Wanting to buy DVC membership BUT...

[marriedbymickeymouse]

For someone that just loves to figure out Disney plans, maybe you could help me out?.... We go to Disney World every year. We have rented points here, the last several years. We love Disney DVC and wish to join ourselves. We would like an opinion from a pro DVC'er. Please tell me if this is dumb...Our idea is to buy a small amount of points that we are comfortable with at this time and then hopefully find/rent the remainder of what we need until we are comfortable enough to go ahead and purchase the remainder. This way i will have my foot in the door and can make my own plans and not have to beg others to check for me, and I will get the few perks too. I have read this site and DVC books and all till I have terrible headaches and have to put drops in my eyes to see. Theres so much to read and learn. I get comfy, then get spooked with things like Disney only allowing a certain amount of transfers a year, and something about them now charging $95 to reserve rooms? I was under the impression that once we owned, we could rent points like we did before and just have them transfered to our account yearly for the cost of only the points agreed upon with the other member. Is there something else Im missing. I need to understand this and the resale lady said Disney doesnt like them talking about renting points to buyers because Disney doesnt like members doing it. Will I be charged to make a reservation thru Disney even if Im a member? If I have say 50 points and need 25 more, can I borrow 15 from a friend, and then rent 10 from another or is that too many transfer in/out in a single year? Im also noticing I can buy points at Vero Beach for about $55. pp. I dont wish to go to Vero anytime soon, but like SSP, or OKW etc. Is this really a big deal owning in a diff. place then you wish to stay at? Even though the dues are more...would it be worth it since these particular points are so cheap? Or is there some inside negatives I dont know about owning Vero, making the points so cheap? Why are they selling so cheap? Those Vero points for sale are for 41. I use about 65 a year going either the last week in Feb or first week in March. I would need to rent 24 more untill I purchase the rest. Good deal or NO deal? I really appreciate your help. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

 

[crisi]

I'd like to help you, but I can't read that. Can you edit your post to change your font and font size?

 

[drumer121]

click on Quote and you can read it, yes I also had a hard time.

 

[dcamdad]

The $95 charge is for staying at non DVC Disney resorts like GF, Ploy, etc. One problem I see in buying small and renting or transfering points is if they are not in the same resort ownership you will seemingly only be allowed to make ressies at 7 mos not 11

 

[marriedbymickeymouse]

Hope that helps.....
Thanks for telling me.

 

[ChelleinNC]

It is important to buy where you want to stay. If you buy Vero pts, you'll be able to make ressies at Vero 11 mths out, but only 7 mths at any of the other DVC resorts, which means you may not be able to get the reservation that you want. Dues at Vero are higher because of more likely hurricane damage/repairs.

Transfers: you may only transfer points 1 time per year. That's 1 in or out, not both. You would not be able to borrow pts from a friend and rent points, because that would be 2 transfers.

Instead of transfers, you might consider going every other year and banking/borrowing to have enough points for your trip.

The $95 charge is for making ressies at non-DVC resorts (Poly, Contemporary, II exchanges....)

 

[Arthur27]

If you visit WDW at least once a year then buying DVC is for you. I would say buy the points you need and not worry about borrowing, renting points. What a headache... You know your average stay so you can calculate an average you would need. I just think this way you can simplify your life a little bit.
Oh and stop thinking about it so hard. (I did too. ) If you don't like it you can just sale it.


Good luck.

 

[kapeman]

It sounds to me like you are ready to take the plunge now.

Don't spend any more money renting points and use that to pay for or put a down payment on a contract.

Since you said you have rented points before, I would assume you know where you want to stay.

I fall into the "BWYWTS" (Buy Where You Want To Stay) group, but there are exceptions. We own at OKW and I am very interested in BCV, so we are planning a trip there in Sept of 2009. I am hoping to be able to get a 1-bed at 7 months and I don't think I'll have that much trouble getting it. However, if I owned at BCV I would be almost guaranteed a reservation at 11 months.

I would suggest something more than 50 points if you are planning on once a year. I think that would be stretching it even if you stayed in a studio. If you were talking every other year 50 points might work.

Ultimately it is going to be up to you to decide if it is worth it and if you can afford it.

