Investment Question...Kind of

[nunzia]

Let me start off by saying that I am not in any way looking at DVC for anything more than pre paid vacation time and my desire to be a part of the DVC becuase of my life long love of Disney and knowing full well I will vacation at Disney properties forever.
But...15 years ago, when DVC began, what was the price per points compared to now and all the years in between. If you had bought OKW, how much would the minimum have cost (was there a different minimum?)
So, say you had bought in at the beginning, then decided to sale now at, say, 75.00 a point. Would you have come out ahead considering only your initial investment?
And I don't mean compared to what you could have made by investing elsewhere..blahblah..just apples to apples.
I know this isn't marketed any way as an investment, but has it turned out that way for those who got in early?
Just curious.

 

[DVC Mike]

OKW pre-sales started at $48, and then moved to $51 at opening. That's much less than the $96 today.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Well it's kind of hard to ignore how I might have invested the money elsewhere, but I believe we bought BWV in 98 at $64. I haven't looked lately, but I think BWV was going for around $85 the last time I did look.

So... could I recoup that initial purchase, of course. I have been paying monthly so I also have interest to include, but I still would recoup the initial cost. That is for now. As the years tick off, at some point, the fewer years left on the contract is going to start to de-value the contract.

And keep in mind... If I sold today and made good profit that doesent mean I got free accomodations because my monthly maintenance fees over the last 9years have been almost $10,000. This is nearly what I paid for the points. As the years go by, what I paid for the points becomes more insignificant in the whole picture.

 

[nunzia]

It still seems like a pretty good deal, and guessing the future will be about the same.
Say you bought OKW at $54, 150 points, 15 years ago. Averaging a $4.00 per point yearly maintainence that would have meant you paid 600 a year for 15 years, or $9,000 (yep..the initial cost doesn't spook me as much as those yearly fees). So, your total outlay for 15 years would be $17,700. If you could sell now at $75 a point (not counting seller fees) then you would get $11,250 leaving a difference of $6,450, meaning that each year your vacation accomodations cost only $750. Not bad at all..
(yes, I'm still trying to talk myself into taking the plunge)

 

[dvc_john]

Originally, the minimum purchase was 230 points. Then it dropped to 190. Then it dropped again to 150. And recently went back up to 160.

 

[Charlesaway]

Don't forget about inflation, either. Account for inflation alone, those points at $48.00 in 1990 are now 'valued' at aproximately $76-$77 per point, which is once again approximately what OKW contracts seem to be selling for.

This essentially backs up what some others have said, in that at least historically, your initial buy in cost is somewhat stable and recoverable. It yields no real increase in value though, as the purchasing power parity remains roughly the same after adjusted for inflation.

 

[MichelleB]

We just did this recently (not for the intention of turning a profit but for purchasing points at a different resort). We sold an OKW 150 pt. contract (this resort just isn't our personal preference and we only stayed there 1 time and have since just reserved elsewhere using the 7 month window) and replaced it with a VWL contract. We purchased OKW at $55.50 and sold at $78.50. We did not finance it when we bought it. We took the purchase price plus our dues we've paid for the past 7 years and subtracted it from the selling price after fees and then divided our "cost" by the 7 years and figured we'd had the use of our OKW pts for 7 years at somewhere in the $240/year cost. We usually go for 6 nights each year and there's 5 of us. We figure we made out on our non-investment purchase. We only ever looked at it as "pre-paid vacations" but in this instance it was also a GREAT deal for us.

 

[robinb]

We just did this analysis. We bought 230 OKW points in 1997 for $55 per point, or $13000 with closing costs. I just sold for $78 per point. After commission, the ROFR fee and taxes I cleared $2500. However, I also had to pay $7877 in dues over those 10 years. So, my final cost for owning OKW for 10 years was only $5377, or $537 per year or $2.34 per point per year.

That means that my last stay in a GRAND VILLA in January 2006 cost me less than $100 per night. My stay in a SSR studio was about $25 per night.

While it wasn't an investment, it was a hell of a discount!

