When luxury is worth it: Glad I bought DVC 15 years ago!

[nunzia]

So because people would prefer to spend $30k elswhere (ie. trips to Europe, Tahiti) rather than prepaying for vacations they're jealous?

I don't care what people do with their money, but I'm certainly not jealous that someone financed 30 years of vacations and have dues to pay every year to maintain one weeks worth of vacation in a hotel room. The idea of DVC seems nice and admittedly I've been to the "talk" but it just wasn't for us.

I don't know many people who are jealous that others own timeshares. There are plenty out there to buy.

I don't think people are jealous, I just think they tend to think that if you don't have the same idea of value as they do, then 'you aren't right'. I don't think I ever thought DVC saved us money..we've spent ALOT..but to us the VALUE is worth it even though it's costly for the reasons many have stated. I may think it's ridiculous to have an expensive car that you bought new..after all, my Focus gets me there and that's all a car is..transportation..I may think buying a $400 dollar purse is ridiculous..I can shove my junk in a Walmart bag with the same result..but, I don't think it's up to me..or that anyone cares..what I think of it..if the value is good to the purchaser then good for them..people just love to slam DVC from their own perspective without realizing that if someone's perspective isn't the same it doesn't mean that the value FOR THEM is not valid.

 

[talulabelle]

ALso, you keep ignoring the fact that it's an asset I can sell. I bought a car near the same time.....that's now gone, with nothing to show for it. My DVC lasts for years and years more.

Not trying to say it wasn't the right choice for you or your life-style as you are clearly happy with it - but this is another point that doesn't make it at all right for me....the initial money you put down...it is not a good investment. It doesn't grow...and it almost definately will decline. (unless you bought dirt cheap from someone who bought new and is already taking the financial hit. )I can't do that. I know I have had some stocks that have gone down, but in the long run, they come back up or will aventually comeback up. Even long term, timeshares are never a good investment. Seems that many are ok with this...I can't do it.

Also, if you look at it as an asset, I really can't understand anyone buying new from Disney. Wait a year or two and you will be able to buy it used way cheaper. Of course, I can't understand people who buy their cars new either. I buy them with under 1000 miles on them, but let someone else making an unwise purchase that they can't afford take the hit of the immediate depreciation in value once it's driven off the lot.

 

[jodifla]

Not trying to say it wasn't the right choice for you or your life-style as you are clearly happy with it - but this is another point that doesn't make it at all right for me....the initial money you put down...it is not a good investment. It doesn't grow...and it almost definately will decline. (unless you bought dirt cheap from someone who bought new and is already taking the financial hit. )I can't do that. I know I have had some stocks that have gone down, but in the long run, they come back up or will aventually comeback up. Even long term, timeshares are never a good investment. Seems that many are ok with this...I can't do it.

Also, if you look at it as an asset, I really can't understand anyone buying new from Disney. Wait a year or two and you will be able to buy it used way cheaper. Of course, I can't understand people who buy their cars new either. I buy them with under 1000 miles on them, but let someone else making an unwise purchase that they can't afford take the hit of the immediate depreciation in value once it's driven off the lot.

This is true....but we didn't consider it an investment....just a prepaid vacation program. The fact that so far we could sell it for somewhere in the ballpark of what we bought it for is just a bonus. We didn't use our investment money....only the money we had budgeted for accommodations for vacations.

We bought new from Disney, but there wasn't much of a resale market 15 years ago. We paid less than half of what current Disney points are going for.

It would be harder to buy direct today; the price is so high. That's why I'm glad we didn't dillydally 15 years ago. We looked at OKW, Vero, BWV....and bought right away. That's what I'm so thrilled with.....all those years of vacation already under out belt. And about 40 to go!

 

[stmize]

We are here now on our first dvc stay and I'm kicking myself in the A$$$ for not doing it sooner. We are staying at OKW (our home resort) and we love it. We have been coming once a year for since 2003 except for 2004. We also financed thru Disney and can easily make the pmts and MF's but plan on paying off early. We have a two more trips planned for this year and a disney cruise (cash ressie). We would never have been able to do the cruise without being dvc members cause the cash would have been paying for our yearly trip. I get the best of both worlds this way.

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

My parents started taking me to Disney back in the 70`s when it first opened. We did many trips but did them frugally, never staying on sight. My dream, everytime the monorail drove through, was always to some day stay at the Contemporary.

