Newbie Questions

[bluesea718]

Hi there, DVC Veterans,

I'm just beginning the process of joining DVC. I've done all my research, and I'm sure that this is what I want to do. I was at WDW from December 19th-22nd this year and I became an official Disney-holic during that time. It was my first visit since 1986 and I don't know that I ever received such a heaping spoonful of pixie dust before.

But I digress, I have some questions:

I have looked at the Timeshare Store resales, and spoke to Jerry there. He told me that there was a vast difference in maintenance fees between Vero Beach (high) and the WDW resorts (less high..lol). Does anybody have a link to a site that lists all of the maintenance fees? Do the maintenance fees increase every year?

If my credit is less than wonderful, and home equity is not an option, do I have a chance of getting financed? Do the resale companies finance thru DVC also?

When reading the boards, I got a little bit nervous about the people calling 11 months ahead of time and hitting redial 30 times to get through. I know that there are peak periods to worry about, but is there going to be a problem at times other than primetime (April, Christmas-New Years). I'm thinking that my plans are going to be for December 18th-23rd, which is cutting it close I know.

If I have 100 Beach Club points, and 250 Old Key West points, can I make BC reservations 11 months out using the 350 pts?

Are there any advantages to purchasing from DVC other than the free closing cost? I can't imagine buying from them when the point cost is so much cheaper with resale?

Does anybody have any experience with resale companies other than The Timeshare Store?

Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[WDWguru]

I'm going to try and tackle these...

Maintenance fees vary from resort to resort, between about $3.50 and $4.50 per point. They can go up yearly, but no more than 15% in a year. Legally DVC can NOT make a profit on those fees, and you get a complete accounting of them each year. Someone will post a breakdown of past years, no doubt, but generally they've gone up 2-3% per year for the last 10 years.

Disney seems to be pretty lenient on credit rating and should finance you no problem. However, they may require a larger down payment. For resale, it may be a bit trickier as there is really only one company out there that does timeshare loans. Your resale broker can give you more insight on this.

In regards to making reservations, don't be too nervous. You can generally get what you want calling 11 months out. If you're flexible, you can generally get something somewhere almost any time. Keep in mind that Disney's high season is not necessarily the same as DVC's high season. While Christmas/New Years and Easter are very popular with DVC, so are the first few weeks of December due to the low point cost and the activity going on at WDW. You may have to call a few times or wait on hold for a few minutes to make your reservations for that time period, but it's really NOT that big a deal.

Your 11 month window at your home resort is based on points at that resort only. To use your example, if you own 100 points at BCV and 250 at OKW, you could book accomodations using your 100 points at BCV at 11 months out and accomodations using 250 points at OKW at 11 months out, but they can't be combined until the 7 month window. However, you can use banking and borrowing to help this. For instance, if you needed 200 points to stay at BCV, you could just bank or borrow and combine those with current points to book at 11 months.

The advantages of purchasing direct from DVC are the included closing costs, easier financing and the ability to book a trip as soon as your deposit is made (this may be critical with your plans next year). With a resale you have more choices as far as resorts and use years available, prices are negotiable and you may find a contract with banked points. However, you will have to wait for closing and all paperwork to be filed (about 4-6 weeks) to make a reservation. We've purchased one contract from Disney (VWL) and two via resale (BWV) and have had fine experiences with all. The most important thing to decide is where you want to stay, then buy points there. If that's BCV, you pretty much have to buy via Disney right now. If it's OKW, BWV or VWL you pretty much have to go resale.

Both of our resales were purchased from Jaki at atimeshare.com and she was great to deal with. She kept us posted throughout the transaction(s) and answered all our questions. Keep in mind that many resale listings don't hit the websites, so once you decide on resort and number of points, call and get on the resalers lists. They'll call when something fitting your requests comes available so you have first crack at it.

 

[Dean]

If you were looking at VB because it's cheaper and plan on mostly staying at WDW, DON'T. The hassle factor and higher yearly fees are not worth it. Buy where you want to stay, the price difference isn't enough to complicate your life that way. If you dont' care where you stay but want it to be at WDW, look at resale, preferably at OKW. OKW will be the cheapest resale and have cheaper yearly fees. BWV will be pretty close for resale cost but the fees are about $0.50 a point higher.

If your looking at OKW to have points to use are various resorts and BCV points because you think that will be your first choice for many of the trips, that is a good plan.

I do have to question whether DVC is right for you right now based on what you presented. You said your credit wasn't good (less than wonderfull) and implied you'd need to finance. There is one company that does financing on resales I know of, I think it's Tammac.com but your looking at 12-13% I'd guess. Why not save some money for a year or so and be able to pay a big chunk of it off upfront. If you can't do this, you likely can't pay the downpayment of 20-30% and monthly payments anyway. You might consider buying less points now, maybe 150-200 and then buying more later. There will always be options to purchase resale or otherwise.

The only advantages of buying through DVC are financing, ability to book right away, no closing cots, new resort available that might not be so resale and get exactly the number of points and use year you want. Good luck.

 

[SlyHubby]

>
If my credit is less than wonderful, and home equity is not an option, do I have a chance of getting financed? Do the resale companies finance thru DVC also?
>

Financing is always an option...for a price.

I will agree 100% with Dean on this point. As nicely as I can put this, you might first seriously consider if purchasing makes sense in your financial situation. There is "good" debt and "bad" debt - in my mind, DVC ownership is in the "bad" debt category. Why pay 10% or more for financing when rates are so low these days? I would actually begin to question the savings of DVC for someone if the annual charges on the amount financed was at 10% of a $10,000 to $20,000 purchase.