Use Year Question? HELP!

[HeatherAnne]

Hi!

We are in the process of buying 350 points thru Disney at the BCV. Can someone explain to me the use year process when purchasing? Does everyone get their points as soon as they purchase or do they have to wait until their use year hits?

For example....they are offering us a June use year. They are giving us the June 2002 points NOW and then we receive our next 350 points on June 1st 2003. Are we getting a deal or is this how it normally works? They also are offering us the same deal but with a Sept use year - which is better June or Sept?

Sorry if these are dumb questions but this whole process is so confusing! Thanks so much for your help! I love this forum - it has been very helpful in making our decision to join DVC!

HeatherAnne

 

[drusba]

That is typical Disney sale. They are usually selling a use year that begins usually 4 to 5 months before the date of sale and you get a full allotment of points immediately as a result, which you can use before the end of the use year (in your case May 31, 2003) or bank for use in the next use year (the one that begins June 1, 2003). You then get another full allotment of points June 1, 2003.

As you are probably already aware, use year simply determines when you get your points and your banking dates; it has nothing to do with when you can go (which is any time of year) or when you can call to make a ressie (11 months in advance at home resort, 7 at others). Thus, whether you buy June or Sep has no impact on when you can go. Buying the June use year is a somewhat better deal than buying September simply because you will get your next allotment of points earlier (June 2003 rather than Sep 2003). I would take the June deal.

 

[anniet]

In our case we purchased in March 2002.

We were buying what we were told were the last few points left for VWL, so they backdated our use year to begin August 2001.

At that point they gave us a choice. We could BANK all our points immediately, or they offered to purchase our points back at $10 per point.

Since we did not plan on visiting again until January 2003, we sold most of the points back. (you can decide to keep some points if you want) Looking back I wish we sold them all back, but I'm not worried, I'm certain we'll use them.

I think this is what they refer to as the "Magical Beginnings" offer, and it's not a bad deal, if you can get it.

 

[KathyR]

Do you vacation at the same time of year every year? If so, use year can matter.

You basically would idealy have a use year that is just before you like to travel, but if you travel at different times of the year, it really does not matter which use year you get

 

[Cherry]

The use year can make a difference. For instance, we have 400 points with an August use year. It seemed good at the time, but after having been DVC members for 7 years, we realize that this was not really the best use year for us.

We vacation as a family (10 of us) and generally stay at a Grand Villa in OKW. Because one of our group is a teacher, we always have to go in the summer. Therefore, we have almost all of our points tied up in a June or July vacation. If we ever had to cancel due to sickness or some other reason, we would only have until August 1 to use the points. I really wish we had a June use year, so that if something happened that caused us to cancel our June or July vacation, we would have until the next June to use the points. (Assuming we canceled more than 30 days out, of course.)

If we were able to vacation in the fall or winter, this would be a perfect use year for us.

Of course, it actually hasn't been a problem, as we have never had to cancel or change our reservations, so I don't really worry about it, but if I had it to do over, I would consider when we usually take our vacation when deciding which use year would be best.

 

[Pa@okw95]

Right now you have 350 points that you will have to use by the end of the use year or lose them, or course you can bank them for the next use year which would start either June 1st or Sept 1st. That is 700 points that would have to be used or banked by the end of your use year either June 1.2004 or Sept 1, 2004. I would be careful to see that you can first use the points they are giving you in the time alloted, or use some and bank the rest real quick. You may have trouble getting the reservation you want. Make a decision then make some reservations real quick. Then bank the rest that you may have left over. Keep in mind the with the 11 month window people will start making reservations for Sept of next year--June is only 9 months out-watch for the 7 month cut off date to your home resort also. People from other DVC resorts can make reservations at your home resort 7 months out, so next summer will be coming up in a month or two with the 7 month deal.

