Should we buy?

[DoryDorito]

My husband and I have considered buying DVC for the last few years. We go to Disney enough that in some ways it makes sense for us to do it.

BUT I'm worried about the commitment it requires. We still have young kids (4&6) and DH feels like we should be putting that money in their college account. I agree, mostly. But we still plan on taking vacations during the next 12 years. Many of those will be at Disney, cause that's just how we roll.

Thoughts?
Regrets?

We want to go this fall and plan on staying either at BC or AKL. The vacation is estimated to be about $4,500. I say, that's almost a quarter (or less) than an initial buy in. So from that standpoint it makes sense to do it. But, to be committed to DVC, the thought makes me nervous.

Saratoga Springs are being sold for $99/point right now. Does anyone know if DVC always offers some incentive? For instance they are matching your points purchased this week. Is this a great deal?

Jenny

 

[chalee94]

BUT I'm worried about the commitment it requires. We still have young kids (4&6) and DH feels like we should be putting that money in their college account. I agree, mostly. But we still plan on taking vacations during the next 12 years. Many of those will be at Disney, cause that's just how we roll.

if you go to wdw pretty much every year and stay in at least a moderate, you should look into DVC

if you are thinking of using DVC pts for non-DVC stays, that's probably a bad idea...i'd just rent DVC as you go or take the best cash deal offered by wdw.

We want to go this fall and plan on staying either at BC or AKL. The vacation is estimated to be about $4,500. I say, that's almost a quarter (or less) than an initial buy in. So from that standpoint it makes sense to do it. But, to be committed to DVC, the thought makes me nervous.

it's good to be nervous...it's a big commitment. take your time and don't feel constrained by that deadline.

keep in mind that if you buy in at SSR, you may or may not be able to change your reservation to BCV or AKV at the 7 month window. so if you would be unhappy to be stuck at SSR and you can book 10-11 months in advance, you might want to consider buying a resort you would be happy with (even if you intend to try other resorts.)

Saratoga Springs are being sold for $99/point right now. Does anyone know if DVC always offers some incentive? For instance they are matching your points purchased this week. Is this a great deal?

you can get SSR resale for around $60 per pt. so not a good deal IMO.

remember that if your situation changes and you suddenly need to sell, you will be selling at resale prices whether you paid more by going direct or not.

again, take your time and feel free to ask questions.

 

[DoryDorito]

if you go to wdw pretty much every year and stay in at least a moderate, you should look into DVC

if you are thinking of using DVC pts for non-DVC stays, that's probably a bad idea...i'd just rent DVC as you go or take the best cash deal offered by wdw.



it's good to be nervous...it's a big commitment. take your time and don't feel constrained by that deadline.

keep in mind that if you buy in at SSR, you may or may not be able to change your reservation to BCV or AKV at the 7 month window. so if you would be unhappy to be stuck at SSR and you can book 10-11 months in advance, you might want to consider buying a resort you would be happy with (even if you intend to try other resorts.)



you can get SSR resale for around $60 per pt. so not a good deal IMO.

remember that if your situation changes and you suddenly need to sell, you will be selling at resale prices whether you paid more by going direct or not.

again, take your time and feel free to ask questions.

In your opinion then, would you recommend a resale? I personally don't have a problem waiting to close etc.

Jenny

 

[Sandisw]

In your opinion then, would you recommend a resale? I personally don't have a problem waiting to close etc.

Jenny

I would have a hard time telling anyone to go through Disney now if you can manage it through the resale.

As mentioned, you can get SSR through resale in the $60's, which is quite a bit of savings.

Remember, though, DVC will cover the cost of your room so when you compare it to the price for your fall trip, only consider the price you will be paying for the room.

Having said all that, if you have reservations about being locked in to DVC--because it does come with yearly MF's, costs associate with going like tickets, airfare, food, etc.--then I would recommend taking your time before deciding.

DVC is a big investment and I feel that someone should be 100% positive it is the right move for them. We bought in 2009, when BLT came into play, and have not yet regretted it.

However, we had been going on/off almost yearly since 1994 but never bought in because we were not yet comfortable with choices of resorts, even though we would have probably saved over the costs we were paying to stay at the Contemporary. I am glad we waited because we ended up with a home resort we love--we have since made BWV our home resort as well--but feel that buying when we were 100% behind being DVC owners was a good choice.

Good luck!

 

[disneynutz]

Your question gets asked several times per week and there are lots of posts with great information. I suggest that you take your time and start reading. The more you know, the better your chances of making a correct decision for you and your family.

Bill

 

[chalee94]

In your opinion then, would you recommend a resale? I personally don't have a problem waiting to close etc.

resale is tougher if you need to finance and it would probably take 6-8 weeks to close. also, if you have a specific use year that you prefer (depending on whether you typically travel at the same time each year), sometimes it's hard to find the right use year month when looking at resales.

but resale tends to be much cheaper and the exchange options (for cruises and disney hotels, mostly) that they have taken away from resale buyers have never been a very good deal anyway. so yes, i'd look at resales first.

(here's the link to the Understanding Use Year thread if you decide to do some research.)

