Newbie trying to figure it all out - VGC??

[ClaraOswald]

I’d at least put a phone call in to this agent to get the seller’s story… of the 2500 to 2600 contracts on the market there are only 2 VGC Dec UY’s.
https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/listings/grand-californian/gc21260/

I’d go small and add on in the future when you move up to 1BD status.

Would it be hard to add Dec UY later one though? I worry since there seem to be so few contracts.

I think my biggest issue with Dec UY is that we wouldn't be able to use points for our June 2024 trip we are planning. So we'd basically be out close to $3000 if we wanted to try renting a villa. (Or we'd be out maybe $1800-$2000 for off site.)

 

[LilyJC]

I think my biggest issue with Dec UY is that we wouldn't be able to use points for our June 2024 trip we are planning.

Curious why you say you wouldn’t be able to use the Dec UY for your June 2024 trip? That trip would be in your Dec 2023 UY (any current/banked points from 2022) and you could borrow from the Dec 2024 allotment if needed…?

 

[ClaraOswald]

I guess I just assumed I wouldn't be able to book anything until the points go in on December 1st. And by then, all rooms for June would be booked.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I guess I just assumed I wouldn't be able to book anything until the points go in on December 1st. And by then, all rooms for June would be booked.

You can book 11m out, you don’t have to wait for the points to “load”

 

[ClaraOswald]

I knew that was the case once you were a member but I guess it didn't click with me that as long as the contract went through before then, I'd be able to book. Hmm....great...more to think about now. Ha!

 

[ClaraOswald]

So are there just less December UY contracts, in general, at the Grand Cali or is it just that not many Dec people are currently selling? My fear would be that in 5 years or something, it would be impossible to add a small contract to bump up to a 1 bedroom.

There's also a December contract for 150 out there right now which with banking/borrowing would probably be doable for 1-bedroom some years. I don't think a Dec UY seems too risky for our February or June trips either.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I wonder if there are any resale brokers/companies to avoid. I noticed that some seem to have better websites than others. But how the heck do you know if any are bad and should be avoided??

 

[naman1221]

I wonder if there are any resale brokers/companies to avoid. I noticed that some seem to have better websites than others. But how the heck do you know if any are bad and should be avoided??

I think every broker that is commonly used/referred to here is probably fine. They all have different positives and negatives.

Fidelity - widely accepted to be the cheapest broker but don't expect white glove service
DVC Resale Market - white glove service but expect to pay more

I think most of the others fall somewhere in between - there are a few where I have dealt with a really rude broker who scoffed at an offer and I will never use them again but that might not be everybody's experience.

 

[AstroBlasters]

So are there just less December UY contracts, in general, at the Grand Cali or is it just that not many Dec people are currently selling? My fear would be that in 5 years or something, it would be impossible to add a small contract to bump up to a 1 bedroom.

There's also a December contract for 150 out there right now which with banking/borrowing would probably be doable for 1-bedroom some years. I don't think a Dec UY seems too risky for our February or June trips either.

I inquired with the broker, the 150 Dec UY contract just got sold @ $254pp

 

[ClaraOswald]

I inquired with the broker, the 150 Dec UY contract just got sold @ $254pp

Bummer. I was going to convince my husband we should try to get that one. There are still a few decent June ones out there at least. I wonder if more December ones will show up later after people likely use up their 2022 points.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Bummer. I was going to convince my husband we should try to get that one. There are still a few decent June ones out there at least. I wonder if more December ones will show up later after people likely use up their 2022 points.

You could go for this one and sell off the 2023 points to offset the cost.

 

[ClaraOswald]

You could go for this one and sell off the 2023 points to offset the cost.

The December one for 125? I'm still worried that we'll want more points. I'm going to see what my husband thinks about it later.

 

[AstroBlasters]

The December one for 125? I'm still worried that we'll want more points. I'm going to see what my husband thinks about it later.

Sorry: https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/listings/grand-californian/gca1156/

 

[ClaraOswald]

I'm still so unsure about UY! Ugh. I still feel like June and December are good choices. But now I'm wondering if October could also be a good one to look at? June trips do fall into that 4-month risky window. But if we had to cancel in June, it would go into holding anyway. And if we cancelled in May, we could still bank into the next UY, right? (Same story for February trips with a June UY, I believe.)

 

[Sandisw]

I'm still so unsure about UY! Ugh. I still feel like June and December are good choices. But now I'm wondering if October could also be a good one to look at? June trips do fall into that 4-month risky window. But if we had to cancel in June, it would go into holding anyway. And if we cancelled in May, we could still bank into the next UY, right? (Same story for February trips with a June UY, I believe.)

