wanting to buy into dvc, but need suggestions,please help

[reesecup]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this board. But I have been reading some posts and have done a little research on DVC.
This is my situation and I hope you guys can offer some advice.
I'm a big bargain shopper, even with vacations. Most of the time I get good deals like our upcoming trip to the World.
So, I didn't know if DVC was for us or not.
But HH has put a new spin on things.
We live in NC and usually vacation at Wrightsville Beach. We have been able to stay at a wonderful, ocean front condo b/k of a lady we know who owns it. However, she is aging and we probably will not be able to do that for too much longer, b/k it will be up to her children then.
She has been wonderful to us. But since we know this may change, HH would be a wonderful place for our summer vacation. And then I was thinking we could also go to WDW when we wanted. How would you do your points if you were us? Would you go with a resale with HH? How many points would you try to get? And would you split the points b/w there and a DW site?
Oh, and if we go to DW , it will be most likely in the Winter since we would go to HH in the summer, so what would be the best use year? Thanks. I know it's a lot of questions, but I sure hope you guys will help!

 

[luvindisneyworld]

Welcome to the Dis .I am sure there will be alot of people help you out with the questions you have.We have owned since 2002 and woukd not change anything except We should have bought sooner.
If HH is where you will vacation most then I would definetly suggest buying in at HH.unless you are wanting the first 2 weeks of Decmber or Christmas/New Years,then you should be fine with the 7 month window at Disney in the winter.
What size accomodations would you need?
As faar as where to buy,I am not sure we bought directly through DiVC and I have no experience with resales.I do know there are very good prices with resales.

BTW where in NC do you live?

 

[reesecup]

Hi luvindisneyworld! See, that is the problem. We would probably more than likely go to DW in mid December before Christmas. Or either take advantage of days out of school for the kids in Jan or Feb. but I don't think they really have that many of them. We may have to end up doing that anyway before too long though b/k we are taking them out of school for four days on our upcoming trip. Which that last week of school before Christmas is spent on parties, etc. at this point. And I know they will learn just as much by going to DW. (not saying anything bad about their schooling).
But no matter what, most of the time if we go to DW it would be in Winter b/k my husband has a landscape business so he is more flexible in dead Winter or summer and I'm just not too crazy about going to Disney in the summer. I just love Christmas time. Although, it would not be out of the question ever.
Before I forget to tell you, with all of my rambling on and on....we live in Salisbury. Are you close by?
Thanks for your help. I'm just kind of confused by it all. But I just know we are going to buy in somehow, just haven't decided which way, but I think HH is best for us.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

We are in Asheville.

Well you may want to wait and see what the others say about December.We dont vacation then,so I really dont know for sure.You would more than likely at least be able to get OKW or SSR.
We always go in May nad September but next year we will go in May and October.We want to go for the F&W festival.

I am sure that others will be able to help more than me.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by reesecup
Hi everyone. I'm new to this board. But I have been reading some posts and have done a little research on DVC.
This is my situation and I hope you guys can offer some advice.
I'm a big bargain shopper, even with vacations. Most of the time I get good deals like our upcoming trip to the World.
So, I didn't know if DVC was for us or not.
But HH has put a new spin on things.
We live in NC and usually vacation at Wrightsville Beach. We have been able to stay at a wonderful, ocean front condo b/k of a lady we know who owns it. However, she is aging and we probably will not be able to do that for too much longer, b/k it will be up to her children then.
She has been wonderful to us. But since we know this may change, HH would be a wonderful place for our summer vacation. And then I was thinking we could also go to WDW when we wanted. How would you do your points if you were us? Would you go with a resale with HH? How many points would you try to get? And would you split the points b/w there and a DW site?
Oh, and if we go to DW , it will be most likely in the Winter since we would go to HH in the summer, so what would be the best use year? Thanks. I know it's a lot of questions, but I sure hope you guys will help!

We certainly can't make your decision for you but I will give you some ideas. The first questions center around whether you'll be happy not being on the beach and how often you might go to WDW. Then there's how long you'll stay and what unit size you'll usually need.

In general, one who has a high affinity for the beach, stays a full week and need a 2 BR will be MUCH better off with something else like Marriott, Bluegreen or Fairfield. Same for one that does long weekends. OTOH, one that doesn't care about the beach that much and mostly needs a quiet relaxing base of operations will be happy with DVC HH. If your length of trips and number of people will vary routinely, that also favors a points system but there are others besides DVC. Give us more specifics and we can try to help further.

 

[cruise-o-matic]

To figure out how many points you need, you need to know what size villa you'll need and when (and how often) you are most likely to go. Then look at a points chart and try to calculate your points you'll need.

For WDW resorts, weekends are roughly double weekday points. For HH, Friday is double weekday and Saturday is triple.

 

[reesecup]

We would probably want to go ahead and get a 2 bedroom b/k we would probably like to take my parents some time. Plus, when the kids get older the two bedrooms will be needed.
We love the beach at Wrightsville, but I've looked at sites about HH and we would love it as well. We would not have to be right on the beach and would love doing the other activities.
Plus, we know we will want to go back to Disney again. We would probably want enough points to be able to definetly take a week in the summer and then maybe every other year, a week in the Winter; something like that. I guess the big thing for us is would it be wise to purchase most of our points at HH and then a few at DW.
Also, how hard is it to book the Disney Cruise-- we would like to do that as well sometime. And how hard would it be to book somewhere else like Hawaii (just using as an example)? Thanks!

