Should we buy AKV now or wait 6-9 months?

[cj&gt]

After renting points for the past 2 years, we are ready to become DVC members ourselves! After doing a bunch of research (primarily on this board), we have decided to purchase 160 points at AKV. This will allow us to travel to WDW 2 times every 3 years with some borrowing/banking. Before launching into this purchase, I have a couple of questions that I'm hoping someone will be kind enough to provide their perspective on.

1. Our next trip to WDW will most likely not be until Fall 2008 or Jan 2009. Do you think the current price for non-members of $96 per point is most likely going to be the lowest price for the rest of the year? I wouldn't want to buy too early if this $96 rate will still be around 6 or 9 months from now. We could postpone making the purchase several months and still be able to utilize the 11 month booking window, but are scared the price might increase significantly.

2. Related to the above, can you request a closing date or is this dicated by Disney? I was thinking that we could agree to the purchase and complete paperwork but not officially close until the Fall or Winter. This would lock in the current rate but not have us buying premature to our travel.

2. Assuming we need to purchase now (to get the $96 rate), can we request a use year of February or March? If so, does this mean that we would not pay any maintenance fees between now and when we get our 1st allocation of points in Feb or March 2008?

3. Can you make a reservation at the 11 month window (January 2008) and utilize points that will be deposited (March 2008) as well as borrow points from (March 2009)? We would need to borrow points because our 1st trip we hope to bring my parents and with our 2 small children, we would need a 2BR.

Any guidance will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Kurby]

1. Our next trip to WDW will most likely not be until Fall 2008 or Jan 2009. Do you think the current price for non-members of $96 per point is most likely going to be the lowest price for the rest of the year? I wouldn't want to buy too early if this $96 rate will still be around 6 or 9 months from now. We could postpone making the purchase several months and still be able to utilize the 11 month booking window, but are scared the price might increase significantly.

the current price is $104 pp with an $8 incentive. i believe that $8 incentive ends either in june or july therefore the price will go back up to the original $104 pp

2. Related to the above, can you request a closing date or is this dicated by Disney? I was thinking that we could agree to the purchase and complete paperwork but not officially close until the Fall or Winter. This would lock in the current rate but not have us buying premature to our travel.

your closing date is when your paperwork is back in the hands of disney - while they put a 30 day limit on the paperwork when i called my guide to ask for an extension because 1 it's easter and 2 our lawer is on vacation so we can't have him notarize the paperwork and she said the date was just so we don't keep the paperwork for months - so while i'm sure you can maybe get 6 weeks instetad of 4 i don't think you can keep your paperwork for 4 months without them cancelling the deal.

2. Assuming we need to purchase now (to get the $96 rate), can we request a use year of February or March? If so, does this mean that we would not pay any maintenance fees between now and when we get our 1st allocation of points in Feb or March 2008?

yes you can request a UY and yes you will be paying mf's - because you can use your current and borrow your points now

3. Can you make a reservation at the 11 month window (January 2008) and utilize points that will be deposited (March 2008) as well as borrow points from (March 2009)? We would need to borrow points because our 1st trip we hope to bring my parents and with our 2 small children, we would need a 2BR.

depending you your UY - ie if you take your March UY like you wanted in the questions above you will get your points Mar 07 (so now) you can use them to book your Jan 08 trip and borrow from you March 08 UY but you can not borrow from Mar 09 because that is 2 years in the future and you can only borrow the next years.

if you want 3 years you have to bank mar 07 book your trip for Jan 09 use the Mar 08's as current and borrow the mar 09

think of it as a fiscal year instead of a calendar year -

hope that helps

 

[cj&gt]

Thank-you for taking the time to answer my questions - I really appreciate it.

 

[eva]

We just bought AKV points today and our guide told us that the $8 incentive was only for previous members who are buying at least 100 points. Did she have her facts right? From the OP, it seemed to me that cj&gt is currently not a member and would have to pay $101 a point. But I may have my facts totally wrong. Anyone buy recently and get the $8 off without being a previous member?

Also, we purchased with a February use year. If you purchase right now with that or a March use year, you will still get your 2007 points. Maintenance fees begin in September, but will be prorated. The cost of points will rise from $101 to $104 on June 4th. I have been a member of DVC for 10 years now and have never seen the price of points go down. They do offer incentives from time to time. But you never really know when that will happen. Since there have been a couple incentives this year for members, I have my doubts that there will be any better offers the rest of this year. But you can always keep your fingers crossed.

Let us know how things turn out.

 

[drusba]

Both existing and new purchasers have the $8 incentive. The difference is that an existing member's starting price before the incentive is currently $101 and a new purchaser's starting price is currently $104. Existing member's starting price goes up to that $104 in June.

 

[TiffanyW1]

We just bought AKV points today and our guide told us that the $8 incentive was only for previous members who are buying at least 100 points. Did she have her facts right? From the OP, it seemed to me that cj&gt is currently not a member and would have to pay $101 a point. But I may have my facts totally wrong. Anyone buy recently and get the $8 off without being a previous member?

Also, we purchased with a February use year. If you purchase right now with that or a March use year, you will still get your 2007 points. Maintenance fees begin in September, but will be prorated. The cost of points will rise from $101 to $104 on June 4th. I have been a member of DVC for 10 years now and have never seen the price of points go down. They do offer incentives from time to time. But you never really know when that will happen. Since there have been a couple incentives this year for members, I have my doubts that there will be any better offers the rest of this year. But you can always keep your fingers crossed.

Let us know how things turn out.

