Is DVC Budget Board approved?

[crisi]

If you look at it the way Robin is looking at it, if I sold the points I bought nine years ago, I'd more than break even on our original purchase. That would put my stays at "dues only." For this year, a night in a two bedroom Villa would be under $300 a night, Boardwalk View during Food and Wine.

Studio would be around $60.

We aren't going to sell in the near future, baring something unforseen, but it is, as she says, a hell of a discount.

But I've seen as many ways to figure the money part of DVC as I think there are posters over on the forums. And I will still say that if this is primarily a FINANCALLY driven decision for you, DVC probably isn't a good idea. Because honestly, we wouldn't STAY in a BWV two bedroom over Food and Wine, we wouldn't go to Disney as often as we do. Our travel patterns changed with DVC - and that tends to be the case for most members. Its a very effective way for Disney to get MORE of our money - and for us to have a better experience while they do it.

 

[punkin]

I can't see this as a good "financial" decision. Nevertheless, I am considering buying a resale anyway. I really like the space on vacation. I find that I enjoy my vacations more when I stay at a timeshare, but I miss the convenience of staying on site. I am still crunching the numbers, but can't justify it financially. I am rather on the fence about this.

 

[Green Tea]

We did the tour and talked it over at Hilton Head. His big lead in was the value to DVC and staying at HH in deluxe accommodations. He asked how long we were there for. 2 weeks. Asked where we were staying and the price. Much less for a house with a pool. We just go a lot of places. IF we decided to buy into something it would likely be Marriott. But I can't find the money spent for the purchase to be a bigger value than looking for discounts and going wherever we want.

 

[daileyad]

but I have questions about just regular (not disney) timeshares. We like to travel to several locations a year (this year for instance we want to do Hawaii, NYC, and possibly montana). I keep coming back to RCI and all the auctions on ebay that sell them resale. I just don't understand how or why they are being sold for $1 or so on ebay. I understand that there is the maintenance fee and maybe people want to get out from under that but what am I missing? Is there some hidden costs somewhere that I don't understand that makes it profitable for these people selling timeshares for $1. It seems too good to be true and you know what they say about that...

 

[robinb]

but I have questions about just regular (not disney) timeshares. We like to travel to several locations a year (this year for instance we want to do Hawaii, NYC, and possibly montana). I keep coming back to RCI and all the auctions on ebay that sell them resale. I just don't understand how or why they are being sold for $1 or so on ebay. I understand that there is the maintenance fee and maybe people want to get out from under that but what am I missing? Is there some hidden costs somewhere that I don't understand that makes it profitable for these people selling timeshares for $1. It seems too good to be true and you know what they say about that...

If you are really interested in purchasing a non-DVC timeshare, I would suggest that you join the Timeshare User's Group. They will point you in the right direction and help you find an inexpensive timeshare that will have the right trading power.

 

[eliza61]

We aren't going to sell in the near future, baring something unforseen, but it is, as she says, a hell of a discount.

But I've seen as many ways to figure the money part of DVC as I think there are posters over on the forums. And I will still say that if this is primarily a FINANCALLY driven decision for you, DVC probably isn't a good idea. Because honestly, we wouldn't STAY in a BWV two bedroom over Food and Wine, we wouldn't go to Disney as often as we do. Our travel patterns changed with DVC - and that tends to be the case for most members. Its a very effective way for Disney to get MORE of our money - and for us to have a better experience while they do it.

LOL. Very well said Crisi.

I always say we broke even at trip # 8 instead of years. I calculated that purely on how we travel (deluxe and concierge) and what type of accomodations we tend to stay at. As you said, I too have seen as many different ways to look at it, as members posting.

I look at it pretty much as some items, timeshares, boats, cottages at the lake, luxury cars are not "financially sound" purchase but the enhance and enrich our lives so they are well worth the money.

