Picking a home. Riviera...?

[jbh275]

I would pick up Riviera. Sounds like you know what you are looking for.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I still recommend not buying until it opens. There is so much about a feel of a resort beyond the unit, and the unit will be refurbished 5-8 times in 50 years. But if you have to walk through the lobby o reach the pool, that is forever.

With Riviera, buyer's remorse will be expensive.

Agreed. There are plenty of people that bought at existing, open resorts certain they would love it. And didn't. Definitely a lot of people that bought where Disney was selling at the moment because that's all they thought they could buy and then they've spent their ownership time booking everywhere else. You might as well own something more economical in that case or be certain you love Riviera because you could be more economical with your DVC ownership if you ended up not liking the resort or location and consistently used the points elsewhere.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Agreed. There are plenty of people that bought at existing, open resorts certain they would love it. And didn't. Definitely a lot of people that bought where Disney was selling at the moment because that's all they thought they could buy and then they've spent their ownership time booking everywhere else. You might as well own something more economical in that case or be certain you love Riviera because you could be more economical with your DVC ownership if you ended up not liking the resort or location and consistently used the points elsewhere.

Meanwhile, witness also how much people have hated some of the room refurbs.
Witness the insertion of pulldown singles in some units that used to sleep 4.
Witness the changes in sofa beds over the years (and a new switch ongoing).
Witness that you will always have to walk through the lobby to get anywhere near SAB at BCV.

The room you walk through now is not the room that will exist, save in footprint and probably plumbing configuration, in 21 years.

 

[polynor]

We bought RIV in three separate smaller contracts. We're a family of 5 - three growing boys, with hopes the oldest will be leaving our payroll in 10 years.

For the OP and why we bought:
When we asked ourselves why we want to buy DVC -- it was a)we keep going to disney (pre-kids and with kids) b)we want more room c)I want things like a w/d and kitchen accessible. This helped us make the mental leap that we were not really interested in staying in studios as an equivalent to a std hotel room. So I stopped doing my spreadsheets in those terms which switched our "breakeven" analysis.

We bought enough points to do a 1 bdrm every year or a 2 bdrm almost every year (depending on view). Knowing that the RIV is high cost point wise -- I also know that I have a comfortable margin to book the premium views that tend to be left at the other resorts at the 7 month (if we had to book then) or the 2bdrm that we would need for those that only fit 4 in the 1bdrm. Whether I could actually book those due to availability - eh, if we end up at AKL or SSR, it's not the end of the world. I want to eventually stay at all of them anyways.

The points raised that your life changes - yes. But at the point where the kids might stop coming with us is also the pivot point where we hope to make more trips than the one big trip we do now -- so having those extra points gives us the flexibility to use them on 1 bdrm (or studios) more often through the year.

Because of the point requirement -- I did not buy several small contracts with different home resorts as I don't want to chance my reservation at the 7 month mark.

My husband likes the Poly -- but we don't want studios to be our default option -- even if we get two adjoining (I want the in room W/D and kitchen). I love BW and BC -- but the price points/remaining years doesn't make sense. And we love the idea of the gondola -- we are taking a leap of faith on it's operation. I'm hoping it will be easy enough to get to the boardwalk, watch the buskers and come back.

And we decided to buy at the opening offer -- again making the assumption that would be the best price offered during the sales life. Of course if the market tanks, they could up the incentives. But if the market tanks, I probably wouldn't buy and would do something else with the money.

Besides the resale restrictions, the other thing that really had me hesitant was I really wanted the extra bathroom (read: toilet, not just another shower) in a 1bdrm. That was the only major drawback for us. CBR being a neighbor I think is perfectly fine (we honeymooned there) and gives us different food options too.

 

[RivShore]

We bought RIV in three separate smaller contracts. We're a family of 5 - three growing boys, with hopes the oldest will be leaving our payroll in 10 years.

Hi Polynor,
We are finalizing a purchase at RIV today and did much of the same analysis you did, including reading all the old Rivera threads like this one!

We too are a family of 5 and it seemed to be the best fit and overall cost. Our family is a bit further along than yours, our youngest should hopefully be off the household payroll in a year or so.

I asked our guide about splitting the contract into 3 deeds for easy separation later. All 3 deeds will have all 5 of our names on them so, if they don't want to deal with coordinating using the points after we stop coordinating the vacations, we can just pull names off the deeds and they can take their points for their individual families.

