Potential new member, give me opinions!

[MsChristy12]

Another disboard member here likes to remind everyone that owning DVC is like owning a toy, don't overthink it and have fun.

I like this and it's a good analogy.

A lot of good advice here and I can see both sides. The way I view DVC is that, it's no different than people spending money on fancy cars, motorcycles, designer bags, boats, etc. The biggest difference is that, we have to continue to pay the dues as long as we own it, vs some of these other "toys" you might pay for it upfront then you own it forever without additional maintenance. Life happens all the time and we might or might not be able to predict what's coming. Some people buy a nice fancy sports car, then maybe in 2-3 years time they get married and start having a family that weren't in their plans in that timeframe. Had this person known this was coming, they most likely wouldn't have bought the car, but how could they have known when they were single at the time and wanted to splurge on something that makes them happy?

As long as you don't view DVC as an investment, I don't see any harm in buying a small resale contract now and see if it fits your needs. Buying direct is bigger financial commitment and I think you will need more time to think about if it's worth it for you, especially if you intend to move away from FL in a few years. Since you're living in South FL now, how far out do you think you'll plan your misc family/friends trips? Because if they are going to be last minute, depending on the seasons it might be very difficult for you to book a room at any resorts. You might be able to find random 2-3 nights, but you have to be flexible w/ travel dates and okay with whichever resort is available.

 

[sethschroeder]

I would make sure to do the math on the points for what your trips could look like. You seemingly are talking about a large number of nights for 150 points but I could be wrong as we only stay 2BR.

 

[Genie+]

Starting with the smaller resale contract sounds great to me! We started with 50pts BWV resale and within 18 months bought 150pts VGF direct. No regrets though I am a little jealous of Poly right now lol.

I feel BWV is worth owning. The main caveat being willingness/ability to pivot on occasion if you’re unable to get your #1 choice room/dates as planned. There are plenty of good values to be had at BW, so even if the buy-in per point per year seemed relatively high, we have averaged a sweet cost per night with a mix of standard and preferred. And that’s for a place we love. Location to 2 parks and the Crescent Lake vibe is special.

Right on with Poly as well! Works on many levels. Awesome resort feel. Location - MK obviously, ease to enjoy all that VGF and BLT offers, walkable to Epcot express monorail, etc The room inventory! Good dues. Active sales pricing is solid when thinking about what resale and sold out pricing might be in the years afterward. Because this does have a unique combo of positives - 7 Seas Lagoon, direct benefits, not resale restricted to one resort. It could be the last of its kind opportunity to choose direct for that combo. Either you keep enjoying the contract and perks for decades, or you eventually move on and hopefully that OG tradability and location keeps the salvage value respectable.

The way we looked at our DVC purchases was balancing cost effectiveness with likelihood of continued satisfaction.

 

[MsChristy12]

Just a warning though OP, I could be completely wrong but the chance of add-on is high once you get taste of this toy! I went from wanting just one resort, one contract that we can bank/borrow to make a big trip every other year, to buying a 2nd contract, 2nd resort before my first one even closed! But don't regret it, not one bit!

 

[Genie+]

Just a warning though OP, I could be completely wrong but the chance of add-on is high once you get taste of this toy! I went from wanting just one resort, one contract that we can bank/borrow to make a big trip every other year, to buying a 2nd contract, 2nd resort before my first one even closed! But don't regret it, not one bit!

Yep! Add-on-itis is real.

We were confident 10-15 studio days each year would satiate our appetite. Then we got a taste of doing 2 studios for 4 people. Did not predict we’d end up wanting 2BRs for 4 people sometimes. Watching incentives at Poly is very tempting!

 

[ajsamett]

Do you guys consider current Poly incentives good? Not sure what defines good for a 150 direct contract. And how long do you expect them to stay good for? I'm hesitant to get direct until I know for a fact procedure I'm having is covered by my insurance (otherwise I might be out half my Poly funds) but i won't know that until October at the earliest

 

[Brian Noble]

I think it is wise to make sure that you have the money in hand, and you don't need it for something else in the short term. I would try hard not to let FOMO/FUD drive me to make a decision before I was otherwise comfortable in doing so.

This board is very very good at explaining why buying Right This Second is a smart idea. Don't listen to us.

 

[MsChristy12]

Well...in just 2 years time, we went from "we'll go to FL every other year" to now between this year and next year, we will most likely be going 3x! We absolutely didn't plan that and never thought we would do just a few short days (we are from the west coast, and have only done minimum 7 nights trips in the past), but for personal reasons we are holding off on international travel for now, and in exchange I need more domestic trips to satisfy my travel bug!So while we have points, why not? I am paying for them already regardless. We will have to keep borrowing if this keeps up for another couple years, then will most likely end up having to rent points. If my husband is willing to try RIV (he doesn't care about that resort, at all), we will definitely need to rent points for that.