 

[crisi]

Second the suggestion of going over to TUG. Chances are these people aren't making money, they are trying to get out from under the dues involved in a bad purchase. Not all timeshares are equal, and not all have the "trading power" to get into a resort in Hawaii. Or a decent resort in Hawaii. A lot of timeshares are sold on hints of availability, but the truth is often that while its theorically possible to get that trade, it isn't at all likely. This is even true with DVC, where if you really want a Boardwalk Grand Villa on New Years Eve, you'd better not count on using those cheaper SSR points to get it. Theoretically, it could be available. In reality, those rooms book long before the window opens where non-home resort owners can book.

 

[littlestar]

As someone who over the years has owned 550 dvc points and is now down to just 155 resale at SSR, I can relate to this thread.

When we first started going to Disney back in the early 90's we stayed at moderates, but my heart was at the deluxe resorts. Later down the road, a hotel room just didn't cut it anymore for us - I wanted space and privacy (especially as our kids grew up). The DVC upfront cost for the bigger units was a lot of money and dues. So we started trying some of the major timeshare competitor's off site - Marriott Vacation Club, Starwood (sheraton), and Wyndham's Bonnet Creek (within the Disney arches) and ended up selling a good chunk of our DVC points (for a small profit actually).

We bought a resale Marriott week and some Wyndham points ($26.00 on Ebay). The Wyndham points will allow us to book Bonnet Creek 1 bedrooms for about $300 a week (cost of our dues) and go to many other places within their points system - San Antonio, Washington DC, panhandle beaches, Myrtle Beach, Pigeon Forge, etc. I would never buy DVC points to trade through RCI - not when you can do the same thing with something you paid very little for like our resale weeks. The Marriott resale purchase gave us access to Interval International (exchange company like RCI). With that access to Interval, our family is able to book 2 bedrooms in Orlando at the Marriott Vacation Clubs for certain times of the year for less than $400 a week - we have lots of family and friends who book these deals (our friends and family love us).

We still keep some DVC points for a once a year or every other trip onsite in a 1 bedroom or larger. We go light on weekends, though. Usually only one night of our trip includes a weekend.

I'd say if you want to stay deluxe level and like the current DVC resorts, some resale DVC points can work out when you do the math. One great thing is it does give you control over your reservation vs. renting DVC points. That's a biggie for me - that's why I still keep some DVC points. Oh, and the Annual Pass discount is nice, too. And you don't have to buy a big chunk of points if you go resale. You can buy as small as 25 points resale. Whether DVC will save you money really depends on what you want. If you like staying value and are in the parks 24/7, DVC is not going to save you money.

 

[mom of princessx2]

Beach Club or BWV would be high on my list. I love that location. Does Disney give tours of all the DVC locations or only the newest ones? I'd love to see each of them before I pick my home resort (if I do this).

They do still have a model of a BWV at the Boardwalk DVC office or at least they did last summer. You may even be able to ask the Guide working if he can get you into view a room at the BCV if there is one open.

Good luck with your decision!! I don't think we will ever regret it!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

but I have questions about just regular (not disney) timeshares. We like to travel to several locations a year (this year for instance we want to do Hawaii, NYC, and possibly montana). I keep coming back to RCI and all the auctions on ebay that sell them resale. I just don't understand how or why they are being sold for $1 or so on ebay. I understand that there is the maintenance fee and maybe people want to get out from under that but what am I missing? Is there some hidden costs somewhere that I don't understand that makes it profitable for these people selling timeshares for $1. It seems too good to be true and you know what they say about that...

Those people aren't doing it for a profit. They are doing it out of desperation.

A timeshare you're not using is an expensive thing. My mom and stepdad had RCI, and they had a horrible time using it. They took their honeymoon to an RCI resort in the Bahamas or Bermuda, it was horrible and ugly and rundown and smelled of mildew, it was very very unenjoyable. They tried to get me a place in Ireland, started a YEAR before my trip, they were unsuccessful. They finally unloaded it b/c they couldn't use it. I'm sure they took a loss, b/c it was expensive up front!

[With DVC, however, it can't sell for a dollar. Disney will buy it back if you're trying to sell it too low.]

