Looking to purchase DVC - Need help!

tower5kc

Earning My Ears
Joined
Oct 9, 2019
Hello everyone,

I guess to start off - we have a trip booked for November 2020. Staying at Contemporary resort, garden wing deluxe room. We are paying roughly $5,500 for the hotel stay only. We are in our early 30's with a 5 year old and one on the way. We have been planning to take this vacation for some time, and picked Contemp due to its proximity to MK. I have several friends/coworkers who are DVC members. I didn't know much about DVC until the past month or so. We are not Disney fanatics.. but we have been to WDW several prior times, staying in Pop Century or similar.

My hang up is this - we are spending $5500 for a hotel room for 1 week. When we return home, we will have nothing to show for it but memories. I'm fully aware DVC is not an "investment" (although its an investment into future vacations), but I feel like our $5500 could be put to better use as a down payment on a DVC. With small children, we anticipate going back to WDW probably every other year.. for the next 15-18 years.

I really don't like the idea of buying Riviera @ 188/pt and from what I've read, will have restrictions on resale and etc. So my thinking was to purchase a resale from Disney. Roughly 100 points. I would use our $5500 as a down payment and probably finance the rest (most likely paying it off early). For our vacation in 2020, we would borrow from 2021 to use in 2020, giving us roughly 200 points to use for the vacation. Most likely, we would continue to bank or borrow for the next 15-18 years.

We are not wealthy by any means, but we do not anticipate having a problem paying the balance or maintenance fee increases as we progress through the years. Does this scheme make sense to anyone? What problems may we run into or what are we not thinking about? We were in Disney last month for a Halloween party and spoke with a DVC salesperson but we did not do the tour.

One of said co-workers purchased a 75 point resale @ Animal Kingdom for roughly 10,000. From what he said, he bought it direct from Disney and gets the additional "perks" of DVC membership. (Something that I am not so concerned about getting.) But in my eyes, I would be putting a 50% payment on 75 points right out of the gate.

Please share your thoughts with us! Thank you!!
 
Buy resale. You won't be using any of the direct perks if your plan is to go every other year (at most) anyway. You can't buy resale from Disney though - you have to go through a resale company. Spend some time on YouTube (Jen Lafforge and the DIS are both really good sources) and browse these message boards. Podcasts are another great source of info ("My DVC Points" and "Welcome Home Podcast" are my go-tos). It will make sense once you do that. If it doesn't, ask away. No dumb questions here.
 
I would only buy resale if you don’t finance...too much happens that convince you to pay off later and later. If you set a definite plan where you pay it off in 12 months- then maybe.
Definitely wouldn’t buy direct. I would buy resale at Old Key West (extended) or Saratoga Springs for under $90 a point. Spend $9500 (closing costs included) on 100 points and don’t forget the $18,000 you will pay in maintenance fees if you keep it that long. Make sure you incorporate that into your budget. We avoided buying our first 25 years of marriage and we came out better. We have been to Disney 8x and always scored free dining or 40-60% off Deluxe rooms- heck, we even got AKL for $129 a night the 2nd year it was open- and that was Savannah view. But, like you said- room rates took a huge hike the past two years- so we will save the next few months to pay it in full when we bid. Good luck!!
 
Buy resale. You won't be using any of the direct perks if your plan is to go every other year (at most) anyway. You can't buy resale from Disney though - you have to go through a resale company. Spend some time on YouTube (Jen Lafforge and the DIS are both really good sources) and browse these message boards. Podcasts are another great source of info ("My DVC Points" and "Welcome Home Podcast" are my go-tos). It will make sense once you do that. If it doesn't, ask away. No dumb questions here.


I guess I’m not understanding the resale side... so if Disney buys back 100 points from someone at Bay Lake....what do they do with them? Or am I mixing up the terms resale and buying direct?
 


I guess I’m not understanding the resale side... so if Disney buys back 100 points from someone at Bay Lake....what do they do with them? Or am I mixing up the terms resale and buying direct?
They sell them at "Direct" Prices, and they have no restrictions on them.

Resale points cost much less than "Direct" points, but have restrictions. Make sure you understand what they are and how it could affect your vacation plans.
 
