I am a consistent renter, this year will be my third staright year renting DVC.
Bottom line, unless you can afford to pay cash for DVC, owning is not worth it in the long run
Simple Math
Typical Annual Dues are $5
Typical Rental Rates are $11
If they rise accordingly and at the same rate....
$6 a year per point savings owning over renting
100 points at $6 pp is $600 per year savings
30 or so years left on a contract (using BWV here) and savings is $18,000
100 points costs $80 per point or $8,000
-----WELL WORTH IT TO OWN IF YOU CAN PAY CASH-----And even then, you have to make the commitment to 30 years to save just $10,000. I am sure some math wizard can tell you about how $8,000 invested would net you more than the $10k in 30 years, I am not going to run the numbers
----FINANCE THAT PURCHASE AT DISNEYS 10.75% OVER 10 YEARS AND YOUR COSTS RISE TO $13,000, ONLY A SAVINGS OF $5,000-----
***************THIS ALL BEING SAID, I WOULD DO ALMOST ANYTHING TO BUY DVC, ITS JUST THAT I CANT JUSTIFY FINANCING THE COSTS, NOT WHEN I HAVE CREDIT CARDS AND MORTGAGES TO PAY DOWN ALREADY************
The bottom line: Renting is a great way to vacation at WDW. Points are always abound and you get treated like a member. Yes, there are some risks with renting but still, when people compare DVC to not owning DVC they usually use rack rates in their calculatuions, while I use renting points in mine.
Renting is a great alternative to owning if you cannot afford to pay cash on hand for DVC
IMO Renting is better than financing DVC
JIMO
And so it begins......
