Very close to buying....

[klamb55]

We are seriously considering taking the plunge here soon and have done alot of research. A simple quick question....

Is it possible to get into a DVC unit with a monthly payment around $180?

 

[Deb & Bill]

We are seriously considering taking the plunge here soon and have done alot of research. A simple quick question....

Is it possible to get into a DVC unit with a monthly payment around $180?

Pay cash for the points and then use the $180 a month for your annual member fees. I have 225 points at OKW and 100 at BRV and my monthly member fees (deducted directly from my checking account each month - divided by 12) is $180.79.

 

[msjprincess]

Are you asking about financing or dues?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Remember, you have both the points buy, and the recurring dues. Unless you're paying points mostly in cash, $180/month won't get you very far. Timeshare financing is frequently in double digits for interest rate.

 

[Lynne M]

You’re not buying a unit, you’re buying points. Your monthly cost will depend on how many points you purchase. So, the first step to determining your monthly cost is figuring out how many points you need. That will depend on the resort(s) you wish to stay in, the times of year you typically travel, how many times per year you see yourself traveling on points and the length of stay, and the type of villa you’ll typically want to book.

 

[klamb55]

Well we are thinking maybe 2 weeks a year for a total of 10-12 days for 4 of us maybe a 5th. We are open to resort but maybe I wasnt clear on the points......what do you all mean when you say pay cash for the points? You mean pay up front for all the points for the year yes?

 

[kniquy]

Here is a link to Monera which is a financing company for timeshare. It notes the rates are 9.9-15% depending upon the term of the loan.

http://monerafinancial.com/loan-application/

There are a number of factors to figure out before going ahead with a purchase aside from the monthly payment. You need to figure out how much you can spend on this purchase and if you can afford the increasing yearly maintenance fees. You then must know which resort you want, when you will typically travel, figure out what use year will work for you, then figure out the number of points to buy to get you the room/villa for your family size you want/need for that season - then add 10% to that so that you are never short points.

You will get varying opinions on purchasing many will say only buy if you can do cash, others say financing is okay, but plan to pay off early because of the very high interest rates. Many will say go resale for the purchase because you will save a ton --if the perks don't mean anything to you this is the way to go. Go direct if you want a newer resort (CCV or Poly) as resale won't save you much.

Many, many variable - Going into it I knew what i could spend in cash and stuck with that, we found a resort with a longer contract, and we found a contract to afford us to go every other year. We love disney but don't want to over do it by going too often.

Ask lots of questions here. Just from the sound of your questions I'm not sure you have full knowledge of how the purchase and DVC system works. It can be confusing and even those of us in it still have question.

 

[msjprincess]

You can get some helpful information here https://www.disboards.com/threads/the-dvc-resource-center-updated-january-2018.3655476/

 

[Deb & Bill]

Well we are thinking maybe 2 weeks a year for a total of 10-12 days for 4 of us maybe a 5th. We are open to resort but maybe I wasnt clear on the points......what do you all mean when you say pay cash for the points? You mean pay up front for all the points for the year yes?

Yes, for $180 a month and all the points you want to buy, that will only cover your monthly fees for the resorts. So you pay cash outright for the points to begin with. Then use the $180 to pay your annual fees. No financing the points. In other words, pay your thousands of dollars up front for the points, then only pay the monthly fees.

Unless you plan to stay in a studio every time you go for two weeks (that's a long time in a studio), plan on getting at least as many points as we own. For this year, we've had four nights in a studio at OKW in Jan, we have four nights in a one bedroom at GFV in May, five nights in a one bedroom at BRV in Oct and two nights in a studio at OKW in Dec. The GFV one bedroom uses the most points. A total of 405 points (talking calendar year here, not UY). Other than two of the nights in Jan, none of the rest are Fri or Sat night points.

 

[cedricandsophie]

I’d suggest you do a lot more research as someone has suggested. We have always paid cash for our points. We have over 1400 some bought directly and some on the resale market. You can get some real deals on the resale market. We never stay in anything less than one or two bedroom units and we go to Dw twice a year for one or two weeks and to Aulani once a year for at least 10 days. We can go at less than peak times so that saves us points. You buy the number of points you want per year based on the type of travel you will do and when. Each type of unit and each resort requires a varying number of points based on when you go. Once you decide on how to pay for them, then you decide how to use them. If you pay cash, that’s a one time cost. You don’t pay for the points every year but you do need to pay maintenance, just like you would if you actually bought a condo or a timeshare unit somewhere else. We have a lot of points so our maintenance is close to 10000 a year. The more points you have the more maintenance fees. In essence that becomes the annual cost of using the points. We are lucky we have paid upfront for the points and we can just pay the maintenance fees annually when due. I doubt if we would have purchased DVc if we had to finance or worry how to pay the maintnance every year. The cost of using someone else’s money like that is Just too high.