I would only buy resale if you don’t finance...too much happens that convince you to pay off later and later. If you set a definite plan where you pay it off in 12 months- then maybe.
Definitely wouldn’t buy direct. I would buy resale at Old Key West (extended) or Saratoga Springs for under $90 a point. Spend $9500 (closing costs included) on 100 points and don’t forget the $18,000 you will pay in maintenance fees if you keep it that long. Make sure you incorporate that into your budget. We avoided buying our first 25 years of marriage and we came out better. We have been to Disney 8x and always scored free dining or 40-60% off Deluxe rooms- heck, we even got AKL for $129 a night the 2nd year it was open- and that was Savannah view. But, like you said- room rates took a huge hike the past two years- so we will save the next few months to pay it in full when we bid. Good luck!!


Thanks for the reply. I suppose if I could get a deal for 40 percent off our room at Contemporary, I wouldn’t be in this mindset of “can we use this money in a better way?” The deals they are offering this year do not cover the dates we plan to go next year. Of course we won’t know until next summer, too late to make a buy in to DVC.
 
They sell them at "Direct" Prices, and they have no restrictions on them.

Resale points cost much less than "Direct" points, but have restrictions. Make sure you understand what they are and how it could affect your vacation plans.

How do they determine the “direct” price?
 


I guess I’m not understanding the resale side... so if Disney buys back 100 points from someone at Bay Lake....what do they do with them? Or am I mixing up the terms resale and buying direct?
Resale is a transaction between you and the current owner. DVC will be made aware of the pending transaction and will review it for their Right of First Refusal (ROFR). If DVC doesn’t want the contract for the same price that you offered, then the sale goes forward and you will become the new owner of the points. DVC will set you up with a new membership and you can starting booking with those points shortly after that.

If DVC takes a contract during the ROFR process, they will sell it directly to a new buyer at their current direct price for that resort. Unlike a resale purchase, the new direct owner will have their points sooner and will have no restrictions placed on their points.
 
Hello everyone,

I guess to start off - we have a trip booked for November 2020. Staying at Contemporary resort, garden wing deluxe room. We are paying roughly $5,500 for the hotel stay only. We are in our early 30's with a 5 year old and one on the way. We have been planning to take this vacation for some time, and picked Contemp due to its proximity to MK. I have several friends/coworkers who are DVC members. I didn't know much about DVC until the past month or so. We are not Disney fanatics.. but we have been to WDW several prior times, staying in Pop Century or similar.

My hang up is this - we are spending $5500 for a hotel room for 1 week. When we return home, we will have nothing to show for it but memories. I'm fully aware DVC is not an "investment" (although its an investment into future vacations), but I feel like our $5500 could be put to better use as a down payment on a DVC. With small children, we anticipate going back to WDW probably every other year.. for the next 15-18 years.

I really don't like the idea of buying Riviera @ 188/pt and from what I've read, will have restrictions on resale and etc. So my thinking was to purchase a resale from Disney. Roughly 100 points. I would use our $5500 as a down payment and probably finance the rest (most likely paying it off early). For our vacation in 2020, we would borrow from 2021 to use in 2020, giving us roughly 200 points to use for the vacation. Most likely, we would continue to bank or borrow for the next 15-18 years.

We are not wealthy by any means, but we do not anticipate having a problem paying the balance or maintenance fee increases as we progress through the years. Does this scheme make sense to anyone? What problems may we run into or what are we not thinking about? We were in Disney last month for a Halloween party and spoke with a DVC salesperson but we did not do the tour.

One of said co-workers purchased a 75 point resale @ Animal Kingdom for roughly 10,000. From what he said, he bought it direct from Disney and gets the additional "perks" of DVC membership. (Something that I am not so concerned about getting.) But in my eyes, I would be putting a 50% payment on 75 points right out of the gate.

Please share your thoughts with us! Thank you!!
I’m not a big fan of financing, but you do you.

In order to book for November 2020, you need to make the reservation in December 2019 - 11 months in advance - at your home resort. You can’t buy 100 points at SSR (for instance) and book a BWV Std View studio at 11 months. And there won’t be any BWV Std View studios left at 7 months when you can book at any resort. November is in the middle of DVC Fall Frenzy. A lot of owners like to book during the period of mid-September to mid-January.

