Looking for advice from DVC Experts

[Hopefully]

Hello Experts,
I am looking to see if you think my thought process is correct.
DH and I are considering buying a BCV resale. We are failry early in our fact finding process and any input is greatly appreciated. We are in a mid 50's with grown children. We love the F & W Festival and usually go every other year (We are staying at BWV this year on cash through CRO). This will be our 5th visist and we usually stay at BCV through CRO. We have considered purchasing DVC for 10 years now, and if we had done so when we first considred it, our investment would have been recouped by now.
We would probably come to WDW every other year, and use our points to visit Hilton Head and Vero Beach other years. We are also thinking that we could use our points in our "off" years to trade to other resort areas.
Is this a reasonable plan? I had read once that using DVC point for a trade is not a good idea. Why is that?
What is the current cost of maintainence at BCV?
What other things should I be considering?
Thanks for any insight you can give me.

 

[chalee94]

BCV is currently $4.63 per point per year - up from $4.48 last year.

i'm not an expert so i can't speak to the rest of it. of course, if you decide all you need is enough points to stay at BCV during F&W every other year, you can look for a smaller resale contract that allows you to bank/borrow to meet those every-other-year requirements.

 

[littlestar]

I would buy just enough points to do F & W on the off years (you can buy a small resale package). DVC dues are high and I would only trade mine for the creme of the crop (like Hyatt, Marriott, Starwood, or a few high quality nonbranded Hawaii resorts). I would buy something else besides DVC to use to trade to other destinations (go visit tugbbs.com - timeshare users group). TUG has discussion boards on all the major timeshare/vacation clubs out there.

We also own an EOY (every other year) lock off with Marriott. With locking it off, we get a 1 bedroom one year and a studio to use the next year for 1/2 the dues. Marriott has a lot more locations than DVC does. We usually deposit both units through Interval International and exchange. After buying our Marriott, we were able to join Interval International (exchange company) with an individual membership. If you can travel off seasion, Interval also offers some great deals on cash Getaways. Cash getaways through Interval run from $200 a week up to $1,200 a week (like for a high end Hyatt property).

 

[JimC]

As Littlestar suggested Marriott is a good companion to DVC and II getaways can be a very good value. We also own Marriott weeks for non-DVC holidays.

DVC is an expensive timeshare to buy and own. It is worth it and a tremendous value for staying on property at WDW. For occaisional trades using that value for non-Disney vacations is no big deal, but if you want to trade regularly, then it becomes an expensive way to vacation away from Disney.

The options DVC has are very good and you will not be disappointed. But you could spend far less to get those trades. Now Marriott is not cheap either as it is a very well run program, but it is a much better value for other vacations. There are other good programs as well.

However, you could be very happy with DVC for WDW vacations. BCV or BWV are ideal locations for Epcot food and wine festival. You might buy a contract suffient to give half the points you need for each trip (time of year, length of stay and size of villa) to WDW. Banking/borrowing will allow you to double up for the trip every other year. You can always buy another contract if you want additional points for more vacations, longer vacations, larger villas.

 

[zorro77]

I don't know if we are experts but we bought into DVC in 93. We did 3 additions after the first purchase. Of the 3 we did 2 were as resales through the Timeshare store. We have used most of our points each year. We look at DVC as a long term investment for vacations. It is easy to go other parts of the country but going to Disney you know what you are getting. Also, the future is always changing so it not like it stays the same their. Over the past 14 years their has been many changes and additions. You will find flexibility to bring others along. We've had a group of 14 with us to share the Disney experience. For us it great to have a very good place to take small kids and also to be able to adult entertainment in Downtown Disney. I think you have to look at all that you can do and enjoy while going to Disney. The last 3 years we spent New Years at Disney while also taking in the Wisconsin Football games.. I say go for it.