Please help us wrap our heads around adding on through resale

[Tiger926]

We have been members since May 2004, and have taken many awesome trips thus far!

When we purchased, we had one baby, and were told we couldn't have anymore, so we purchased 175 points @ SSR to use for approx. 10/11 nights every July in studios (I'm a teacher). We paid $95.00/point, but we got Magical Beginnings for a $5.00 discount to $90.00/point, but with high exchange, it cost us $123.50/point. Ouch! So, although we don't really stay at SSR as we find it a bit harder with the kids (we do like SSR, but love the Epcot area best!), we can't sell as we would take a huge hit. We would love to own 200 points at BWV, but it's not possible.

Fast forward to 2007 when we were gifted with our precious son! We then realized studios wouldn't work due to space limitations, plus, we now have opposite gender children who are 4 years apart. So, we added on 125 points @ AKV in 2008 for approx. $104.00/point in order to do 1 beds in combination with studios.

We don't want to get into the whole banking/borrowing thing as we have dealt with too family emergencies one too many times the past few years, so we want to have our bank of points, and be able to work with those each year in a fresh capacity.

At this point, we have realized that studios just aren't that great for us - the laundry area in the 1 beds alone is worth it!! So, we looked at adding on at Disney, but prices are just too high and going up to $120/point, so we are now looking at resale.

We love Boardwalk, and can get a 100 point contract, but after much discussion and research, we realized that a 100 point contract won't allow us to do much with 1 beds, so we are thinking that adding on @ AKV is best, as we can then use our 11 month window to book almost our entire trip. Up to this point, we haven't been using our 11 month window, as we have smaller contracts that don't allow us to book our entire trip. We think adding on at AKV would be best as we won't have to constantly make piecemeal vacations as we will have 225 @ AKV and 175 @ SSR.

What do you all think? What would you do in the same situation? We see AKV resales for 100 points with our use year for approx. $85-$90/point. Is this good? Also, on a small 100 point contract, how much would closing costs be? We have read through the TSS webpage very diligently, so we are thinking between $300-$400?

We are confused about the dues though as some of them say dues are paid until 2010. Can anyone explain how the dues work? Also, what should be looking for in terms of points that have already been used and coming points?

Any info would be so appreciated!! Thanks, Tiger

 

[disneynutz]

You should buy where you love to stay and forget about piece meal vacations. IMHO it's not worth trying to save some money by owning at a cheaper resort and hoping to get a reservation at the resort you really want. With the amount of money that my membership has cost me, I want to stay where I want, when I want.

 

[Tiger926]

You should buy where you love to stay and forget about piece meal vacations. IMHO it's not worth trying to save some money by owning at a cheaper resort and hoping to get a reservation at the resort you really want. With the amount of money that my membership has cost me, I want to stay where I want, when I want.

Thanks for your opinion - we don't subscribe to the "Buy where you want to stay" mantra as we have had great success with booking at 7 months out. Plus, we can't afford to buy a big contract at Boardwalk - as I mentioned in my post, our SSR contract cost us a lot due to the high exchance rate, so we cannot sell it as we would lose a huge chunk of change.

We are wanting to add on at either SSR or AKV as we enjoy staying at either property. Since we cannot afford a big contract at BWV, this is the best decision for us. By adding on, we can then avoid so many piecemeal vacations - we always like split stays though, and this will allow us to do that, and also give us a 1 bedroom for the whole time.

If only it were as simple as buying where you want to stay, but not everyone has the means to do that as current contracts need to be considered - this is where we are at. We would not mind selling SSR at all, but we cannot, so we are going to enjoy it the best we can!

Thanks, Tiger

 

[disneynutz]

Thanks for your opinion - we don't subscribe to the "Buy where you want to stay" mantra as we have had great success with booking at 7 months out. Plus, we can't afford to buy a big contract at Boardwalk - as I mentioned in my post, our SSR contract cost us a lot due to the high exchance rate, so we cannot sell it as we would lose a huge chunk of change.

We are wanting to add on at either SSR or AKV as we enjoy staying at either property. Since we cannot afford a big contract at BWV, this is the best decision for us. By adding on, we can then avoid so many piecemeal vacations - we always like split stays though, and this will allow us to do that, and also give us a 1 bedroom for the whole time.

If only it were as simple as buying where you want to stay, but not everyone has the means to do that as current contracts need to be considered - this is where we are at. We would not mind selling SSR at all, but we cannot, so we are going to enjoy it the best we can!

Thanks, Tiger

You have much better luck than us. Anytime we try to book last minute, (6 months), we never get anything but SSR and OKW. Yes they have some of our days available at our desired resorts, but what good is a reservation for Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday?

Past success is not a guarantee of future bookings. As the DVC membership continues to grow, the competition at 7 months will get more competitive.

