Just had a crazy DVC conversation!

[dburg30]

My DH would probably be okay on his own if I died. He seems to have a pretty good grasp on DVC. He could use it as a way to lure a new wife. We just booked a vacation for my whole family and DH pointed out that I could borrow 2011 points when I was stressing about having enough points.

Obviously I hope nothing happens to you for a long time, but I just had to laugh at that.

 

[ssawka]

I posted a poll to put an end to the Man vs. Woman debate that started in this thread.

 

[IggyLans]

Oh to be rich enough to spend 14K and not really care to know the details or use the points I bought!

I don't think it's rich to pay $250/month for 10 years....

 

[photobob]

Lets just hope that the guy's wife is the planner and has the DVC knowledge! My DW pretty well knows the basics of DVC but doesn't know the fine details that I do. Granted she does know which resorts are DVC, but I would say that this guy probably isn't alone in his lack of knowledge, let's just hope that every owner has one person that knows!

 

[mom3sonstt]

We have some friends that bought points - they initially bought 200 then went back and bought 100 more. That's all well and good - but they are a married couple with no children, and she doesn't even seem to like Disney all that much. We had a family trip in 2008 that they came down for 5 days of (we were there with our kids for 8-9 days, they came down mid-way through our trip - in their own room - we just showed them around). For that trip they stayed in a 1 BR using incentive points.

In December just the 4 of us went down. We come down often, so were conserving our points and got a standard view studio at AKL. They did the same.

We were talking about banking - I think they have lost some of their initial points. I don't know their use year - but they initiated the purchase in the fall of 2007, they have only stayed about 8 nights since then, and part of them were on incentive points - not even their regular points.

While we were there in December they went and watched the Candlelight Processional because, as the wife said, it could be 3 or 4 years before they come back again. HUH?? What are you going to do with all your points???

I know you can trade out and do other stuff with them - something we never seem to have enough points to do because we use all ours at WDW, but from what I have seen that takes more planning - and they are more spur-of-the-moment travelers.

Both of them are intelligent people so I guess I just don't get how they are handling this. And trust me, we have talked their ears off about how it all works, and banking and borrowing....

 

[mom3sonstt]

Oh- as far as DIS goes, I was a DVC member about 9 or 10 years before I had ever heard of DIS, have never lost a point, and feel pretty knowledgeable about how to use it. I have never traded out so would need walked through that process - but when we bought DVC it wasn't with the intention of trading out - we bought it to go to Disney World - not to go somewhere else.

 

[starstruck93]

I hate to pop your bubble but most folks don't use the DIS. In fact most who buy an interest in the DVC only know what they are told by a Guide or what they see at the presentation or DVD.

We talk to other owners on every trip and most have very little knowledge about what they own.

Last month we met a couple who haven't used their points in three years. We talked about banking and he told me that they don't know anything about it and that it sounded like too much trouble.

If the member meeting last month is any indication or owner demographics, the average age of DVC owners is around 60 years of age. A group that maybe doesn't take the time to DIS.


Bill

On the NO banking of all of those poor defensless unused points!! LOL!

 

[starstruck93]

I'm not so sure my DH would know enough about DVC and we've been members since 2005. Can you guess who takes care of all our travel arrangements in our house?

ITA! This would be us too.... DH said... "The DVC is YOUR baby"

 

[LSchrow]

we've gotten the range of peculiar comments about dvc (including from 3 seperate ppl who insisted they owned DVC - at bonnet creek, from where you could "walk right into EPCOT", from actual owners that were sure: there were no more expenses after the initial purchase (despite maint being auto deducted from their checking), stated that you could only book at your home resort, thought everyone that owned dvc had the same amt of points, were positive they owned a certain week that would never expire, the dining plan was included, there are special buses for dvc owners, bw view is available at a few different resorts, you can walk to a park from any dvc resort, 150 points is the maximum you can own, you can book most cro specials using dvc points, MS does all of the paperwork without the owner having to call about banking or borrowing, and the list goes on and on......

we try to clear things up if they're receptive, but won't argue.

