Is there a strategy to buying DVC?

[DisneyDictator]

I am still trying to understand the importance of selecting a "Home Resort" .
I am looking at the resale market and notice that there is a wide variance in the per point cost between properties. I realize that the Grand Floridian is nicer than Old Key West. However, I'm looking at OKW at $60 per point but GF is coming in at $145 pp. It looks like I need 632 points to stay in a 2 bedroom villa at GF for XMas week. 632 x $145pp (GF) = $91,640. 632 x $60pp (OKW) = $37,920. Can't I buy my points utilizing OKW as my Home Resort and then use them at the Grand Floridian? What is the rub? Thanks for your advice...just trying to understand the most financially wise way to purchase DVC.

 

[DVCcurious]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3349393

I created a nice little post about what you should consider for a home resort.

To answer your questions directly:

The home resort owners get to book 11 months out, non home owners get to book 7 months out. So if you buy OKW and want to stay at GF in December 2015 all of the GF owners get to start booking in January and you get to start booking in May.

Basically the problem for the non-owners is availability. So while it's "possible" you could book GFV while owning OKW points it's not "likely" there will be availability at GFV when your non-owner window opens at the 7 month point.

If you want to stay at GFV then you need to buy there. If you want to stay at OKW, SSR, or AKL you can own anywhere because those resorts are always available at 7 months.

The facts that drive resale prices are popularity of the hotel and expiration date of the contract. GFV is very popular and it has a very long contract. OKW is not popular and has a short expiration (OKW is 2042, GFV is 2064). So if you buy GFV you get 50 years worth of points, if you buy OKW you get 28 years worth of points. So you get almost twice as many "vacations" if you buy GFV over OKW.

GFV may cost twice what OKW costs, but you get 28 more years on the contract and you get to choose GFV at the 11 month mark vs at the 7 month mark if you owned OKW.


If "financially wise" is your primary concern then I'd bet everybody here would agree that SSR is the most "financially wise" decision. It's on the lower end of the resale price point scale, it expires in 2054 vs 2042 for half of the resorts (OKW, BWV, BCV, VWL), and it has the lowest dues. The absolute cheapest way to go is to buy SSR and book OKW at the 7 month mark. You can't beat that combination with the possible exception if you buy AKL and are able to book AKL value every single trip.

 

[com_op_2000]

The big difference is the booking windows.
At your home resort you can book at 11 months in advanced.
Xmas week is the 2nd busiest time of the year for DVC.
So if you make OKW your HR, then want a grand villa at GFV, you are most likely out of luck. As the members who have GFV as their HR, will have already booked all of them. Plus, you must realize that GFV has some vllas that were sold as week long reserved week rooms, therefor those villas will not even be availabe for booking.

 

[Minniesgal]

The rub is it will be pretty much impossible to stay at VGF Christmas week with OKW points. However if you are happy to stay at OKW buy there. If not maybe find somewhere else you are happy to stay and buy that knowing you will be staying there in hard to book times and you can stay somewhere else in easier booking times.

 

[crisi]

I am still trying to understand the importance of selecting a "Home Resort" .
I am looking at the resale market and notice that there is a wide variance in the per point cost between properties. I realize that the Grand Floridian is nicer than Old Key West. However, I'm looking at OKW at $60 per point but GF is coming in at $145 pp. It looks like I need 632 points to stay in a 2 bedroom villa at GF for XMas week. 632 x $145pp (GF) = $91,640. 632 x $60pp (OKW) = $37,920. Can't I buy my points utilizing OKW as my Home Resort and then use them at the Grand Floridian? What is the rub? Thanks for your advice...just trying to understand the most financially wise way to purchase DVC.

The rub is that there are tens of thousands of Grand Floridian owners who paid a lot of money to own that resort and get a booking advantage. Then there are hundreds of thousands of DVC owners who own other resorts. The first group will get VGF pretty booked up for popular weeks - like Christmas (but popular weeks for DVC can be surprising) before you even have a chance to book. The second group will then be scrambling for the relatively few remaining rooms - some of them will get lucky and get a room at VGF, most of them will end up not staying there.

 

[DizBub]

The strategy to DVC is to buy where you want to stay and be prepared to book your stay right at 11 months in advance, especially at popular times. This way you have a decent chance of not being disappointed. Anything else is a crap shoot.

