What is the best way to start?

[DeblovesPoohbear]

Ok, I just received the DVC DVD yesterday, sat down with DH to watch and we both agree it's something we wouldlike to do.

What should we do? Just put down the $500.00 and finance the rest? Or should we save as much as we can and put that down to try and finance less?
Opinions? Oh, and is the AKV the only one we can pick as our home right now?
Thanks in advance everyone

 

[DeblovesPoohbear]

 

[Pidge]

Hello, I'm learning as I go here, but from what I read on these boards, the general thinking is financing isn't the best way to go. However, many folks do finance and are happy with that decision. You can choose any of the properties as your home resort either through the resale market or through Disney directly, however if you go the Disney route your initial purchase has to be 160 points. If you go resale, you can buy a contract for as little as 25 points. AKV is the only property that is being offered with incentives and perks.

As I mentioned, I'm still learning the ropes and there are MANY DISers who know this stuff inside out and are a wealth of information. Good luck on your decision!

Pidge

 

[Blahnde]

The vast nature of your questions leads me to believe that you still have much research to do. I'm not trying to scare you, but DVC ownership is complex ... think buying a second home. Just because it doesn't take a huge downpayment doesn't mean that it is something to just jump into without extensive research.

To answer your question, since this is a "luxury" purchase, no one will ever recommend that you finance this purchase. Would you finance a vacation if you could not afford to go? If not, then why would you finance 50 years of them?

As for resort choices, Disney is currently promoting AKV, but you may buy points at any DVC resort either through Disney or through resale. However, with any other resort you may have to wait; only AKV through Disney is immediately available. There are all sorts of opinions on this board and others about resort choice, but I will simply say READ first and then ask some more directed questions. Remember opinions are like bellybuttons; everyone's got one!

Good luck!

Blahnde

 

[5forDiz]

On a direct purchase from Disney they prefer to sell what they are currently marketing - right now that would be AKV. However, that does not rule out getting another DVC resort on a direct buy from Disney if that is what you'd really want, however, it will take perserverance and patience on your part because in many cases 'older' resorts have waitlists because the number of points desired may not currently be in Disney's inventory ( Disney would acquire those points through their ROFR option on the resale market - when a current member is selling their contract Disney may opt to step in and buy it instead of allowing the prospective buyer to do so ).

If you opt to buy on the resale market you most likely could find contracts for the resort you are most interested in readily available and you would not have to adhere to a minimum amount of points on the purchase ( example : your initial purchase into DVC can be a small resale of 100 pts or less ). But, of course as mentioned above, Disney can exercise their ROFR option and purchase the contract you make a seller an offer on. But many first time DVC buyers as well as current members wanting to buy add-ons are successful in purchasing resale contracts. Good source of resale info on these boards is thread maintained by Donald is #1 on what contracts are/are not passsing ROFR.

As far as financing or paying cash, opinions will vary based on everyone's unique financial circumstances; a timeshare is a luxury so most seem to favor paying cash outright - - speaking for ourselves our DVC'ing has been done by paying cash in full. We have family who put about a third down and financed the rest through Disney and they are quite comfortable with the monthly payment they make, it doesn't 'stress' their family financial situation in any way. That would be an important factor if considering financing - and also, how much "extra" are you going to end up paying on the purchase due to interest over years of financing ? And there will still be annual MF's that need to be paid monthly or in lump sum each year based upon your home resort & number of points you purchase.

Best wishes &

 

[PrincessNewsie]

Ok, I just received the DVC DVD yesterday, sat down with DH to watch and we both agree it's something we wouldlike to do.

What should we do? Just put down the $500.00 and finance the rest? Or should we save as much as we can and put that down to try and finance less?
Opinions? Oh, and is the AKV the only one we can pick as our home right now?
Thanks in advance everyone

My fiance and I went to the DVC spiel May 10th. Since then we have been saving saving saving. We only have $4400 in our DVC fund, but our savings are quite a bit higher. Needless to say, we have a specific fund that we're saving for. I am always looking at resales and hopeing to scoop up my dream one, but if that doesn't happen, than I'll just wait for another promotion to come along. As long as there are resales and DVC promotions, it doesn't make sense for us to finance.

It's hard some months, to put the $100 per week in the DVC fund. All I can think about is what if it was that hard to pay my DVC financing? Wouldn't that be more stress? I got to Disney to ALLEVIATE stress. It's not a necessity, no matter how much it pulls at my heart strings.