If you’re going to buy resale, it’s going to take you a couple of months to close on the contract. This takes you to mid-December at the earliest. And then you wait (and wait...and wait!) for DVC to create your membership, load the points into your account and send you the info you need to set up your account on the members’ website. This won’t give you a lot of time to find the right contract, with points in both the 2020 and 2021 UY.

TBH, with an expensive purchase with a long-term commitment, I would not rush into it. I would just take the coming year to learn as much as I can about DVC and resign myself to doing one last cash trip. You might want to look into renting next November at the DVC resort that you are considering. Sort of giving DVC a test drive before you buy.
 
I guess I’m not understanding the resale side... so if Disney buys back 100 points from someone at Bay Lake....what do they do with them? Or am I mixing up the terms resale and buying direct?
In a nutshell, here's how resale works;
1) You make an offer to the seller through a resale company (DVC Resale, DVC Store, etc.)
2) Once the offer is accepted, Disney gets Right of First Refusal (ROFR). In other words, they look at the deal you negotiated, and if they want to , they can buy the same contract for the same price. The Seller sells to Disney instead, you are out nothing, but you have to find another contract to buy.
3) If Disney exercises ROFR they can then sell that contract, or any part of that contract, to someone else, DIRECT, at direct prices, with full perks. They can also modify the use year. Don't worry about use year - yet. It's only a really big deal if you already have a contract.
4) If you make it through ROFR then you have a contract with the seller like any other property purchase, and it follows a similar process.

Edit to add;
check out The latest ROFR thread to get a good feel what price the contracts are passing ROFR at.
Check out The Closing Time thread to see how long it typically takes.
 
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I would consider renting DVC points from David’s Vacation rentals for your deluxe resort stays instead of buying.
 
I would definitely google renting DVC points for your Contemporary stay- you might get it for at least 30% less. We rented points to stay 2 nights at Aulani- saved us $250
 
TBH, I'd rent points for your upcoming trip and wait on purchasing DVC. You said you have another child on the way. I'd wait until your second child is a little older to buy. Two kids can equal two times the expenses. You're going to have diapers again, medical expenses, possibly day care (depending on your situation). Also, you just never know what's going to come up with that child. Our second child ended up having severe jaundice which required extra doctor visits ($$$) and later on we found he has a vision problem that required expensive surgery and lots of ophthalmologist visits, making our first child seem pretty cheap in comparison. :p
 
What problems may we run into or what are we not thinking about?
Buying a contract, you are agreeing to pay dues to keep the timeshare resort running for the next 22-50 years. If you have your financial affairs in order, this burden is decreased. For some, the thousands paid each year in dues falls comfortably within their discretionary spendings and that burden is reduced to near zero.

Do some research and learn about the changes that have been made to Disney's timeshare model over the last 8 years; that you don't know how resale vs. direct works, it sounds like you should take time to really understand what you're buying.

In the move to increase their direct sales, Disney has proven that loss of ownership value is not factored in to policy changes. So the more you can treat the purchase as a sunk cost (as soon as you buy, it'll be worth $0), the healthier ownership will be for you.
My hang up is this - we are spending $5500 for a hotel room for 1 week. When we return home, we will have nothing to show for it but memories.
You’ll have your freedom.

Paying cash, you can walk away from a Disney vacation any year that "life happens." As an owner, no matter what life throws your way, you're on the hook for the dues every January. That's the cost of ownership. If you can afford that, great. If not, those memories will be a lot less magical than the ones you paid $5,500 for.
 
Okay you are getting good advise here. you sound like we did when we made the choice to purchase DVC last family cash paid vacation CSR 1 week 7 of us all adults on that trip was 10K. It was not lone after that grandchild on the way. So it was easy to finally get the wife to agree. We are not rich either.
RESALE only way to go for us our first contract BLT 260 points got it for really good price. enjoyed it. since then we have added 100 point at SSR (never stayed) 120 Aulani. The only reason we ever made it to HI was our DVC points it gave us the means to make it a reasonable cost. That's enough Kool-Aid.

