Maintenace Fee Question...

[Anjelica]

When is the first maintenance fee due? We are planning on purchasing DVC soon but as sure if we paid maintenance fee's along with the initial purchase of the points or do we wait for a year? Also, are the maintenance fee's paid upfront for the coming year or are they paid for the previous year?

 

[browniemtb]

If you buy from Disney the fees will be prorated from the time of purchase. So if you buy in July you may only be liable for 6 months of fees. Fees run calender year, Jan to Dec. and are usually billed to the members at some point in January or are deducted via EFT monthly.
If you buy resale I beleive it would be in the contract whether you owe for that year or not depending on the previous owner.
Brownie

 

[abner1776]

It's true that the full year bills are due in January, but for the first year prorated bill, DVC will send it out about 1 month after you purchase and actually before you receive your final closing papers.

 

[JimMIA]

If you buy from Disney the fees will be prorated from the time of purchase. So if you buy in July you may only be liable for 6 months of fees. Fees run calender year, Jan to Dec. and are usually billed to the members at some point in January or are deducted via EFT monthly.
If you buy resale I beleive it would be in the contract whether you owe for that year or not depending on the previous owner.
Brownie

There are a couple of important points in this post regarding resale purchases.

One is that the maintenance fees (or dues) are for a calendar year -- NOT use year. DISNEY pro-rates the dues according to the time period where the new owner is actually responsible for the operating costs of the resort.

However, in a resale, if you are getting all of the current use year's points with the contract, the seller will usually expect you to pay the dues, even though the dues have nothing to do with the points. That is negotiable, and as stated, will be in any contract you sign.

 

[Dean]

There are a couple of important points in this post regarding resale purchases.

One is that the maintenance fees (or dues) are for a calendar year -- NOT use year. DISNEY pro-rates the dues according to the time period where the new owner is actually responsible for the operating costs of the resort.

However, in a resale, if you are getting all of the current use year's points with the contract, the seller will usually expect you to pay the dues, even though the dues have nothing to do with the points. That is negotiable, and as stated, will be in any contract you sign.

I totally agree, the sellers frequently expect you to INCORRECTLY pay the entire years bill for the year you buy. Unfortunately most of the brokers are either unaware or incorrectly informed on this issue as well and thus inform their sellers incorrectly. The net result is that many buyers overpay the fees on a resale purchase and for DVC, this can frequently make or break a good deal depending on the specifics of the resale. But for an informed buyer, you simply make it part of the contract upfront and it's a non issue.

 

[CarolMN]

I totally agree, the sellers frequently expect you to INCORRECTLY pay the entire years bill for the year you buy. Unfortunately most of the brokers are either unaware or incorrectly informed on this issue as well and thus inform their sellers incorrectly. The net result is that many buyers overpay the fees on a resale purchase and for DVC, this can frequently make or break a good deal depending on the specifics of the resale. But for an informed buyer, you simply make it part of the contract upfront and it's a non issue.

I agree in principle, but if someone really wants a particular contract, he/she might just suck it up and pay anyway.

It's not always that easy to find a 25 -100 point contract (that isn't stripped) for the smaller resorts (VWL, BCV & BWV) - especially if you are not a patient person, LOL.

Bottom line is that who pays how much toward dues is completely negotiatble on resales - doesn't matter if you are "right" if you don't get the contract you really wanted because of it. JMHO. YMMV.

Best wishes -

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

If you're buying from Disney, the amount of dues you owe in the purchase year will be based on the date you sign the purchase agreement (not the closing papers). It's pro-rated by month, so don't make the mistake I did. I got my paperwork on the 31st of the month via FedEx. I was so excited to at the prospect of finally owning a DVC share, I signed and dated the contracts that night. Had I waited and dated them for the next day, the 1st, I would have saved myself one month of pro-rated dues.

 

[Dean]

I agree in principle, but if someone really wants a particular contract, he/she might just suck it up and pay anyway.

It's not always that easy to find a 25 -100 point contract (that isn't stripped) for the smaller resorts (VWL, BCV & BWV) - especially if you are not a patient person, LOL.

Bottom line is that who pays how much toward dues is completely negotiatble on resales - doesn't matter if you are "right" if you don't get the contract you really wanted because of it. JMHO. YMMV.