Fast forward 20 years and my DH and I started taking our daughters to Disney. We have been going every year with them since 1998 when they were 2 and 4 years old. We sometimes stayed at the All - Star resort and sometimes stayed off site. With the CDN exchange rate at the time (cost us 60% MORE) we just could not justify the Contemporary (though it remained a dream).

Finally two years ago when the exchange rate was close to par, we splurged and I finally lived my dream. We stayed at BLT and absolutely loved it!!! We had magic kingdom view and completely enjoyed riding the monorail and exploring the different resorts and watching the comings and goings of others.

This past December, we did it again and decided that it would now be hard to ``go back`` to the old ways as we now spoiled ourselves and our daughters.

We came home and decided this year to buy DVC at the current exchange rate which is somewhat above par right now and lock in part of our future vacation dollars. We were fortunate as we were able to pay cash and the trade off is that we are now a one car family which works fine for us. The second car was parked 80% of the time anyhow.

We are extremely happy with our purchase as my DH and I plan to continue to visit Disney. Our daughters are already talking about going with friends in a few years and I hope to treat grandchildren to the dream some day as well. If things do not go as planned, then we will have to look at selling but for now, DVC makes sense for us.

 

[crisi]

If you buy DVC and make financial calculations, it is completely fair according to accounting principals to make ROI calculations using an anticipated salvage value. For Jodi, it probably isn't too valid, since she has no intention of selling. For me, its a little more valid since I keep toying with the idea.

For us, we bought BWV at $63 a point ten years ago. We have 150 points that we've been paying $700 or so in dues on. We've taken six trips - call it $4200 in dues and less than $10,000 in purchase price for a total cost of $14,200. Points are listing today for about $63 a point. Lets say $60 a point in sales cost minus a 10% commission for $54 a point So about 36 room nights in a two bedroom at the Boardwalk for $5700 over ten years - averaging about $158 a night. Not bad for a) on property and b) Boardwalk. And no taxes on that either.

Now here is where I don't save money. We didn't need a two bedroom - we took a lot of guests and our family would fit fine in a one bedroom - even a studio. We had airfare for six trips to Disney when we likely would have only taken three in that period of time. We could have stayed offsite at somewhere as nice - for less money. We passed on other vacations because "it was a Disney year." With the room costs LONG paid for, we tend to spend more on each vacation in terms of extras and food.

And here is where its a "what if" game. We could have invested that about $10k in the stock market in 2001. When we bought DVC the stock market was low. If we had done that, and not spent that capital, we'd have about $25k now. But we wouldn't have had the vacations either - we'd likely have spent that on vacations or something else in the last decade. Like Jodi, the money we used on DVC wasn't investment money - there is other investment money in our household.

ETA: I don't think you could do this now - not if you purchased direct. Had I purchased direct, the price when we bought was $85, that would have added $3300 to our calculations, or $91 a room night. $247 for the two bedrooms we have still is a pretty good deal, but not as great a deal. And I expect resale values have peaked and are not coming back. Not on new resorts either. DVC is overbuilt.

 

[Sanchez]

If you buy DVC and make financial calculations, it is completely fair according to accounting principals to make ROI calculations using an anticipated salvage value. For Jodi, it probably isn't too valid, since she has no intention of selling. For me, its a little more valid since I keep toying with the idea.

For us, we bought BWV at $63 a point ten years ago. We have 150 points that we've been paying $700 or so in dues on. We've taken six trips - call it $4200 in dues and less than $10,000 in purchase price for a total cost of $14,200. Points are listing today for about $63 a point. Lets say $60 a point in sales cost minus a 10% commission for $54 a point So about 36 room nights in a two bedroom at the Boardwalk for $5700 over ten years - averaging about $158 a night. Not bad for a) on property and b) Boardwalk. And no taxes on that either.

Now here is where I don't save money. We didn't need a two bedroom - we took a lot of guests and our family would fit fine in a one bedroom - even a studio. We had airfare for six trips to Disney when we likely would have only taken three in that period of time. We could have stayed offsite at somewhere as nice - for less money. We passed on other vacations because "it was a Disney year." With the room costs LONG paid for, we tend to spend more on each vacation in terms of extras and food.

And here is where its a "what if" game. We could have invested that about $10k in the stock market in 2001. When we bought DVC the stock market was low. If we had done that, and not spent that capital, we'd have about $25k now. But we wouldn't have had the vacations either - we'd likely have spent that on vacations or something else in the last decade. Like Jodi, the money we used on DVC wasn't investment money - there is other investment money in our household.