My FIL left an RV timeshare behind when he died. It would have been great! But the dues were crazy-high, and due almost immediately, and none of us could afford it. He'd paid extra so it could be deeded to a child and then on to a grandchild (and at that point the membership would end)...he so wanted his family to enjoy it, and it happened that it was DH who enjoyed it the most, and I like camping too (RV parks but they did have tent sites)...it was heartbreaking, but we had to deed it back to the timeshare place as we didn't have time to sell it (and didn't have a clue about TUG etc). We could not afford the dues to make it ours. Desperation.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

We just bought DVC last month. We're not looking at it as anything that will make us money, or break even. We're more looking at it as paying for vacations now as opposed to later.

We rented points for DVC to stay last month, and ended up spending about $1500 for a 2BR for a week. We loved staying there, and for our family, the 1 or 2 BR is the best way to go. Having the full kitchen makes our lives much easier, and we spend less on food than we would any other way. We figured if we did rented the 160 points each time we stayed, in 10 trips, we could have just bought it ourselves. By buying it now, we can use the points for those 10 trips. If we're not going, then we can rent the points out and use the money to cover the dues.

I think it's a really personal decision, and needs to be based on your family, how you travel, and what you percieve as the value of it. 2 people's definitions of value may be very different.

 

[Tiger926]

I'm not arguing that the nightly rates are WAAYYY better when you use DVC. The problem comes when you have to put the initial lump sum purchase into the spreadsheet. That's where the length of time to reach a break even comes into play. And, as I've said, that is where my hesitation always comes in.

We're a family who likes to pay cash in full for things (now that we're debt-free!). That's a large amount of cash upfront that may or may not payoff 18 years down the road!

Got it! I do agree that the up front amount is steep. Lots to consider, Tiger

 

[jodifla]

You can definitely do Disney cheaper than buying DVC. You can do the budget motels, camp, sleep on friends' couches. I did all of these, for more than 20 years. And then when I went to Disney it was park commando all the way.

But when I hit a point in my 30s that the main draw at WDW was the dining and the hotels, then DVC became a great deal for us. Because we bought 14 years ago, it was a heck of a lot cheaper, too. I'm glad I didn't waste 10 years watching the price skyrocket, dallying about where I could buy. We even FINANCED! But it's been paid off now for years and years.

While I don't like all of the changes DVC has made, I'm grateful EVERY time I go there and can spread out in a comfortable room with a kitchen, laundry and bedroom(s).

I'm also reminded what a good deal DVC is each time I travel and end up in a Days Inn room for $120 a night, by the time you add in all the taxes and fees.

 

[crisi]

But when I hit a point in my 30s that the main draw at WDW was the dining and the hotels, then DVC became a great deal for us. Because we bought 14 years ago, it was a heck of a lot cheaper, too. I'm glad I didn't waste 10 years watching the price skyrocket, dallying about where I could buy. We even FINANCED! But it's been paid off now for years and years.

I'm not sure that buying from Disney now is going to be the great deal that people who bought in originally got. Original OKW owners - even early BWV owners got a fantastic deal. I wouldn't buy direct from Disney today.

On the other hand, resale prices currently are as low as they've been for YEARS and there are some fantastic bargains out on the resale market.

I would caution folks who think "I can always rent" - in this economy some folks have been stuck having to firesale their points for a lot less than what they would have gotten two years ago in order to rent them. There are no guarentees with this thing - other than what is in your contract. As Disney has proven to DVC members several times over the past two years. IMHO what is in your contract CAN be, for SOME people, a pretty good value. But don't buy because you get a great discount on Annual Passes or can pool hop. Or because renting points has traditionally been easy.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

DW saw me looking at this thread last night, and asked if I had done my yearly spreadsheet yet?

At that point she informed me that she would like to start going 2x per year (yearly) starting in 2011. If she is serious about it, then I could foresee all my hesitations about the upfront cost head out the window, since 2 trips per year would only make sense if we were with DVC. We're going to have some deep discussions over the next few days, so who knows where that will go.

Still, though, I can't say I like the idea of the several years until break even.

