resales or the disboards before we bought so we went with VWL thru Disney b/c that was all they were selling as new contracts at the time.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

If I had to do it over, I would have split my first contract into two or three smaller ones.
Other than that, all is happy on the 'ole DVC front!

MG

 

[DebbieB]

I would have split my 250 points into 2 contracts - 150 and 100. That way if I'm not going as often or need to sell, I could just sell one and keep one.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Yep, we would have bought back in 1992 when we first heard about DVC! Instead we waited until '97! The other thing we "did wrong" was not buy enough points right away. We started out with the smallest possible contract (230 points), and knew almost immediately that we needed more. We added another 150 the next year. As it turned out, that was probably for the best though, because having two smaller contracts is easier for resale or leaving to our kids.

 

[WDWLVR]

While I wish we would have bought sooner I know it wasn't an option. I am very happy with our home which is Boardwalk which we bought when it was new. If we had bought earlier we would have been at OKW and while many love it we found it just isn't for us. It would have been great to buy at a lower price point and when they still had free tickets, but oh well!

I like the idea of smaller contracts in case we need to sell, but I hope and pray that never has to happen.

 

[MJTinNH]

Another vote for earlier purchase. I also would have gone for 300 points rather than 200!!

 

[Pa@okw95]

I bought in 95, if I had known they did not require an income of millions per year I would have bought in 91--HOWEVER that was 95 in 2004 I would not go near them. What has happened to WDW since 95 would turn me off to buying today. It is still a great place for me to run to in the winter.

 

[lisareniff]

Well I can't say I should have bought sooner, because we bought before we took our family to WDW for the first time!! We were very daring! I just couldn't see spending all that money on a hotel room then buy into DVC. Also we really wanted more than one room. It was really big money at Disney! I'm so glad DVC met or exceeded our long distance expectations!!

The only thing I would have done differently....
two smaller contracts instead of one 300pt contract. But we have no plan to sell.

Things that worked out well but wish I had know....
1- That you had a choice of UY with Disney. It turned out Oct. is great for us.
2- Realized how easy resale was. I might have considered BWV (GV's, SV) or OKW (GV's) more. BCV was a great choice for us, love the look and location and was so easy to buy from Disney.(I had to strike while DH said yes!)

 

[mickeymouse710]

The only thing I would have done differently is bought more pts right from the start, instead of adding on at the higher prices. But even that has worked out well because the multiple contracts can be sold seperately or split between the kids.

 

[Cruelladeville]

I would have bought sooner, too. We toured OKW in 1992, but I refused to even consider it until 1997, despite what DH said to convince me. I needed time to let it all sink in, I guess. So I bought 170 pts at BWV and had to add another 150 by the end of the year. I have 600 pts now, which is almost enough, but they are all at BWV, which I would not do again, since I only have the 11 month window at one resort.

I would have bought resale sooner. I really thought the process was much more difficult than it turned out to be, the Timeshare Store handled one sale, so I learned how it had to be done, and did the last one as a private sale.

I would have planned better, so that my contracts were at BWV, OKW, and either HH or Vero. I never thought I would need/want to stay in a grand villa, but I do, and a grand villa is too expensive at BWV compared to the other resorts.

 

[rocketriter]

I would have bought more points, probably a total of 300 or so. I wouldn't have bought more than a year or two earlier, however, since we really prefer staying in the Epcot/MGM nexus and those points weren't available in the 90's.