The way I see it though, yes I'm quite sad that our international travel is on hold, but the silver lining in this is that, this could be a great time for us to try out every single DVC resort? (that's my goal anyways) At least that's my justification!

 

[Girlstar30]

Well...in just 2 years time, we went from "we'll go to FL every other year" to now between this year and next year, we will most likely be going 3x! We absolutely didn't plan that and never thought we would do just a few short days (we are from the west coast, and have only done minimum 7 nights trips in the past), but for personal reasons we are holding off on international travel for now, and in exchange I need more domestic trips to satisfy my travel bug!So while we have points, why not? I am paying for them already regardless. We will have to keep borrowing if this keeps up for another couple years, then will most likely end up having to rent points. If my husband is willing to try RIV (he doesn't care about that resort, at all), we will definitely need to rent points for that.

The way I see it though, yes I'm quite sad that our international travel is on hold, but the silver lining in this is that, this could be a great time for us to try out every single DVC resort? (that's my goal anyways) At least that's my justification!

In the exact same boat as you regarding holding off on international travel and never envisioned myself going to Florida 2+ times a year, but here I am with 3 trips booked .

Typically we would go to Florida every other year before buying . But im glad we bought in now so we have lots of fun trips planned to ward off the desire for international. My wife wanted to go to Japan or Paris in 2027 and im like but we have DVC hotels to try

 

[Girlstar30]

Do you guys consider current Poly incentives good? Not sure what defines good for a 150 direct contract. And how long do you expect them to stay good for? I'm hesitant to get direct until I know for a fact procedure I'm having is covered by my insurance (otherwise I might be out half my Poly funds) but i won't know that until October at the earliest

I feel they could be better, but they might not! So i wouldnt count on that

 

[MsChristy12]

Do you guys consider current Poly incentives good? Not sure what defines good for a 150 direct contract. And how long do you expect them to stay good for? I'm hesitant to get direct until I know for a fact procedure I'm having is covered by my insurance (otherwise I might be out half my Poly funds) but i won't know that until October at the earliest

For that reason, I think it's wise to hold off on buying direct. No one would know if the incentives in the future will be better than now, but one thing for sure, DVC direct will be available for you to buy at any time! Who knows, you might end up buying a new resort down the road and not Poly? The fun stuff aside, it's important to save the money when you can already foresee some expenses coming up.

 

[MsChristy12]

In the exact same boat as you regarding holding off on international travel and never envisioned myself going to Florida 2+ times a year, but here I am with 3 trips booked .

Typically we would go to Florida every other year before buying . But im glad we bought in now so we have lots of fun trips planned to ward off the desire for international. My wife wanted to go to Japan or Paris in 2027 and im like but we have DVC hotels to try

It's REALLY hard holding off on international travel and it does make me sad But deep down, I also know I'm already very blessed that I'm still able to travel, let alone owning DVC and have the flexibility of going to FL whenever we want. It's not even a bad thing! Some families can only afford going once in their lifetime and here I am acting like WDW is like my consolation prize, it's some serious first world problem! I'm grateful though, need to count my blessings

I went to both Japan and Paris last year and I'm dying to go back to Japan! Btw, they are implementing their 2-tiered pricing starting next month for locals and tourists!

 

[ajsamett]

Oof that 2 tier system is going to be rough! I'm considering going back to Japan next year, but one of my friends is a resident... Wonder if she can get us the better prices

 

[cruisehopeful]

Do you guys consider current Poly incentives good?

No I don't consider it good. It was technically better before the current incentives. That said, I recently bought 75 points, even though it's not a good deal. In my case, it's what I ultimately wanted after considering various contracts/resorts. I'm very pleased with my purchase.

I also bought my house over 20 years ago for more than asking. I put in my offer the same day as 2 other people. When my agent told me there were 2 other offers, she suggested upping my offer to a thousand over asking. I went with her advice, even though it wasn't a good deal by any stretch of the imagination. I second guessed myself for about a month and haven't looked back.

When you know exactly what you want and when you want it, don't get hung up on if it's a good deal. Someone will always have bragging rights to a good deal that they got. Don't let that influence your own decision.

 

[Chili327]

I don’t agree…it is not that easy to “ just sell “ …have you checked the long lists of members currently trying to sell their contracts ?