 

[DeeDeeDis]

We just purchased 300 points and have a June Use Year. If we bank all of this years points we get 600 for 2003. This is how we figured what would work for us. The first thing we did was determine what we will need for our usual big family summer vacation, where we want to stay (BC) and how many points we need.
1. family of 5 (3 teenage boys) plus grandma thats 6 = 2 bedroom
2. Vacation end of August (can't take the boys out of highschool)
3. Like to go for at least 10 nights
Wow 416 points gone already. DH and I can't wait that long so we book a studio for myself, DH, Mom & DS#3 (his birthday) in May 0f 2003 = 52 points gone (468 total).
But wait DS#1 and DS#2 may thing we like DS#3 better, need to even the out the "love".
Book DH and DS#2 and a friend a 4 night stay at WL in November (DS#2 birthday) there's another 60 points (528).
DS#3 graduates in 2004 - send him and a few friend to WDW as gift in January (can't go in spring-hs baseball) at BW in Studio theres another 52 points. Thats 580 points in ONE YEAR.
Maybe we're going a little overboard our first year, but I figure we'll settle down in a year or two, you notice I said MAYBE.
So do some homework first, get out your point chart for all the resortssee what you WANT to do, when you want to do it and where, and how many point it will take to do it. If you decide on a June Use Year remember you have to bank your points by the end of November. Also if you are planning on a 2003 Summer vacation-your eleven month window is already here.
Sorry this is so long, hope it helps. Good luck.

 

[HeatherAnne]

Thanks to all that replied. I really appreciate your input! Although, I am still confused.......

drusba says this is a "typical" sale but "anniet" says this is a "magical beginnings" offer. They did offer us to sell back our June 2002 points to them for $5.00 a point but we didn't feel that was such a good deal for us. If this is a "magical beginnings" offer why weren't we offered the $10.00 a point? Why is the sales person saying this is a "limited" time offer which ends 10/31/02 that we are getting our june 2002 points right away? Does everyone get their points right away or do they have to wait until their "use year date" hits to get the points? I ask this because the sales person is making it seem like we are getting some "special" deal.......Thanks again for your help......

HeatherAnne

 

[KathyR]

You are not getting some special deal! It is a standard deal w/magical beg offer of $5/pt buy back. The typical offer is a use year that is several months back from date of sale. It comes w/a full allotment of current pts w/another full allotment the following year.

I would not take advantage of the $5/pt buy back. I would, however, choose a use year that best suits my travel needs! We have an August use year and travel Sept-Dec, so it works perfect for us. Just pick ANY use year that is best for you and request it w/your guide. They should be able to accomodate you w/just about any available use year. That is assuming that you have a typical travel schedule

 

[anniet]

HeatherAnne

I don't know why they offered us $10 per point, except maybe it was because it was back in March and they may have had no idea how well BCV would sell because of everything still being slow due to the 9/11 impact on traveling? I'm not even sure that's the reason.

The funny thing was, we were considering purchasing pre-construction on BCV, and they only offered us $5.00 per point for Magical Beginnings.

DBF looked across the table and said "Too bad we didn't buy when VWL was still available" because we really do love the Wilderness Lodge.

Our guide excused himself, got up and left the room and came back about 15-20 minutes later with 150 points for VWL and the $10 per point buyback offer. Although, it wasn't like he had to do it, we were already interested in buying....he just made us an offer we couldn't refuse. But he did insist that if we did not take the VWL offer that day, he could only sell us BCV if we wanted to buy DVC. (was he lying? I didn't think so, I think he was sincere, although now I hear there are still some VWL points available so who knows?)

Good luck to you!

 

[colleen costello]

We bought last year in March during a Spring Break trip. The only thing offered was BCV and our use year is March. So dummy me assumed that the use year was always tied to the month of purchase -- like an anniversary date. Does anyone know why we got March when everyone else seemed to get June around that time?

Also, no one offered to buy ANY of our points back! I think the offer was save $5 a point, but I got to keep my first year's points. This allowed me to visit in July when the resort opened, so I am happy.