Some people like the game of booking their home resort and hoping to switch at 7 months, some people don't care as long as they are at WDW. These are all valid strategies. You have to decide what is important to you.

 

[disneynutz]

The rub is you get what you pay for, all others take your chances.

Sometimes you may be successful booking at 7 months at a non-home resort, sometimes you may not. Depends on many factors.

Bill

 

[Dean]

I am still trying to understand the importance of selecting a "Home Resort" .
I am looking at the resale market and notice that there is a wide variance in the per point cost between properties. I realize that the Grand Floridian is nicer than Old Key West. However, I'm looking at OKW at $60 per point but GF is coming in at $145 pp. It looks like I need 632 points to stay in a 2 bedroom villa at GF for XMas week. 632 x $145pp (GF) = $91,640. 632 x $60pp (OKW) = $37,920. Can't I buy my points utilizing OKW as my Home Resort and then use them at the Grand Floridian? What is the rub? Thanks for your advice...just trying to understand the most financially wise way to purchase DVC.

You'll have to go through all the variables and decide what's best. In general you're not going to buy anything else and consistently get VGF. If you're set on there you'll need to buy there which means for many that DVC then becomes an unreasonable purchase. For this exact situation often the best choice for those where DVC does make sense, is to buy some VGF and some other points to use in general say SSR or OKW, usually SSR is a better value and removes the risk of MF issues as the 2042 points near expiring. The other issue is that IF you could occasionally get VGF with non home resort points, you'd likely only get lake view which is another 120 points more. The reality is that even owning VGF it's entirely possible one will not get the reservation day one 11 months out. Personally if that were my main goal I'd simply buy a fixed week for that time at VGF IF the numbers and other info made sense otherwise.

 

[bellablue2]

some people just buy a relatively small number of points, e.g., 150 resale, and learn it as they go. it one tries to figure out everything prior to first purchase, it would be overwhelming.

that said, buy the best contract that you can find WHERE YOU WANT TO STAY is always among the top advice given to newbies.

 

[dsnydaddy]

First off, I think that the DVC purchase is a personal one for everyone. Variables that are important for one may mean nothing to another.

The buy-where-you-want-to-stay ideology is an important consideration. Because if your home resort is the only one that you can book then you'd better be happy with it. But there are other things to think about here too. While in theory you may be able to book anywhere, availability (as others have noted) may be severely limited. AND even if there are rooms available, you'll find that they are the more expensive (pointwise) to reserve. So your OKW points will go farther in your home resort than they will at VGF.

Make sure that you factor your MF's into your decision. While OKW looks attractive to buy into, the MF's actually make it a worse choice. And while BLT looks expensive to buy into the MF's there (at least for the time being) make it look very attractive. SSR is a great deal right now with low buy in and low MF's. AKL is also a pretty good buy for a lot of reasons. Look to a resort you like at an overall price you want to afford.

 

[crisi]

Make sure that you factor your MF's into your decision. While OKW looks attractive to buy into, the MF's actually make it a worse choice. And while BLT looks expensive to buy into the MF's there (at least for the time being) make it look very attractive. SSR is a great deal right now with low buy in and low MF's. AKL is also a pretty good buy for a lot of reasons. Look to a resort you like at an overall price you want to afford.

The thing with BLT is that the dues are low, but the points are high. So buying BLT to stay at OKW is a good deal (low dues, low points per night). Buying BLT to stay at BLT is only an average deal (low dues, high points per night - especially if you don't book standard). Now frankly, I think BLT has the potential to be one of the great values - the location is awesome, but in terms of overall price, it isn't the value that the low dues imply.

 

[dsnydaddy]

The thing with BLT is that the dues are low, but the points are high. So buying BLT to stay at OKW is a good deal (low dues, low points per night). Buying BLT to stay at BLT is only an average deal (low dues, high points per night - especially if you don't book standard). Now frankly, I think BLT has the potential to be one of the great values - the location is awesome, but in terms of overall price, it isn't the value that the low dues imply.

I absolutely agree with you on BLT. That's why ultimately I didn't buy there (well, also because my wife had me on a strict budget and I'd need more points there than SSR.) But I've conversed with others who believe (and maybe rightfully so) that the location more than makes up for the increased expenditure.

