Interested in DVC, need advice.

[z28wiz]

I have one question are you buying resale or direct. I see you are purchasing over 200 points, so I assume resale which will really save you a ton of money. But if you are going direct your guide can secure the reservation for you, as long as you are a first time buyer even if it shows no availability.

I could have given more details, but I didnt want to rant too much. I have two siblings that dont have much money. My parents are retired and dont spend anything. And my financial situation is secure.

My parents are paying for the entire vacation for everyone in our family. Their original plan was to just pay for the whole family to do a Disney cruise. When looking at departure and return dates we saw that it would be possible to squeeze a 5 night WDW trip in with the kids only missing a single week of school. My parents were aware that my wife and I were planning on getting a time share, at which point I offered to use a good chunk of our points to accommodate everyone at my annual dues cost, which would be around $5. For my parents to be able to manage the entire cost of this trip, the time share is essential. You would think my siblings and I would buck up money to make this all possible, but I will spare you my family drama .

I talked to my wife since creating this thread and we both appreciate the advice given. We were both more than happy to stay at Saratoga Springs, we just got our hopes up to be near the Magic Kingdom for our first couple visits.

To address some people's comments...

1.) We don't require a loan for our time share purchase, and after doing the math, also came to the conclusion that it would be possible to recoup our upfront cost in 7-10 years.

2.) My wife and I booked our last two trips from deals we found on a certain travel website(Dont want to violate any rules). For example we went to China for 7 nights, airfare/hotel/breakfast included for $799 a person. Ever since then we pretty much won't take a vacation outside of deals we find from there. So for that reason, my wife really wants to get a DVC membership. She doesn't think we will ever travel to Disney without it since we kind of became vacation deal hunters.

3.) If friends or family bailed on a disney trip, it wouldnt matter to us. We have already come to terms with the fact that 200 points is a bit on the high end for our family. If that means were are staying in a nicer room by ourselves, we'll survive ;-). I think our biggest problem is trying to figure out WHO is coming on the trip with us, not IF we can find someone.

I guess my concerns at this point are...

1.) Clearly a deluxe studio is the best bang for your point deal. With a 2 year old daughter and a 2 month old son... eventually they are going to get older. At what age do they loathe the idea of sharing a fold out couch? A 1 bedroom villa doesnt solve the problem and forces a 2 bedroom villa. But a lot of the savings goes out the door. But at that time I might have recouped my initial investment and its not something to worry about.

2.) We decided on a 200 point plan so we could take friends/family with us on trips. It also is enough points to get 2 rooms for 2 weeks in hawaii if we save/borrow all points from a 3 year span. But when bringing friends along for trips, what exactly do you charge them? My gut reaction is to charge them my annual dues. But then the reality sets in that I am buying a timeshare that my friends and family are taking much more advantage of than me. Maybe I sell them for 8 points... then I feel like I am taking advantage of them(even though mathematically I am not)... gah.

2 questions...

1.) I spoke to a DVC real estate agent, and no matter how many times it was explained, I was left confused. I know I can bank points and use them for 1 calendar year after the use year is up. And during that year I can also borrow points from the upcoming year. For example... if I have all 200 points from 2014, I could borrow my 200 points from 2016 and take a 600 point vacation in 2015. Assuming that is all correct, my agent made it seem like if I ever had to cancel or reschedule a vacation... banked/borrowed points are lost. I am not sure if she meant that the points were lost because I would run out of time to re-book with them. Or the points would be lost because of a Disney policy that banked/borrowed points are always lost on a cancellation. I couldnt find anything about it.

2.) Assuming I got 100 points from Saratoga and 100 points from the Grand Floridian... I wanted to book a 125 point week long stay at the Grand Floridian 11 months out. Would I be able to use 25 points from Saratoga to make this happen? Or would I have to book say... 5 days, then wait for the 7 month period to add 2 more?

 

[disneynutz]

I got the same thing from that.

Do rent. Find out what this is like as close to "owning" as you can.

Why rent when they can buy and sell SSR for almost the cost of a rental?

Owning SSR will give them the opportunity to experience DVC as a true owner. If things don't work out they can sell. If DVC works for them they can buy additional points at their favorite resort(s) or sell SSR and buy their favorite.

Bill

 

[z28wiz]

And another add on is the passholder discount we receive right now. That can go away but its been around for years so far. Also the tiw discount plus other discounts at shops and food. Those discounts alone will make the cost of buying right now worth it as well.

Why rent when they can buy and sell SSR for almost the cost of a rental?

Owning SSR will give them the opportunity to experience DVC as a true owner. If things don't work out they can sell. If DVC works for them they can buy additional points at their favorite resort(s) or sell SSR and buy their favorite.

