Questions on Timeshare Owners of more than 1 timeshare/lots of pts.

[deerh]

My wife and I are toying with the idea of purchasing a condo at the beach instead of buying more DVC pts. We are thinking of "making money"/rent/maybe retire at a beach location.
My question is this: those of you who bought more than 1 times hare, or lots of pts, do you second guess yourself? I mean 400 pts @ 70=28000, which would mean a nice downpayment at a condo say at DISNEY! or beach, Plus the income if you rented it out, plus not to mention selling for a profit say 39 years from now or less.
Profit at DVC in 39 years: zero or who knows,
Just wanted thoughts as to why you bought so many pts/timeshares/ and realize you will not make any money on it.
Also, I know you bought a vacation, I am a school teacher, so I can 'Vacation" at my condo for 2/3/4 weeks in summer (like dvc), so knock that out of your equation.
thanks for the input!!
deerh

 

[draje01]

My thoughts are that you could make a profit on DVC by renting points periodically. For instance, I just rented points out to someone and it more than paid for my annual dues this year. If I did this every other year, I think it would more than pay for itself and also, DVC allows you to go at all times of the year, no matter what season you're in, which allows you to have a more flexible vacation, I think. I would definitely not opt for a beach home, because, in the winter, what would you do with it? I don't think renting the place out would be too popular then. Then there is maintenance (utilities, repairs, insurance, etc...) I am a little partial to DVC, but I do think that it was the best decision for us.

 

[RobDoc]

We own 7 weeks of timeshares at 4 other locations besides DVC and paid no more than $2500 for any week (some as low $500). I have no thoughts of making a profit by selling them (including DVC) since they were not purchased as an investment.

One we bought exclusively to trade and have only stayed there twice- trading all other times during the last 10 years of ownership. The other 3 locations were purchased because we enjoyed the area and will enjoy staying there when retired. We are not able to use all weeks right now and give them to our children and other family members to use, but we will be able to use them in the near future.

Since there are no condos at Disney, I'll take our DVC membership anytime. With a condo- even if you are able to rent it out (a challenge to accomplish from a distance), you will still have maintenance costs, telephone, cable, insurance, etc. as an ongoing expnse- whether you are there, rented or empty. A responsibility I don't want/need at this time.

A condo may certainly be purchased with the ability to resell at profit in the future and few timeshares will have that attribute.

No right/wrong decision here at all- just a personal preference within your own comfort zone.

Enjoy!

 

[laceemouse]

We own another t/s in Williamsburg which we trade through RCI to go all over. It is much less exxpensive than DVC, which is great to trade. We just bought a few points at BCV and plan to go probably every other year. We are from the south and are still holding out hope that one day we will get to move back, BUT, DH is getting lots of good work here so we may be stuck here until retirement (25 or so years off for us!) If we had the money to buy I condo in Florida I would jump at the chance! If our kids get jobs and spouses here I would not be able to just move away and leave them, but having a place in Florida to escape the snow after Hubby retires would be great. Florida has historically been cheap real estate but it is going up and will only go up WAY more. I say do what makes you happy, but I would buy a condo or small house before mega DVC points!

 

[spiceycat]

when I first brought DVC I also looked into buying a condo on the beach at FW - I really loved this place - it had everything I wanted the price was for a 2-bedroom $50,000 - but I brought DVC thinking that we (me, mother, brothers and their families) use DVC more than this place.

Well I had no regrets love my DVC.

but when a friend wanted a place to buy recently I looked back at this place again - unbelieveable they know want $350,000 for a 1-bedroom. the lady telling me this price was laughing too - she doesn't believe that they will get it - but who knows?

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We own a beach home and have quite a few DVC ponts. Our "summer" house is on the coast of Maine and the idea was to retire to it someday but enjoy it now during the warm weather months. We chose a location for the house that was close enough to where we live to be able to get there for weekends and keep on top of things. That would not be the case with a home in Florida. Instead we use our DVC points to get away during the cold months. The two compliment each other extremely well and we wouldn't change anything.

HBC

 

[wdw1972]

I don't own any other timeshares, but I'm a single person with 1050 dvc points currently. I've never regretted or second-guessed a single point, and plan to call my guide to order another 100 on Monday. Fortunately I live 3 hours from wdw, so I'm able to make frequent trips - since I'm usually in a studio those points go pretty far. When I retire I can stretch them even further by skipping weekends, too!

I'm not interested in any other timeshares - and although I can see the benefit of treating one like a business, that seems like more work than I want to be bothered with.

 

[Dean]

Most people can't cover the high cost of ownership when renting beach or mountain condo's and the like. I couldn't support that option as being a sound one. Now if you will use it adequately and cover part of your cost, that may be different. Most people don't even cover their year to year expenses when they rent something like this from what I hear. Good luck.

 

[mbw12]

Originally posted by Happy Birthday Cat
We own a beach home and have quite a few DVC ponts. Our "summer" house is on the coast of Maine and the idea was to retire to it someday but enjoy it now during the warm weather months. We chose a location for the house that was close enough to where we live to be able to get there for weekends and keep on top of things. That would not be the case with a home in Florida. Instead we use our DVC points to get away during the cold months. The two compliment each other extremely well and we wouldn't change anything.

HBC

HBC-
You are partially living our dream!!!! We own 150 points at WLV (which for our family of 4 is plenty right now). We would love to someday retire and have a summer home in New England....on the coast....to go to in the warmer months. Than we would love to have a winter home in florida to enjoy during the colder months. but like someone already said....real estate si just going up, up, up.....who knows what it will be like in twenty years or so when we are ready to retire.

 

[deerh]

Thanks for the input. Was just curious as to what other people did,etc.
I think with interest rates as low as they are now, beach houses/mt houses/etc could become more affordable for more people now, and the houses would go up in price where as we all know, DVC pts will level off or go down in 25/30 years. Just comparing apples to oranges...
Thanks for the input!
deerh