Resale question, buy Vero beach or buy a wdw resort?

[jgates44]

My wife and I are talking about buying from resale. I'm looking at the different resorts and the prices that are listed on different sites. I guess a question I have is, what would be the best thing to do buy Vero beach or should we buy a wdw resort? If u have Vero beach as your home resort is it easy to stay at wdw all the time. We are just so new to this. Any info would be great, thanks to anyone with your thoughts.

 

[npmadsen]

My wife and I are talking about buying from resale. I'm looking at the different resorts and the prices that are listed on different sites. I guess a question I have is, what would be the best thing to do buy Vero beach or should we buy a wdw resort? If u have Vero beach as your home resort is it easy to stay at wdw all the time. We are just so new to this. Any info would be great, thanks to anyone with your thoughts.

The dues are much more at vero
I think about 8 dollars a point per year

 

[jedcaum]

^And dues are where the real cost of the timeshare is, long term. At least triple what your buy-in cost is.

Our ALK lodge contract direct for 190 pts was around $20K, Our dues will be well over $75K over the life of the contract. Vero beach another 30% higher than ALK on average. So approaching $100K. If that gives you pause, you should pause.

Best rule I've seen here is buy where you want to stay. You'll be stuck with a 7 month reservation at WDW with VBL points. Not unworkable, but you'll be staying at SS, AKL, or OKW at that distance out for any of the heavy months, and maybe for others. The 11 month home resort advantage really does matter, more and more every year.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I agree with jedcaum. Buy where you want to stay and buy for the actual WDW DVC resorts not the discounts ( which you will now not get any of the membership perks buying resale see the recent change ) . Spend some time looking at each one see which one best fits your family, has good maintenance fees etc. I have SSR and VGF. We like them both very much. Stayed at most of the others they all have pros and cons. Good luck!

 

[mynameisnobody]

Here's a little table that was originally taken from a brokers website. I've made some modifications to it to suit my purposes but it gives you cost per point per year of contract for the various resorts using the average resale or actual new price of a resort.

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[_auroraborealis_]

That chart is spot on.

If you don't care where you stay at WDW and are okay with a 7-month window, Saratoga is your best bargain, and a nice place to stay if that's what you can get (i.e., you cannot switch at 7 months). If you are okay paying $10/point/year, buy an Epcot resort for best ability to hold value (note: hard to say what happens here as the clock ticks, but same is true for VB) and better rental payout if you need to rent points.

 

[pinklotusflower]

If you plan to stay late September - January it can be really difficult to book anywhere but your home resort, it's tempting to buy cheap at Vero but you'll end up paying more in annual dues and could struggle depending when you want to go to get what you want without split stays.

 

[jgates44]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will be during alot of research to find the best place for us, a family of 5.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Buy VB or HHI if that is where you want to stay. If you buy an offsite resort when you want to stay at WDW primarily, you might wind up being disappointed when you can't change at seven months out. Buy a WDW resort if that is where you want to be most of the time.

 

[Dean]

My wife and I are talking about buying from resale. I'm looking at the different resorts and the prices that are listed on different sites. I guess a question I have is, what would be the best thing to do buy Vero beach or should we buy a wdw resort? If u have Vero beach as your home resort is it easy to stay at wdw all the time. We are just so new to this. Any info would be great, thanks to anyone with your thoughts.

I agree with those that feel VB is more expensive long term but it does depend on the differential. Eventually it may cross the line where it does make sense. You also lose an 11 month window for WDW. I'd only buy HH or VB if I planned to stay there fairly regularly.

 

[abner1776]

The problem buying at VB or HH is you have NO WDW resort to book prior to the 7 month window which limits your options. Even if you bought at OKW or SSR, at least you would have some place to stay on property with the option of switching at 7 months.

I know most posters advocate "buy where you want to stay" but I for one have never had a problem booking outside of my home resort, BUT I generally avoid the busy times of year at WDW.

At some point I may want to book a few days over Christmas and at least I know I can book VWL at the 11 month window and have a room without having to wait until the 7 month window for a chance of a room.

 

[Dean]

The problem buying at VB or HH is you have NO WDW resort to book prior to the 7 month window which limits your options. Even if you bought at OKW or SSR, at least you would have some place to stay on property with the option of switching at 7 months.

I know most posters advocate "buy where you want to stay" but I for one have never had a problem booking outside of my home resort, BUT I generally avoid the busy times of year at WDW.