 

[Doug7856]

Originally posted by reesecup
Also, how hard is it to book the Disney Cruise-- we would like to do that as well sometime. And how hard would it be to book somewhere else like Hawaii (just using as an example)? Thanks!

We also thought we might want to do the Disney Cruise with points, but I came to the conclusion that this is not a wise use of points. The number of points required is very high. Many people on the Disboards rent out their points and pay cash for the cruise. You may want to look closely at the cost of points for a cruise before you make your purchase.

We love DVC and are so glad we purchased!

 

[Dean]

Buying points to use for things like the cruise and HI using points is not a reasonable option. You'd be better off buying less points and then paying cash for the other options. Here's the options I see from what you've posted. I'm assuming a summer full week at HH in the summer between mid June and mid August. Plus another week at WDW in a 2 BR EOY. For that plan, you're talking somewhere in the range of 500 points a year at a cost of maybe $35000 and a yearly cost in the range of $2000. Here are some options to consider and compare to, you decide what might be helpful and what might not.

• Buy a beach Marriott HH summer 2 BR week plus 150 DVC points. Price around $30500 and yearly about $1400.
• Buy a cheaper Marriott with a lockoff feature and trade into HH and the Orlando area, price as low as about $7000 and yearly around $600-700.
• Buy another points system that has options in both places, like Bluegreen. Price for enough points for what you want (1.5 wks/yr in a 2 BR) around $5000 with realy costs around $800.
• Buying something cheaper still (non Marriott) that gets a bonus week. Price in the range of $2000-3000 with yearly fees about $400-500 plus exchange fees.

What's most reasonable depends on several factors. They include your desire for beach time, whether you'll go for a full 7 days, how often you'd really need a 2 BR, what you'd do with your winter week (HH or WDW) along with your risk tolerance. If HH, Beach, full week and summer are your major objective; consider buying a full week like Marriott. If you'll vary your unit size, length of visit, etc; DVC or another points system like BG may be best.

 

[joedemo63]

Hi,

I would buy the least expensive resale at Hilton Head so you can have the preference to book far in advance if you know you will be going there definitely. There's one available right now for 50 points. That gets you to be a DVC member. Then I would rent points from other members using this board and have them transferred to your account so you can book vacations and control the reservation. This gives you the most flexibility and the least financial commit at the same time. It seems that over the past several years the number of points being rented has increased and the price seems to be about $10 generally.

Sometimes it is also less expensive to just pay $$ for Hilton Head, or the other Disney resorts, than to use points depending upon the time of year or the size room you need.

It is still good to be a DVC member because it opens up lots of opportunities to save money if you love Disney with specials, promotions, etc.

 

[CarolA]

I love DVC and I love HH.

Personally if HH was my goal I would go for a Marriott or other timeshare resale. I would recommend you go visit the DVC there before you make any decision. You are not on the beach, you are not really even NEAR the beach. You are not in one of the platations. I just think the DVC location there lacks something. The resort is very nice however.

I think Dean has made some very good points.

Put some dates into the DVC points calucator at the top of this page. I think you are going to need a lot of points! Summer is high season at HH and Christmas is high season at Disney.

 

[reesecup]

Here's what I've been thinking.Found a resale for 150 points for HH. Also, there are 222 points available now with that contract. This is for $11,000. That would get us at HH, where we would probably go most of the time. Then, I thought about getting like 50 points for a DW site. So, that way when we go to DW (maybe every two or three years) we would be able to book farther in advance (or not????) .
I really like the idea of DVC b/k of the flexibility. I don't want to be locked in for certain weeks.
Thought the purchase of 50 points at HH is a good idea also and then just renting other points. I'm going to look into that . Thanks for the tip. Where are the 50 points being sold at-- this website?
Sorry, if I sound ignorant on the issue, but I'll be honest with myself; I pretty much am!!!

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by reesecup
Here's what I've been thinking.Found a resale for 150 points for HH. Also, there are 222 points available now with that contract. This is for $11,000. That would get us at HH, where we would probably go most of the time. Then, I thought about getting like 50 points for a DW site. So, that way when we go to DW (maybe every two or three years) we would be able to book farther in advance (or not????) .
I really like the idea of DVC b/k of the flexibility. I don't want to be locked in for certain weeks.
Thought the purchase of 50 points at HH is a good idea also and then just renting other points. I'm going to look into that . Thanks for the tip. Where are the 50 points being sold at-- this website?
Sorry, if I sound ignorant on the issue, but I'll be honest with myself; I pretty much am!!!

200 points will not get you what you stated you wanted, but will get you started. And don't assume that non DVC options are fixed weeks, most aren't. And don't forget about the option of owning both DVC and another timeshare, for many this is by far the best AND cheapest option.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

You could try renting some points at DVC HH and see how you like it.

 

[carolina traveler]

Hi I am from Concord and sent you a Message