Bill

 

[judydvc]

For this large family trip to work moneywise, it would require for us to purchase a 200 or so DVC membership and sell points to my family at a rate of $5 a point. Renting points from other members would probably end up costing $10+ a point, and then this trip would probably end up being too costly for them.

HA! My family expects to go for free. When I've rented points to friends/ co-workers then I charged around $5 a point to cover the maintaince fee. That's usually a deal for them and makes me feel like Oprah giving away (or almost) a trip!

 

[MadHookUp]

728wiz - I am doing resale

Bill(disneynutz) - I am kind of thinking along the same lines as you. If for some reason it doesn't work out, I could just resell it. Looking at DVCs over the last couple months, it doesn't appear to be hard to unload Saratoga points.

I think I have been putting too much emphasis into this 2015 family vacation and it rushing me into a decision. We have been talking about getting a DVC membership for months and the hardest part was deciding the points and location. It wasnt until I offered to use the points for my whole families vacation, and the fact our travel times were the busiest 2 weeks of the year that a wrench was thrown into our plans and left me questioning everything. Even if this family vacation wasnt going to happen, my wife and I were still planning a disney vacation in December of 2015 and wanted to get a membership before hand. I was concerned that staying at Saratoga was going to result in 45 minute bus rides to everywhere, but it appears that it is usually in the 25-30 minute range which is great imo.

 

[judydvc]

My advise would be to NOT purchase DVC in order to "sponsor" family trips. DVC is an expensive timeshare, especially if you do not visit Disney as often as you thought you were. Do NOT purchase DVC for your children, purchase it for yourself and share it with them. If you get a two bedroom and family starts dropping off before the trip you are stuck. Banking and borrowing points comes with rules. The safest bet is to rent or stay offsite in this situation. I hope this does not come across as harsh---maybe the family you want to take cannot afford to go to Disney--meaning, meals, tickets and souvenirs as well as travel. It might put undue pressure on them to participate when they really can't and don't know how to tell you. As an aside we love our DVC and have found it worth every penny. We do not have children and can go when we want. We do not plan on canceling DVC reservations (there are rules here too) and can pick our vacation 11 months in advance. Disney is really the only vacation spot for us so that is where we choose to spend our money. You are still a young family with very young children and have oodles of time to make this decision without the "pressure" of family. We do take my parents and MIL in alternating years....I would never think of charging them for lodging. They purchase their own tickets, tansportation and food.

You are right. There us a difference between sponsoring trips and sharing vacations. And the meals, park tickets and other things really add up.

 

[disneynutz]

728wiz - I am doing resale

Bill(disneynutz) - I am kind of thinking along the same lines as you. If for some reason it doesn't work out, I could just resell it. Looking at DVCs over the last couple months, it doesn't appear to be hard to unload Saratoga points.

I think I have been putting too much emphasis into this 2015 family vacation and it rushing me into a decision. We have been talking about getting a DVC membership for months and the hardest part was deciding the points and location. It wasnt until I offered to use the points for my whole families vacation, and the fact our travel times were the busiest 2 weeks of the year that a wrench was thrown into our plans and left me questioning everything. Even if this family vacation wasnt going to happen, my wife and I were still planning a disney vacation in December of 2015 and wanted to get a membership before hand. I was concerned that staying at Saratoga was going to result in 45 minute bus rides to everywhere, but it appears that it is usually in the 25-30 minute range which is great imo.

You will wait 90 minutes to do a 6 minute attraction or 30 minutes for MS to answer the phone and you are worried about a bus ride?

DVC is a different animal, and you will read conflicting post on pretty much everything here on the DIS. The only way to learn about owning a DVC contract is to buy one, the only way to decide on your favorite resorts is to stay there.

Good luck and have fun.

Bill

 

[crisi]

Why rent when they can buy and sell SSR for almost the cost of a rental?

Owning SSR will give them the opportunity to experience DVC as a true owner. If things don't work out they can sell. If DVC works for them they can buy additional points at their favorite resort(s) or sell SSR and buy their favorite.

Bill

Because buying will tie up a lot of cash, and if they determine DVC isn't for them, they will be out the $1000 in dues, plus the $1000 in commission, plus closing costs, functionally making the rental a better deal. And that's assuming that nothing horrible like a recession happens that drives the cost of DVC down and they can get close to the same price they buy for this year. Nor does it account for tying up $10,000 for a year, nor their time in buying.

I've said this before, but we saw a lot of people loose their shirts in 2009 and 2010, my own advice was conservative before, and has gotten much more conservative as a result.

 

[nalajms]

I've said this before, but we saw a lot of people loose their shirts in 2009 and 2010, my own advice was conservative before, and has gotten much more conservative as a result.

And 2011 and 2012...that's when we started adding on

OP - I hope you've researched that there's other options, such as getting a transfer, so that you don't have to lock yourself into 200pt each year and try to get others to go in with you on the trips.