ETA: I don't think you could do this now - not if you purchased direct. Had I purchased direct, the price when we bought was $85, that would have added $3300 to our calculations, or $91 a room night. $247 for the two bedrooms we have still is a pretty good deal, but not as great a deal. And I expect resale values have peaked and are not coming back. Not on new resorts either. DVC is overbuilt.

I appreciate your balanced analysis. One question, why isn't your total outlay on dues $7,000 (10 years at approx. $700/yr) rather than the $4,200 you quoted?

 

[crisi]

I appreciate your balanced analysis. One question, why isn't your total outlay on dues $7,000 (10 years at approx. $700/yr) rather than the $4,200 you quoted?

You are right, so you have to work the room charges backwards since I used that number throughout - its still hasn't been a bad deal for us.

But that is a hindsight analysis as well. Past performance is no indication of future performance. And as DVC resales become worth less and less, our per night cost could get higher yet.

 

[nunzia]

Not trying to say it wasn't the right choice for you or your life-style as you are clearly happy with it - but this is another point that doesn't make it at all right for me....the initial money you put down...it is not a good investment. It doesn't grow...and it almost definately will decline. (unless you bought dirt cheap from someone who bought new and is already taking the financial hit. )I can't do that. I know I have had some stocks that have gone down, but in the long run, they come back up or will aventually comeback up. Even long term, timeshares are never a good investment. Seems that many are ok with this...I can't do it.

Also, if you look at it as an asset, I really can't understand anyone buying new from Disney. Wait a year or two and you will be able to buy it used way cheaper. Of course, I can't understand people who buy their cars new either. I buy them with under 1000 miles on them, but let someone else making an unwise purchase that they can't afford take the hit of the immediate depreciation in value once it's driven off the lot.

Good point..but now they have different rules for those that buy direct from those who buy resale..so people would need to look at the options they would lose by buying resale to see if it is a better deal for them or not. In my case, since I only wanted VGC and there were no resales, it made sense to buy through Disney..I also had previously bought a small resale to get in the system, so since I only did add ons, and Disney did not charge closing costs at that time, I saved by not having closing costs. Also good point that that money is 'lost' for investments..but so is any money used for big expenses such at vacations and cars. To be fair you also have to look at how realistic that 'lost' investment is. I sold a stock at its peak to buy my first DVC..the resale. The stock then tanked, and if the money had been left it would have lost alot of value..so I guess I 'made' money by buying my resale which I then sold at a break even.
I also won't buy a new car..to me..that's never a good value..

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Oh, I didn't say you were trying to deceive anyone at all. You didn't mention point total though, and so I didn't want people to think that dues are only $600.00/yr. They are with only a small amount of points, such as the 160 points you have.

With the amount of points we have, dues are 3x as much as yours, so that's why I mentioned that, as basis for comparison. I find people get really confused about the whole dues thing, as they don't realize that it's based on amount of points in our contracts.

Sorry for the confusion, as not sure how that happened, Tiger

Sorry--I was presuming a minimum required purchase.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

See, ( no hostility here - seriously - just amazement) I just can't imagine paying those kind of dues after laying down a chunk of money up front and still feel like I was getting a deal. You don't get your dues back if you resell. I pay much less for my week in a 2brm at Bonnet Creek than most people pay in their annual dues. Seriously, I pay between $699 and $799. No other cost. (just my park tickets and groceries) When I look at the costs of DVC, then realize that you still have to buy the park tickets and food as well- that just amazes me.

But some people are not interested in Bonnet Creek and that is okay.

We bought because we wanted to stay specifically on property when we do Disney. We know we could rent a house or do any number of other things. But we specifically wanted "on property".

While I understand that technically, BC is "on property"--it wasn't what we were looking for in a Disney "vacation".

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

This is a budget board. I think a lot of people on here might disagree with her about the cost effective message she is conveying.

That really depends.

There are many people on the budge board who understand that "Budget" is not tantamount to "Frugal".

For many DVC is "budget".

It may not be "frugal". But that is okay.

 

[Tiger926]

That really depends.

There are many people on the budge board who understand that "Budget" is not tantamount to "Frugal".

For many DVC is "budget".

It may not be "frugal". But that is okay.

Exactly! That attitude that permeates on here makes me crazy. There is no set amount, or specific way to utilize a budget. The concept of budget varies, and that is ok.

DVC literally saves us thousands of dollars each year on our food, as we can cook in our villa.

Tiger