What is the benefit of having multiple contracts?

[3DisneyKids]

Hi Again--yes, we are still deciding which/where to buy! In reading many of these posts, it seems that many of you have multiple contracts at a variety of different DVC resorts.

What is the benefit of this other than the 11 month window? For example, if you have a small contract at BCV (say 50 points or so), does that mean you can book at 11 months even if you plan a 200 point stay (and thus use points from one of your other contracts)?

Is this why you buy multiple contracts rather than just add on? Or is it so you can sell a smaller contract if you need to but not have to sell your DVC completely?

Just trying to figure out the best strategy...

 

[dianeschlicht]

SOme buy a contract at a different resort to have home resort advantage there. Unfortunately, only the points at that resort will give you home resort advantage, so very small add-ons like 50 points or so, must use banking and borrowing to take advantage of the 11 month window.

In the case of two fairly equal contracts, some use that as a way of leaving equal things to their offspring, and still others think the smaller contracts will be easier to see, should they choose to.

As for us, we have 2 contracts both at OKW. Our original is 230 points, and our add-on is 150 points. Our only reason for doing it that way is that we underestimated how many points we would use when we made our initial purchase. We did specifically buy at the same resort, because we wanted all our points to have the same home resort advantage.

 

[RLevy29]

All of the above. We have 1 contract at OKW for 150 pts., 1 contract at OKW for 100 pts. and 2 contracts at OKW for 50 pts. each. We also have 1 contract at BCV for 100 pts. and 1 contract at BCV for 50 pts. We have our contracts at BCV because we want the 11 month window for busy times like the F&W festival and Christmas. We bought smaller contracts because we thought they would be easier to sell if we found that we were not using the points.

 

[manning]

It is easier to sell four 150 point contracts than one 600 point contract.

 

[Dean]

If the contracts are not linked, there are some other advantages and disadvantages that I'll only address if you need me to.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

It is easier to sell four 150 point contracts than one 600 point contract.

I sort of made this mistake before I knew any better. My first contract at VWL is 450 points. If I knew then what I know now, that would have been broken into at least two contracts.
I'm kind of lucky though, because I added on the very next day. I came very close to just cancelling my first contract and making a bigger contract, but opted for a seperate contract. Get it?

MG

 

[3DisneyKids]

Does it get confusing managing all of those different contracts and different point values, use years, etc.? I am just getting ready for my first and I am already somewhat overwhelmed with the banking, borrowing, and so on...and I've done a lot of homework! LOL I can't imagine going into this "cold..."

 

[3DisneyKids]

If the contracts are not linked, there are some other advantages and disadvantages that I'll only address if you need me to.

Ok, I was just getting the swing of all of this...and now this curve ball...LOL! What are linked contracts?

 

[Caskbill]

Ok, I was just getting the swing of all of this...and now this curve ball...LOL! What are linked contracts?

There are three basic things that can occur, all depending on what you purchase and how you purchase.

1. Membership Number: The big umbrella. Contracts are grouped under a specific Membership number
You purchase a June UY contract from Disney, and later purchase an August UY contract via resale. These contracts have different Use Year months and are under different Membership numbers. (They're two totally different unbrellas) It's just as if two separate people owned the contracts. All point management is done on each contract separately.

Points on the two separate contracts are not combined in any way for any type of reservation, banking, borrowing, etc.

2. Add-On Contracts, the smaller unbrella under the big unbrella. You only have one membership number, but several Add-on contracts
You purchase a June OKW contract, and later add-on a BWV contract, and later an SSR contract. You now have 3-contracts, but only one Membership Number. These all have the same base contract number but with different contract extensions. Example: 12345.000, 12345.001, and 12345.002.

At more than 7-months, you can only use home resort points to make a reservation, but at 7-months you can combine the points from these three contracts in any combination you want to make a reservation at any resort.

Say you wanted to make a VWL reservation at 7-months for 150 points. You could use 50 of your OKW points, 30 of your BWV points, and 70 of your SSR points for that reservation. (Or any other combination)

Also, all points are combined to determine banking percentages. If each of the three here were 100 point contracts, you would have a combined 300 point contract. So at the 50% banking window, you could bank or have banked 150 points. It's 50% of the total, not 50% of each contract separately.

(3) Finally, linked contracts. The smallest unbrella, and can only occur under unbrella #2 above.
Add-On contracts at the SAME home resort are linked together as if they were a single contract.