YMMV, but I am unable to rationalize DVC as saving a freaking penny if you finance it.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

I think financing is not the end of the world. You will vacation the next 50 years even if you do not have the money in your checking account to pay those hotel bills right now.
If you spend $3000 a year on a room there for the next 50 years, do you have that set aside right now and it you don't, do you decide to never go?
If you spend about $15,000 on a resale contract, it breaks down to about $300 a year over 50 years. Add about $800 for maintenance each year. If you borrow through your home equity line, interest is very low. You can pay it off as you get extra money, or each year instead of that $3000 hotel bill, pay down extra on your loan.
We are very financially conservative, but wish we had borrowed and bought earlier when our kids were smaller. We lost many years on something that is truly affordable.
I think if you finance, you should pay much more than the monthly required payment to pay off as soon as possible.

 

[wdwnut]

Hi: We've finance 3 dvc contracts - 2 through disney and 1 through our bank. The dvc financing hasn't stressed our budget at all. They will tell you what the total per month payment would be as well as monthly maint. fees if you opt to go that way. It's been way less than a car payment. When we originally looked in 1993, the only financing option was through our bank and the minimum buy in was about 230 points (but at a little over $50 per point). It won't hurt to ask and then you can decide for yourself. It's worked very well for us, but that is a personal choice for you. We've never regretted that.

 

[rstackjd]

We financed our purchase as well. Basically for us it came down to save for 3-4 years and not take a vacation, or purcahse DCV and use what we would have paid toward vacations toward the payments. In the end it's all the same - WDW gets your $$

My only regret is that we didn't do it in 1999 when we first looked into it - the points would have be about 1/3 less expensive ($65/pt. compared to the $104 for AKV, before incentives), and it would now be completely paid for!

my 2 cents

 

[Teachckg]

I would say read, read, and read. These message boards have great information. My Husband and I started thinking about it 9 months ago and have spent that much time reading, discussing, deciding, etc. We have bought through resale, passed ROFR, and are finalizing the papers now. I would say take your time, do research and figure out what works for you and your family. Definitely look into resale just in case you see something else you would like before you buy through disney! We have been very pleased. It is very exciting and easy to get swept away with it all

 

[backyardponder]

The question you have to ask yourself is "Can we afford this?" In this economy, are your jobs secure? Are there college education expenses going to come in the future which aren't planned for? Are the annual fees managable? etc. My advise to you is to make sure you don't get in over your heads! Good Luck.

 

[Golden Rose]

We started seriously thinking about it maybe a year and a half ago. We got the DVD and Dream book and oohed and aahed over them both, but we knew we had a lot of expenses coming up and we decided to put it off. We always planned to pay cash, and we wanted to make sure we had enough to cover everything on the horizon. We had planned to wait to buy another couple of years.

We did two trips in the last year - we stayed at the BW and the GF - and we were starting to plan a trip for this fall. We looked at what we were spending on hotels (and what we'd spent in the last year.) We looked at what we were planning to spend on our next trip... and we decided to buy DVC sooner rather than later. We bought AKV points from Disney, are we're buying BWV points resale.

We decided to go ahead and do it because staying (concierge level) in a deluxe hotel at least once and usually twice a year was running us more than $3000 a trip. We were going to need two rooms for our next trip and realized how much sense it made for us to just go ahead and buy DVC and get a two bedroom villa.

So if you think it makes sense for you to own DVC, I would spend a little time saving so that you can put down as much as you can. But, at least for us, it made sense to buy before making yet another trip paying cash for rooms.

 

[vandy]

Paying cash for any purchase is always the recommended way, but sometimes that cannot be easily done (house, car, etc.). Financing a DVC purchase can still be a good choice because even though you will be paying finance charges over the term of the loan, you may still end up spending less with DVC than you will with normal lodging at a moderate or deluxe resort. Many of us have figured our own break-even or pay-back year based on our purchase and vacation habits. This is the year that our purchase + maint. fees equal the money we would have spent just renting rooms. By financing, your break-even year will just come a later than sooner (if you had paid cash). Over the many years of the contract, you will still be farther ahead by financing a DVC purchase than if you didn't, especially if you continue to vacation at WDW and spend money on room reservations that could have gone towards payments. One final thought, I don't think there is any penalty for paying off the loan early, if that is a possibility for you.