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[CarolMN]

Great perspective! Thank you!
I've been on a few of the resale sites.

How do I find out how many years are left on the contract?

If you haven't already, check out all the information right here on the DIS - including the number of years left on the DVC resorts:

DVC Resource Center

 

[Momee]

If you haven't already, check out all the information right here on the DIS - including the number of years left on the DVC resorts:

DVC Resource Center

Thank you!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

Aside from a possible "welcome home" visit, the guide never has to deal with your inability to book again.

exactly.

it's just not looking like it's beneficial for us to be financially committed to something that doesn't yield much of an investment return in the long run.

What do you define as an investment return? Timeshares should never be looked at as an investment. Disney is better than most at keeping value, but anything could happen.

If you get a few nice multi-room stays for birthdays under your belt, and do the math on that would have cost in dollars through Disney, you might have your “return”’quickly.

Apparently our guide knew this already because he had ALL kinds of notes about us and what we have discussed in the past with other guides.

So...why do you keep meeting with guides? We met with a guide once. Asked questions and read voraciously here. And a year or so later called our guide (the fellow we met with first was our assigned guide) and started the ball rolling. Because of the reading I had done here I had exactly one misperception, and DH knew the right answer so I never even had to call the guide. We got all the info we needed here.

I can honestly say that over the past few years that we've been contemplating purchasing, the guides have become more of the typical salesman type.

Yep. But it’s likely the people you've been meeting with won’t be your guides anyway unless the first you met with is no longer there.

The amount that we were originally considering was 150, but I'm thinking that we should look into the purchasing the minimum direct, then look into adding on via resale.
We don't want to jump in feet first if in a few years, we realize that we may not be getting out of it what we expected.

I would go resale first so you aren’t budgeting points to the bone. You’ll enjoy it more if you can enjoy the points. If you want to be a full member and they are still allowing the small add-one, then do that.

 

[Momee]

exactly.



What do you define as an investment return? Timeshares should never be looked at as an investment. Disney is better than most at keeping value, but anything could happen.

If you get a few nice multi-room stays for birthdays under your belt, and do the math on that would have cost in dollars through Disney, you might have your “return”’quickly.



So...why do you keep meeting with guides? We met with a guide once. Asked questions and read voraciously here. And a year or so later called our guide (the fellow we met with first was our assigned guide) and started the ball rolling. Because of the reading I had done here I had exactly one misperception, and DH knew the right answer so I never even had to call the guide. We got all the info we needed here.



Yep. But it’s likely the people you've been meeting with won’t be your guides anyway unless the first you met with is no longer there.



I would go resale first so you aren’t budgeting points to the bone. You’ll enjoy it more if you can enjoy the points. If you want to be a full member and they are still allowing the small add-one, then do that.

1. Our idea of an investment return may differ from yours. Timeshares should absolutely be viewed as an investment- investment in our family's time, as well as money. We want something that, if we decide within 5-10 years that we are no longer enjoying it to its full potential, that we can sell and not lose our hind end on it.
We also realize that Disney holds its value better than others- that's why we're interested. My parents have timeshares with other companies that are good, but don't offer the Disney experience.
2. We have only met with a guide 3 times now. Once on a Disney cruise and twice at WDW, over the past few years. We will meet with one again if we feel that we want to sit down one-on-one and ask more in depth questions. I'm glad that you were able to get the info you needed during one visit.
This isn't something that is a necessity to our family, so we are making sure we know all of the ins and outs before making a commitment.
3. In my comment referring to the guides, I was specifically referring to the fact that it seems as if their demeanors have become more sales driven over the past few years. I don't expect to ever deal with the same guide more than once or that they will help with any reservation details.
4. It was mentioned before to go resale and then possibly do a direct add-on if we want to enjoy the Disney discount benefits. Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm grateful for all of the information that the members here provide! Can't wait to be DVC members!

 

[Bing Showei]

2. We have only met with a guide 3 times now. Once on a Disney cruise and twice at WDW, over the past few years. We will meet with one again if we feel that we want to sit down one-on-one and ask more in depth questions. I'm glad that you were able to get the info you needed during one visit.
This isn't something that is a necessity to our family, so we are making sure we know all of the ins and outs before making a commitment.

Unless you're going for free gift cards, fastpasses, ice cream, or air conditioning, the DVC Guides/tours are a terrible waste of time for information. Your in-depth questions will be met with misleading statements that will invariably conclude that buying direct into Copper Creek/Aulani is the best way to becoming a DVC member.

And they'd probably support your notion that DVC should absolutely be viewed as an investment with great gusto.

 

[Momee]

Unless you're going for free gift cards, fastpasses, ice cream, or air conditioning, the DVC Guides/tours are a terrible waste of time for information. Your in-depth questions will be met with misleading statements that will invariably conclude that buying direct into Copper Creek/Aulani is the best way to becoming a DVC member.

And they'd probably support your notion that DVC should absolutely be viewed as an investment with great gusto.

Definitely never received a gift card (didn't know that was a thing), the fast passes didn't even get used last time, they don't serve Mickey ice cream on a stick (so not interested in the ice cream), and if it was the a.c. we were looking for, I could think of about 100 other places to really "enjoy" the coolness besides a DVC tour.
We have received some good information from the guides and we have no problem saying "we aren't purchasing today". So other than our time, we didn't lose anything by going.
Thanks for the input though. I like hearing others' perspectives.

 

[diznee princess]

The guide that we spoke to this past weekend was pushing 175 because once you hit the 175 mark, you received a $2500 discount.
When he saw that we were still discussing our options, he did say that we could do 75 points, but that was only mentioned briefly and definitely not discussed by him.
I get it, it's a sale that they try (sometimes desperately) to make so that people buy direct.
We are not their optimal customer because we like to know as much as possible before making a major purchase. We are also not a family that is on a "Disney vacation high" that will sign blindly.
Apparently our guide knew this already because he had ALL kinds of notes about us and what we have discussed in the past with other guides.

Same with us!. I was too informed for our guide lol..he basically said "what are you here for then?" Lol it was our first time inquiring about how dvc works. He said we could do 75.00 contract but suggested 100 at least. But 150 would get us the 1 br we like with borrowing. At 100-150 buy in we would recieve a 1000.00 discount. When talking about resale and adding on he agreed it was an option but he also claimed we could no longer buy just 25 pts as add on, that Disney rule is 75 minimum now. I don't know if that's true.

 

[jodifla]

We bought as Florida residents and found a lot of advantages to it. Resale won't be as problematic for you because you'll qualify for the Florida resident perks.

Have you looked at the point charts to see how many points is required for where you would like to stay? I'd start there then start looking for desirable contracts. We found it very addicting to take frequent trips to WDW with our Florida resident seasonal pass. We bought more than 20 years ago, and consider it one of our best purchases.