 

[Tonygee]

I am still trying to understand the importance of selecting a "Home Resort" .
I am looking at the resale market and notice that there is a wide variance in the per point cost between properties. I realize that the Grand Floridian is nicer than Old Key West. However, I'm looking at OKW at $60 per point but GF is coming in at $145 pp. It looks like I need 632 points to stay in a 2 bedroom villa at GF for XMas week. 632 x $145pp (GF) = $91,640. 632 x $60pp (OKW) = $37,920. Can't I buy my points utilizing OKW as my Home Resort and then use them at the Grand Floridian? What is the rub? Thanks for your advice...just trying to understand the most financially wise way to purchase DVC.

After being informed by those in the know on this board i rescinded my 160pt VGF contract (purchased new at DVC) and purchased BWV (210pts). I saved a ton of money ($79/pt) and for us it was a "who cares about" about expiration as we will be in our 70+ by that time (God willing lol). I suspect even my grand children will be able to utilize our points by the time it's "over"
for us..

once we realized resale was the way to go was BWV for two reasons: Value and Worst case booking... We love the feel of the Boardwalk more so that BCV due to the crowd being a little but more mature at the bwv, less kids and the feel as you pull into the resort... especially at night.. that (being we're from NJ) feels like "Home" away from home.. So like others, purchase where you like to stay the most AND which posts real value to you (obviously EVERYBODY would love to own VGF, but not at that price (for us at least) knowing the value of other (resale) resorts

 

[MountainMouse]

The thing with BLT is that the dues are low, but the points are high. So buying BLT to stay at OKW is a good deal (low dues, low points per night). Buying BLT to stay at BLT is only an average deal (low dues, high points per night - especially if you don't book standard). Now frankly, I think BLT has the potential to be one of the great values - the location is awesome, but in terms of overall price, it isn't the value that the low dues imply.

If you just look at point cost between OKW and BLT I understand your comparison, however, value should be based on what you want to get out of your stay. Would you say that Port Orleans is a better value than Contemporary because it's cheaper? Maybe, if you didn't want the things that make the Contemporary so expensive...primarily location. Same comparison between BLT and OKW.

 

[crisi]

If you just look at point cost between OKW and BLT I understand your comparison, however, value should be based on what you want to get out of your stay. Would you say that Port Orleans is a better value than Contemporary because it's cheaper? Maybe, if you didn't want the things that make the Contemporary so expensive...primarily location. Same comparison between BLT and OKW.

That's why I said it has the potential to be one of the great values. But as a money saving strategy because of low dues? - not unless you use your BLT points for OKW or manage to get a BWV standard view or VAKL value room.

 

[supersnoop]

That's why I said it has the potential to be one of the great values. But as a money saving strategy because of low dues? - not unless you use your BLT points for OKW or manage to get a BWV standard view or VAKL value room.

But you could buy at OKW with the intention of using your points at BLT. Even then, based on the length of the contract, you'd be better off buying BLT because of the long-term value. Assuming you'd use your points the same way regardless of home resort, BLT is second only to SSR when it comes to "value." Everything else is subjective. If you need the home resort advantage to get the exact room you want or need to save points, then add that to your decision making process.

 

[Dean]

But you could buy at OKW with the intention of using your points at BLT. Even then, based on the length of the contract, you'd be better off buying BLT because of the long-term value. Assuming you'd use your points the same way regardless of home resort, BLT is second only to SSR when it comes to "value." Everything else is subjective. If you need the home resort advantage to get the exact room you want or need to save points, then add that to your decision making process.

When you throw in the upfront difference and BLT MF trends, there is quite a difference there with SSR & everything else. After SSR everything else is fairly close, esp when you consider that those years at the end don't have the same value as years that are available much sooner.

 

[MountainMouse]

When you throw in the upfront difference and BLT MF trends, there is quite a difference there with SSR & everything else. After SSR everything else is fairly close, esp when you consider that those years at the end don't have the same value as years that are available much sooner.

Are you assuming that BLT will surpass SSR in MF cost? Is this just because of the BLT steep trend or do you see other reasons why BLT should cost more to maintain?

 

[dsnydaddy]

Are you assuming that BLT will surpass SSR in MF cost? Is this just because of the BLT steep trend or do you see other reasons why BLT should cost more to maintain?

The common notion is that BLT will continue to raise faster than the others as the taxes raise with the improvements of the area so will the MF.

 

[DebbieB]

Some OKW contracts expire in 2042, some in 2057. A factor to consider. $60 sounds low unless it is stripped.