My suggestion 160 points minimum as like all things Disney so do the points needed each year to get your rooms. Try and find a loaded contract one that has point available at time of purchase could cover your current planned vacation but at BLT instead.

Go look at 2020 points guides to hep you estimate your future needs.

First pick a resort that you like as your home resort hence BLT for us. Advantage your booking window, booking at your home begins at 11 months prior to trip. Non home resorts 7 months (why we bought Aulani it books fast) But don't be afraid of good buys at like Old Key West in my opinion because it was the original DVC at WDW it is over looked because of its age. But we have stayed there and love it. We have also stayed at AKL Kidani Loved it would be great for the 5 year old. VGF not again

Dues - Yes we have to pay maintenance fees you can find a list of those fees most anywhere once you have selected a home resort.

Use years don't let that confuse you that is the month your point come into your contract each year. Mar use year each March 1st Bingo we get points.

Contract years these some end in 2042 other like mine I think are all 2060 and beyond that when your contract expires.

Get on line look at all of the resale agency's out there including the one that sponsors this board we purchased through Fidelity Resales Find the best bang for your buck. Either if you think its a fair deal offer list or negotiate these are real estate deals. On these board you will find great information as to ROFR info and a good offer price point for that DVC contract of your dreams. I don't really care how much they (Disney) strip the resales contracts privileges the difference in cost direct vs resale is not enough value in those perks unless they came with free admission and dining for all on reservation would be worth me buying direct.

Find your contract so we can say WELCOME HOME.

My 2 cents
 
Hello everyone,

I guess to start off - we have a trip booked for November 2020. Staying at Contemporary resort, garden wing deluxe room. We are paying roughly $5,500 for the hotel stay only. We are in our early 30's with a 5 year old and one on the way. We have been planning to take this vacation for some time, and picked Contemp due to its proximity to MK. I have several friends/coworkers who are DVC members. I didn't know much about DVC until the past month or so. We are not Disney fanatics.. but we have been to WDW several prior times, staying in Pop Century or similar.

My hang up is this - we are spending $5500 for a hotel room for 1 week. When we return home, we will have nothing to show for it but memories. I'm fully aware DVC is not an "investment" (although its an investment into future vacations), but I feel like our $5500 could be put to better use as a down payment on a DVC. With small children, we anticipate going back to WDW probably every other year.. for the next 15-18 years.

I really don't like the idea of buying Riviera @ 188/pt and from what I've read, will have restrictions on resale and etc. So my thinking was to purchase a resale from Disney. Roughly 100 points. I would use our $5500 as a down payment and probably finance the rest (most likely paying it off early). For our vacation in 2020, we would borrow from 2021 to use in 2020, giving us roughly 200 points to use for the vacation. Most likely, we would continue to bank or borrow for the next 15-18 years.

We are not wealthy by any means, but we do not anticipate having a problem paying the balance or maintenance fee increases as we progress through the years. Does this scheme make sense to anyone? What problems may we run into or what are we not thinking about? We were in Disney last month for a Halloween party and spoke with a DVC salesperson but we did not do the tour.

One of said co-workers purchased a 75 point resale @ Animal Kingdom for roughly 10,000. From what he said, he bought it direct from Disney and gets the additional "perks" of DVC membership. (Something that I am not so concerned about getting.) But in my eyes, I would be putting a 50% payment on 75 points right out of the gate.

Please share your thoughts with us! Thank you!!
We initially bought 150 points at AKL through resale. A couple years later, we bought 75 points direct at SSR. Something to keep in mind, as it was pointed out to us, 100 points now will be very different 10 years from now. That's to say, 100 points now may suit your needs for a week vacation, but 10 years from now, that same 100 points may only get you a weekend. I agree with some posters to rent points before you buy. Do lots of research and talk to a DVC rep. They do not pressure you and you will gain lots of insight. We didn't buy until our kids were adults because of "life". My advice would be to do more research before committing to such a long term.
 
This 100% a 1-bedroom at BLT for most of November is roughly $3500 for 7 nights with rented points. You can take another $1000 off if youre okay in a studio.
Two adults and two small children would be crowded in a studio at BLT. With the sleeper sofa opened up, it may be hard to find a good spot to put a pack and play for the baby.
 

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