One last question before making FINAL decision

[Jillpie]

I am just trying to justify the whole maintenance fee before taking the leap. Please convince me. Every year we spend about 2K in lodging at POR for about 8-9 nights. Now if we bought 175 points, that would be about 725.00 (don't have the chart in front of me) dollars a year for main. fee. If we went to the villas every other year that adds up to about 1500.00. So for another 500.00 we could just stay at POR? Is it really worth it? We're planning on the BCV's....they look so beautiful in the pictures and so tempting for the kids to swim in SAB (and us!). Please help here, we're so close.

 

[Dumbo]

Your'e spending 2k every year at POR. For a $750 maintainence fee you can stay at Beach Club Villas every year.

10 years from now that 2k you are spending at POR will increase to 5k. Your maintainence fee will not go up at that rate. In fact my fees at Boardwalk Villas went down a couple of years.


Dumbo

 

[jimmytammy]

I can understand your dilema sinc we recently joined DVC ourselves with 170 pts. and already added on 50 pts. within the year. In fact we havent even used any pts yet.

What I would like to say is DVC is IMHO more of an emotional buy than a financial consideration. What I mean is how much will you be going to WDW or in other words "how bad have you got it"?

Not that the $$ shouldnt be a priority BUT will buying into DVC "force" you to take a vacation which is not a bad thing. Also consider that 5-7 yrs from now prices will be higher at the resorts, thats a given. For example, I know a lady who told me in Oct. 1971 that her family stayed at The Contemp for $25 a nite. In 2001 the rooms were $225-$564 per nite. Imagine 40 yrs from now when our membership expires. I will be in my 70's then.

Anyway, we pondered buying 1&half yrs ago, decided not too, 1 yr later took a look at it again and after FINALLY convincing my DW we purchased. I could still kick myself for not buying earlier, the prices were less. We havent used it yet, but we dont regret buying at all. Watch what the veteran posters have too say, they give some great advice.

Lots of luck in your decision!

 

[kem330]

You are comparing a moderate resort to a deluxe resort- Can you stay 8-9 nights at BC for $2000? more like $3000+. With DVC you can get it for for $659.75 at BCV (Dues are $3.77 x 175). That will buy you a studio for (almost) 7 nights in Premier(christmas or easter), 10 nights in Magic (high season), and so on. What's there to think about?

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Many DVC'ers figure the value of their points differently.
I do not figure the rental value of points, but rather what they actually cost me. When doing comparisons, in my opinion, there is no other way to figure it. We are comparing "what it will cost vs. what it will cost".
Here is the way I figure value of points:

$65 per point (after Magical Beginnings) divided by 40 years of use = $1.63/pt. I add to that my average (VWL & VB) fee of $3.92/pt, and I get a total of $5.55/pt.

This is exactly what it cost me (in today's dollars) per point, per year. If a studio room "costs" 123 pts/week (dream season), then we can figure a cash equivalent...$5.55 multiplied by 123 pts = $682.65. That is $97.52 per day....TAX INCLUDED!

Each year as mtc fees increase, the point cost will increase, but you would be comparing that price to a rack rate that has also increased by roughly the same percentage.

I use this comparison for everything, including The Disney Collection. I have found it is not such a bad deal to use points outside the DVC resorts.

I hope this helps, and Good Luck!

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Hi Jillpie!

I'm one of those who stayed at Poly in 1972 (as a youngster with parents , of course ). Then it was $35 per night! That's 30 years ago....What will it be in another 30-40 years??????

And...the discounts offered currently and in recent years may not always be there. They weren't always available.

For us, the only other sensible option was buying a vacation home near WDW...But then we'd have to deal with being absentee owners (or landlords) AND.......we wouldn't be
ON-SITE.....MAJOR consideration for us!

Now, if the POLY ever goes CONDO.........

 

[erikthewise]

Another point of view, respectfully different from Maistre Gracey's but leading to the same conclusion. (Buy!)

For the sake of argument value your points at $10 each, the current "market value" if rented. (What others would pay you to use your points.) Each year the value of the points you receive (in your case $1750) will exceed the sum of your annual dues plus the interest on a home equity loan used to buy the point. Using reasonable values for this interest rate, the growth of non-DVC resort rates, and the growth of annual dues, your loan would be paid off in 12-15 years. (Note: if you use financing at 10+% instead of a home equity loan you will probably just break even.)

If you wish, replace the $1750 by "what you would otherwise pay" for accommodations, but if you would stay in deluxe resort the conclusion will not change.

This is a strictly financial analysis and doesn't take into account many other factors, especially that you will be staying in much nicer rooms than otherwise!

 

[mikesmom]

Besides, if your kids are small, it's not too bad staying in a hotel room (at POR). When they turn into teenagers, you will have the flexibility of getting a 1 or 2 bdrm for the sake of survival . Sure it will cost more points, but you would also be having to get 2 rooms at POR by then for the sake of the 2nd bathroom and your nerves!!

A hotel room with DH and a couple of teenagers - the very thought makes my blood run cold

 

[ZerasPride]

I'm not very good with facts and figures, but as another poster mentioned, for us, DVC was more an emotional decision than a financial one. We have one teen who likes to take a friend or relative with us on vacation and there is nothing worse than cramming 4 people in one room. We really have become spoiled by DVC. We have previously stayed at the GF, BC and CBR and while each resort is charming in its own right, the cost of 2 rooms is out of the question now and I can't imagine what two rooms would cost down the road.

DH and I also figure that with our modest allotment of points, we can still travel other places and enjoy one nice long trip in a one bedroom unit or two or three shorter trips in a studio when we are empty nesters - all for about $500 a year in maintenance fees.

I wish you all the best in your decision and as another poster mentioned, our only regret is that we did not buy sooner (and that we did not purchase a few more points )!

 

[Tigger7570]

We've been members since 93 and when I asked my accountant what he thought about buying into a time share, he said do it. It makes you take a vacation and it was the best decision we made. We decided to buy some more points about a 1 1/2 years ago. When my son got married recently we were able to use points to give him a honeymoon at the Poly. At that time, what they did when you book is give you the best room available which was a lagoon view which at that time was roughly around $375-400 a night. He chose the Poly, but could have chosen anywhere because we are members of DVC. I never dreamed that I would be able to do something this terrific for my son when my kids were little. I have another son who will be getting married and will be able to offer the same to him. This is just one of the benefits of being a DVC member. BUY and enjoy, IMHO you'll never regret it.

 

[OKWKirt]

The first think you cannot do is compare POR to any DVC resort. Like what has been said before if you are happy with a moderate then DVC might not work. For me, when I decided to buy in 1997 I was told it would pay off in 3-5 years. I did some calculations using the rack rate for OKW for our normal stays, adding in annual maint fees, and came up with 5 years. I then told myself that I had been going to the moderates so I used their rack rates, in lieu of OKW, and added in the maint fees and came up with an 8 year payoff. So I decided it was a great deal to have it paid off in 8 years staying in a deluxe for the price of a moderate. I may have lost a few people with that thought but it worked for me. I then decided to keep track of what I spent on my contract in 1997, my addon in 1999, and the maint fees over the year, subtracting what the rack rates would have cost me for my vacations to see how/when it would pay off. After my October three night stay I will have $1970.36 left to pay off. In June my normal stay rack rate will be $2555, unless they go up between now and then, which will put me on the positive side by $584.64. That is a payoff in six years but the addon added to this otherwise it would have been paid off in four years. Now for the next 40 years I can get a 12+ night stay in my one bedroom OKW for maint fees of $1020 where the rack rate would be $4500.