More questions

[WolfpackFan]

Seems like the deeper I get into looking into the DVC, the more questions I have. We spent New Year's last night with some friends of ours that are DVC members and I came away with more questions still.

1) If you use your points to take a cruise on the Disney Cruise line - are the points cited (150-200) per person or per cabin? I'm betting per person, because I know Disney cruises are very expensive.

2) I've been thinking about some of the advice given here about not waiting until June to join but go ahead and join now and it's making more sense the more I think about it. If I did this I would probably list HH as my home resort. Is HH still open as far as buying into thru Disney?

3) What are opinions as far and pros/cons of possibly using a third party timeshare company to join as versus joining thru Disney? I looked at a website that listed some prices and they appeared to be a good deal cheaper than going thru Disney.

4) Oops, just thought of something else related to 3 above. If you use a private reseller to buy, do you have to pay closing costs? Also, will they setup financing for you, like Disney does?

Any answers to the above would be greatly appreciated and Happy New Years.

 

[Regina]

Let me see if I can help with this:

1. The cruise is points per person

2. It's always smart to join as soon as you've made the decision. The price and availability could change.

3. No experience with resales. The Timeshare Store has an excellent reputation if that's an option that you wish to explore.

Good luck!

 

[Chuck S]

1] Cruise points are per person.

2] HH, VB and VWL are currently available through Disney

3] If you want BWV or OKW you MUST purchase through resale. For any contract the main difference of purchasing through a reseller is you will have to pay (or negotiate with with seller) to pay closing cost. Once the contact is recorded Disney will treat you the same as a member that purchased directly. Depending on the size of the contract, those closing costs could bump the price to near Disney direct. With a resale you do not get the benefit of the option of Magic Beginnings, or whatever it is called, to resell part of your first years points to Disney to use as part of your down payment. You must also look closely at a resale to see what points are actually currently available (ie did the owner bank last year's points, did they use any of this years points, did they borrow any from next year?)

I do agree, if you're going to WDW anyway, use what you'd spend on a hotel towards your DVC purchase instead.

 

[dvc_bwv]

In answer to:

4. You have to arrange your financing and you pay the closing costs.

 

[ZerasPride]

Just wanted to say you will love having Hilton Head as your home resort (if that is where you decide to purchase). I don't have any direct experience with the resale market either but I think utilizing magical beginnings the way it stands now can be pretty comparable to the resale market. Someone please correct my thinking if it is "off". But I look at it this way, the mb program at HH will buy back all of your first year's points at $13 per point. We were going to buy the minimum but I knew we wanted 200 points (couldn't afford the payments comfortably) so we decided the middle ground 170 points would work for us.

Anyway, the way I calculated it is that by Disney providing over $2,000 for our downpayment by giving them back our first year's points, it knocked down the price per point to $62 instead of $75 per point, we didn't have to pay closing costs and only paid dues on our 2001 points from the day we signed the contract (December 21). I thought that was a pretty good deal all-in-all.

Now, if I had cash for the total purchase I would definitely consider the resale market and would have kept the 2001 points and used them. This is just my take on the subject and what worked for me and my family.

Again, hope to welcome you home soon!

Lisa

 

[KathyR]

I just wanted to make sure you know that the prices listed on the resale sites are asking prices. They are negotiable! I think the minimum you can purchase without DVC buying back the contract is around $58/point, but if I am off by any $$ amount someone will correct me Resale can save you a good bit of money if those are the resorts that you want. I can also say that HHI is absolutely beautiful!!! We own BWV however ,which we plan to visit annualy, but I also plan on going to visit HHI at least every 3 years! If I had the cash laying around I would add on there in a heartbeat Good luck!

 

[Richyams]

If you are planning to use DVC mainly for DCL, it would probably be cheaper to just pay cash for the cruises.

If you are planning to use DVC mainly for visiting WDW, it would probably be a better idea to chose a WDW DVC resort.

If you are planning to use DVC mainly to stay at HH, there are cheaper timeshares, much closer to the beach, with VERY good trading power, at least as good as DVC.

If you are planning to spend most of your time at HH with occasional visits to WDW and a cruise once in a great while, DVC with your home resort at HH is a great idea.

MANY people here have began their ownership through resale companies. They are very good and as long as you do your homework, you can get a mich better price than through Disney. The MB program is really not that good of a deal. You are getting $13 per point, but losing out on your first allotment of points. A resale can be had with all points intact and possibly even some banked points for less than you could buy through Disney, ESPECIALLY AT HH.

 

[Muushka]

Just wondering, have you visited HH yet?

I would not buy there sight unseen. Just my opinion, though!

Also, you mentioned that you are a big Disney fan (again, sorry aobut the wife ). That being the case, a consideration of where you would most like to vacation should come into play.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Muushka -

Actually my wife (Janet) and I were just talking about that. I think we may go down there for the weekend of the 21-22 since we have the following Monday off. It's going to coming down to whether we buy into BCV because of my Disney interest or HH because Janet loves the beach. Now, I wonder who will win out???

John

 

[disneyangels]

We have been wanting to buy for years. We just came back from Hilton Head and it is a beautiful resort. We still of course love WDW. We bought at Hilton Head because they are offering a wonderful incentive program. You basically can trade your first years points for the down payment. They gave a $13 per point. The only down side is you dont get your first years points but for us this didn't matter because since we bought 12/26 we got a 8/01 use year. We will get a new allocation of points 8/02. The best thing was that since we bought at the end of the year we are only going to owe dues for a couple of days of 2001. WHAT A DEAL. I don't think any other resorts are offering a deal this good. I think the buy back at Vero is 10. We basically paid 62 a point. 75-13=62. The only down side is that we won't have the 11 month window in orlando but our rep said this won't be a problem since we like old key west the best and that resort has the largest selection of rooms and we will be doing most of our vacationing in the summer and possibly Easter week. If you want to go to Hilton Head in the summer, which we do, you must have a 11 month window because it is in such high demand in the summer. I hope I have helped you with some of your questions. Good luck in your decision.

 

[ncligs]

Vero Beach is the same price ($62 pt- MB) We just added on 50 pts there 3 days ago.