You purchase an OKW contract for 150 points. Later you purchase an OKW Add-on for 50 points. Internally these are two separate contracts, but externally they are linked and show as a single OKW 200 point contract. As far as you're concerned it works as if you had made a single 200 point OKW purchase.

Internally though, when you make a reservation, the points come out of each contract automatically, and as necessary. Suppose you made an 80 point reservation. DVC would take 80 points from the 150 point contract and none from the 50 point contract.

If you made a 180 point reservation, they would automatically use all 150 points from the 1st contract, and 30 points from the 2nd.

All of the above is transparent to you as an owner. To you it was a 180 point reservation that came out of your single 200 point OKW contract. Say later you purchase still another OKW add-on, perhaps for 100 points. All three are now linked, and to you it's as if you had a single 300 point OKW contract.

The ONLY time this would be important to you is in the case you want to sell one of the contracts as the points remaining in each will depend on any reservations, banking, borrowing, etc that you did. If you know you're going to sell one of the contracts but keep the other, then when making any reservations, banking/borrowing you do, you can specify which contract to use for those points.

If you're not going to sell in the near future, don't do anything

 

[JimC]

Bill, it is my understanding that under your first scenario points can be transferred from one membership number to another. So within the 7 month booking window (11 months if same resort but different use years) you could achieve what you describe in your second scenario - albeit in a more cumbersome way.


For the OP: We have multiple resorts for 11 month booking advantage. We want to stay at those resorts and believe over time that advantage is likely to be increasingly important for when we want to go.

If I were buying fresh from Disney I would probably buy points in lots between 100 (min 150 for first purchase) and 250 points to keep in what I sense is the sweet spot in resales such that at the low end closing costs are not a burden to the deal and at the upper end the total cost is within most buyer's budgets. I bet our friends at TSS could give us a more experienced sense of that range.

 

[Caskbill]

Bill, it is my understanding that under your first scenario points can be transferred from one membership number to another. So within the 7 month booking window (11 months if same resort but different use years) you could achieve what you describe in your second scenario - albeit in a more cumbersome way.

That's true Jim, but I was just trying not to make the scope of the answer too broad.

Yes, with two membership numbers you can transfer points between them, but only in one direction within a given year. You can also make separate reservations with them, and then link the two reservations so it 'behaves' like one reservation.

One reason to have add-on's at multiple resorts is for the 11-month window advantage when you bank/borrow points from year to year.

 

[LilMamiBella]

Just wondering how much dues are for a 300-360 contract? I think I'd eventually like to do a couple of smaller add ons. Its seems that we like to use more than the 160 points I currently have.

 

[spiceycat]

due run between $3.75 to $5 per point depending upon your resort.

so just mulitply that number by your points.

I have a little one at BWV and another little one at VWL.

50 points at BWV - studio - Dec or Oct/Nov

60 points at VWL - Studio - Dec.

most of my points are at OKW - where we stay most of the time.

 

[3DisneyKids]

So, for all of you experience folks who know all (or *most*) of the ins and outs of DVC...if you were just starting out (like me), how would you handle things?

We have aleady decided tyo buy resale from TSS (Tom, you're getting a new customer soon!) and we are planning on getting a "starter" package...about 150 points.

Would most of you start this way (again, knowing what you know NOW)? Or would you buy a 100-point contract at Resort A and another 50-point contract at Resort B (or any such breakdown)? Or would you get 2 smaller contracts at the same resort?

Lots to think about, it seems...

Thanks.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

we are planning on getting a "starter" package...about 150 points.

Would most of you start this way (again, knowing what you know NOW)? Or would you buy a 100-point contract at Resort A and another 50-point contract at Resort B (or any such breakdown)? Or would you get 2 smaller contracts at the same resort?

If your keeping it to one resort, I don't see a need to break up 150 points into two contracts.

Now, it depends on your tastes and desires whether or not you want multiple resorts.
We love VWL and VB, so we wanted the 11 month window at each.

If you go with a small contract for a second resort, make sure it's big enough that with banking/borrowing it fits your needs. In other words, a 30 point contract, even with banking and borrowing would only give you 90 points every third year. Can you book the room you need or want with 90 points? Is every third year often enough at your secondary resort?

Good luck...

MG

 

[Shawn]

Hi 3DisneyKids,

We also just started out. We have a final goal of 300 - 400 points. We did not want to buy them all at once for various reasons, the two most important being 1) we didn't want to take on the debt and 2) we are real interested in seeing if either a Disnelyand Villa or Contemporary Villa gets developed.