 

[MadHookUp]

And 2011 and 2012...that's when we started adding on

OP - I hope you've researched that there's other options, such as getting a transfer, so that you don't have to lock yourself into 200pt each year and try to get others to go in with you on the trips.

I am aware of all that stuff. We would either sell the points or bank them.

 

[disneynutz]

Because buying will tie up a lot of cash, and if they determine DVC isn't for them, they will be out the $1000 in dues, plus the $1000 in commission, plus closing costs, functionally making the rental a better deal. And that's assuming that nothing horrible like a recession happens that drives the cost of DVC down and they can get close to the same price they buy for this year. Nor does it account for tying up $10,000 for a year, nor their time in buying.

I've said this before, but we saw a lot of people loose their shirts in 2009 and 2010, my own advice was conservative before, and has gotten much more conservative as a result.

Lets agree to disagree.

I don't see them being out anything because they will be able to use their points for their vacation instead of renting someone else's points. If they don't have the cash, how are they thinking about buying?

Bill

 

[ToddyLu]

It takes us 20 minutes to get to MK from AKV. We always plan 90 minutes if we are transferring resort to resort. In Nov it took me almost 90 minutes to get to GFV from AKV. DVC does not save or take more time than any other resort. But we love and are happy with Disney transportation 95% of the time.

It is so good that you are taking the time to read and learn here. Do it for another 6 months at least, rent your points for 2015 and then pick the resort you love. No DVC cost up front, you get the DVC experience and you get to look around to see if you like the vibe of the resort you choose. Every one can pitch ( the families involved) $5 you get the $15 you need to rent from David's ( sponsor of the board)...badda bing you are still the Disney guru/hero.

We stayed one night at BLT 10/31/13 and will never stay there again. Location was great, room was clean, had great view of lake and MK. But when we pulled up to check in, there was no life or vegetation or personality. I would have felt horrible to have spent all that money --kinda sight unseen and then on some level been disappointed. We we checked in to AKV the following day it was wonderful and like home. Believe me the resort CAN make a difference.

My best advice is to stay on here and read, read, read, read...ask a few questions and read some more. You will enjoy your ownership more.

 

[Dean]

Why rent when they can buy and sell SSR for almost the cost of a rental?

Owning SSR will give them the opportunity to experience DVC as a true owner. If things don't work out they can sell. If DVC works for them they can buy additional points at their favorite resort(s) or sell SSR and buy their favorite.

Bill

A bad idea IMO for someone just getting their feet wet. Too much risk and likely to be more costly than a given rental. Now if someone has done all they can do and pretty much made up their mind with real information, this approach is not nearly as bad. For someone to just jump in and buy as a way of seeing if DVC is for them, bad, bad idea. On top of that, as you've seen me say before, I feel DVC is still at a temporary high and is overpriced on resales as well as retail. Obviously personal situation has a lot to do with how bad this approach is. For someone who can spend the money in cash and not miss it, it's still bad but not nearly as risky. One has to approach this type of purchase from the standpoint that if it's worth zero tomorrow, I'll still be OK. That also means no financing and no consumer debt.

 

[disneynutz]

A bad idea IMO for someone just getting their feet wet. Too much risk and likely to be more costly than a given rental. Now if someone has done all they can do and pretty much made up their mind with real information, this approach is not nearly as bad. For someone to just jump in and buy as a way of seeing if DVC is for them, bad, bad idea. On top of that, as you've seen me say before, I feel DVC is still at a temporary high and is overpriced on resales as well as retail. Obviously personal situation has a lot to do with how bad this approach is. For someone who can spend the money in cash and not miss it, it's still bad but not nearly as risky. One has to approach this type of purchase from the standpoint that if it's worth zero tomorrow, I'll still be OK. That also means no financing and no consumer debt.

I agree to a point but I hate to see someone spend $2000 to $3000 on a rental when that money could go towards their purchase, especially if they will be renting more than once.

Bill

 

[Dean]

I agree to a point but I hate to see someone spend $2000 to $3000 on a rental when that money could go towards their purchase, especially if they will be renting more than once.

Bill

The difference isn't the full $2-3K. Assuming they waited a year and rented once, it be the rental price adjusted for a year of dues as well as adjusted downward for the year closer to the RTU. Even if they rented and bought the same day, the rental price isn't a sunk cost because either they'd have extra points or they could buy a slightly smaller contract. And waiting, being educated, taking more time on the contract; they'll likely get a better valued contract which can be a full years worth of value by itself. Ultimately the only "savings" by buying up front rather than renting is the difference between the rental price and the true cost of buy in for that # of points (due plus buy in including the TMV). Plus one is likely to spend more than that different rushing to buy in to take a trip. To relate this to a similar discussion on the boards lately, for one who wants to stay at VGF every 4 to 5 years, buying something cheaper like SSR with enough points to cover non VGF stays and renting for VGF is cheaper than buying everything there and using those points for other options.

