DDS (a dentist?) has found what I kind of what I alluded to above; some of the smartest timesharers are those that don't own at all.
But to add some perspective on why we own instead of rent. First, we ALWAYS travel on March break. DW is a teacher and that's just the way it is. Summers are for camping, winters are for sun seeking. Orlando can be found cheap for most of the year, but there are certain weeks that are harder to get at a discount. Prime March break weeks aren't quite as bad as Christmas and some July weeks, but the good resorts are full and deals aren't common. Owning a deeded prime week can be a good thing, as our week generally rents for more than the MF's if we don't use it.
Second, before we owned I never took vacations. A workaholic attitude and a Scotch spending ethic made vacations about as plentiful as confirmed Yeti sightings. Now that we own, I take a vacation every year because I already paid for the darn thing. And, in the long run, that makes me a much happier boy!
But those reasons don't apply to many people, and when you can rent for less than the cost of ownership, and not have those mandatory maintenance fees around your neck should your situation change, ownership takes some really careful consideration.
). We bought 10 years ago and have had over 25 trips to WDW, DL and Aulani on our points. No regrets. We bought resale at $77/point. With the exchange rate now and the insane costs to buy direct from Disney (around $140 pp) I would only consider resale.