Best wishes -

No question one has to look at the overall package. However, it's a good starting point to know how the dues are actually calculated and paid to DVC. And i doubt many if any sellers would balk at a buyer paying a fair maint fee rather than a frequently confiscatory amount of the entire years fees, unless instructed otherwise by someone they believe in. Language stating that one pays the same fees as if they were buying direct from DVC would be hard for anyone to argue with. I've had two different brokers on resale call DVC to find out how things were done then call me back and apologize that they were wrong taking the approach of you get the points you pay the fees. It's simply a foreign concept to most of them as they're used to working with the idea "you get the week you pay the dues". Even most points systems charge for the use year, not calendar year as DVC does.

I also suspect most buyers would like to know if they're paying fees on points they don't get to use. I doubt it makes any difference on loaded contracts but it sure would on one that doesn't have points until the use year opens or worse, is borrowed ahead.

 

[huey578]

When is the first maintenance fee due? We are planning on purchasing DVC soon but as sure if we paid maintenance fee's along with the initial purchase of the points or do we wait for a year? Also, are the maintenance fee's paid upfront for the coming year or are they paid for the previous year?

I'm curious ,how much are the annual dues?

 

[lisareniff]

I have just experience the resale process and they are very adamant about their stance that "you pay 2006 dues for 2006 points" even if those point don't come until December! I was expecting a conversation of the various ways MF are handled and what would be the fair split, what is commonly done, and what would be accepted. It felt more like he was on a crusade to win be over.

 

[Dean]

I have just experience the resale process and they are very adamant about their stance that "you pay 2006 dues for 2006 points" even if those point don't come until December! I was expecting a conversation of the various ways MF are handled and what would be the fair split, what is commonly done, and what would be accepted. It felt more like he was on a crusade to win be over.

Unfortunate you got someone so ill informed and/or willing to throw you under the bus for a small additional profit for the seller. The best way to handle it is to write it into the contract up front. Unfortunate in this situation you would have overpaid by 11 months of dues, quite a chunk IMO. You may be right about the crusade though.

 

[greenban]

Unfortunate you got someone so ill informed and/or willing to throw you under the bus for a small additional profit for the seller. The best way to handle it is to write it into the contract up front. Unfortunate in this situation you would have overpaid by 11 months of dues, quite a chunk IMO. You may be right about the crusade though.

I have run into this several times:

I have sucessfully prorated the MFs only once or twice.

My argument:

The 2006 Maintenace Fees cover all of 2006, since My points don't come in until December I should pay 1/12th of the 2006 Maintennace fees.

Their answer:

Since all 2006 Points are intact, you should pay all 2006 MFs (I actually agree with this, in fact when I only got 240 of 400 points I paid 240/400ths of the MF!)

However, since I only buy near triples now, I am usually getting all of 2005's Points, all 2006 Available, and most if not all 2004 banked, and I just pay 2006 MFs, so I tell myself to be happy.

-Tony

 

[Dean]

I have run into this several times:

I have sucessfully prorated the MFs only once or twice.

My argument:

The 2006 Maintenace Fees cover all of 2006, since My points don't come in until December I should pay 1/12th of the 2006 Maintennace fees.

Their answer:

Since all 2006 Points are intact, you should pay all 2006 MFs (I actually agree with this, in fact when I only got 240 of 400 points I paid 240/400ths of the MF!)

However, since I only buy near triples now, I am usually getting all of 2005's Points, all 2006 Available, and most if not all 2004 banked, and I just pay 2006 MFs, so I tell myself to be happy.

-Tony

If you're getting enough usable points, it really doesn't matter. But for stripped contract or even one where you get the points late, it is make or break IMO. If I were buying today, I'd write it into the contract that the maintenance fees at closing would be the same as if the same contract were bought from DVC. IMO, it'd be hard for any reasonable person to argue with that. And for a Dec use year with all Dec points but no other points, that would be 1/12 of the yearly fees. I've been successful every time I made the effort but I was willing to walk away even at that point, I doubt most are. ASAMOF, on my first contract, I took the stance that you didn't pay closing through DVC so why should I pay it on a resale and the seller paid the fees. I didn't do it to be difficult, just that I didn't know better at the time and did know that if I bought through DVC there would be NO closing.