Please help a neebie understand a few things...

[Dean]

Dean, that's a very good point and I hope it didn't seem like I was suggesting that. Maybe I need to go back and reread the OP's post.

My point was that while you are in the process of deciding resale or direct, your salesperson is obviously going to try to steer you into buying direct, and the OP should just be mindful of that.

While I'm at it, I will say that buying direct isn't evil, and it does have some great perks (speed and ease of transaction for starters), it's just more money.

Not at all, if anything, I took it you were saying similar things and my point simply fit in with yours.

 

[crisi]

I don't think it's uncommon for people to need more points as the potential group grows but I also think it's common for people to think they'll go for many years and later look toward other options. We see that here on DIS frequently, often in the form of exchange related posts. My stance would remain the same for someone expecting to go less in 10 years, buy what you can get by with now and worry about later when it arrives. Better to have too few than too many.

Also selling contracts.

My son is 13 and really doesn't care to go. My daughter is 12 and I think Disney is probably in her blood. But both of them at this point like our other vacations as much or better - my daughter just doesn't want to give up Disney completely.

We went to Washington DC last year. I think if we gave her the choice to skip Disney and spend another week at the Smithsonian she'd jump at it. My son thinks a beach vacation is pretty much it.

There are lots of ways to supplement points for those years when you need some. You can bank and borrow (and still go to Disney - rent points or pay cash for a year - you might even try - gasp! - Bonnet Creek), you can rent or transfer points. You can get the "temporary" points from Disney.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I think everyone assumes they will need a certain number of points per year, and they are almost never correct on what that number is until they have lived with DVC for awhile. We originally thought we could do well with 230 points. After just one year, we realized we needed a few more, so we purchased another 150. Bear in mind that these were both at the same resort with the same use year. We wanted to be able to have 11 month booking advantage with all points.

In reality, the 380 points was a good number for us, but when AKV came into the DVC system, we knew we wanted at least some points there to have the 11 month booking advantage there. Our original intent was to use it for concierge level only. After our first couple of AKV stays (at Jambo) we weren't so sure we liked everything about it. I still have reservations about parts of AKV, BUT....We absolutely love the animals and the cultural exchange programs there, and now are totally in love with Kidani over Jambo. I tell you this mostly to point out how your wants and needs change over the years of ownership.

We have not gotten to the point of selling contracts just yet, and perhaps we never will, but for now our 449 points seem to be perfect for us. With banking and borrowing we manage to use them all, and even use them for Hawaii.

I think an important thing to look at is what your maintenance fees will be. We knew we did not want to be much over $2000 annually, so the 449 points work well for us.

 

[crisi]

I don't think it's uncommon for people to need more points as the potential group grows but I also think it's common for people to think they'll go for many years and later look toward other options. We see that here on DIS frequently, often in the form of exchange related posts. My stance would remain the same for someone expecting to go less in 10 years, buy what you can get by with now and worry about later when it arrives. Better to have too few than too many.

I was thinking about this some more.

I also think people don't look at timelines well. If your kids are younger, and you think "well, when they grow up, we can use the points for them and their families" or "they can inherit or use our contracts."

When I went from living in my parents house, off to college, and then got married, a few things happened....for several years I didn't want my vacation time to go to spending time with my PARENTS, when my friends were doing interesting things. And my parents, paying for college, had a hard time affording vacations while we were in school. When I got out of school, I was partnered, and I wasn't leaving him for vacation - so vacations with my parents would have been a plus one. But neither myself nor my partner (then spouse, then ex-spouse) had vacation time or money. The lack of vacation time and money as a young person starting out hampered my ability to vacation for a few years. And my parents, between my sisters and I, had ten straight years of college tuition, starting with me (none of us left with any loans, I think the biggest debt any of us had at graduation was $1000 worth of credit cards), affording big vacations for us, plus the assorted boyfriends, fiances and husbands that strode through our lives for those first fifteen years or so from the time I graduated from high school until my baby sister was in a place where she could afford to vacation, was just not in the cards along with tuition.

Now, my parents are retired and living on a restricted income. Its comfortable, but they didn't save enough to pay for us all to go to Disney. We all pay our own way....and guess what. The youngest doesn't like Disney, she'd rather sit on a beach. My middle sister and I both go regularly...but since a week with her husband and mine, plus my father, on the same vacation is no one's idea of a good time, family vacations are pretty limited.

Kids may not like Disney. They may like Disney, but there may be a gap of a decade or better between when the are kids and when they are stable adults with vacation time and money to spend. They may choose partners who don't like Disney - or don't think vacationing with the inlaws is a vacation.

Buy for what you need now and looking out about ten years. Don't buy for grandchildren before your own kids have hit puberty, for big family reunion trips you can dream about - but may not be as welcomed by your extended family as you imagine.

 

[Dean]

I was thinking about this some more.

I also think people don't look at timelines well. If your kids are younger, and you think "well, when they grow up, we can use the points for them and their families" or "they can inherit or use our contracts."

When I went from living in my parents house, off to college, and then got married, a few things happened....for several years I didn't want my vacation time to go to spending time with my PARENTS, when my friends were doing interesting things. And my parents, paying for college, had a hard time affording vacations while we were in school. When I got out of school, I was partnered, and I wasn't leaving him for vacation - so vacations with my parents would have been a plus one. But neither myself nor my partner (then spouse, then ex-spouse) had vacation time or money. The lack of vacation time and money as a young person starting out hampered my ability to vacation for a few years. And my parents, between my sisters and I, had ten straight years of college tuition, starting with me (none of us left with any loans, I think the biggest debt any of us had at graduation was $1000 worth of credit cards), affording big vacations for us, plus the assorted boyfriends, fiances and husbands that strode through our lives for those first fifteen years or so from the time I graduated from high school until my baby sister was in a place where she could afford to vacation, was just not in the cards along with tuition.

Now, my parents are retired and living on a restricted income. Its comfortable, but they didn't save enough to pay for us all to go to Disney. We all pay our own way....and guess what. The youngest doesn't like Disney, she'd rather sit on a beach. My middle sister and I both go regularly...but since a week with her husband and mine, plus my father, on the same vacation is no one's idea of a good time, family vacations are pretty limited.

Kids may not like Disney. They may like Disney, but there may be a gap of a decade or better between when the are kids and when they are stable adults with vacation time and money to spend. They may choose partners who don't like Disney - or don't think vacationing with the inlaws is a vacation.

Buy for what you need now and looking out about ten years. Don't buy for grandchildren before your own kids have hit puberty, for big family reunion trips you can dream about - but may not be as welcomed by your extended family as you imagine.

Obviously there are many factors and some variation from one person to another. I think one of the larger factors are that it's impossible to know what you travel habits and group will be as the family changes. However, I think the largest difference for DVC buyers that overbuy is that "their eyes are bigger than their stomach" to steal an old adage. It's simply an emotional thing. That's not to say that having a few too many DVC points is always a bad thing, often it isn't. It might force you to vacation more and it might take some of the pressure off when scheduling trips. I think another mistake that many make and that includes many here on DIS, is that they only look at DVC and don't consider other options out there. How many times over the years have we seen people that stated they wouldn't consider even looking at another timeshare but bought DVC for one reasons or the other often beyond just visiting DVC resorts. The reality is that for many, another timeshare instead of DVC or in conjunction with less DVC points is often by far the best option for many people.