When you consider the variables, psychology and the math, I think ultimately waiting both ensures better decisions AND saves money in the long term and possibly in the short term as well. Obviously there are variables that one can't necessarily anticipate such as a major price change up or down. While I know there are those that post they should have bought sooner than later, making a bad purchase is a LOT worse than having not bought when DVC was the perfect choice.

 

[diznyfan4life]

I am not asking too many direct questions. Just laying out my situation to see if anyone can offer some advice. I love the forum, and its been very helpful for me. My wife and I have a 2 year old, and a 2 month old. And we decided that we were interested in getting a DVC membership. Neither of us have visited Disney much in our lives, so our knowledge is limited. My family always went to Disney the first 2 weeks of December due to the Christmas Decorations and small crowds. Saratoga Springs appeared to be the best "bang for your buck" membership. We were thinking about getting a 200-250 point membership and travel to disney every other year and take some friends/family with us. I figured that the "home resort" was irrelevant due to us going on what I thought was considered a down time of the year. But due to "drusba" post from another thread, I learned its actually the highest demand week there is... At the same time my entire family of 13 planned(not booked) out a disney trip in 2015. Where we would spend 5 nights from December 4th-9th, using the DVC membership we get at a WDW resort. Then take a 4 day disney cruise out of Miami. We were hoping to use our SSR points and stay somewhere near the Magic Kingdom like Baylike or Wilderness Lodge. This now seems impossible for this trip. Assuming my family is absolutely going to Disney during the first 2 weeks of December for years to come, I have a couple options. 1.) Home Resort becomes much more important. And I now have to try and figure out which one I like best without actually getting to see them. Which seems scary to me for a 15k+ purchase. 2.) Accept the fact that unless I get lucky, I will be staying at Saratoga more often than not. 3.) Change the dates that we like to travel to late January/Early Feb. If anyone has any tips or suggestions for my situation, I would appreciate it. For the family trip of 2015 to even be economically possible, it requires my wife and I to purchase a DVC membership and charge $5 a point to my other family members for their rooms. So there is quite a bit of pressure on me at the moment.

I would suggest looking for deals on hotels or even doing a vacation package. I think it's great to consider doing a large family vacation, but if your thoughts are to buy DVC based on providing lodging for your family, DVC is not the way to go. Like other people have posted, DVC is a 49 year commitment. Even if you pay your contract off up front, you still will have the annual dues every year or you have the choice to pay them monthly. Either way they don't go away and they do go up every year. Also, you will have to keep track of your points and bank them within the required time frame if you don't use them every year. Also, if you don't buy into the specific resort you want, you don't have a great chance of getting the time frame your looking to take your vacation. The popular resorts book up very quickly and normally the members book their home resorts within that 11 month window. So if you buy into SSR and want to stay at BLT or WL, it's very hard to get consecutive days unless you can be extremely flexible with your travel dates. I'm not saying it's impossible but it very difficult. There is just a lot to consider when it comes to buying DVC or any timeshare. I personally would spent more time deciding if you will go every year or every other year and what you would be using your points for. As well as the investment. Good luck in your decision making!

 

[Dean]

The difference isn't the full $2-3K. Assuming they waited a year and rented once, it be the rental price adjusted for a year of dues as well as adjusted downward for the year closer to the RTU. Even if they rented and bought the same day, the rental price isn't a sunk cost because either they'd have extra points or they could buy a slightly smaller contract. And waiting, being educated, taking more time on the contract; they'll likely get a better valued contract which can be a full years worth of value by itself. Ultimately the only "savings" by buying up front rather than renting is the difference between the rental price and the true cost of buy in for that # of points (due plus buy in including the TMV). Plus one is likely to spend more than that different rushing to buy in to take a trip. To relate this to a similar discussion on the boards lately, for one who wants to stay at VGF every 4 to 5 years, buying something cheaper like SSR with enough points to cover non VGF stays and renting for VGF is cheaper than buying everything there and using those points for other options.

When you consider the variables, psychology and the math, I think ultimately waiting both ensures better decisions AND saves money in the long term and possibly in the short term as well. Obviously there are variables that one can't necessarily anticipate such as a major price change up or down. While I know there are those that post they should have bought sooner than later, making a bad purchase is a LOT worse than having not bought when DVC was the perfect choice.

I wrote this as a comparison of buy now vs rent, get better educated and possibly buy later. I would like to add that IF it helps one make a better choice, the savings can be tremendous, maybe tens of thousands of dollars in some cases. Maybe one ends up buying SSR at $60 pp rather than VGF at $165 or maybe they figure out they hate SSR and never want stay there, etc.