Musical Resorts.... Anyone????

[dumbo71]

Ok guys,


I'm a thinker well maybe an over thinker at times about money, holdings, etc. I like to maximize profits AND enjoyability any time I can reasonably do so. I have found a reasonable way to do both with DVC. I can buy in and enjoy the membership and all of the trips that come with it. I also have found myself monitoring the resale market looking for the right time to "trade up." It is so easy to do thus far with DVC I just can't resist.

I've owned OKW, BWV and now since 2003 SSR. I used, rented and sold my OKW and BWV contracts. I saw that those resorts had gotten into a positive finacial situation for me. I sold for much more than I paid and made some money renting along the way. It just felt right to get out of those and trade into a SSR contract or in this case keep the contract with a longer term. I am now in the process of carefully monitoring SSR resales to find a good time to "trade up" yet again for AKV. The timing would include purchasing AKV when a good promotion comes rolling out. I'm not in the camp that believes this current price is going to be the best. We will see.

In short has anyone considered doing something similiar? Really I can't see keeping one resort until the bitter end. Why not trade up when you get to a point where you've made money on the contract and a point where you believe the scale might tip the other way?

I mean even if you love DVC I'm not talking getting out altogether I'm simply saying sell and buy back in. It gives you the best possible chance of having a resort with a likely longer high resale value. Besides you cashed out with a profit. At eh most you'd be reinvesting into DVC.

Anyone thought about or plan to play musical resorts like I am?

 

[jekjones1558]

Sounds like your plan works well for you. We have no interest in making money on our DVC. That is not why we bought it. We have never rented points but use at least 500 points a year to treat family and friends and use the other 500 points to treat ourselves. We could sell BWV at a good profit but would then lose our ability to book BWV at 11 months and OKW GVs at 11 months, which is what we like to do.
I think that it is wonderful for you to be able to use DVC in a way that makes you happy and equally as wonderful for us to do the same. Aren't different strokes grand!

 

[BroganMc]

My only question with this strategy is whether you are even breaking even. Points rental may pay for annual fees for a few years, but new contracts are always going to be for more dollars/point.

For example, if I sell my SSR contract (purchased at $86-89/point) right now I'd at best break even. (Mostly likely not considering closing costs and reseller fees.) Then I turn around and buy AKV and I'm shelling out an additional $4-7/point plus higher annual dues.

 

[simzac]

I will be 83 when my OKW contract expires. I just can't see any reason to trade up for another resort with a later expiration date. Now someone younger than me, yes; I could see where they possibly might want to do this.

 

[Chuck S]

I will be 83 when my OKW contract expires. I just can't see any reason to trade up for another resort with a later expiration date. Now someone younger than me, yes; I could see where they possibly might want to do this.

I'll be 83 also when OKW reaches its demise. Of course, with medical technology, tomorrows 83 is todays 60

But I agree, considering what I paid for OKW in 1992, even selling at a profit I can't justify "trading up." Hopefully, if we are still healthy & wealthy enough to enjoy WDW at that time, SSR contracts will be pretty cheap, with only 15 years left.

 

[Caskbill]

I don't consider selling my OKW to buy AKV a 'Trade UP'. I like OKW just the way it is. AKV resort rooms will be smaller. AKV is way off in the corner of the WDW property.

It would cost several thousand dollars to 'trade up'. I won't live to 2057 anyway (I'd be 113 years old!) so the extra years means nothing.

Also I'm sure the AKV dues will be higher than OKW dues which is another factor.

Buying a small AKV contract would be one thing. Selling OKW to do it in my opinion is not the best move.

If someone paid $60/point for OKW and sold it today and received $80/point (after commissions), they really didn't make a dime. The value of $80 today is about the value of $60 years back when first purchased. At best you could say they came out even. But then to buy AKV for $93 means paying about $13/point just to trade. That's about $2000 for a 150 point 'exchange'.

I can easily use the old addage of DVC vs. the market. If I put that $2000 into the market, what happens in 10 years. Would the value of my OKV points, plus the gain in the $2000 investment, plus the difference in the dues paid over the years, when all is combined, would it be more or less than the value of AKV points? No one can predict that.

.02

 

[dumbo71]

My only question with this strategy is whether you are even breaking even. Points rental may pay for annual fees for a few years, but new contracts are always going to be for more dollars/point.