Holding only happens when you cancel less than 31 days out so even if you cancel and are in your banking window, you still have restrctions.

The risky part of the UY that you try to avoid are when you have to cancel or change a trip more than 31 days out.

But, try not to overthink it too much because it sounds like you have a few different ones that will work…the harder part is the amount of time between travel and doing the best you can to avoid losing points.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Holding only happens when you cancel less than 31 days out so even if you cancel and are in your banking window, you still have restrctions.

The risky part of the UY that you try to avoid are when you have to cancel or change a trip more than 31 days out.

But, try not to overthink it too much because it sounds like you have a few different ones that will work…the harder part is the amount of time between travel and doing the best you can to avoid losing points.

Yeah, I'm sure I'm overthinking at this point. I sat down the other night and tried to explain how it all works to my husband. Our brains process things in much different ways so it was frustrating and confusing for both of us. But I think we finally got it figured out. We just need to decide when to make offers. Right now we're waiting to see how much some work on our house is going to cost to see if we want to push DVC off a bit. Waiting is the worst. I'm guessing when the time comes, we'll just have to pick an contract with June, December, or October that has the right amount of points and a decent price. But who knows what will be available when we can finally pull the trigger. It's hard to see contracts getting snapped up!

 

[ClaraOswald]

I get alerts from the DVC resale market app so I know when new contracts come up with them. And then I also see when offers are accepted. It's killing me watching contracts disappear while we're waiting on putting in offers!

I'm currently seeing just 9 contracts available in the point range for what we want and in the months that would work. Eek!

 

[HIRyeDVC]

I get alerts from the DVC resale market app so I know when new contracts come up with them. And then I also see when offers are accepted. It's killing me watching contracts disappear while we're waiting on putting in offers!

I'm currently seeing just 9 contracts available in the point range for what we want and in the months that would work. Eek!

2 years ago, seeing 9 VGC contracts total across ALL brokers would have been a rare sight.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Another one bites the dust. Down to just 8 that have the months/points we would want. Though I know that at any time more could come or go.

I know a lot of people don't like using VGC points at other resorts. But I could definitely see us using them every few years at WDW maybe. Or possible Hilton Head Island. And actually HHI would be helpful for those years when we might have 'extra' points we don't want to lose. Except...we'd likely want to do HHI in the summer so I feel like it would work to do a Disneyland trip in say - December and then HHI the following June. But then I wonder if having a June UY would mess that up.

I know, I know...I'm totally stuck on overthinking this whole UY thing! I can't help myself. I keep going back and forth. Now I feel like December would be best and if a good contract shows up we should jump on it. But I wonder if December UY would be more difficult to find later if we wanted a 2nd contract to have more points.

Ugh. Just babbling....AGAIN.

On an unrelated note...picked up some paint samples for the walls of our house so that will be one more house project to mark off our list! (Really hoping to finish up some house things before purchasing DVC, so then I feel like a responsible adult. Ha!)

 

[HIRyeDVC]

Another one bites the dust. Down to just 8 that have the months/points we would want. Though I know that at any time more could come or go.

I know a lot of people don't like using VGC points at other resorts. But I could definitely see us using them every few years at WDW maybe. Or possible Hilton Head Island. And actually HHI would be helpful for those years when we might have 'extra' points we don't want to lose. Except...we'd likely want to do HHI in the summer so I feel like it would work to do a Disneyland trip in say - December and then HHI the following June. But then I wonder if having a June UY would mess that up.

I know, I know...I'm totally stuck on overthinking this whole UY thing! I can't help myself. I keep going back and forth. Now I feel like December would be best and if a good contract shows up we should jump on it. But I wonder if December UY would be more difficult to find later if we wanted a 2nd contract to have more points.

Ugh. Just babbling....AGAIN.

On an unrelated note...picked up some paint samples for the walls of our house so that will be one more house project to mark off our list! (Really hoping to finish up some house things before purchasing DVC, so then I feel like a responsible adult. Ha!)

If you don’t anticipate using your VGC points at VGC at least every other year, maybe you should get a 75-100 point contract at VGC and get 75-100 somewhere else for much cheaper to use as SAP. You’ll probably end up spending less than getting a 160 point contract at VGC. For example, if you were to buy a 100 point VGC and a 100 point Aulani contract, it would probably cost you around $32k as opposed to 160 VGC for around $38k. This way, you could also get different UYs to meet your specific needs. Just an idea. I probably have made you more indecisive