I know this was a couple labels back, but I just wanted to reply. Yes I have sold many, and in the process of selling 2 more.
Some are listed for years, but that’s because the value isn’t there (over priced). We’re talking Boardwalk, not Vero Beach, so as long as you aren’t trying to get more than the value it will sell in a very decent amount of time.
Also when we’re talking about a “big spend” the concern is being out that much money, but my point was that if an emergency came up or whatever the reason you can easily get a good chunk back fairly quickly, just depends how fast you need it and how low you have to go to get it back.

Bottomline, don’t be scared, just do enough research to be comfortable with the decision, it isn’t like a regular timeshare that you’re stuck with forever.

 

[Genie+]

Not sure what defines good for a 150 direct contract. And how long do you expect them to stay good for?

It’s hard to say. Pretty sure we have at least another year+ for Poly to remain in active sales. Incentives-wise… I’m hopeful we have not seen the best pricing yet. Just don’t know for sure.

You have time to wait and see how things turn out this year. Goodluck btw! While Poly is a great opportunity imho, more important is the timing of when you feel confident taking the plunge. I think that is the best insurance against regret.

So far DVC has always had shiny new things around the corner. I know looking back there were things we ‘missed the boat’ but those don’t really matter because we were not yet ready to commit. Somebody might miss VGF or Poly, but still end up stoked for Lakeside or possibly even a MK-gate resort down the line. Good things are still likely over the horizon.

First, we finally reached the point where we knew for sure we wanted an MK resort and ready to take on the $20k+ price tag. Then something came along that altogether felt like a great fit. That order made me feel comfortable we were making the right decision.

 

[MsChristy12]

Oof that 2 tier system is going to be rough! I'm considering going back to Japan next year, but one of my friends is a resident... Wonder if she can get us the better prices

A lot of people that have friends/family in Japan will think about the same thing. I wouldn't expect that to fly, knowing Japanese I think they would be pretty thorough on that policy. Even if it works in the beginning, you know people are going to post about it, make it known, then the Japanese will tighten the rules.

 

[MsChristy12]

When you know exactly what you want and when you want it, don't get hung up on if it's a good deal. Someone will always have bragging rights to a good deal that they got. Don't let that influence your own decision.

Well said. Everyone's (or family's) needs is different.

 

[Girlstar30]

It's REALLY hard holding off on international travel and it does make me sad But deep down, I also know I'm already very blessed that I'm still able to travel, let alone owning DVC and have the flexibility of going to FL whenever we want. It's not even a bad thing! Some families can only afford going once in their lifetime and here I am acting like WDW is like my consolation prize, it's some serious first world problem! I'm grateful though, need to count my blessings

I went to both Japan and Paris last year and I'm dying to go back to Japan! Btw, they are implementing their 2-tiered pricing starting next month for locals and tourists!

I agree. My wife has never been to Paris or Tokyo so I would love to experience those places with her. I hope we can sooner than later!

My sister is actually in Tokyo right now and it is difficult seeing her family travel to Europe and Tokyo (the two places we want to go ) and us choosing to put it on hold, but it is what it is and im really happy she's enjoying herself! She doesnt have an awesome DVC membership like we do that we can use for years! I've been texting her all the popcorn buckets i want her to bring back to me

Im glad I've done all the international travel i have in the past and I hope my wife  feels comfortable soon! I respect her comfort level and support the decision and look forward to us going soon!

 

[MsChristy12]

I agree. My wife has never been to Paris or Tokyo so I would love to experience those places with her. I hope we can sooner than later!

My sister is actually in Tokyo right now and it is difficult seeing her family travel to Europe and Tokyo (the two places we want to go ) and us choosing to put it on hold, but it is what it is and im really happy she's enjoying herself! She doesnt have an awesome DVC membership like we do that we can use for years! I've been texting her all the popcorn buckets i want her to bring back to me

Im glad I've done all the international travel i have in the past and I hope my wife  feels comfortable soon! I respect her comfort level and support the decision and look forward to us going soon!

Ooooh speaking of buckets, I want thebucket ornaments!! they are adorable! But I know TDR has the cutest popcorn buckets, ever! I want them all too! lol!
Since we are getting AP this year (did the math 3x to make sure it will be worth it for 3 trips! ), I'm waiting until we go down to FL later this year to buy all the ornaments so I can get the discount. I think this is the only moment so far I wish the discounts apply to us 2nd class DVC citizens (all resale contracts), because I would have saved $1200 on two APs

We have to be optimistic, hoping things will get better in the near future so we can travel the globe again! Just keep swimmin'! Dory says so!