Can we ever change our use year? March is fine, just curious. How exactly are use years assigned? Are they staggered purposely?

 

[drusba]

HeatherAnne, I did not understand your original question to relate to the Magical Beginnings program. If they are offering to buy back your 2002 points for $5 a point, then what happens is you pay $5 less per point for the sale and they keep the 2002 points and you do not get any until June 2003. That $5 a point is the current BCV Magical Beginnings program; I believe it is $10 or possibly even higher for Vero Beach. When BCV first went on sale they just took $5 off the price and didn't take back any points. The Magical Beginnings program they have at any given point in time is subject to change and changes fairly frequently. The sales rep's mention a time left open for the offer may simply refer to the fact that another change is in the making -- I believe the price of points is going up soon although I do not recall when. $5 a point to give up those first year's points is not a very good deal; better to pay the full price and get those 2002 points -- in the rental market (see rent/trade board on this site) they are worth about $10 a piece because that is the going rental rate so $5 is not a good buy back price.

As to the questions above about use year; no, you cannot later change your use year. Typically, Disney is simply selling a use year that begins 4 to 5 months before a date of sale and thus the one they are selling to new purchasers changes as the year progresses. They do that so that use years don't run out disproportionately, instead as the resort approaches sell-out there are usually still some points left in each use year month still to be sold. Note, prior owners who purchase add-ons at a resort like BCV will get the same use year they already have regardless of which month Disney is selling to new purchasers at the time. Also, even for new purchasers Disney is willing to vary the use year if the buyer wants to move it to a later month, like from June to September.

Also note, that they did not do the early sales at BCV by following that 4 to 5 month before pattern. Instead, when sales began in Feb 2002, they were selling Feb use year and continued to do so for a few months. The reason is that the resort was not open yet and thus they were not going to sell points from the 2001 use year by going back to Dec 2001 or earlier (there is no Jan use year). Disney is now back to its usual pattern of selling a use year that begins 4 to 5 months before the month of sale.

 

[colleen costello]

Thanks, drusba! Your post answered a lot of my questions too.

I am pleased that Disney offered $5 off per point back in March 2002 and let us keep our original points. Those extra points will mean 2 or 3 summer trips in a studio room. With banking priveleges, those initial points will be bringing me smiles until 2005!

 

[colleen costello]

OK -- you guys know everything so here goes... I see that lots of folks "add-on" at 2nd resorts. You can do this through Disney, if they have points to sell. Perhaps someone had a "foreclosure" or something like that, so Disney gets back their points and will resell them to a member? So I own at BCV but might someday get add-on points at OKW?

I am also curious about resale outside of Disney. I see folks "add on" this way. This means you go through a broker of some sort and save money by cutting Disney out of the equation? Can you buy ALL your points this way, from the beginning? If you want all OKW points, for example, can you start out by buying from someone at a resale place? How much do you save by buying "outside" Disney? Are all resale points typically around the same price?

If I ever want to add-on, it seems resale would save some money. I sure wouldn't mind having some points at Hilton Head...

 

[KathyR]

You can buy your initial contract via resale and save some $$$ along the way. The price is negotiable (usually between $58 and $68/point plus closing costs), and you have to look carefully to compare different resales. Some will have some current points, some may have banked and some may have borrowed or even some wacky combination of the three!!! Do a search on resales, and you will find loads of great info on them. I have not gone through a resale myself, so I am probably not the one to explain it all. It is a great avenue to explore esp. if you are most interested in a sold out property Best of luck to you!

 

[drusba]

There are many people who have resales as their only purchases. Others, including me, have a combination of purchases from Disney and resale. There are reputable brokers on-line who appear to specialize in DVC resales. Two I can think of are The Timeshare Store, dvc-resales.com, which sponsors this site, and A Timeshare, atimeshare.com.

Buying a resale is a way to "add-on" and essentially the only way to do so if you want a sold out resort -- Disney does every now and then sell some points at sold out resorts that it has gotten back through its right of first refusal on resales or through loan defaults and foreclosures but there is usually a waiting list for those and they can be few and far between.