We bought a resale and I had never seen the resort in person, but I trust my wife who has. The floor plans and 360 tours on the website were enough for me!

Good luck!

 

[thepops]

...Our idea is to buy a small amount of points that we are comfortable with at this time and then hopefully find/rent the remainder of what we need until we are comfortable enough to go ahead and purchase the remainder. This way i will have my foot in the door and can make my own plans and not have to beg others to check for me, and I will get the few perks too.

Im also noticing I can buy points at Vero Beach for about $55. pp. I dont wish to go to Vero anytime soon, but like SSP, or OKW etc. Is this really a big deal owning in a diff. place then you wish to stay at? Even though the dues are more...would it be worth it since these particular points are so cheap? Or is there some inside negatives I dont know about owning Vero, making the points so cheap? Why are they selling so cheap? I really appreciate your help. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Ok ... let me see if I can help with some of this...
I agree with Buy where you want to stay. Vero might be cheaper up front, but you'll pay more in the long run on maint. fees over the life of the contract.

...Those Vero points for sale are for 41. I use about 65 a year going either the last week in Feb or first week in March. I would need to rent 24 more untill I purchase the rest. Good deal or NO deal?

If you're looking at 41 at Vero but really need 65, I'd suggest get the 65 where you want to stay or if price really is an issue right now, get 33 (or so) and plan on every other year until you can get the rest.

Someone else has laready talked about the $95 fee, and the transferring in (although I don't know if renting really qualifies as a transfer since the other member is going to make the reservations, not you. You give up that control when you rent. and technically you can't "sell" points that get transferred, but I could be wrong there)
Hope that helps somewhat.

 

[PIERCEDRN]

It sounds to me like you are ready to take the plunge now.

Don't spend any more money renting points and use that to pay for or put a down payment on a contract.

Since you said you have rented points before, I would assume you know where you want to stay.

I fall into the "BWYWTS" (Buy Where You Want To Stay) group, but there are exceptions. We own at OKW and I am very interested in BCV, so we are planning a trip there in Sept of 2009. I am hoping to be able to get a 1-bed at 7 months and I don't think I'll have that much trouble getting it. However, if I owned at BCV I would be almost guaranteed a reservation at 11 months.

I would suggest something more than 50 points if you are planning on once a year. I think that would be stretching it even if you stayed in a studio. If you were talking every other year 50 points might work.

Ultimately it is going to be up to you to decide if it is worth it and if you can afford it.

We bought a resale and I had never seen the resort in person, but I trust my wife who has. The floor plans and 360 tours on the website were enough for me!

Good luck!

Now from the non- "BWYWTS" (Buy Where You Want To Stay) Camp!
We bought SSR with the 2054 expiration in mind, as we are young 36 and 32 and we may be around to see the end of it. We never stayed in SSR and after staying in their admittedly beautiful one bedroom our first trip, we most likely won't stay there again if we can avoid it. We even had one of the best rooms next to the Grandstand pool and we still were underwhelmed. Theming is important to us and our young children, and SSR is sorta bland that way. In addition, my wife did not like the layout.
We travel at off times so the 11 month window is not that important to us, as the ressies we make are not "prime time", eg. the Vero beach cottages in summer. Dues are important to us as they will continue to rise faster than inflation, and Vero could cost more over time because of their high fees.
So SSR is a perfect fit for us... Long contract, good price from resale and reasonable dues. Even though we're not staying there.
We have secured ressies at AKV, VWL, BCV, BWV and SSR in the short year we've been members, and only had to pay for one cash day due to no rooms for points. We call day to day at 7 months and had great success. This may change over time but for now, it works great. I would never buy at hawaii or HHI but would be happy to "poach" at 7 months. As long as this DVC hopping perk exists, we're using it.
Beach club owners will likely dislike this view as their DVC is smaller and very much sought after. They don't book at 7 months for SSR as much as SSR owners book for BCV. They still have the 11 month window to make up their minds 4 months before we get to try for it.
It sounds like you are ready to get in DVC, but my best advice would be to learn as much as you can for a few weeks on the Disboards or **************** and make the best educated guess where you want to buy.
BOB

 

[marriedbymickeymouse]

Thanks so much for everyones help so far! I really-really appreciate the advice! So, when transfering in or out points from one member to another... it does? or doesnt? count towards the one per year rule I keep hearing about that DVC didnt use to enforce but are starting to now? It always looks like people transfer points to numerous different people all the time on here.