Our guide wasn't sure they could do this and is checking with his manager. Did you have any issues getting it done? How many points did you get? I wonder if the sticking point might be that the 3 deeds are for less than 100 points each. Thanks for the help and see you at the Riviera!

 

[mustinjourney]

Hi Polynor,
We are finalizing a purchase at RIV today and did much of the same analysis you did, including reading all the old Rivera threads like this one!

We too are a family of 5 and it seemed to be the best fit and overall cost. Our family is a bit further along than yours, our youngest (twins) should hopefully be off the household payroll in a year or so.

I asked our guide about splitting a 270 point contract into 3 deeds for easy separation later. All 3 deeds will have all 5 of our names on them so, if the boys don't want to deal with coordinating using the points after we stop coordinating the vacations, we can just pull names off the deeds and they can take their 90 points for their individual families.

Our guide wasn't sure they could do this and is checking with his manager. Did you have any issues getting it done? How many points did you get? I wonder if the sticking point might be that the 3 deeds are for less than 100 points each. Thanks for the help and see you at the Riviera!

you can definitely get three smaller sized deeds. I just did this a couple months ago. We got a total of 250, with 100/100/50 split. you just have to pay an extra fee (I think it was $225) for each additional contract since that is the cost for filing with the county.

You should also get whatever incentives are for the 270 points...not just for 90.

 

[RivShore]

you can definitely get three smaller sized deeds. I just did this a couple months ago. We got a total of 250, with 100/100/50 split. you just have to pay an extra fee (I think it was $225) for each additional contract since that is the cost for filing with the county.

You should also get whatever incentives are for the 270 points...not just for 90.

Good information. Thanks!

 

[Sandisw]

Good information. Thanks!

Are your children over 18? You can’t add children younger than that to the deeds...at least that was my understanding.

 

[RivShore]

Are your children over 18? You can’t add children younger than that to the deeds...at least that was my understanding.

Yes all are over.

 

[Sandisw]

Yes all are over.

Just wanted to be sure so others reading didn’t thInk differently! Congrats!

 

[Brianstl]

Are your children over 18? You can’t add children younger than that to the deeds...at least that was my understanding.

Can you add a child to the deed when he reaches 18? If you can would that child receive blue card benefits or would the child be consider the same as a resale purchaser?

 

[Sandisw]

Can you add a child to the deed when he reaches 18? If you can would that child receive blue card benefits or would the child be consider the same as a resale purchaser?

Yes, you can add adult children..or anyone else.,to the deed later on. There is a process and a cost..I believe I’ve seen around $500.

Once added, they would be eligible for a blue card. The only drawback is that once they are an owner, the contract could be at risk if the person had issues such as divorce, bankruptcy, etc.

 

[Brianstl]

Yes, you can add adult children..or anyone else.,to the deed later on. There is a process and a cost..I believe I’ve seen around $500.

Once added, they would be eligible for a blue card. The only drawback is that once they are an owner, the contract could be at risk if the person had issues such as divorce, bankruptcy, etc.

Thank you.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Also, everyone on the deed has full access to all the points and bookings, and can use all the points without everyone else's permission... or cancel each other's bookings.

 

[polynor]

...
Our guide wasn't sure they could do this and is checking with his manager. Did you have any issues getting it done? How many points did you get? I wonder if the sticking point might be that the 3 deeds are for less than 100 points each. Thanks for the help and see you at the Riviera!

Looks like everyone answered the question about the deed names — ours are under 18, so we couldn’t add them but we did ask about it. We’ll probably add them as they turn 18.
We bought 360 points (120 per contract).
Congrats on your purchase and welcome home neighbor!

 

[RivShore]

Looks like everyone answered the question about the deed names — ours are under 18, so we couldn’t add them but we did ask about it. We’ll probably add them as they turn 18.
We bought 360 points (120 per contract).
Congrats on your purchase and welcome home neighbor!

Thanks Polynor!!

After checking with management, our guide is going to break up our points into three contracts/deeds. They will be treated as one lump sum of points so we all get all the benefits as long as they remain under one account but, if one kid were to pull their contract, they would be under the 100 point minimum and would lose the benefits unless they addon points.

Our guide should be completing things this morning - they really want to get this sale in before month end/fiscal year end.

Thanks again neighbor!