It seems like DVC is a screaming good deal, no?

[Lisa P.]

Are you impling DVC contracts might be worthless in 4 years?

Not at all. The emphasis here is that timeshares (plural, in general) do not have the kind of reliable stability people may believe when they look at past resale history. They are a leisure/pleasure purchase which have NO guarantee of return. Worthwhile, yes. An "investment," no. Anything could happen to our economy and travel in 4 years. It's not like a bank CD or a more tangible investment.

Spiceycat, I don't consider opportunity cost with a car purchase because a car is more of a necessity and the depreciation to zero value is so rapid. A timeshare is a longer term commitment to annual dues and it's definitely not a necessity, just a very nice way to allocate my vacation lodging budget money.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by rinkwide
Are you impling DVC contracts might be worthless in 4 years?

Try and tell that to the early buyers who bought OKW back when it was called DVC.

Compared to today's value, it's unlikely the existing resorts will go up in value and at some point will start to go down in resale value. IF DVC stops the ROFR, it will be harder to sell at the same price resales go for now even if many are listed at that price.

Obviously there are many ways to look at the value. Comparing to rack rate at a deluxe isn't one of the better ones. Actually comparing to rack rate anywhere isn't at all reasonable. The real question is what would you spend if you didn't own DVC and how would you use DVC in place of those trips?

I think Lisa's post is really right where you need to be in a thinking process. As she mentioned, 60 points won't get you a studio anywhere except OKW or adventure time, when you could get AKL as low as $119 per night with the right code. Plus you wouldn't get housekeeping which is important to som. You have left out the time value of the cash investment, something that should be included or else the interest if one finances.

A more reasonable approach to value puts DVC costing about the same or minimally less as a moderate with discounts, assuming you use it just for DVC studio. Maybe a little less if you ONLY use it for weekdays. 60 points may be too restrictive for most people as well unless you're looking at less than a trip a year with banking and borrowing.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Originally posted by Lisa P.
...I don't consider opportunity cost with a car purchase because a car is more of a necessity and the depreciation to zero value is so rapid. A timeshare is a longer term commitment to annual dues and it's definitely not a necessity, just a very nice way to allocate my vacation lodging budget money.

Actually, we figure that putting off replacing our '93 Mazda and '99 Caravan for a few years (and waiting to replace cars after that) will save enough to cover our DVC purchase. Not that these are coming from the same household accounts anyway, but, driving an old car for a longer time is a really good way to save money. Anyway, our calculations have us covering DVC purchase plus opportunity costs in another 7 yrs, which will put our mental book value down to zero, so everything after that is gain.

 

[SoCalKDG]

I think Lisa's post is really right where you need to be in a thinking process. As she mentioned, 60 points won't get you a studio anywhere except OKW or adventure time, when you could get AKL as low as $119 per night with the right code. Plus you wouldn't get housekeeping which is important to som. You have left out the time value of the cash investment, something that should be included or else the interest if one finances.

60 points will get you 5 days at any of the resorts about half the time. You can get a room at OKW for as low as 40 points, or BWV for 45 points. Using a $7 cost per point(this can be debated elsewhere), you are talking a cost between $280 to $420.


Now compare that to AKL, as you mentioned, at $119 a night, you get $595. This doesn't include tax, which brings us to around $670. So for the five days, you can save between $250 to $390.

This doesn't even take into account that AKL will go up in the coming years(I know dues can go up also), which will result in an even greater savings.

 

[mydogdrew]

"This doesn't even take into account that AKL will go up in the coming years(I know dues can go up also), which will result in an even greater savings"

Based on the last few years, the price of cash rooms vs. dues inflation has been a concern. I think we would all be happy if these moved relative to each other in which case you could remove the inflation factor from your list of concerns. In any event, you can be sure that if the annual dues does overrun the cash price at some point in the future, your timeshare investment will have no real value any longer. This is one of the reasons I place no value on the extra years at SSR.

 

[SSRex]

We just returned from a 5 night Sunday-Thursday stay at BCV in a 2 bedroom. The WDW official site lists that same room as $545 per night and that is in the Value Season. I used 200 DVC points.

Including tax, I figured it would have cost me $3,038.38 for Cash.
Dividing that by the 200 points used, that's a $15.19/point value.
Sure makes the idea of renting at $10/point sound like good deal.