 

[lovin'fl]

Resale will save you a ton of money. The only reasons someone should not buy resale are:
1- you want to use points immediately (resales take 6-8 weeks)
2- you want to use your points for the Disney Collection (regular Disney resorts like the Poly) or cruises (resales can't do that anymore)
3- if you want to finance or use credit card (I had to pay by cashiers check for my resale contracts)
4- if you need a specific UY (you may have to hunt out the right UY with the right amount of points) *you also may not want a stripped contract (one that has already used all 2011 and 2012 points)

We don't really have regrets. We bought our 200 OKW points in 2006, when we lived in NC and could more easily drive to WDW frequently (now we live in MD and getting to WDW is not so easy, so we prefer not to go every year). So, my inlaws basically bought 1/2 of our points...they paid us for them and pay 1/2 of the MFs and they get 100 points per UY (they only want to use them for a few more years and then they'll give them back...we'll insist on buying them back...we did this verbally, no contract or anything, so we technically still own all 200 points). We then decided to add on 75 points at HHI (we're about to close on that) so that we can alternate between HHI and WDW (we are thinking every 3rd year with a non-DVC vaction as well). Every 3 years we will have 300 points at OKW (though we prefer to stay in the boardwalk area) and 225 to use at HHI.

One thing I wish, not DH so much, is that we bought our original points at BWV or BCV (where we like to stay) because they can be difficult to get at the 7 month window (we've gotten BWV twice, but paid for preferred view of the pool...boardwalk view or the cheaper standard view are impossible to get at 7 months). DH would rather get more points for our money and was happy to buy OKW. I also wish we had 3 smaller contracts at different places (my ideal would be 100 points at BCV or BWV, 100 points at HHI and I go back and not sure about the 3rd place). I have 3 kids and 3 even contracts would be nice for me to give to them someday. Plus if you need to sell some off someday, but want to keep some points...you could sell off 1 or 2 smaller contracts (if you have all 300 points in 1 contract, you can't break that up).
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My suggestion to anyone would be to start with 100 points at the resort they would want to stay at (via resale). You may realize that you don't care where you stay and just want a ton of points, so you can then add on a bunch more at OKW...or you may love to only stay at 2 places...or just 1 place. You may not ever need or want to add on more points.

 

[DoryDorito]

resale is tougher if you need to finance and it would probably take 6-8 weeks to close. also, if you have a specific use year that you prefer (depending on whether you typically travel at the same time each year), sometimes it's hard to find the right use year month when looking at resales.

but resale tends to be much cheaper and the exchange options (for cruises and disney hotels, mostly) that they have taken away from resale buyers have never been a very good deal anyway. so yes, i'd look at resales first.

(here's the link to the Understanding Use Year thread if you decide to do some research.)

We wouldn't finance any of it. So that's off the table. We like to go in the fall and although I've never been there, BCV look beautiful. Plus, I love the location, much more so than SSR.

Jenny

 

[DoryDorito]

Resale will save you a ton of money. The only reasons someone should not buy resale are:
1- you want to use points immediately (resales take 6-8 weeks)
2- you want to use your points for the Disney Collection (regular Disney resorts like the Poly) or cruises (resales can't do that anymore)
3- if you want to finance or use credit card (I had to pay by cashiers check for my resale contracts)
4- if you need a specific UY (you may have to hunt out the right UY with the right amount of points) *you also may not want a stripped contract (one that has already used all 2011 and 2012 points)

We don't really have regrets. We bought our 200 OKW points in 2006, when we lived in NC and could more easily drive to WDW frequently (now we live in MD and getting to WDW is not so easy, so we prefer not to go every year). So, my inlaws basically bought 1/2 of our points...they paid us for them and pay 1/2 of the MFs and they get 100 points per UY (they only want to use them for a few more years and then they'll give them back...we'll insist on buying them back). We then decided to add on 75 points at HHI (we're about to close on that) so that we can alternate between HHI and WDW (we are thinking every 3rd year with a non-DVC vaction as well). Every 3 years we will have 300 points at OKW (though we prefer to stay in the boardwalk area) and 225 to use at HHI.

One thing I wish, not DH so much, is that we bought our original points at BWV or BCV (where we like to stay) because they can be difficult to get at the 7 month window (we've gotten BWV twice, but paid for preferred view of the pool...boardwalk view or the cheaper standard view are impossible to get at 7 months). DH would rather get more points for our money and was happy to buy OKW. I also wish we had 3 smaller contracts at different places (my ideal would be 100 points at BCV or BWV, 100 points at HHI and I go back and not sure about the 3rd place). I have 3 kids and 3 even contracts would be nice for me to give to them someday.

Thank you so much for your reply. Is it hard to book outside of the 7 month window to other resorts? Meaning, if we did buy SSR, how hard would it be to book BCV in fall?

Jenny

 

[chalee94]

We wouldn't finance any of it. So that's off the table. We like to go in the fall and although I've never been there, BCV look beautiful. Plus, I love the location, much more so than SSR.

some of it is hard to measure.

SSR will be cheaper, but if you really want to be at BCV or BWV in the fall (i.e. during epcot's food & wine festival), it would be safer to buy there and book as early as possible (right around the 11 month window.)

it's not impossible to get in at the 7 month window, but it can be tough.

also, you should be aware that BCV villas and BC hotel rooms have different decor and different renovation schedules. have you ever stopped at the BWV model on the boardwalk?