Point amounts

[crisi]

Congrats and welcome home. Resist the urge to add on too quickly, see how it goes with that number of points for a while. We use our small number of points for every other year or so in a bigger unit - for us with kids, the bigger unit is important, and also with kids, we want to go other places in our non-Disney years (next Summer, its England for my daughter and me, the boys have baseball).

 

[Dean]

I think you can see a general trend here. Most people add on, multiple times.

We bought 210 points and after the 1st trip realized we needed more. 2 add-ons later we have 470 and still could use more.

That may be the trend for posters on this thread or even on this board but I don't think it is for the general membership. Some add, some sell, some downsize and in reality we really don't have good information in this area, only vague impressions. The numbers have likely gone up just because the newer properties have had higher points costs.

 

[DVCcurious]

We wanted 250 but we bought 200. I'm now glad that we bought the lower amount. We have flexibility with banking/borrowing to have larger points if we need it, but we aren't stuck with the extra 50 pts worth of dues.

We are going to buy Poly points as soon as they are available and then sell our VWL point after the kids are in high school and keep our Poly points until they expire or we expire, whichever comes first!

 

[Dean]

We wanted 250 but we bought 200. I'm now glad that we bought the lower amount. We have flexibility with banking/borrowing to have larger points if we need it, but we aren't stuck with the extra 50 pts worth of dues.

We are going to buy Poly points as soon as they are available and then sell our VWL point after the kids are in high school and keep our Poly points until they expire or we expire, whichever comes first!

Underbuying is a great choice for many new members, esp if not going too small in contract size.

 

[CailinFig]

I've been watching TSS and noticed that in general contracts that have 200 points or greater take longer to sell. Would it be bad to try to buy a 200 point contract? I realize some people split their contracts, but it seems really difficult to get anything less than 200 points. Those contracts seem to be purchased quickly.

 

[CailinFig]

Forgot to mention I was really looking for something around 150-175, but those seem to be hard to get.

 

[EEGRAM]

Forgot to mention I was really looking for something around 150-175, but those seem to be hard to get.

There seem to be a lot of 160 point contracts out there. I believe that is the point total DVC recommends if you buy direct.

 

[DizBub]

There seem to be a lot of 160 point contracts out there. I believe that is the point total DVC recommends if you buy direct.

I think 160 was a minimum direct purchase for a first time buyer. Not sure what it is these days.

 

[AllieV]

We bought 100 last summer. We'd been renting points for many years and used a little over 100 each time. I figured we'd go every other year. But our first trip on our new points we had some extra and did a nice long 304 point, 8 night trip. I can't see going for less time now. So, we are now doing every-3-year trips. We are about 2-24 points short, so now I'm looking for a 25 point resale contract. It will cover that plus an extra night every 3 years so we can do 9 nights in a 1-br villa.

If we want to go more often, we'll spend an off-year at Universal in a suite. Not the same as a villa, but it would be a shorter time.

Good luck. My advice is buy what you can afford and tailor your trips to that.

 

[CailinFig]

There seem to be a lot of 160 point contracts out there. I believe that is the point total DVC recommends if you buy direct.

Ah sorry, forgot to mention I'm west coast and have been following VGC and Aulani (subsidized) contracts. Both of which I know are near impossible to get!!!

 

[Minniesgal]

Ah sorry, forgot to mention I'm west coast and have been following VGC and Aulani (subsidized) contracts. Both of which I know are near impossible to get!!!

Not true we decided to buy VGC last Christmas, found a contract in March and have had the points since May. A further three contracts we would have bought have come up since. They can be got you just have to be quick off the mark and ready to pay close to asking. I paid $10 under asking but I didn't bother starting as low as I normally would.

 

[RPH]

We just became members in October, bought direct 130 Animal Kingdom.

 

[griergirl2]

We are at ROFR right now with a 270 pt BWV contract. So hoping it all goes well!

 

[rkold]

We (My mother and I) just bought 200 points at VGF in October. We always stay in either Deluxe or Deluxe Villa hotels and we've been going to WDW 2-3x a year the last few years. In 2014, we expect to go to WDW 4x O_O! At the moment, I'm think we might need to buy another 50-75 points contract in the future.

 

[bakerworld]

We originally bought 160 pts which was enough for us to decide just how we were going to use our membership. We share our pts with our adult children which was always part of the master plan. With some pt budgeting we could have made it work but ... we've added on twice for location preferences. Now we own 315 points. Pretty sure we're done.

 

[SpaceMountain77]

This is one of those questions that really needs to be reframed. It is not a matter of how many points one should buy, but how many points one is comfortable paying for in annual dues.

 

[calypso726]

We started with 180 and have added on over the years. We are now at 1100.

 

[redboxcar]

Seems like I have a unique situation.

My fiancé and I purchased 3.5 years ago... direct from Disney in May 2010... 100 points at SSR. We're relatively young and it's just the two of us... 100 is more than enough points for an annual weeklong trip during our desired travel times. Perhaps when we have kids in a few years we will consider adding on, but 100 suits us just fine.

 

[Maverick]

This is one of those questions that really needs to be reframed. It is not a matter of how many points one should buy, but how many points one is comfortable paying for in annual dues.

I'm not sure I completely agree with this comment although it is certainly an important factor. I can afford much more in annual dues than we will be paying today.

As we have been Disney guests every year (1 or 2 trips per year) for the last 14 years, our decision on point purchase was based on our anticipated travel plans each year, points required for the accomodations we wanted and resort location, among other things. For us, the financial factor turned out to be less impacting in the equation than it might be for others.

I also appreciate the comments along the lines of 'It is better to want more points than you have rather than of having more points than you want'.

Each person must decide their point purchase based on what is best for them that includes many factors such as financial viability, vacation time availability, season of travel, preferred length of stay, type of accomodations wanted, resort preference, etc. (I'm sure there are several others I didn't mention.)

Smaller contracts generally sell at a higher price per point than larger contracts although this is not a 100% hard, fast rule. They often sell faster as well, but that isn't a guarantee either. If your future plans put you in a known 'sell' situation XX years from now, it might be wise to choose contracts that have less points each, but total up to the number you are looking for if possible.

The only other comment is that it is entirely likely that your vacation habits and plans will change over time. So... Regardless of the number of points you want now, you may very well want more or less 5,10 or 15 years from now. And if you want less, it should be much easier to sell a smaller point contract, plus that allows you to keep SOME points from other contracts if you don't want to leave DVC entirely.

Just my $0.02.

 

[kristenabelle]

We are at ROFR right now with a 270 pt BWV contract. So hoping it all goes well!

So are we! Same home, same points- so funny! Here's hoping we both get a nice Holiday confirmation gift