 

[corpcomp]

I had the most insane conversation with a coworker today regarding DVC. He knows how much of a Disney fan I am, so he mentioned today that he and his wife just bought DVC at AKL. I congratulated him, and the conversation went downhill from there: Oh god. How can someone spend $14,000 (what he told me he paid) and not have a CLUE???? Did Disney see this guy coming or what?/QUOTE]

Wait a minute!!! He's spending $250 a month for 10 years on a $14K purchase? Thats $30,000 in principal and interest. Forget free vacations for 50 years. What finance company saw him coming?? Countrywide??

 

[tjkraz]

Wait a minute!!! He's spending $250 a month for 10 years on a $14K purchase? Thats $30,000 in principal and interest. Forget free vacations for 50 years. What finance company saw him coming?? Countrywide??

Probably includes $60-70 per month worth of dues.

The principle plus interest will certainly be much higher than $14K when all is said and done--assuming he takes the full 10 years to pay off the balance. Nevertheless, about 75% of buyers finance through DVC.

 

[corpcomp]

Probably includes $60-70 per month worth of dues.

The principle plus interest will certainly be much higher than $14K when all is said and done--assuming he takes the full 10 years to pay off the balance. Nevertheless, about 75% of buyers finance through DVC.

75%? that is disappointing. My family always believed that if you cannot afford to buy it (except your primary home) you should wait till you have the money and not build up your debt.

I suspect the dues are separate from the payments.

 

[tjkraz]

75%? that is disappointing. My family always believed that if you cannot afford to buy it (except your primary home) you should wait till you have the money and not build up your debt.

Different strokes... I agree there is some financial risk involved in paying so much interest on a timeshare, but I'm not going to pass judgment.

I will say this: Given the long term savings realized by a DVC purchase, financing still makes sense when compared to the alternative of remaining a cash guest for the next 40-50 years. Even when paying thousands of extra dollars in interest.

I suspect the dues are separate from the payments.

$14K financed at Disney rate of around 11% for 10 years equals payments of roughly $190 per month. Add in dues of about $66 per month on 160 AKV points and you're right at his cited figure of $250.

The dues are a separate direct debit amount but the individual in question was obviously speaking in generalities--whether or not he has a firm grasp on the details of the purchase. Assuming that he was simply stating that DVC is taking around $250 per month from his bank account for the timeshare, that appears to be a supportable figure for payments + dues on 160 AKV points.

 

[WithFaith50]

Wait to you see the exchange rate somewhere around $5-6 per point.

Hello Dean...I'm just curious...Is using DVC to purchase park tickets something that's in the works or were these comments just joking around?

 

[wulfekamp]

Ok thats just scary. But I do feel much better about myself. I know i'm not the smartest person but i'm ahead of that guy.

 

[bumbershoot]

Wait a minute!!! He's spending $250 a month for 10 years on a $14K purchase? Thats $30,000 in principal and interest. Forget free vacations for 50 years. What finance company saw him coming?? Countrywide??

Probably includes $60-70 per month worth of dues.

The principle plus interest will certainly be much higher than $14K when all is said and done--assuming he takes the full 10 years to pay off the balance. Nevertheless, about 75% of buyers finance through DVC.

I would agree it likely includes dues. For instance, taking the downpayment out of the equation, we owe a bit over 14K, we pay 226/month and then 46/month for dues at Bay Lake. When you look at the handy dandy amortization schedule right there on the DVC loan page, the interest over that 10 years is really really high! Thankfully we'll be smacking it down inside of 3 years, not 10, but I can see where the whole "250/month" thing makes it seem really affordable to people! It's actually why we bit the bullet and financed, b/c the monthly payment is so relatively low especially if you have plans to pay it off much quicker.

 

[Dean]

Hello Dean...I'm just curious...Is using DVC to purchase park tickets something that's in the works or were these comments just joking around?

Neither. I responded to someone hoping to see this as an option. My response was a reality check as to what the costs were likely to be IF they were to happen. BTW, you can buy DVC tickets with RCI points but not with DVC points.