Questions about DVC

[pinkntink]

I am considering becoming a DVC member but have a few questions I need help with. First I was looking at resales vs. buying from Disney directly. Any thoughts there. Second, why do some owners have more than one property?
Thanks!

 

[vicki_c]

Owners usually have more than 1 property because they want the booking advantage that comes with the home resort (you can book your home resort at 11 months out, any non-home resort at 7 months out).

We bought direct from Disney, but there are some very attractive resale prices available right now. With Disney, you might get sales incentives (extra year's worth of points, a DCL cruise, gift card, etc.) that you wouldn't through resale. But a resale price might be even a better deal. Some people are more comfortable going direct with Disney.

 

[VTNuke]

I am considering becoming a DVC member but have a few questions I need help with. First I was looking at resales vs. buying from Disney directly. Any thoughts there. Second, why do some owners have more than one property?
Thanks!

When looking at resale vs direct, I think they # of points you want to buy has to play a role. Disney will make you buy a minimum # of points where in resale you could buy a lesser contract it that fits what you want. With resale, you can choose the right contract for you, taking into consideration the use year you want, the # of points that's right for you, the resort you want to buy (most will tell you to purchase where you want to stay), etc.

The Disney cruise incentive would really temp me if I had to decide right now, but by far, resale was cheaper for us. Just take your time to decide and make sure it's a good decision for you. Remember, resales may take a month or two longer from start to finish before you can actually book your next DVC vacation. If you're a planner, that shouldn't be that big of a deal.

 

[5forDiz]

I am considering becoming a DVC member but have a few questions I need help with. First I was looking at resales vs. buying from Disney directly. Any thoughts there. Second, why do some owners have more than one property?
Thanks!

Purchasing via resale in most cases will save you $ over direct purchase through Disney and many resale contracts will also include banked points in addition to the current Use Year's allotment of points.

Perhaps, most important feature of purchasing via resale market is that if you purchase a resale contract you will have the opportunity to buy into DVC with less than the minimum number of points that Disney requires had you direct purchased through them ( Disney's current new buyer minimum purchase will be 160 points ) so it opens the door to membership without having to commit to purchasing a larger number of points and your membership will be treated exactly the same so no worries there.

You can own points at as many DVC resorts, aka "Home Resort(s)", as you would like. Many members do, while some may have their points at just one resort.
Your Home Resort gives you an owner's priority booking window, so if for example you owned all your points at SSR at 11 months through 7 months+1day before check-in date you'd like, you would have the ability to book at SSR before any owners from any of the other DVC resorts could do so.

At 7 months and less before check-in date desired all points become "equal" so to speak - both owners of a particular DVC resort and owners at any other DVC resort may book from this point on.

If you own points at more than one DVC resort just keep in mind you cannot combine these points together for a reservation until 7 months or less before checkin you'd want -

so owning at SSR and AKV :
~ from 11 months - 7mos+1day window you may book SSR with SSR points only and AKV with AKV points only;
~ at 7 mos & less window you may book SSR with both SSR & AKV points

OR you may book AKV with both AKV & SSR points

OR you may use AKV points or SSR points or a combination of both your AKV & SSR points to
book at OKW, BCV, BWV, VWL, BLT, HHI, VB or GCV


Hope this helped some

 

[ToddyLu]

We chose to purchase thru Disney due to their financing option with no penalty for early pre payment. Our credit scores where excellent but no one locally would finance what we wanted, when he did a search of the Internet our options did not increase. We really didn't try that hard to look but DH made about 6 or 7 inquiries into loans. I am sure The Timeshare Store and other resale options would point you in the right direction if you needed to finance for a bit. We are hoping to pay our loan off in the next 3-5 years.

We got $18 dollars off our AKV points with a member referral and then free 2008 points. We had to pay about $590 in MF for those points but we thought it was worth it for now. I am sure if we add on we will do resale.

 

[Sandisw]

If you want BLT or VGC, you are going to have to go through Disney since there are really no resales out there (or maybe a few, but the cost would end up more).

But, if you are interested in one of the older properties, then resale will save you money over buying direct. Resale does take longer (4 - 6 weeks) that buying direct. With Disney, you have access to your points with a few days and can make reservations before you officially close. Not so with resale.

I think the first thing to decide is how important the resort is to your stay. For me, I only want to stay at certain places. Before buying DVC in February, we stayed at the Contemporary because we loved the easy access to MK. We knew that BLT was the only resort for us, even though it would cost us more. But, being happy when we were there, was more important to us then the few thousand dollars in savings. Since we were buying as a way to pre-pay vacations for a long time, it just was not worth chancing things at the 7 month window.

But, if you feel that you would be okay staying at any of the DVC resorts, then buying a contract that is a good deal may be the way to go!!!

Good luck!