At some point I may want to book a few days over Christmas and at least I know I can book VWL at the 11 month window and have a room without having to wait until the 7 month window for a chance of a room.

I'm a big proponent of buying low and trading up, that's why I most often suggest SSR as the best value. Plus almost no new buyers truly know what their preferences are going to be once they have a little experience. And I'd have no problem recommending VB or HH to do so if the prices made sense. The issue is they don't unless you have additional motives to buy at one of them.

 

[PAGran]

I'm a big proponent of buying low and trading up, that's why I most often suggest SSR as the best value. Plus almost no new buyers truly know what their preferences are going to be once they have a little experience. And I'd have no problem recommending VB or HH to do so if the prices made sense. The issue is they don't unless you have additional motives to buy at one of them.

Dean:
After reading lots of posts on disboards, including the recommendation you just gave, we did exactly that. We bought 160 pts at ssr. Since we usually travel in January or February, it has worked out great. We've stayed at all the wdw dvc resorts except the ones on the monorail loop. I think if we decide to travel other times of year, we will add on points at our favorite.

 

[MouseOfCards]

Here's a little table that was originally taken from a brokers website. I've made some modifications to it to suit my purposes but it gives you cost per point per year of contract for the various resorts using the average resale or actual new price of a resort.

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Why don't you include closing costs? Doesn't it make the cost per point more accurate, even if just by a small amount?

 

[Dean]

Dean:
After reading lots of posts on disboards, including the recommendation you just gave, we did exactly that. We bought 160 pts at ssr. Since we usually travel in January or February, it has worked out great. We've stayed at all the wdw dvc resorts except the ones on the monorail loop. I think if we decide to travel other times of year, we will add on points at our favorite.

I'm glad it's worked out. Timeshares in general are a moving target. We should look at where things are when we're considering buying and also consider the possible future issues such as reallocations, future limitations and changes and our own potential life changes. I recommend based on how I view things and what I'd do in that situation as much as I can tell.

Why don't you include closing costs? Doesn't it make the cost per point more accurate, even if just by a small amount?

Now that Disney also includes closing costs and that the closing should be around the same for similar sized/price contracts, it really wouldn't matter much. And the closing can vary over time including from one company to another. But a given buyer should at least consider it in their up front decision. It likely only comes into play in the questions of whether to buy, how many points and how many contracts. It can be quite significant for smaller contracts and is one of the reasons I feel it's usually a poor idea to buy multiple smaller contracts resale.

 

[lovin'fl]

I agree that you should only buy VB or HHI if you want to stay there at times. We added HHI because we wanted to do summer trips there to alternate between WDW and beach (where for the beach trips we wouldn't have to buy park tickets or airfare). We pretty much only use HHI at HHI (though not always). And yes we can get into WDW at 7 months out...just may not always get top choices of resorts or exact dates we want. But you never know if this will become more difficult (and as they add more resorts or convert resorts like they are doing at VWL, they add more points/owners to the system to compete for rooms). So I wouldn't suggest HHI or VB unless you'd be happy to stay there if need be.

A suggestion to be sure to get into WDW is to buy SSR. It's the best deal out there.

Also I think the prices in the chart are a little high. Not sure if it makes much of a difference for the purposes of the chart though.

 

[Dean]

I agree that you should only buy VB or HHI if you want to stay there at times. We added HHI because we wanted to do summer trips there to alternate between WDW and beach (where for the beach trips we wouldn't have to buy park tickets or airfare). We pretty much only use HHI at HHI (though not always). And yes we can get into WDW at 7 months out...just may not always get top choices of resorts or exact dates we want. But you never know if this will become more difficult (and as they add more resorts or convert resorts like they are doing at VWL, they add more points/owners to the system to compete for rooms). So I wouldn't suggest HHI or VB unless you'd be happy to stay there if need be.

For HH I'd go further and suggest it only makes sense if one wants to stay at the highest times, namely mid summer. Personally I think there are better choices for FL Atlantic Beaches and HHI than DVC if that's the main focus.

 

[lovin'fl]

For HH I'd go further and suggest it only makes sense if one wants to stay at the highest times, namely mid summer. Personally I think there are better choices for FL Atlantic Beaches and HHI than DVC if that's the main focus.

Yes, I agree. But we bought for a steal of a deal. But even at HHI, there are tons of rentals that might be a better way to go...and be on the beach instead of on a marina. But we like it.