So many questions...

[5Incredibles]

Our family of 5 is considering a DVC timeshare. I feel like I'm not smart enough to ask the right questions...but here goes anyway.

1 - If I purchase 150 points (the current 15% discount) at SSR, then I get the 11 month advance option to book at SSR (because it's my home resort). What if I purchase an additional 10 points at OKW from a re-seller, will I have two home resorts? and can book 11 months ahead at either OKW and SSR using all 160 points?

2 -Selling points - Am I reading the posts correctly? On average, will I be able to easily rent my 160 points on any given year for $10/point, ($1600)? This would certainly pay for double the annual maintenance on a financially tight year for us.

3 - We really want to go on a Cruise - Disney or other. Would it be a good use of points to use them on a Disney Cruise? From what I can tell, I may have to use 3 year's of points for our family of 5.

I appreciate any feedback.

 

[CarolMN]

Our family of 5 is considering a DVC timeshare. I feel like I'm not smart enough to ask the right questions...but here goes anyway.

1 - If I purchase 150 points (the current 15% discount) at SSR, then I get the 11 month advance option to book at SSR (because it's my home resort). What if I purchase an additional 10 points at OKW from a re-seller, will I have two home resorts? and can book 11 months ahead at either OKW and SSR using all 160 points?

You could only book 10 points worth of accomodations at OKW at the 11 month window. You have to wait until the 7 month window to use your SSR points at any other resort.

2 -Selling points - Am I reading the posts correctly? On average, will I be able to easily rent my 160 points on any given year for $10/point, ($1600)? This would certainly pay for double the annual maintenance on a financially tight year for us.

Probably. Personally, I think the hassle involved in renting points to strangers is understated/under appreciated by those who haven't done it. YMMV.

3 - We really want to go on a Cruise - Disney or other. Would it be a good use of points to use them on a Disney Cruise? From what I can tell, I may have to use 3 year's of points for our family of 5.

Opinions vary. IMHO, using points to cruise is usually not the most cost effective way to do it. It depends on how you value your points and how far ahead you book. If you value your points at $10 each (rental value), cruising is seldom a good economic choice. If you value them at the maintenance fee level, it can be a good choice.

There are disadvantages to using points to book. Among them:

You cannot book until 11 months prior to departure. By that time, many cash cruisers have already selected their cabins - the one you want may not be available.

You pay a nonrefundable fee ($75) to book and cancellation policies are more restrictive than booking with cash. If you change something on the cruise reservation, you pay another fee.

If you cancel a cruise reservation, the points cannot be used for a DVC resort or an exchange via II - only for another cruise or one of the options in the other "Collections".

Not all categories of cabin are available for points reservations.

I appreciate any feedback.

You're welcome. Hope you get lots of feedback/opinions to read. Good luck with your decision making process!

 

[mbb]

...... What if I purchase an additional 10 points at OKW from a re-seller, will I have two home resorts? and can book 11 months ahead at either OKW and SSR using all 160 points?

.......

25 points is the minimum size contract that you would be able to find, IIRC

And yes, you would have two contracts, your main one at SSR - which gets you the 11month window there, and the 25 points at OKW - getting you the 11month window there..

Can you combine them?? That's a question for DVCers smarter than I!!

...but I don't think so..I *think* you can use the points from both contracts inside the 7 month window for them..does that make sense?

HTH!!

 

[Jimbo]

Personally, I think the hassle involved in renting points to strangers is understated/under appreciated by those who haven't done it. YMMV.

Amen to that. The one time I needed to dispose of points, I had 400 of them to rent. But I got a lot of Sun-Thu requests that were in the 40 point range. So I spent an awful lot of time calling MS, and more time corresponding with prospective renters. I eventually offered my last 250 points at a "volume discount" price just so that I could put an end to the process.

If I do it again, I'll either be asking more than $10 per, or limiting it to renters that want a big enough block of points so that it's worth my while.

 

[Caskbill]

One final thing, if you rent out your points, it's considered taxable income and must be reported on your income taxes.

 

[5Incredibles]

Thanks everyone for your input...

I will continue to rack my brains until the end of the "Friends and Family 15% promotion" that ends this month...Hopefully by then I'll have some clarity on whether to pony up the ~$15k for year one...and be happy with my decision.

 

[JimMIA]

What if I purchase an additional 10 points at OKW from a re-seller, will I have two home resorts?

Actually, I don't know if there are any such contracts. The minimum DVC add-on contract is 25 points currently, and I don't know if they've ever offered any 10 point contracts.

2 -Selling points - Am I reading the posts correctly? On average, will I be able to easily rent my 160 points on any given year for $10/point, ($1600)? This would certainly pay for double the annual maintenance on a financially tight year for us.

I would not use the availability of possible rentals as a factor in a buy/don't buy decision. This ability could go away at some point.

3 - We really want to go on a Cruise - Disney or other.

If OR OTHER is an okay cruise for you -- and it would be for me -- you will be much better off paying cash for a cruise. Most cruises, even on premier cruise lines, are less expensive than DCL, and you can often get great deals through cruise consolidators.

If you want to take a DCL cruise, it is more cost effective to pay cash and rent points to cover the cash outlay, but not everybody wants to expend that time and effort. Your points; your choice.