For example, if I sell my SSR contract (purchased at $86-89/point) right now I'd at best break even. (Mostly likely not considering closing costs and reseller fees.) Then I turn around and buy AKV and I'm shelling out an additional $4-7/point plus higher annual dues.

I posted a thread about how I made out financially, I'll look for it.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We will only consider doing that IF the new resorts from here out increase and hold value enough to warrant it. If we did that, it would be to get a better resale before OKW starts to wane in resale price because of the shorter contract. We talked about doing what you propose now, but decided we like our OKW too much, and AKV is still an unknown. Instead we added on at AKV. 5-10 years down the road, it might make sense to "trade up" to a longer contract. Not so much for us (we'll be late 90's or dead before anything expires), but to get more value out of it for our estate.

 

[DVC Grammy]

There are some situations in which I can see someone selling a contract in order to buy another. If someone is just "okay" about their home resort, and their "dream" DVC is built (say, for those people wishing for CRV or DLV), plus if they have enough points to meet their vacation needs and don't want more, selling the contract to buy into their "dream" makes sense. The emotional payoff might even be enough to counter a small financial loss.
Just my $.02, but sometimes, money really isn't everything.

 

[dumbo71]

We will only consider doing that IF the new resorts from here out increase and hold value enough to warrant it. If we did that, it would be to get a better resale before OKW starts to wane in resale price because of the shorter contract. We talked about doing what you propose now, but decided we like our OKW too much, and AKV is still an unknown. Instead we added on at AKV. 5-10 years down the road, it might make sense to "trade up" to a longer contract. Not so much for us (we'll be late 90's or dead before anything expires), but to get more value out of it for our estate.

Diane,

I think you at least get what I'm saying. I made a profit on the sale of my points and renting, maybe $30,000 +. If I added in the value of all of the points I used that profit would be much larger, probably doubling my money.

It isn't just about that. It is about maintaining a resort that will continue to have a high resale value. If I passes away it would be presumptious of me to assume that my son would want my DVC and the annual dues bill that goes along with it. What I would be doing is passing along a resort that had value that could be sold.

I really feel trading up is the way to go even if you'll never use those extra years. You could always stay at OKW if you want by booking at 7 months.

I guess I see trading up as a re-insurance policy. If I ever HAD to sell of wanted to sell I would own a newer resort with a relatively high resale.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Diane,

I think you at least get what I'm saying. I made a profit on the sale of my points and renting, maybe $30,000 +. If I added in the value of all of the points I used that profit would be much larger, probably doubling my money.

It isn't just about that. It is about maintaining a resort that will continue to have a high resale value. If I passes away it would be presumptious of me to assume that my son would want my DVC and the annual dues bill that goes along with it. What I would be doing is passing along a resort that had value that could be sold.

I really feel trading up is the way to go even if you'll never use those extra years. You could always stay at OKW if you want by booking at 7 months.

I guess I see trading up as a re-insurance policy. If I ever HAD to sell of wanted to sell I would own a newer resort with a relatively high resale.

I get it, and I agree. I'm quite sure neither of our grown kids will be able to afford the maintenance on DVC, so it makes sense to me to do it that way as well. We are toying with turning all of our assets into a trust. That would include DVC. That way, it would be easier on our heirs when our estate is settled.

 

[BroganMc]

We are toying with turning all of our assets into a trust. That would include DVC. That way, it would be easier on our heirs when our estate is settled.

That is something my dad and I are doing right now. We're setting up a trust with enough investments to maintain the properties at least through the lives of the trustees (i.e. my siblings and I). When the last of us dies, the estate will be sold and divvied up among the heirs (i.e. grandchildren). That is unless the last trustee wants to reconfigure the trust and keep it going.

This estate includes 4 Marriott vacation weeks, DVC and a beach condo. The beach condo is the most expensive to maintain but has returned the highest return on value.

I think a great many of us will be around and able to manage our DVC's until our children are grown and financially stable enough to take over. MF will never be as high as say a mortgage on a house. The real issue will come when those grown child marry and have families of their own. Then there will be fights over who gets to use the points that year.

Hmm, there are 8 grandkids +1 on the way with 4 families. Originally my mom wanted enough marriott week's to pass on to each of her kids. 4 kids = 4 weeks, done. But if we want to pass on those grandkids? Well 1 week in DVC. I guess we're gonna need 7 more.