 

[BlakeNJ]

I suggest buying at either AKV or SSR and be happy to stay there if you can't get into BWV. I don't know if you are like us, but we are thinking about giving our kids our DVC contacts when we pass on so you are in good shape if you add on--you'll have 3 contacts. 3 kids, right?

 

[Tiger926]

Thanks for all replies.

We have had great luck in getting what we want at very short notice - how about 24 hours notice for Wildnerness Lodge, 1 bed in July? We always go in July, so we find that we have had luck with other resorts. Some years we have just stayted at SSR or AKV, but the fast few years, we've tried all DVC resorts on Disney property, and we've even used extra Developer's points for Disney resorts, and have stayed at all resorts except GF. This has given us the opportunity to compare and see what fits our young family's needs.

We totally know that past success doesn't equal future success, and so if we can't book at 7 months, we will be most content to stay at SSR or AKV.

We have pretty much decided after a very nice conversation with TTS today that we are going to add on at SSR or AKV. This will serve us better than adding on a new contract at BWV, as 100 points won't do much for us when booking a 1 bedroom. It would give us 11 month priority at BWV, but only for a few days as 100 points will get eaten up pretty quickly.

Thanks, Tiger

 

[Sandisw]

The closing costs on a 100 point contract are probably around that $400 mark you mention.

Either SSR or AKV will work. I understand what you mean by wanting to be able to book almost the whole trip. I sold my VWL contract that I bought to get in to DVC just 2 months after I bought it because I didn't like having to book part of my stay at BLT (I added on there as soon as I closed on VWL) and part of VWL from the beginning. Since BLT is where I really wanted to be, I sold, and rebought at BLT.

SSR will save you even more on the resale market than AKV and has cheaper dues. If you are okay with that resort, you may want to consider the add on there.

But, I do think that the $85 - $90.00 price is a good price for AKV. If you are not in any rush, I might wait a bit to see if Disney comes out with any incentives similar to the deals that just ended.

AKV for members at the 100 point level, through Disney, was at $93.00 not that long ago so you never know if it will be again. With the closing costs of resale, you may end up close to that anyway. I might consider giving your guide a call and ask about the prices of AKV and whether or not any new incentives might be around the corner.

Dues are paid by calendar year so those that are offering no dues until 2010 simply mean you will pay starting then. Since we are in the 2009 UY for most UY months, I would look for a contract that still has 09 points since adding on through Disney would give you those.

Good luck!

 

[Goofy DVC]

Based on your post, I would definitely look at SSR. Cheaper resale and dues.

 

[Tiger926]

Thanks, Sandisw, very helfpul info! We were able to speak to Timeshare Store today, and received much of the same info. Thanks for being so helpful!

She told us that SSR has gone for as low as $68-$69/point, and AKV is going for approx. $80-82.00 at its lowest. We did look at SSR and the lower price is very attractive to us, and with an add-on of approx. 75-100 points, we would be good to book about 75% of our vacation there, with a split stay at AKV. We love split stays, so this would be the best of both worlds, should we not get another resort at 7 months, if we so desire.

It's good to have a few options - saving money is good as we have the exchange rate to consider. Even though our dollar is pretty strong, it's still about 9-10% exchange, so every little bit adds up! We might as well save it, if we can do so!

We did call our guide, but he's on the member cruise this week, so we left a message and will hear from him when he returns, but based on my research, I see that AKV is about $112 with $10 discount, and another possible Magical Beginnings discount, so there would be considerable savings with SSR, and even a good savings with AKV resale.

Thanks to all, Tiger

 

[Sandisw]

Thanks, Sandisw, very helfpul info! We were able to speak to Timeshare Store today, and received much of the same info. Thanks for being so helpful!

She told us that SSR has gone for as low as $68-$69/point, and AKV is going for approx. $80-82.00 at its lowest. We did look at SSR and the lower price is very attractive to us, and with an add-on of approx. 75-100 points, we would be good to book about 75% of our vacation there, with a split stay at AKV. We love split stays, so this would be the best of both worlds, should we not get another resort at 7 months, if we so desire.

It's good to have a few options - saving money is good as we have the exchange rate to consider. Even though our dollar is pretty strong, it's still about 9-10% exchange, so every little bit adds up! We might as well save it, if we can do so!

We did call our guide, but he's on the member cruise this week, so we left a message and will hear from him when he returns, but based on my research, I see that AKV is about $112 with $10 discount, and another possible Magical Beginnings discount, so there would be considerable savings with SSR, and even a good savings with AKV resale.

Thanks to all, Tiger

Your welcome. We just completed our first trip and did a split stay. I liked it and we will probably plan it that way from now on.

The biggest advantage is that it allowed us to get the DDP for two nights and the QSDP for the rest of the trip. We only do 1 - 2 TS meals per trip and this allowed us to do that.

Good luck in your choices! I have used the TSS for both buying and selling and they are wonderful to work with!