 

[msjprincess]

Personally I'm not comfortable financing a timeshare. Everyone is different though. We started off paying cash for a small resale. Enough points to stay every year in a studio or every other year in a one bedroom. Our maintenance fees are under $100 a month. I'm now looking to add on another small contract, again paying cash.

 

[gharter]

As others have said, you are buying point that can be used at any of the resorts with reservations at 11 months for your "home resort" or 7 months at any other resort (if there are openings).
There are 2 costs you need to consider. The first is the upfront cost to purchase how ever many points you want to buy. There is an option to finance these points, but as others have mentioned, generally not a good option.
The second cost is the recurring maintenance fees (dues and property taxes). For 150 points about $1000 per year roughly.
You still have all of the "Disney costs" above this (tickets, food, etc).

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Well we are thinking maybe 2 weeks a year for a total of 10-12 days for 4 of us maybe a 5th. We are open to resort but maybe I wasnt clear on the points......what do you all mean when you say pay cash for the points? You mean pay up front for all the points for the year yes?

It was unclear if you were asking about financing the purchase of the contract. There are two parts to paying for DVC - first is purchasing your contract which is represented by points. That can be done as a one time cash outlay. Some do finance that purchase but that increases the costs of course due to the interest expense. Second is the yearly maintenance fees which are ongoing year after year.

The number of points you would need for 2 weeks at WDW will depend on when you want to go and what size villa you are thinking of. Will you go in a lower cost season such as September? Or over the highest cost time like Christmas/New Years? And studios? 1BR's? 2BR's? That will all be a factor of what both the contract purchase will end up being because of the points required and then also the annual maintenance fees which do increase each year.

 

[klamb55]

Thanks everyone this definitely helped!

 

[kniquy]

A great calculator for seeing the variety of points is the David’s DVC calculator - you put in a week you might want to go, then look at points. It will show you the total cost for points for that particular stay at all the resorts and all room types. Look at various times of the year because there are different Disney “seasons” some with higher points than others. Also be sure to look at the room occupancy. Some studios can fit 5, some 1 BR 4, other 1 BR but you need to provide the bedding- blow up mattress and linen. It varies from resort to resort. Watch YouTube videos tours of all the resorts you are interested in. For example we stayed at SSR before we bought. It is a nice resort BUT there were no palm trees. Being from new England I can not go to FL and not have palm trees.

 

[Ben E N]

Is it even possible to have a studio during low season for 2 weeks and only pay $2160 in MFs alone? I didn't want to do the math myself but it seems doubtful to me.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Financing a 100 point contract at $108pp (cheap), with a down payment around $3500, you can get the monthly payment for points alone down to about $105 with a 10-year term, but you'll be paying 12% interest. Dues would be another $55 or so per month on that contract. So, sure, you could get in with under $180/month in payments (unless dues went up during your term), but... 12% interest is yuck.

And that's before we start talking about how many nights in a studio you'd get with 100 points. Reality is you'd need closer to 145-160 for a realistic point total for that stay, as counting on AKV Value is not a good solution (and still takes more than 100 points).

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

Is it even possible to have a studio during low season for 2 weeks and only pay $2160 in MFs alone? I didn't want to do the math myself but it seems doubtful to me.

Not sure if I am understanding your question correctly but you could rent a TPV studio at BLT during low season for 141 points a week. Two weeks would be 282 points. Maintenance fees are $5.92 = $1670 for the two weeks

 

[Ben E N]

Not sure if I am understanding your question correctly but you could rent a TPV studio at BLT during low season for 141 points a week. Two weeks would be 282 points. Maintenance fees are $5.92 = $1670 for the two weeks

Ok, so pretty close. OP was asking if they could do DVC for $180 a month, or $2160 a year. I wasn't even sure if that was possible in just MFs, ignoring financing costs.

 

[Greg36]

We have two weeks at AKL in a studio value in Oct-Nov (roughly 138 pointsX$6.75=$931.50). A standard view would be around 176X6.75=$1,188. Even better in adventure season...