Major differences or similiarities between purchasing through Disney and resale are :

1. Disney sells at one price, non-negotiable. Resale prices are negotiable.

2. Disney's quoted price includes all closing costs. In a resale the buyer pays closing costs in addition to the purchase price unless negotiated otherwise; closing costs for any sale are fairly fixed and range from $400 to $500 for the sale regardless of how many points you buy. Closing costs thus become a key issue for a low point resale. For example a 50 point resale for $70 a point has an actual price of $80 a point if you also have to pay $500 in closing costs (that comes out to $10 a point for 50 points).

3. Disney provides financing through its own financing company. If you need financing for a resale you need to find it. One way is a home equity loan on your existing home which would give you a rate less than Disney's. However, if you need to go through a financing company that finances timeshares, you will find rates 2% to 3% points higher than Disney offers as rates for such sales are always much higher than regular home sales. Thus, if you need to finance a resale at higher rates than Disney offers then you need to do some math to see if your lower price per point deal in resale is really better than Disney's price at a lower loan rate.

4. Low point contracts -- what most think of as an add-on -- are usually very difficult to find in the reslae market. Most resales are for 150 points or more primarily because most are selling all that they purchased before; also, brokers very often charge a fixed or minimum commission for a timeshare resales in the $1,000 or higher range which makes selling 50 point or lower contracts problematic for the seller as broker commissions can eat up a very large percentage of the sale price. Also, Disney always sells you an add-on in the same use year you have. With a resale you take whatever use year the seller has and keep that one -- note having two use years is not a disadvantage, it just requires a little more effort keeping track of banking dates and points you use for a trip.

5. Through reputable brokers the resale process is fairly painless and similar to a Disney sale in time it takes from agreement to buy to closing. One difference in a resale is that you cannot make ressies with the points until after you close whereas Disney allows you to make ressies as soon as you have sent in paperwork. Also, you can't get the seller to make those ressies for you before closure because Disney voids all reservations previously made upon closing. Usually the resale buyer does not get all the documentation that Disney provides for a sale although the buyer should consider asking the seller to provide all the documentation, such as the offering statements. After the resale and once registered with Disney (shortly after closing, Disney will send out the Member Guidebook but does not send the offering statements.

6. Another factor in resales, also negotiable, is how you pro rate dues at time of closing. Disney for its sales starts the clock running from date of sale. With a resale, you may be asked to pay all the dues already paid for the year particularly if all points are still availalbe for the year. This is one area you just have to make sure you check on and negotiate as you don't want to be paying an entire year's dues at time of closing if the contract has no current points.

7. Another difference as noted above is that you have to check carefully what you are really buying in available point use. A lot of sellers go on the market after they have already used up the current year's points and in some cases borrowed and used all of the next use year's points; net effect, that contract is less desirable than one with current points (or current and banked points) as you may not be able to even use points for a year or more. Such differences in availabe points are sometimes reflected in offering prices being advertised for the resales, but in any event it can have an impact on whether to buy and the price that should actually be paid.

8. With all resales, Disney has a right of first refusal, meaning it can take the sale away from the buyer by matching the agreed to terms of sale between the resale buyer and seller with Disney purchasing from the seller. This does not happen often and seems to be done when Disney believes the purchase price is well below what it considers a desirable level in the resale market; neveretheless once you agree to buy a resale, the contract is sent to Disney and you wait to hear (usually a matter of a week or two) whether Disney has decided to waive its right to purchase.

 

[colleen costello]

Wow! Thanks for the great resale info. If we add on at HH it would just be a few points... for a night or two each summer. Sounds like our "small potatoes" business would be best handled directly through Walt!

Colleen

 

[Bronco Joe]

I know this post was a long time ago, but it is fantastic!!! This should be part of the Resale FAQ... Thanks for the info.