We also decided to shoot for separate 100 point contracts at various resorts. Our first (and so far only) purchase was just completed -- it's 100 points at VWL. The reasons for the various resorts and the 100 point level rather than say the 50 or 75 point level is

* to have the 11 month window at various resorts

* to have a decent amount of points every other or every third year to have a good trip. We plan on using the 200 points at the VWL contract every other year or 300 points every third year.

If we eventually wind up with three 100 point contracts, then the thinking is that we would use each contract every 3 years.

Also, we bought at VWL, because I want to stay there, and there is a good chance we will take trips during the Christmas season. We gave up 12 years for this advantage though. But we hope that if a Contemporary or Disneyland DVC opens up, that the contracts will expire about the same time as SSR, so we don't have to keep making that sacrifice.

Another consideration is access to a Grand Villa. If in the future we buy at a resort with a Grand Villa, then we may go for 150 points there rather than 100, so that we could have enough points to actually reserve and use one. We didn't have to worry about that at VWL though.

Realistically, since we like to save our money and buy cash rather than going into debt, and since we just bought, we have probably 18 months to go before we can buy our next 100 points. We're hoping that by that time the future of a Contemporary or Disneyland DVC is cleared up. If it happens before then, and they actually start selling before then (a big *IF*), then we would consider going into debt for those locations. If they don't announce before 18 months, then we will probably buy another 100 point contract at one of the existing resorts, with the Beach Club being high on out list of resorts to consider. Then we'd wait another 18 - 36 months to see what gets announced before buying a final contract.

The above is the strategy of a DVC newbie, so take it all with a grain of salt.

-Shawn

If you were just starting out (like me), how would you handle things?

... we are planning on getting a "starter" package...about 150 points.

Would most of you start this way (again, knowing what you know NOW)? Or would you buy a 100-point contract at Resort A and another 50-point contract at Resort B (or any such breakdown)?...

Thanks.

 

[Dean]

So, for all of you experience folks who know all (or *most*) of the ins and outs of DVC...if you were just starting out (like me), how would you handle things?

We have aleady decided tyo buy resale from TSS (Tom, you're getting a new customer soon!) and we are planning on getting a "starter" package...about 150 points.

Would most of you start this way (again, knowing what you know NOW)? Or would you buy a 100-point contract at Resort A and another 50-point contract at Resort B (or any such breakdown)? Or would you get 2 smaller contracts at the same resort?

Lots to think about, it seems...

Thanks.

Every situation is different. However, I would never tell anyone to go out and buy one 100 pt contract and then another 50 pt contract. I'd simply buy one 150 point contract at the main resort desired resort even if you really would prefer two home resorts. The alternative would be to buy a smaller contract resale then add on at a different resort retail.

 

[JimC]

So, for all of you experience folks who know all (or *most*) of the ins and outs of DVC...if you were just starting out (like me), how would you handle things?

We have aleady decided tyo buy resale from TSS (Tom, you're getting a new customer soon!) and we are planning on getting a "starter" package...about 150 points.

Would most of you start this way (again, knowing what you know NOW)? Or would you buy a 100-point contract at Resort A and another 50-point contract at Resort B (or any such breakdown)? Or would you get 2 smaller contracts at the same resort?

Lots to think about, it seems...

Thanks.

If you want to stay at one of the smaller resorts (BCV or VWL) on property buy there. If you want to stay at VB or HH at peak times buy there. If you are flexible buy either OKW or SSR, because of lower fees. OKW will cost less initially but SSR will likely hold/build value longer because of the longer term. SSR is probably the better deal if you can make use of the longer term.

If you buy at multiple resorts determine what you need at each resort for what you want to do and focus on meeting the need at one resort first, then the other.

I would not do 100 at one at 50 at another as a first purchase. I would buy 150 at one resort and go from there.

 

[spiceycat]

if you are going resale I would go with the best contract you can find.

going resale you will probably find a 150 point before 100 points or 50 points.

many of the smaller contracts never even show up on their list.

You just have to decide which resort you want to start with - most DVC do add ons - so be warned.

VWL, BCV, BWV, OKW and SSR are at WDW. VB and HH are at their locations.

 

[3DisneyKids]

Since small contracts go so quickly...and some never even get posted...how/where do you find them?