 

[sjdisneywedding]

It still seems like a pretty good deal, and guessing the future will be about the same.
Say you bought OKW at $54, 150 points, 15 years ago. Averaging a $4.00 per point yearly maintainence that would have meant you paid 600 a year for 15 years, or $9,000 (yep..the initial cost doesn't spook me as much as those yearly fees). So, your total outlay for 15 years would be $17,700. If you could sell now at $75 a point (not counting seller fees) then you would get $11,250 leaving a difference of $6,450, meaning that each year your vacation accomodations cost only $750. Not bad at all..
(yes, I'm still trying to talk myself into taking the plunge)

not even avaeraging $4
Year OKW BWV VB VB(sub) HH VWL BCV SSR AKV

2007 4.40 4.85 5.63 4.39 4.98 4.73 4.63 4.12 4.62
2006 4.24 4.69 5.27 4.12 4.34 4.61 4.48 3.98
2005 3.86 4.41 4.87 3.84 3.86 4.35 4.27 3.83
2004 3.68 4.25 4.67 3.67 3.70 4.22 4.18 3.80
2003 3.49 4.11 4.37 4.37 3.69 4.05 3.97
2002 3.22 3.92 4.17 3.33 3.49 3.80 3.77
2001 3.13 3.83 3.98 2.70 3.32 3.63
2000 3.16 3.94 4.07 2.87 3.25 3.62
1999 3.16 4.02 3.99 2.82 3.18
1998 3.17 3.94 ---- 2.76 3.20
1997 3.14 3.84 ---- 2.90 3.16
1996 2.99 3.70 ---- 2.82 3.16
1995 2.84
1994 2.70
1993 2.63
1992 2.56
1991 2.51

 

[RobDoc]

Here is an un-official history of DVC as compiled from past posts on the DIS over the years:

Pre-Construction - $48 (230 pt. minimum)
Oct. 7, 1991 - OKW Opens $51
Dec. '91 - $51
Jan. '92 -$51 (230 pt. minimum)
Feb. '92 - $51
July-Aug. '92 - $54.50
11/1/92 - $56
May '93 - $56 (210 pt. minimum)
July '93 - $57.50
Jan. '94 - $57.50 (190 pt. minimum)
March '94 - Announce Newport, CA plans
April '94 - $59 Increase in June announced
6/15/94 - $60.50
Nov. '94 - $61.50
7/1/95 - $62.75 October '95 - Vero Opens
March '96 - HHI Opens
May '96 - $62.75
July '96 - BWV Opens
May '97 - $62.75 (150 pt. minimum)
May '98 - $62.75
Fall, 1998 - OKW Sells-out
1998 - Announce WLV
Jan. '99 - $65
Oct. '99 - $65 (notice of OKW selling out added buildings 62, 63, 64)
Mid-May 2000 - $67
June 2000 - $67
Nov. 2000 - WLV Opens (sales start Dec.)
Mid-Jan. 2001 - $72
March 2001 an increase to $75 announced for June
March? 2002 – Begin sales of BCV
June 2002 -- $80 per point
Dec 1, 2002 -- $84 per point (announced early Oct.)
Aug 4, 2003 -- $89 per point (SSR Sales begin with $10 discount = $79) with expiration in 2054.
May, 2004 -- SSR opens.
May, 2004 -- $95 per point @SSR, $89 at other DVC resorts.
June, 2005 -- $98 per point @SSR, $92 at other DVC resorts.
Jan (?), 2006 -- $101 per point @SSR, $95 at other DVC resorts (with some variances at OKW, VB and HH). Incentives are also available lowering the effective purchase price for 150 or more points.
Fall , 2006 --AKV announced.
February 1, 2007 - AKV sales begin for existing members. $101 ($8 incentive discount also available)
March, 2007 -- $104 per point. (160 point minimum) ($8 incentive discount available)
July, 2007 -- Early opening for AKV.
September 1, 2007 -- AKV opens as part of main AKL resort - Jambo House. (Original opening - was moved up to July)
Spring, 2009 -- AKV - Kidani Village - opening.