 

[daileyad]

If you are really interested in purchasing a non-DVC timeshare, I would suggest that you join the Timeshare User's Group. They will point you in the right direction and help you find an inexpensive timeshare that will have the right trading power.

Thanks, I hadn't heard of that board before but I found it yesterday and there is a ton of information there! I'm just beginning to understand some of all this, I have a long ways to go.

 

[kristenrice]

Oops! Prematurely hit "enter"....see the next post for what I was trying to say

 

[kristenrice]

We bought a 100-point resale contract at AKV back in August of 2008. We used inheritance money to pay for it in full. Right now, our plan is for me to take the kids in the summer (stay in a studio)and then take a family trip (including DH....NOT a Disney fan) the following spring break and stay in a 1BR, then take a year off. This way, the kids and I can still go 2 out of 3 years and get two trips off of one AP, while DH will only be forced to go once every 3 years. We are fortunate to be a family of 4 so if we book a studio for our summer trip and DH decides he wants to come too, we can add him at any time without affecting our points.

As far as the "value" goes, I will throw out my numbers for our upcoming Spring Break trip (arriving on Easter Sunday) this April.

1) When we bought our points, our TOTAL buy in cost was $9525. That gave us 49 years of points....4900 points total...amounting to $1.94 each
2) We are staying 5 nights....2 nights in 2 standard studios at Jambo, followed by three nights in a standard 2BR at Kidani. All nights are weeknights so our total point usage is 206 points. It breaks down like this:
==> MF's on 6 2009 points: $29.16
==> MF's on 100 2010 points: $495.00
==> MF's on 100 2011 points: $510.00* assumes a 3% increase from 2010
3) Since we are traveling over a holiday, there are no discounts available. IF we were to book the same rooms through Disney, the rack rate is over $5900.
4) Being realistic, were we to take the same trip, without the benefit of DVC, we would require 2 rooms at Pop Century. Five nights in 2 standard rooms at Pop Century would total $1632.

Our actual cost for the DVC stay is $1433.80....$200 less than what it would cost to stay at Pop Century! So, in THIS specific scenario, DVC saves us money. Obviously, if there were any sort of discount available, it would probably be cheaper to stay at Pop Century. If you are a family of 4 and happy staying at a value resort, then DVC probably isn't for you.

For us, we love the extra space, kitchenette (or kitchen), balconies, room service (at AKV) and theming of the DVC villas. It is also nice to have the rooms pre-paid. It is one less thing to budget for when I plan a trip. I have $20 per paycheck directly deposited into a separate account that is used to pay the dues every January. I never see the money so it is almost like I never had it in the first place.

It is very hard to put an actual "value" on a DVC purchase. I could crunch numbers all day long, but for me, the best "value" is that now I am *forced* to take a vacation. I have a place to stay in Orlando, even if I don't want to do WDW (gasp!). When the kids are older, we can do US, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens without having to worry about finding a hotel that we like.

 

[chalee94]

but I have questions about just regular (not disney) timeshares. We like to travel to several locations a year (this year for instance we want to do Hawaii, NYC, and possibly montana). I keep coming back to RCI and all the auctions on ebay that sell them resale. I just don't understand how or why they are being sold for $1 or so on ebay. I understand that there is the maintenance fee and maybe people want to get out from under that but what am I missing? Is there some hidden costs somewhere that I don't understand that makes it profitable for these people selling timeshares for $1. It seems too good to be true and you know what they say about that...

desperation is the right answer here. a handful of timeshares (DVC, marriott, hilton) maintain some percentage of their value as an asset...most become primarily a liability. if you don't have the time and patience to play the game and do a lot of research and plan ahead for vacations, you may not get $1 worth of value from an ebay timeshare.

trying to trade for hawaii or NYC with a $1 timeshare is almost always going to fail - but you'll still owe the $1000 or so in annual dues whether you can use or trade your timeshare or not.

it can be a good deal but if you don't invest several months over on TUG learning what you are doing, you can easily get burned.