?? Regarding buying a small contract

[bearhouse]

Hi all -

I am interested in buying a small contract < 50 points. I thought we could start with a small contract and borrow points as needed until we can purchase another contract. We tend to travel in the summer because kids are in school. What do you think the pros and cons are to this idea ? Do you think this would work ?


I'd appreciate your advice.


Thanks,
Terri

 

[Anthony1971]

with what you said there is no way of giving you direct opinions.
you can click on the points calculator above and get an idea of the points you need for the size unit you want by date.
If you are referring to traveling in July and August 50 points will not far as you will need 147 points a week with the excpetion of the last 2 weekks of august at the lowest point resort you can bank and borrow which would use 3 years of points or you could use your points for weekdays and pay cash for weekends and this would save you on points.

 

[1-407-WDWJUNKIE]

I Just bought a 50 point contract and it can certainly work. The idea right now is that it is enough points for a week in a studio every other year.

It allows you to try out membership without financing a big purchase. You can always add on points through Disney once you are a member in amounts as small as 25 points when you can afford to. Many smaller contracts allows you to sell in small increments later if you find you want or need to.

Small contracts go fast. Get on a call list with the major re-sellers telling them exactly what you want and know ahead of time what you want. If they call and you don't jump on a good deal right then it will probably be gone by the time you make up your mind.

For a small contract make sure it is not stripped of points. If your first points are coming in late in 2008 it will be late 2009 before you can actually plan a vacation based on your few points.

Summer, though a high point cost, is less busy for DCV, so home resort is not as important, so you can look for cheaper points. OKW has the cheapest rooms points wise, cheap points, and low maintenance fees (fees will end up costing way more than the points themselves over the length of the contract). BWV has some other cheap rooms, but those are few and in high demand, so you may want to buy there if you want to plan vactions around the cheaper point rooms there. SSR has a contract that lasts 15 years longer than the other resorts, which may or may not be important to you (it also has the lowest dues). AKV is so new it will be a while before it is available for resale.

Remember that you can add on to any resort through Disney once you are a member - so if you start with a 50 point contract at OKW you can add on 25 points at a time at AKV if you want to.

 

[chalee94]

"borrow" in DVC-language means using points from the next year's allocation - if you buy a 50 pt contract, then you can borrow 50 pts from 2008 to add to your 2007 points so you'd have a total of 100 pts to use for a reservation in your 2007 use year...but zero points in 2008 unless (in 2008) you borrow 50 from 2009.

if you are referring to purchasing and "transferring" points from another member to supplement your small contract, it gets quite a bit more complicated. you are only allowed one transfer in OR out per year. as a result, finding members willing to use their single transfer for you is not a sure thing.

so "borrowing" will only get you so far, and "transferring" may prove to be more difficult than simply renting.

now if you're happy with staying only sun-thurs nights in a OKW studio (costs 55 pts in the summer for 5 weeknights), it can be a very good value, but i'm not sure what you mean exactly.

 

[bearhouse]

Thanks for your replys.

1-407-WDWJUNKIE, that is exactly what I wanted to do.

 

[Deb & Bill]

How many in your family? That will enter into the plan. If you have four or less, you can stay in a studio. But if you have five, you'll need a one bedroom at the very least (and only sleeping spaces for 4 unless you get one of the newer AKV one bedrooms that have the sleeper chair in the living room with the sleeper sofa).

 

[Lenc324]

I just added 25 points. I bought what I could afford at this this time. I'm happy with them.

 

[bearhouse]

There are 5 of us. I understand that I can't get into a studio. I've been trying to convince my dh to buy into DVC for several years, but he has been reluctant. When I mentioned that we could possibly start with a small number of points to give it a try, it's the first time he even gave it a "maybe". He did ask that I ask on the boards first. Our situation is unusally, in that we don't spend a week at Disney. We normally stay 3-5 days maximum, as our primary reason for being in Florida is to visit my parents.