 

[chalee94]

So, when transfering in or out points from one member to another... it does? or doesnt? count towards the one per year rule...

it does count.

at this point, you only get ONE single transfer in OR out per year. that's it. if you transfer someone else's points in, you own the points and can make a reservation with them...a reservation which you control and can call MS to add ME or DDP or cancel a night or whatever.

OTOH, there seems to be some confusion so make sure you are clear on this: "renting" is NOT the same as a "transfer."

you can still rent a reservation from another DVC member (which does not count as a transfer) but since the rental reservation would have to be made under their member number, you would not be allowed to even confirm the reservation with MS...even though you are a DVC member. you could rent from several different people in a year if you want...but if you bought a big contract and rent to others a lot of times per year, DVC may consider you a "commercial renter" and give you a stern talking to.

this is why some posters will correct you if you use the phrase "renting points." you can't do that...you can only "rent" a reservation. getting someone to "transfer" points is different.

(once that is clear, i'll further confuse you by telling you that "DVC members are technically prohibited from receiving compensation for engaging in any transferring of points."

...so just be aware that DVC doesn't like the idea of members transferring pts for money.)

 

[PIERCEDRN]

Thanks so much for everyones help so far! I really-really appreciate the advice! So, when transfering in or out points from one member to another... it does? or doesnt? count towards the one per year rule I keep hearing about that DVC didnt use to enforce but are starting to now? It always looks like people transfer points to numerous different people all the time on here.

one transfer in or out per year is what is to be expected, Maybe you should look for a loaded contract with banked points or buy a slightly larger one and Rent out your excess points to cut down the costs. Lots of ways to find the perfect dvc solution. Either way, if you are renting that much you should stop and put that money to DVC ownership. $10 a point or more for one yr. or $80 a point for the next 46 yrs....HMM...

 

[WALTSAGOD]

hard on the ole eyeballs.

 

[Laxmom]

Ok, I am not an expert and am, in fact, just purchasing our first contract but here is a thought.

If you look for a contract with, say, most of the points still on it from '07 and 50 for '08 then you have your trip and you don't have to rent or trade. You still get to take your '09 trip and you don't have to worry about adding on until prior to your 2010 trip. This would also work if you bought one with all '08 points and you could borrow your '09 points. You could get one trip in before deciding if you want to add on. Then look at renting for the next one if you still couldn't decide. Either one would get one trip in before considering adding on without doing a transfer and still get your feet wet.


Someone correct me if this isn't realistic. I am still learning DVC 101.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I don't recall seeing which resort you were interested in. If you KNOW which resort at WDW is your favorite and it isn't SSR or AKV, then look for the right size resale contract from that resort. If you are thinking of SSR or AKV, it might actually be cheaper to just buy from Disney right off. If you know what size unit and which DVC resort you prefer, then look at the point charts and decide how many points you need at that resort for the preferred length of stay in the unit of choice. For example: If you prefer OKW and know you want at least a week in a 1 bedroom every other year in October, you could look for a 86 point OKW contract on the resale market and with banking and borrowing, you would have that 1 bedroom for a week in October every other year. You also could use the same number of points occationally for a studio in January EVERY year. It really depends on what you want. Don't get yourself too short on points though, because it could end up costing more in the long run. Continuing to rent or reserve through CRO makes no sense when that same money could go toward a real purchase. We didn't want to buy a whole contract at first either, but didn't know about the resale market at that point, so we waited until we could pay cash for it. We then ended up buying a larger than minumum contract anyway. About a year later, we added on again, and came up to the number of points that has seemed purfect for our preferred travel. We have had 380 points for 10 years and it was just right. Well, until AKV went on sale, and then we decided to do a small add-on there to get an 11 month priority booking window every 3rd year.

 

[Laxmom]

If it is SSR or AKV, there are some good incentives from Disney including a pretty good amount of developer points for AKV.

Here is a link to that thread;

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1764593