Points are $104 right now. Anyone can get the $8 point incentive for AKL (SSR is $10). I just purchased at SSR & Kurby purchased the same day that I did at AKL. We were both given these rates and had different sales reps. HTH

 

[dizzneebabe]

I just purchased AKV a couple of weeks ago for $104, less $8/pp as a new member. A friend of mine did too. Her guide is a very familiar name on this board and is considered "very reliable" in terms of accurate information. She told them (my friend) that the incentive will be there until they meet a certain sales goal. So, there is no cut off date. Again, this is only what she was told by her guide.

I do have a couple of questions though...and I don't want you to take the wrong way. It appears you are financing this through Disney, right? I know some people bawk at this--but hey--we did and I'm just fine with it. It makes sense for us. But that's beside the point. And if you are, buying right now would just put you that much closer into owning it in the long run. Why postpone it 6-9 months, just b/c you aren't going to vacation until next year? This is a huge commitment and although I understand the need/want for immediate satisfaction (i.e. purchasing followed by immediate, near immediate use), it doesn't make sense to me to wait only a few months.

I think of it this way...if you want to own, you want to own. A few months of what might seem to you to be pre-payments will put you that much closer to being out of that.

To answer your other questions:

We signed paperwork on March 26th. Our closing is est. for May 11 with payments beginning on June 15th. We were not given a choice of a UY. Sept. is what we were told. My friend however, was given a choice of March or Sept. (2 days later).

As far as MF's are concerned, we do not pay any until Sept. 1st--when it officially opens. Someone else may correct me, but that is what both my friend and I we were told. Although we can begin booking AKV on May 16th for stays beginning Sept.

Banking/borrowing--all new to me! will wait for others' thoughts!

 

[eva]

Ok, I wasn't listening to my guide. My DH who was on the call with me confirms the $101 / $104 price and the $8 incentive for all. I think that I must have been dreaming about my new points. I agree with dizzneebabe, this is a 50 year commitment. You may pay it off right away or finance for 10 years, but you will be paying dues for the next 50 years. I think that I would buy once you have made the decision. Who knows how long they will keep the incentive and I have seen point prices jump a few times in a year. I can pretty much guarantee they wouldn't go down.

 

[jdg345]

We just bought AKV points today and our guide told us that the $8 incentive was only for previous members who are buying at least 100 points. Did she have her facts right? From the OP, it seemed to me that cj&gt is currently not a member and would have to pay $101 a point. But I may have my facts totally wrong. Anyone buy recently and get the $8 off without being a previous member?

Also, we purchased with a February use year. If you purchase right now with that or a March use year, you will still get your 2007 points. Maintenance fees begin in September, but will be prorated. The cost of points will rise from $101 to $104 on June 4th. I have been a member of DVC for 10 years now and have never seen the price of points go down. They do offer incentives from time to time. But you never really know when that will happen. Since there have been a couple incentives this year for members, I have my doubts that there will be any better offers the rest of this year. But you can always keep your fingers crossed.

Let us know how things turn out.

I think I read here on the DIS that the initial resort pre-sale was almost always the cheapest time to buy, even with future incentives. I considered waiting on AKV until Kidani was built, but who knows how much it could cost then.

 

[3DisneyKids]

Barring major catastrophe (like the size of 9/11) prices om AKV will only go up.

 

[disney dumbo]

1. Our next trip to WDW will most likely not be until Fall 2008 or Jan 2009.
2. Assuming we need to purchase now (to get the $96 rate), can we request a use year of February or March? If so, does this mean that we would not pay any maintenance fees between now and when we get our 1st allocation of points in Feb or March 2008?
3. Can you make a reservation at the 11 month window (January 2008) and utilize points that will be deposited (March 2008) as well as borrow points from (March 2009)?
Any guidance will be greatly appreciated!

Warning... I'm NO expert... but have a few thoughts that EXPERTS might refine for you!

The best time to buy is right before prices increase. You get to keep drawing interest on your money. Does Disney always announce a price increase with time to contract prior??? I hope an expert will jump in on this answer.

In my limited experience... they announced a price increase (AKV)... we purchased... and they delayed the increase. So we should have waited... but we got the perk of being on the tapestry... hope it's huge!

My understanding is that they will prorate the MF for 2007. Will Feb/Mar prorate from then... or from Sept when it officially opens? From earlier posts... sounds like Sept. and that is a deal! Get a full year's worth of points... for a fraction of the MF!

Here's a side thought - I'm sure you've spent some time studying UY... you say you want Feb/Mar... but your first trip is fall or Dec. That must be out of your ordinary plans... because if not, a fall UY might be better (there are great threads on that subject too!)

As far as banking and borrowing... all points have a 1 year life... tied to your UY. At the 11 month window... you can utilize ALL points you have control over... that would mean points banked from the year earlier, current year points and future year points. Your points die the last day of the month prior to your UY MONTH! Banking and borrowing are final transactions. If you bank... you HAVE to use them the next year. If you borrow... you HAVE to use them the year you bring them into. The current year points have banking windows... where you can bank a certain %. That's why UY are important... IF you generally travel a certain time of year.

Sorry if that was confusing... there are people on this board that can explain it much better... thank the Lord!

IMHO... the only reason to buy early before the price increase... is to get to USE your points... make a reservation (utilize 11 month window especially)... or travel sooner!

Good luck!

 

[Dean]

If you are set on buying, do so now unless you want less than the 160 pt min. The prices will not likely be any lower for some time. If you want less than 160 and are willing to pay a premium for a small contract, wait and look for a resale starting now. You may be able to buy a few less points if you buy in your situation.