Based on my SSR purchase price of $79/point, I paid $11,850 for my 150 points. I can do three of this same trip in the first 4 years.

That would have cost me at least $3,038.38 x 3 = $9,115.14 if I had paid cash. So I could break even during trip #4 in year #5.

Yes, that is without taking into account the dues. $3.80/point x 150 points x 5 years = $2,850 (yes, dues can and will increase).

Still looks like a pretty good deal to me. We also saved 10% off on meals at Cape May, Rainforest Cafe, renting mouseboats, & DisneyQuest tickets as well as valet parking without the $6/day.

Most of all, could we even have gotten a 2 bedroom villa for cash and if not where can a family of 6 stay in a single room (nowhere, else, but the FT. Wilderness cabins and they have a single toilet.

We got a full kitchen, private master bedroom with king bed and whirlpool tub and washer and dryer. It was better, not just good deal. That is the part that sold me, the rooms, not just the cost.

Would I, could I pay $95/pt, probably not, I was smart &\or lucky.
I hope to be happy with it for the next 20 years plus & then let my kids enjoy it for the remaining 30 years. Should have done it sooner.

 

[champagne27]

Ok - I have been tossing around whether or not buying DVC might be a "good deal" for us and thought this thread might answwer a couple of questions.

Is there a cap on how much the yearly maintainence fee can go up each year?

Also, is this fee due in full at the renewal or home month date?

Does this work for anyone who would only go once every 2-3 years?

I thought it might work out if we bought 150 or so points and only went every other year for 7 nights in a 2 bdrm. That would allow us to bank/borrow as needed. Does that work for anyone else?


Thanks for any feedback - Karolyn

 

[crisi]

Ok - I have been tossing around whether or not buying DVC might be a "good deal" for us and thought this thread might answwer a couple of questions.

Is there a cap on how much the yearly maintainence fee can go up each year?

15%

Also, is this fee due in full at the renewal or home month date?

January (IIRC), some people choose to pay monthly

Does this work for anyone who would only go once every 2-3 years?

We go every other year. Works great.

I thought it might work out if we bought 150 or so points and only went every other year for 7 nights in a 2 bdrm. That would allow us to bank/borrow as needed. Does that work for anyone else?

Exactly what we do.

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by champagne27
Also, is this fee due in full at the renewal or home month date?

As crisi said, they are normally payable each January. If desired, DVC can also set you up to pay 1/12 of your annual dues as a direct debit from your checking account on a monthly basis. There is no additional cost for this--compared to paying in one lump sum, it's like getting an interest free loan.

Also, if you make your initial point purchase from DVC they can finance you for a term up to 10 years, with the monthly payments coming right out of your account. Of course, you can buy older contracts cheaper on the resale market, or finance yourself (likely at a lower interest rate.)

 

[jarestel]

If you think it's a screaming good deal, it's a screaming good deal. No need to analyze it any further. Let us know when you decide to buy so we can welcome you home!

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by SoCalKDG
60 points will get you 5 days at any of the resorts about half the time. You can get a room at OKW for as low as 40 points, or BWV for 45 points. Using a $7 cost per point(this can be debated elsewhere), you are talking a cost between $280 to $420.


Now compare that to AKL, as you mentioned, at $119 a night, you get $595. This doesn't include tax, which brings us to around $670. So for the five days, you can save between $250 to $390.

This doesn't even take into account that AKL will go up in the coming years(I know dues can go up also), which will result in an even greater savings.

Dues and room rates will likely all go up. Unless you buy those points at BWV, you will be able to get standard view so I don't think you could count that. There's no doubt that if one does just a studio and NO weekend days you can do well. The problem is that that's not how most people travel and stay over time.

 

[MarriedAtDisney]

I have one other "value" to cook into this discussion.

I have been a notorious workaholic and until recently had never taken more than a few days off at a time and never more than a week at a time in the 15 years I've been working since college.

Having bought into SSR last year, I now have a "paid-for" vacation every year. Well, at least a "mostly" paid for vacation since I'm now stringing two sun-fri stays together and paying cash for a Fri/Sat night stay. (first trip "home" is in sept with a week at SSR and a week at Vero)

I guess the point is, this whole discussion comes down to what's important to you and in my case this is one way for me to force myself to take a two week vacation every year for the price of dues and two "cash" nights.